The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 306 The Educational Screen .FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP SHOW THESE HISTORIC DOCUMENTARY FILMS.' SPECIAL SCHOOL RATE. $15.00 Each per day Book these films now.' ONE DAY IN RUSSIA 55 MIn. Written and narrated by Quentin Reynolds. Most eomolete picture of life in Soviet Russia ever made. A factual panorama. RUSSIANS AT WAR 61 Min. Epic story of a heroic people's defense against fascist aggression. Shows Russian factories, loan drives, war sequences. SIEGE OF LENINGRAD 62 Min. Narrated by Edward R. Murrow. ace CBS war correspondent. An epic of 17 months struggle by 3 million citizens, who flnaily smashed the Nazi ring of steel. Also U. S. War Short supplied FREE on same program if requested! "One World" Film Catalog sent on request. Write Dept. ES-IO. |=^!^iVl^^Mj|^'''^>' 1600 BROADWAY NEW YORK 19, N. Y. theatrical audience. Find the level of volume and pitch that makes for comfortable listening and use that for all shows Keep the optical parts and openings near the photoelectric cell free from dust. PHOTOPLAY APFRECI.ATION An Index to the Creative Work of Erich Von Stroheim — Hermann G. Weinberg, Sight and Sound Index Series I, June, 1943. First in a series of indices to include the works of Fritz Lang, Chaplin, Renoir, Rene Clair, etc. A Course in Film Appreciation —S. H. V. Argent— Siylit and Sound—12-.tio. 46, p. 33, August, 1943. A rural adult education course in Lancashire developed after films had been shown as entertainment and later as art. The scope of the course and illustrative films used are in- teresting to note. SOURCES Classified Annotated List of Available Films on Riding, Horses and Subjects Pertaining to Horses —Phyllis Van Vleet—Research Quarterly 13:194-8 May, 1943. One of a series by the Publications Committee of The National Section on Women's Athletics, American Associa- tion for Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Educators Guide to Free Films: .Annotated—Mary Foley Horkheimer and John W. Diffor, editors—Educators Pro- gress League, Randolph, Wis. Third annual edition. 169 pages, mimeographed, $3.00. Useful for the fact that films and filmstrips have been as- sembled from many sources. Since all are free films, they are necessarily intended for public relations of one kind or another and selection should be made carefully for school use. An alphabetical index lists addresses and gives terms and conditions of loan. Films on the United Nations: 1943-44—United Nations Information Office, 610 Fifth Ave. New York 20, N.Y. 2Sc. A compilation of the films selected by each of the members of the United Nations Information Board as the best for use in current discussions and study groups. Experimental Research in Audio-Visual Education By DAVID GOODMAN, Ph.D. Title: A STUDY OF AUDIENCE REACTIONS TO TWO EDUCATIONAL FILMS Investigators: .\doi-ph F. 5"turmthai. and .'\lbf.rta Curtis — Institute for Economic Education, Bard College, Columbia University, Annandale-on-Hudson, N. Y. Completed 1943. Purpose: To determine the audience reaction to two educa- tional films, which will supply information about how a film script should be written on the film directed. Procedure The two films studied were Valley Town and What So Proudly We Hail. What So Proudly We Hail is an example of a public relations film intended to create good will for General Motors by showing the satisfactory life of one of the com- pany's employees who is enabled to follow happily the "Am.eri- can Way of life." It is presented in an optimistic, cheerful, climate, family happiness being the main motif. The film shows in a straightforward coherent fashion the average round of activities of the family, their working, playing, eating, visiting their new home, marketing, churchgoing. There is practically no striving for conscious artistic effects. Valley Town is concerned with the problem of technological unemployment, and as a "problem" film is more typical an American documentary than What Su Proudly We Hail. It depends upon grim realism to drive home the message it carries. It shows a community in two different periods, under prosperity and then under depression aggravated by tech- nological unemployment, and brings in a single family as an illustration. The production seeks much more for novel photo- graphic and musical effect, and the direction is much more self-conscious in its artistry than that of What So Proudly. The recording of simultaneous reactions was made technically possible by means of a machine called the program analyzer, which is a kind of polygraph device. It was developed for testing audience reactions to radio programs by Drs. Paul Lazarsfeld of the Office of Radio Research of Columbia Uni- versity and Frank Stanton of Columbia Broadcasting System. It permits respondents to indicate whether they like or dis- like what they are seeing or hearing, by means of a pair of buttons held in their hands, at the same time that they receive the performance. Indifference is expressed by pressing neither button. The operation is so simple as to disturb the normal m.ental set as little as is ever possible under testing con- ditions. The reactions may be charted for the total, and for whatever sub-groups within the total may be desired. Judgments on tlie film as a whole were obtained by means of self-administering questionnaires. The questionnaires were given to the people in the audiences other than the number (15) who could be used on the program analyzer at any one time. Copies are included in the appendix. The total number judging Valley Toivn by means of the program analyzer was 190; those filling out questionnaires totalled 186. The program analyzer respondents for What So Proudly numbered 160; the questionnaire respondents ISO. The groups included high school and college students,, YMC.\ and YWCA and YMHAS, business men's organizations, unions, business employees, housewives. Students made up a fairly large proportion of the total groups, but since students are also the heaviest consumers of educational films, this is not too serious a bias. The most important variables studied were sex and edu- cation. In speaking of educational differences, the group called "high" had more than high school education, while the "low" group had high school education or less. Result The test of audience reaction to Valley Town and What So Prouply We Hail do not afford enough material to make any conclusive statement about how a film script should be written or the film directed. But the work done so far does allow certain general remarks to be made. There are responses in terms of technical presentations, of content, and of personal {Continued on page 314)