Film and education; a symposium on the role of the film in the field of education ([1948])

FILM AND EDUCATION 9. Pictorial copy has greater attention value than copy in print and provides greater freedom for eyes to move spontaneously. 10. Color has attentional advantages over black and white and serves as a unifying agent in the interpretation of pictorial copy. When developing or exhibiting pictorial materials still or in motion it is imperative that laws and tendencies of ocular performance be taken into consideration. By so doing, educators and entertainers will provide information and enjoyment for the observer with a minimum of energy and a maximum of satisfaction for the observer. Only by a scientific evaluation of the response of the observer can the adequacy of the composition, sound, and motion of the picture be ascertained. Response to Still and Motion Pictures Compared Orientation: In observing still pictures, the initial fixation falls at a point to the left and above the center and progresses from that of general survey to that of a more detailed examination. This general survey tends to be absent as revealed by the ocular performance of the spectator when seeing the motion picture. Composition, continuity, and implied action are determinants of ocular performance when viewing the still picture, while sound and action are highly directive in the motion picture. In observing a symmetrical field more time is devoted to the left and upper half of a still picture than to the right and lower half. Horizontal eye movements are as a rule facilitated in viewing still picture, while vertical movements are inhibited. Due to the shifting of the camera scenes and the directive effectives of sound and action, preferred position and horizontal eye movements, prevelant when observing the still picture, are conspicuously absent when looking at the picture in motion. Seldom are the eye-movements strictly horizontal or vertical in both the still and motion picture, but rather tend to [46]