The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 100 The Educational Screen "When tlie rthii was finally completed (1600 feet of 16mm film in technicolor costing $500) the president of each organization in the community was invited to our premiere showing. Prominent educators and other civic leaders in our school district were also invited. The "first nighter" proved successful, and .soon we had booked twenty-four showings of the film for the first month after its release. Since then nearly every grou]) in our community has been shown the film. Some have asked for rcjjeat performances. It is also a good film to use in orienting incoming freshmen and new students. "The script .served to unite the various shots as well as to give jiertinent information about the school which would be difficult to present in picture form. The pic- ture started with the name of our school superimposed over a view of the main entrance to the building. This dissolved into the title of our film Maine in Action superimposed over another view of the building. "The action starts with a father and mother arriving at the school and going to the office to .seek information regarding the possible enrollment of his children. The man speaks first to the school principal, '\\'e're con- sidering moving to this community and would like to to know a little about your high school. Our son and daughter would enter next fall.' The jjrincipal re- sponds by saying. "We'll be very hap])y to show you around the school. This diagram in the office will give you an idea of how the building is arranged and the extent of our sixty acre cam])us. Then we'll take you around so that you can visit some of the classrooms and see how the work is carried on.' "With this introduction, the couple is taken from one activity to another until 121 scenes have been viewed. If the subject matter is properly grouped and the sequence is well arranged there is little danger of a piecequilt im])ression even though it contains many scenes. Transition from one view to another is made natural and smooth by use of fade-outs and titles." QUESTION BOX ON SCHOOL FILM PRODUCTION Question: (.'an high school pupils actually be trained to carry on all of the many activities involved in movie-making, independent of teacher supervision? With the e.xtra demands now being placed upon us. rationing, substituting, et al, I find that 1 simply do not have time to give to this work which I used to enjoy so much. Although a few of our students have always done a reasonable share of the work, arranging lights, opera- ting the camera, etc, I have always been on hand to give directions and to see that things ran smoothly. In fact, I generally checked ex])osure, focus, footage, etc., myself, jirincipally to insure thrifty use of film, for we have to finance our own productions. I have heard that in some schools the students carry on with- out such teacher ])artici])ation, but have been frankly dubious about turniilg the whole thing over to the boys and girls here. I'd be interested in any suggestions you may have on how other schools do this, and how successful their results are. Answer: This is a difficult question to answer with so little knowledge of the background of the situation. There are three basic variable factors which must be considered in applying the suggestions offered to any particular school or group of students: (1) the general philosophy and atmos- phere—"esprit de corps" if you will—of the school, and (2) the calibre and (3) experience of the students. Of tliese, the first is i)erhaps the most important. If the school is one where the administration, teachers, and students are cooperative by custom and practice in a friendly, informal way, and where they are frequently helping one another with various projects, even mediocre students, witli little or no experience, could be trained to conduct a production program with a minimum of super- vision. (A little guidance is always needed, even where the students are C|uite "independent.") On tlie other hand, in schools where the atmosphere is less conducive to this sort of activity, the problem would be great: perhaps insurmount- able unless an exceptional group of students was available to overcome the human as well as the technical obstacles. In all cases with which we are familiar, where students have worked with very little faculty direction, there has been a boy or girl possessed of outstanding tact, eiuhusiasm, dependability, and technical understanding, to supplant the teacher. A combination of two young people, one with the personal attributes, the other with the technical knowl- edge, would probably work nearly as well. Given the qualities of real interest in the work, and reliability, a teacher can train students of little or no experience, and of only average intelligence, to do a creditable job wherever si)ecial technical problems are not involved. How? Certainly not by mere "paper work." .'\rticles and instructions, however clear, can provide only a background for the uninitiated. .\ certain amouiU of actual practice and coaching is definitely essential. For the sake of brevity, we will outline a suggested procedure. This is by no means intended to be arbitrary, and as you work over it, you will undoubtedly devise adaptations: in fact you will have to, to meet your own particular circumstances. We will assume that you are to start "from scratch," attempting to train individuals who have little or no actual knowledge or experience. .Accordingly, we suggest that you: 1—Select two or three students, boys or girls, for the qualities mctuioned above, and concentrate on them. (Later, when tliey are thoroughly grounded in funda- mentals, they can train others in turn as deemed advisable.) 2—Have them read such books as .Arthur Gale's How to Write a Movie (New York, Brick Row Book Shop) and Pro- diicinfi School Moi-ics. by Hardy Finch and Eleanor Child (Chicago National Council of Teachers of English) to gain an over-all view of the diversified problems involved. 3—Have them outline, in order of importance, their conception of the steps to be taken in preparing to pro- duce a film at your school. If the subject of the film is already decided upon, this should be done in terms of that specific film, thus .giving focus to the students' reading and plannin.g. 4—Demonstrate the complete use of the camera, with practice in loading and removing film (using a "dummy" roll, of course), adjustment of lenses, measuring and setting for focus, handling the tripod, and all other basic techniques. Let the students practice these, still using dummy film, over a week-end. to get the "feel" of the equipment. 5—Explain and demonstrate the use of lights. It would be well to provide chart summarizing the various types of l)hotofloods, their wattage, and probable use. Combined with this should be practice in the use of an exposure meter, and a chart of the Weston ratings for various types of film. The students should practice setting up lights for a variety of shots. These arrangements could be worked out and diagrammed over-night, and checked by the teacher the following day. This would give a good understanding of the basic principles of lighting. 6—Explain in simple terms the essential principles of out- door lighting and exposure. 7—Explain and demonstrate various basic camera tech- ni(|ues and common amateur faults, such as the importnce of the tripod, the very special use of the "pan", diflficulties of shooting into the light, avoidance of right angle shots of people running, composition and balance, "framing" of ( Concluded on page 108)