Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

i4 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 7 Annotated Bibliography on the MOVIES "WHAT SHALL WE READ about the MOVIES?" A Guide to the Many Books obout Motion Pictures — Their History, Science, Industry, Art, Future. By WILLIAM LEWIN, Ph. D, Chairman, Department of English, Weequahic High School, Newark, New lersey 25c a Copy Free With Two-Year Subscriptions to "Film & Radio Guide." * Motion pictures made for schoolroom use are usually straightforward and unencumbered with irrelevancies. Entertainment is rarely introduced purposely, although frequently there are humorous episodes inherent in the lesson that is being taught. This characteristic of instructional films leads many people to criticize them and call them dull. They are dull if the students are not prepared to learn, and are not interested in learning, the lessons that the film teaches. In a sense, the motion picture made for classroom use assumes motivation ; that is, it assumes that the students will be ready to learn the lesson taught by the picture. Getting them ready is largely the teacher’s responsibility. A fifth limitation of sponsored pictures is that either the amount of advertising or its nature is objectionable. An industry pays for a motion picture to be used in the schools because the industry hopes to benefit from its expenditure. This purpose is natural and understandable. In order to assure this benefit, most sponsored pictures carry a heavy load of advertising. Sometimes the advertising is obvious, and sometimes it is subtle. In many cases the advertising is introduced in such a way as to make it difficult for teachers and learners to distinguish between the instructional and the advertising aspects of the picture. While it is true that school libraries include many magazines containing large amounts of advertising, the editorial policy and format usually make it possible for the reader to differentiate clearly between advertisements and other types of context. Films designed expressly for the classroom carry no advertising. Frequently, commercially manufactured products are shown in such a fashion as to make the trade name identifiable, but the name is always incidental to the main lesson in the picture. A motion picture of a railroad trip would naturally make use of a certain railroad. Consequently the trademark or initials of that railroad would appear at several points in the picture. At no time, however, would the camera linger on the initials or the name of the railroad for a long time in order to be certain that the group does not miss the fact that this particular railroad was used. A final limitation of many commercially sponsored pictures is that they are too long. Most of them range in length from two to five reels, or from twenty-two minutes to approximately one hour of viewing time. Because of the nature of most American school schedules, this period is too great. A three-, four-, or five-reel film cannot be shown advantageously because conscientious utilization involves preparation and follow-up suggestions, which usually are given within a single period. For this reason the great majority of instructional films are one reel in length. Seldom are they longer than two reels. While the writer believes, as he stated above, that sponsored films, if they meet the same standards used to judge the worth of other kinds of instructional materials, should be used in schools, he is worried about “sponsored” instructional materials of all sorts. Teachers have fought for years, and with success, against the use of teaching materials that are produced primarily or even secondarily to advertise commercial products. Most of the attention of school people to date has been directed at printed materials.