The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

CHURCH Department WILLIAM S. HOCKMAN, Editor The Tenth Workshop • The first International Workshop in Audio-Visual Education was held at North Park College, Chicago, in 1944. During the first week of September the tenth was held at Green Lake, Wisconsin, under the auspices of the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches. A notable decade of progress has just closed, and it has been notable in several ways. The international character of the workshop personnel has grown until this year every great area of the world was represented — Asia, Canada, Indonesia, India, Near East, Latin America, Europe, Australia and the Philippines. From these areas came leaders as well as "students." In these workshops ecumenicity becomes a reality, not just something to talk about. Here demoninations and communions, widely separated in doctrine and policy, come together to discover how the mass media can be utilized in the world-wide work of the Christian church. Here material produced by each is shown and studied by all. Here leaders form work-groups to tackle the problems of production, distribution, and utilization which are common to all churches. No other interest of the church brings together into such a warm and fruitful fellowship the top leaders of the churches. This is very significant. Will it be in work that we shall first achieve oneness! Notable, too, is the tremendous growth of A-V resources. In the first workshop there were 90 films of all types, gathered with much difficulty. This year the library of the workshop contained 270 films, 265 silent filmstrips, and 69 sound filmstrips. In the first workshop there were no filmstrips with recorded commentary, while this year commentaries were recorded not only on records running at all three speeds but on tape as well. Here is the emergence of a new medium in the church field in the decade just past. In the first workshop no producers of audio-visual materials were in ofiicial attendance. This year all those producing for the church field were invited and many came. They were assimilated into the total activity of the workshop in such a way that they contributed as well as received. This is a notable advance. Here producers rub shoulders with those who will distribute, write about, and use the materials they produce. They come to know the concepts and the language of the church; to understand the objectives of the church's agencies; and to appreciate the types of utilization which will give A-V materials traction with reality in the local church. In the first workshop the equipment dealers were most cooperative. Now the equipment manufacturers bring in more than $75,000 worth of projection equipment and send along a staff of experts to demonstrate and instruct. This loan and exhibit of equipment contributes greatly to the success of the workshop. Another advance concerns the smooth administration of the A-V resource library and the provision for the extensive preview of materials. Unique indeed is the large room where a dozen sound motion pictures run simultaneously most of the day, with previewers using headphones. In GREEN LAKE REGISTRATION DESK Ecumenicity becomes a reality, not just something to talk about. another room batteries of slide projectors, with and without sound attachments, make easy the extensive preview of materials in this media. The over-all theme last year was the visualization of Biblical materials. This year it was the integration of A-V materials into the total experience (curriculum) of the church. The various facets of this complicated subject were fruitfully explored by Dr. Paul H. Vieth, of Yale University Divinity School. He was assisted by Rev. Everett C. Parker, of the New Haven Communications Project of the Broadcasting and Film Commission of the National Council. They were assisted by a committee representing the interest and the concern of 33 denominations in the integration of A-V materials into the church curriculum. The tempo of A-V growth in the church field is re fleeted in the new materials which have become availabK during the year — 116 films, 54 filmstrips, and 15 sound filmstrijjs. The procedure of the workshop provided for the screening of all this material by a "board of review" for each medium. These boards nominated materials for the evening preview sessions of the entire workshop. Thus all outstanding new material in all media was brought to the attention of all. Aside from the solid primary achievements of this year's workshop, it will be remembered for several incidental things. First was the surprise showing of 3-D color slides from Cathedral's new Life of Christ films. This set up all sorts of shock-waves of speculation concerning the future of 3-D in the church field. Last year's extensive studies on criteria for the visualization of the Bible and the screen presentation of Jesus gave a sharp focus of interest to the surprise visit of Robert Wilson, the actor who plays the role of Christ in Cathedral's new films. Gracious, modest, and easy to approach, he was the center of conversation groups throughout the evening and the next day. The showing of the film Martin Luther on Saturday night capped the week and brought to a close the most successful and important workshop to date. 'Address at 5 Spring Grove Ave., San Anselmo, California. 352 Educational Screen