Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER 125 IF THE FILM IS TO APPEAL TO THE CHILD WE MUST KNOW WHAT THE CHILD LIKES— MAYBE WE CAN LEARN SOMETHING FROM THIS ARTICLE ON CHILDREN'S FILM APPRAISAL By ELLIOTT JAQUES OF THE TAVISTOCK INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RELATIONS last month's issue of dm. contained a review of three children's Road Safety films — Puddle Muddle Riddle, Playing in the Road, and the Ballad of the Battered Bicycle — made by the Petroleum Films Bureau. The same issue carried a brief description of an experiment in getting the reactions of school children to these films. The children's reactions were just the reverse of the reviewer's, indicating the discrepancy which often exists between what an adult thinks a child will like and what the child really likes. In making children's films, however, it is the child's view that counts. How are we to assess this? Perhaps the tentative results from this film appraisal project may be suggestive. Methods of Testing The appraisal techniques used were described in some detail in the previous article in dnl. Briefly these were to have small groups of children carry out certain spontaneous activities before and after each film. One group did chalk drawings, another group made up stories, another group made up games. Then, a day later, all of the children wrote short essays about the films. The notion behind the use of these techniques was that if audience reaction research is to be meaningful it must tap some of the underlying attitudes of the audience as well as the more conscious reactions obtainable by essays and questionnaires. The drawings, story -telling and play techniques were therefore selected to provide an opportunity for spontaneous reactions to emerge in their full richness. Results The results demonstrated that the essays did give a useful rank ordering of the films. There was, however, a good deal of repetitious material in them, and a tendency to tell what the children felt their teachers would expect. Scoring and evaluating these essays was a time-consuming and laborious task in relation to the amount of material available from them. Of the spontaneous techniques the play-groups turned out to be by far the most useful. What in fact happened in these groups was that the children very readily played out on their own initiative various characters and incidents in the films. Observation and proper interpretation of the content of these games gave a significant picture of the kind of impact which the films had made. For example, certain incidents and characters were taken seriously and played out enthusiastically, others were mimicked and caricatured and debunked. Significant Omission As one good illustration of this the case of the final sequence in Put/die Muddle Riddle can be cited. In the film, after an amusing fantasy portrayal of what would happen if there were no satisfactory traffic regulations the scene changes rapidly and shows a group of what the film calls 'sensible people' sitting round a committee room explaining to the children why our own traffic rules should be obeyed. This sequence was significantly omitted from the children's spontaneous play. When it was suggested that this scene might be played out the 'sensible people' were mercilessly lampooned. 'Sensible' was defined as meaning dull, and the children not involved in caricaturing the 'sensible people', joined in the fun by gibing at those who were. Different Schools The films were shown in three different schools, and the reactions of the children in the different schools varied considerably. In one where the children were allowed a good deal of freedom and the relationship with adult teachers was secure there was much fuller enjoyment and freer criticism of the films than in the school where the relationship with the teachers was based more on fear of discipline. The children from the freer school atmosphere resented strict adults in the films far more than the other children who felt that strict adults 'must be right.' Minor errors which would be missed by adults were deftly picked out by the children. For example, it was pointed out in one of the films where a motor car nearly ran over a child, that it was not the child's fault at all but the driver's because he was driving too near the centre of the road. Similarly, things which were never intended were easily read into the films. Some children, for example, suggested that the films taught new ways of doing tricks on a bicycle and of playing games in the road. Future Script-Writers The children had a wealth o\' ideas for film stories on road safety which emerged in the storytelling test, and made highly constructive criticisms and suggestions. The teachers also had important suggestions to make, and it was clear that they resented somewhat the idea that films for schools should be made without reference to those who would have to use them. Child characters were liked in the films, as were adults who played with the children. On the other hand strict, or even serious or sensible adults seemed to stir up rather deep-seated anxieties and these incidents and scenes in the films were deeply repressed These reactions of children to these Road Safety films — the taking-up of incorrect details, the differences in interpretation from those intended, criticisms of weaknesses in the films, the excellent ideas and constructive suggestions — all seem to indicate a need for the consideration of audience reaction research as an organic part of the process of film production, based on the notion of allowing consumer participation from the very beginning. In the case of teaching films for children this would involve opportunity for face to face contact between those making the films and groups of teachers and children, at all stages of production — treatment, script, shooting and cutting. Such producer-consumer collaboration would guarantee greater consumer satisfaction with the end product, and provide an endless source of stimulation and enthusiasm for film-makers. The appraisal work referred to was carried out under the auspices of PFB by a team composed of the author, M, Silberman, H. Phillipson, W. E. Moore and H. Marvcn from the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, and D. Boulting and G. Bennell from Film Centre. FIRST INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT EDINBURGH Aug 31st— Sept 7th, 1947 Performances PLAYHOUSE LEITH WAI K Suiulav . Vug .'• I 1 1. II) and 7.1."> Sund ty, Sepl 7th 2.30 ami 7.1". Idmission '2s. .'>'*. ami 5a GUILD THEATRE -FTJ M BOl SE Moml.iv Vilnnl.iv . Sepl 1 -t <>'li 2.:<u and 8 Idmission 2s '»</