International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1931)

1019 be expected to do so, any more than it fights against alcoholism by opening temperance coffee-houses. The province of the State is to exercise a serious control of films for public projection. Conditions are not always irreproachable in Swiss cinema halls. But in our opinion those who have been entrusted with, or have voluntarily assumed, the duty of defending the people against menacing dangers and of offering them inoffensive entertainment, in a word — of educating them — should be responsible for the diffusion of really good films. In this connection we refer to the clergy of all confessions, study circles and societies, who in their sphere of action try, each in its own way, to safeguard the Christian spirit. It is logical that the State should take an interest in and materially support their efforts, but it cannot, of course, replace them. The Educational and the Didactic Film. What is the didactic film? A film that helps the master in his didactic work, a film the use of which should be combined with, the oral lesson, during regular class hours, devoted to the study of subjects fixed by the curriculum, a film the presentation of which is capable of being slowed down or stopped according to the facility of comprehension of the pupils and the necessities of the verbal explanations. We will now resume some points of this definition : a) « A Film that helps the master... ». The film does not, therefore, substitute the master, that idea is far from us ; the use of a school film does not by any means imply the possibility of a lower standard of preparation on the part of the master during his training, for the film can never be the « instruction Machine », dear to the humorist. b) « ...in his didactic work... ». This is the only work which we are considering here. c) « A film the use of which should be combined with the oral lesson... ». It is the task of the master to emphasize « moments of the film demanding explanation ». He will, therefore, still play an active part, in which he can give full expression to his own personality, although, of course, his explanation must closely adhere to the picture so that there may be no upsetting disparity between what the pupil sees and what he hears. This obvious necessity will not, however,, limit the independence of the master any more than a handbook or manual. d) « ...during regular class hours ».. We are, therefore, far removed from an . educational film presented to the public, including adults, in out of school, paid projections. It wilt perhaps cause astonishment that we have substituted the word « film » for « cinema » in our definition of the instructional film. We advise our readers to look again at the last two statements of the first paragraph, « General Remarks ». The cinema, we remarked under this heading, cannot be more than a very remarkable complement of the projected slide or fixed image. Let us note en passant, once for ali that the word « film » does not only mean the ribbon of cinematographic cliches, but also an established series of fixed pictures united on one ribbon, wound round a reel. Even amateur photographers know that there are « Film » and « Slide » photographic apparatus! The idea that the cinema should only be a complement of the fixed slide projection was not always shared, by us (i). As a matter of fact, we only very recently adopted it in the course of a long conversation with Professor Rudhardt, the distinguished President of the Directing Council of the (i) This coincides with the idea of M. E. Savary, Chief of the Instruction Service of the Canton of Vaud, in his pamphlet « The Cinema and the School », (Lausanne, Payot, 1925). « Apparently », he says, « the preconceived idea that the animated drawing is preferable to the other is often accepted. This is by no means the case, especially for instruction ».