Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

FEBRUARY, 1946 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE 49 Y.M.C.A. Producfion Unit's "Association Films" For 35 years the National Council of Y.M.C.A.’s has served through its Motion Picture Bureau as a source of educational and religious films for Y. M. C. A.’s, schools, colleges, churches, clubs, and community organizations. A pioneer in informal education, personal counselling, recreation, and group activities for young men and boys, the Y. M. C. A. is highly interested in improving the quality of its leadership and enriching every aspect of its program. To provide an added medium toward achieving this end, and to make available urgently needed new visual educational resources, the National Council has recently established a film production unit, named “Association Films.” Play Volleyball, a 16mm instructional sound film, was the first of the aids to be released by the new unit, followed by Play Softball, a 35mm slide film. Other subjects in the field of Health and Physical Education, in the planning stage, are to be used in high schools, Y. M. C. A.’s and other youth organizations, as well as in industrial establishments. In collaboration with Look Magazine, the Y. M. C. A. Motion Picture Bureau has conducted inquiries among students, community groups, and leading educators, to determine major interests and needs for 16mm films in schools and other groups using motion pictures. Requests for films from the Bureau’s wide list of exhibitors conclusively indicate a demand for classroom films dealing with family problems, personal relationships, conduct and behavior, moral issues, and other human-interest questions. J. R. Bingham, Director of the FILMS OF MERIT 16MM SOUND SILENT 8MM For Teaching, Recess and Entertainment RENT SALE Write for Listing “Y” ’s film bureau and of Association Films, and Albert R. Perkins, Film and Radio Director of Look Magazine, have announced that as a result of their studies, the two organizations have formed a producing-distributing team that will launch a special series of 16mm film productions to meet the needs of schools, colleges, churches, parent teacher groups, clubs, and community organizations. The films are being produced by established film-production companies. In a jointly-produced series titled The Art of Living, two one-reel subjects. You and Your Family and Y on and Y our Friends, have just been filmed and are ready for distribution by the Motion Picture Bureau. Set for release this spring are: You and Your Personality and You and Your Health. Future plans call for a second series of four films, including such titles as You and Your Church, You and Your School, You and Your Community , and You and Your Coimtry. The production technique being employed stresses naturalness of presentation. “Each film, instead of sermonizing, is designed to stimulate youthful audiences to think for themselves. Thus, students can draw their own conclusions on everyday situations from the facts presented,” stated Mr. Perkins. Plans are also being made for several films on leadership in clubs, camping, guidance and counselling, and discussion. These aids for the training of leaders in the major fields of group activity are expected to be of value in improving the quality of programs, not only in Y. M. C. A.’s, but also in other organizations. According to Mr. Bingham, the Y. M. C. A. is proceeding with production plans on the assumption that education in better living is not merely a function of the schools and colleges, but that learnings of importance are often acquired amid informal settings at home, in churches, in clubs, and under circumstances involving leisuretime activities. Members of the Y. M. C. A.’s Audio-Visual Education Advisory Committee, who are consulting with the Bureau’s staif on the production of the Art of Living series and other films, are such prominent authorities as : Paul D. Sheats, Ph.D., Educational Director of New York City’s Town Hall, chairman; Rome A. Betts, General Secretary of American Bible Society and Chairman of the Protestant Film Commission; M. R. Brunstetter, Ph.D., instructor in audio-visual aids, Columbia University; Morse A. Cartwright, LL.B., Institute of Adult Education, Columbia University; Frederick M. Thrasher, Ph.D., New York University, and President of the Metropolitan Motion Picture Council; Paul H. Vieth, Ph.D., Yale Divinity School; and Dean McClusky, Ph.D., Consultant, Commission on Motion Pictures in Education of the American Council on Education.