FilmIndia (Feb-Dec 1949)

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i National Film Bulletin 1 ■ Ambitious Educational Plans Of Mr. Aggarwal ! Teaching Little Ones Through The Camera Eye ! While the field of the feature film entertainment, the documentary jncentrates on the processes of ilightenment. By documentary is leant the business of recording on iiluloid any aspect of reality, interpreted either by factual snooting or ) v sincere and justifiable reconruction, so as to appeal either to :ason or to emotion, for the puroses of stimulating the desire for id the widening of human know:dge and understanding, and of uthfully exposing problems and leir solutions in the sphere of ecoomics, culture and human relaons. It is of the utmost importance tat the production of these is done ith imagination and according to le needs of the nation as it has a ide and very strong influence on the linds of the audience. It is easier to arn by 'sight' than by reading, ihousands of social problems in this icient land of ours need solution; ippiness is to be brought to the >ors of numberless homes which ive not seen anything but misery; mstructive and nation building rogrammes need all the publicity ;ople have to be taught how best i maintain and use the hard-won eedom. The film has to serve all iese and many more important tuses and become in this country a ;hicle of ideas and public service. War proved the importance of sual aids in the training of forces, vil defence workers and in research, he documentary has come to stay nd its importance as an educational nd informational medium has been ompletely established in all foreign ountries and India cannot afford to ig behind in this field. FACTUAL DRAMA The feature film's main aim, as lready stated, is entertainment and ) present drama out of fiction, which did with so great a success that le commercial producer is now not t all inclined to leave this field and nter into another where the market not already assured. The commerial field was built on private enterrise and the growth of the docu mentary and non-theatrical cinema i.e., for educational and social uplift purposes must also depend on the same. The documentary seeks the dramatic interest out of the facts and actual life. The artistes of the documentary or factual films are the ordinary men and women and their location is the scene of everyday common life, the fields, the mine, the factory, the school, the railway station, a common bazar. The cause of this branch of the industry will be upheld by all who are today engaged in the great task of nation-building activities. Cinema is going to be more powerful than press and radio and it has to be safeguarded if we actually believe in democracy and we will have to fight for its freedom. The nations striving hard to come closer to each other could never find better medium than films. The film will interpret the different ways of life of the peoples of the world and foster better understanding of each other's culture. World is so vast and wide that nobody can see the whole of it or say even a major part except through the eye of a movie camera. It is film alone which can overcome the barriers of time and distance and bring about a closer interest in the life of communities and people otherwise far removed from one another. SUPPLEMENTING PRESENT EDUCATION The progress which this small cinema will make in due course in this country will be responsible for the creation of a very large audience outside the city theatres, in universities, colleges and schools in the specialized institutions and the various industrial groups. That day in India is not far when the seating capacity outside the usual cinema houses will be much more than inside them. Mobile units and the 16 mm. theatres are going to play the most important role in this transition. In an illiterate country like ours cinema has to be the effective medium for education both for children and adults. The educational films in the literal sense are the films which are meant for exhibition in the class room — of course not as a substitute but as a supplement and illustration to the text-books. There can be direct teaching films dealing with subjects included in the studies of the child and background films which deal with subjects of great value of the general knowledge of the student. The Report of the Government of India Central Advisory Board of Education reads: "The advantages of the motion picture film as an educational aid are (a) the interest with which it is seen by the student and the consequent interest in the subject it creates in them interest which does not subside when the picture fades from the screen but continues and develops into various forms of intellectual activities, (b) economy in the time taken to get things properly understood and (c) efficiency in the communication of knowledge and ideas to the students, efficiency not equalled by any other teaching aid for manysubjects. The function of the motion picture film in education has been broadly defined as three fold: 1. To show what something looks like, 2. to show how something works, 3. to show how something happens. In performing these three functions the motion picture has a flexibility that is greater and more powerful than the vision of any one man. It has at its disposal the power of the telescope and the microscope; neither time nor space nor man's myopic vision are barriers that cannot be levelled by the camera. It brings into the classroom the world outside, the past and the future. It can show, for example, the operation of the diesel engine, the heart and the lungs, the plants in their orbits, molecules and disease germs, sound waves and telephones. This manipulation of time and distance is possible by various camera position telescopic and microscopic photography, time lapse and slow motion photography, animation drawinss and special effects and editing technique. In range and flexibility therefore the motion picture film is unrivalled as a teaching aid." 51