Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

June, 1946 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE 47 IV. The MoJion Picfure at War Intelligent Cooperation At Last: With the coming of war, the nation called on all its potentially instructional specialists to join in the common cause. Visual educators left their books, technicians arrived from the West, and Army and Navy personnel speaking the language of war played their parts. Thus, for the first time in history were combined “know-how,” subjectmatter proficiency, and compelling purpose. Money was no obstacle ; the three-way stretch of the hitherto educational film had snapped in favor of a market of marching men. The leisurely mood of the documentary had to be quickened, the theatrical film lent an aura of appeal and interest to the subject-matter framework, and the educational film as previously constituted sacrificed pyramided facts to lucidity. The newly evolved training film had to be interesting, integrated in its audiovisual components, true, and a one-shot proposition with no time for review. Now, THE Peace: The war was won, the educational program had proved unusually effective, and the training film was credited in many quarters as the means of mak ^Robcrts, Lt. Harold B. "Sonic Training P'ilnis arc Better than Others." l-liisiiicss Scrcoi, S, No. 5, 1945. p. 5.1. 'Lewis, Lt. Conidr. Richard B. up. ril.. p. 100. “Cohen, Col. Emanuel. "The Film is a Weapon.” Business Screen, tT.il. 7, No. 1, 1940, p. 43. ‘Jensen, Lt. Herbert R. op. eit.. ji. 107. “Horgan, Lt. Col. Paul. "The Measure of Army Films.” Business Screen. \'ol. 7, No. 1. p. 39. “Goldner, Lt. Comdr. Orville. “The T'raining I' i 1 m l-'ormula." Ilnsiness .S'ereen, \'ol. 5, No. 5, 1945. [i. 54. 'Cohen, Col. Fmanucl. up. eil. ing it so. One thing is clear, however ; the war period provided visual education a proving and testing ground never before possible. As the Army and Navy Training Programs drew to a peaceful pace, those responsible for the training film production began to review the planning and results of the four-year period of experimentation and research. Many of their conclusions have appeared far from new, discovered or suspected years ago, but without the weight of experience to give them adequate voice and credence. Now these, and other conclusions, may be entered authoritatively on the record. The Training Film : To provide a frame of reference for the comments of those participating in the Army and Navy training-film programs, Lt. Comdr. Orville Goldner’s “Training Film Formula” seems an appropriate vehicle. These are the ingredients in the order of their application in the training-film production process : I. The truth about a condition or set of conditions. II. Interpretation of the truth as it relates to human behavior. A. Man requires frequent reorientation to a complex problem during its solution.^ B. Training films must be organized into clearly defined, large groups of ideas, and within the large groups, smaller groups should be evident. C. The cumbersome language of the field manual, the stiffness of the classroom, the tiresome repetitions, all these were thrown out, and we substituted the imagination and ingenuity of presentation which make for good pictures." III. Visualization of the interpretation of the truth in a way that will permit individual identification with it. A. Man learns steps in procedure best when he can arrange those steps in groups.^ B. Man is in a most favorable learning condition when confronted by a problem, the solution of which will contribute to his personal welfare.' C. Complete photographic coverage requires that the script, including the scenes to be photographed, be planned sufficiently in advance. D. Anything less than a full exploitation of motion in training film work is a disservice to the instructional motion picture screen.' E. Make it clear, make it logical, make it human, and drive home the necessity of learning now. . IV. Verbalization of the interpretation of the truth in terms and in a manner that will permit the relatively effortless development of definite behavioral concepts. A. The film maker . . . has to understand the values of audible forms, the spoken language and sound, when they are used with pictures. He has to synthesize carefully, adding just the right kinds and amounts of words and sounds to pictures to guarantee more meaning and more learning. Always, this job, too, must be done in terms of a given audience." B. We talked the way the American soldier talked, and he understood us.‘