Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

46 Volume XII, No. 9 ments, and what had started out to be a primarily visual aid bogged down in verbalism. In early sound films an outstanding personality, an individual talking at the audience, often appeared. Words and personalities were substituted for pictures. The illustrated lecture took the place of graphic, visual presentation.'’ The Educational Sound Film Assumes Its Familiar Form : In the early thirties, the personalities had largely disappeared from the educational screen, but the illustrated lecture approach still obtained. Subject-matter specialists were consulted, and several weeks’ school work were frequently boiled down into a ten or twenty-minute instructional film. In nearly all cases, the prepared lecture was the point of departure in developing the pictorial treatment of the subject; the picture was incidental to the narrator, although some attempt was made to achieve a semblance of pictorial continuity as well. Perceptual Complications: The usual results of the foregoing approach to the production of the educational film were two continuities : a well-executed discussion of the topic appealing to the audio sense and a somewhat sketchy pictorial continuity appealing to the eye. Either one separately might have proved more effective than the two together, but no one sat down and listened or looked long enough to find out. The effect of this two-in-one presentation, however, had a stimulating ef ”Le\vis. ].t. Conidr. Richard D. "A Checklist for Improving Training Pilrns.” Hiisiiicss Screen. \’ol. 5, No. 5, p. 78. FILM AND RADIO GUIDE feet on the educational market, and a growing line of schools formed “on the right” to secure the double-dip educational cones for the kiddies. Indigestion often resulted from the attempts of pupils to consume all of the information at once. Hence, instructional method developed a utilization that called for “eating around the edges.” The motion picture was shown a number of times ; first to roughly appraise it, next to bite into the data now warmed and softened, and finally to consume the whole. Despite the time required for the additional showings, the combination of sight and sound proved more effective than either the traditionally verbal lecture method or the previous silent film in terms of time savings and retentive values. The Rise of the Documentary Film : In the late thirties, along with the by then established illustrated lecture film, the documentary began infiltrating the schools. Pare Lorenz’s Plow that Broke the Plains and The River found notable instructional usage and pointed the direction that future educational films might follow. The documentary was a combination of sight and sound like the usual instructional film. There, however, the similarity ended, since sight and sound were integrated towards the most effective presentation of the film’s ideas. Pictorial continuity was the guiding criterion. The narration fitted this continuity, explained what was presented visually, related the past, and set the stage for future delineations. Music and other sounds were on a par with the narrator ; each fulfilled the function that at any one moment could serve best. Documentaries were, unfortunately, long, few in number, and financially linked to organizations that in many cases had an axe to grind. Their use has, despite these shortcomings, continued. It Pays to Advertise: The sometimes lavish sponsored film, early referred to as an “industrial,” had likewise invaded a curriculum sorely tried for adequate supplies of visual materials. The industrials came to be, in many cases, a nice balance of Hollywood and educational ideologies and embodied some of the documentary techniques found effective. Visual educators as a whole found them useful additions to the supply of films, but teachers were not blind to the fact that occasionally subtle propaganda was being included in the subject-matter thereof. One could hardly expect something for nothing. Nevertheless, despite the fulminations of a few hardy seers on the fringes, the sponsored film has continued in use as among the most artistically conceived of educational films and perhaps often the most effective instructionally. The question remains in liberal quarters as to whether the presentation offsets the propaganda involved, but visual educators are, in most cases, proceeding on the policy of judging each film on its individual merits. Hence, as the recent war began, visual educators were provided with motion pictures in these three categories : the traditional educational film of the illustrated lecture persuasion ; the occasional, lengthy documentary employing integrated audio and visual elements ; and the eclectic sponsored film, combining Hollywood, private industry, and education in a tasty package.