International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

CINEMA AND TEACHING 623 prehensive to young pupils the subjects with which it deals, while the scientific film concerns itself only with its subject and causes it to develop in accordance with logical rules, without any regard to its pedagogic use. A scientific film deals uncompromisingly with its subject, whereas a teaching film compromises in order to bring its subject to the level of the understanding of the spectators and will even betray science itself in the good cause which it seeks to serve. The scientific film may be defined thus. A film that represents the life of nature, produced by technical means, rendering visible to normal observation phenomena which it would otherwise be impossible to study. The scientific value of this kind of film does not necessarily exist in the interpretation, but depends, for its value, on the persons who have studied the subject and offered the representation of the phenomenon. The teaching films are those whose objective contents are clearly outlined and have a definite instructive value. The subject of a film has nothing in common with its instructive value since anything may be included that is instructive. That which gives character and value to a didactic film is the spirit in which it is conceived, the importance given to the facts and the way in which they are accentuated to allow of their assimilation and retention by the memory. The method which inspires the plot, the sole object of which is to achieve lucidity, taking into account the psychological element of the future spectators. The instructive value of the didactic film is a subjective idea, and therefore is variable and cannot be classified in a catalogue of films. Thus the true character of the teaching film is the method of the representation of the facts, their balance, order and quantity, which must not exceed the capacity of assimilation of the future spectators, taking into account their age and intelligence. The exact definition of a teaching film, in our opinion, is as follows: a film created and realized in order that the facts or phen omena presented may be easy of assimilation and retention by the memory. The Documentary Scholastic Film. The documentary scholastic film is intended to illustrate teaching. To awaken the mind to a procession of images which would otherwise fade and pass from the memory. Its more direct purpose, however, is to create an atmosphere which would lend reality to mental visions which would not otherwise be impressed on the mind. Documentary films destined for schools have so far been very few in number, but their trial some years ago, attained results which showed how useful this form of film could be and how desirable it is that its production should not be left in commercial hands. The development of the documentary scholastic film has been endangered by the advent of the sound film. The sound apparatus is impossible for schools on account of the high cost of the projectors and the prohibitive price of their hire. It has been sought to solve this difficulty by the construction of sound projectors for 16 mm. films. This solution has not been found very satisfactory, since the cost still remains high, and the productions are not of the best quality. The actual conditions under which the scholastic cinema is produced are very little understood and may have to be entirely revised. There is the necessity of convincing the scholastic world of the great value of the documentary motion pictures and the problem of the organization of the production, and distribution of the material in such a way that it may become a commercial proposition. • In the following pages we will show the resources of the cinema under this reorganization and its great teaching. The Recreative There is always a place Scholastic Film. jn schools for the recreational film, and we may predict that there will always be recreational motion pictures for schools.