The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 146 The Educational Screen Epic Documentary Feature Story of How 3,000,000 Citizens of Leningra<l StnaUijed ike ^ofi 9ta*t Rlnf! Narrated By EDWARD R. MURROW Chief of the C.B.S. European Staff NOW ON 16mm SOUND FILM! A ^pply for Dates & Terms ^ ALSO FREE COPY "WARTIME FILM BULLETIN" BRnnoon filhis 1600 BROADWAY NEW YORK CITY unit lost more than a dozen of its ninnlier. Four were killed, seven were wounded and others were captured by the German Afrika Korps. Lt. Col. Macdonald, who has just arrived in the United States by plane to present a first print of the picture to President Roosevelt, returned to England from Africa with nearly 200.000 feet of film. He and J. L. Hodson. author and war corres- pondent, then Avrote a script, afterwards carefully cutting the footage to feature length. School Use of Inter-American Film:* The success of the Inter-American film program in the Texas schools has led to its adoption in various other areas—in Iowa, Xew York City. St. Louis, New- ark and Jersey City—and plans are under way to extend the program to other school systems. It is believed that eventually at least half a million school children will see films on Latin .\merica each month through this program. The New York City .schools report ihat during the month of January attendance at film showings totaled 37,160. A booking plan has been worked out whereby 11 prints of a single subject are provided to the schools each week and are routed by the institutions themselves through the 57 high schools which have projection equipment. Four weeks are required to play out a picture. The St. Louis, Iowa, Newark and Jersey City school .systems follow a similar procedure, the time required for a picture to play the circuit varying with the number of schools and the number of pupils. School-Made Eodachrome Slide Units (Concluded from page 127) The equipment is completed by the addition of two or more photoflood lights on tripod stands, to be used in photographing children and other three-dimensional subjects. Color photography with Kodachrome is no more difficult than black-and-white, if two simple pre- cautions are observed. The first is that only "Type A" Kodachrome be used for work with artificial light, and the second, that the exposure times recommended by the manufacturer be strictly followed. The latter is essential, as this film does not have the latitude pos- sessed by monochrome films. For convenience and economy of time, the writer shot all three-dimensional pictures in succession, and made a second group of the "easel" subjects, such as paintings and sub-titles. This avoided constant shift- ing of the camera from tripod to easel, with attendant changes of lens, etc. Sub-titles were done on monochrome film, partly for economy and partly because they were merely type- written in any case. If the original negative is used instead of printing a positive, the titles will project as white letters on a black field, which is of course desir- able. The best way to typewrite the titles is to set the machine as for cutting stencils, or to remove the ribbon, and use fre.sh carbon paper instead. If the type is clean, this produces sharp letters of good blackness. free from the fuzziness and cloth te.xture introduced by a ribbon. After development, titles are cut from the strip and mounted in cardboard "ready-mounts" to match those in which Kodachromes are returned after processing. With reasonable care in handling, glass plates are not needed, but these may of course be used for both Kodachromes and titles if necessary. As the writer's first attempts were in the production of monochrome film strips, a comparison with Koda- chrome slides may be in order at this point. The ad- vantages of natural color are of course obvious, but other differences were learned only after experience. For example, in the case of slides one may take the pictures and sub-titles in any order, but because a film strip is continuous it is necessary to photograph each sub-title in its proper sequence, which necessitates end- less switching of camera, lenses, lights, etc. while pupils wait between shots. Titles on film-strip positives can not be projected as white letters unless the original is lettered in white, which eliminates the convenience of the typewriter. Film-strip framing must be uniformly vertical or horizontal, unless one undergoes the nuisance of rotating the projector head, whereas slides may be arranged as required. Finally, if one or two shots result poorly, the entire strip is six)iled to a degree, whereas slides may be replaced individually. Limitations of space have necessarily restricted this article to the minimum essentials of the project, but the writer cannot close without commenting on the un- paralleled motivating force that it has had on the work of his school. There is something about seeing oneself and one's work projected before an audience that stimu- lates the "certain something" that is hidden in teachers and children alike, and nourishes the fruitful seed of personality.