International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

626 EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY marshalling of the facts but that would be harmful to the perception. In the scholastic film there is no place for any superfluous matter, and if it should seem rough and unfinished, it must be considered as a necessary evil, since the scholastic cinema has nothing in common with the ordinary film, and must interest without distracting the attention from the subject. We have sought to establish the length of the film, but it is a question of slight importance and one that depends on the subject and the quantity of matter which the pupils are capable of assimilating. The length of a film is therefore a problem of a technical description which will be resolved after precise and methodical examination. In addition, the teaching film for many reasons which would come to light on technical examination, must, by its nature, be of short meterage. Taking the film. Teachers too often declare that; « Yes it is good, but it goes too fast ». This complaint is justified. The taking of the scholastic film cannot be at the rate of 16 photographs per second, and as regards its normal velocity that would be decided by technical necessities. Experimental methods are necessary for the development of the cinema, and without them nothing of importance or exactitude can be achieved. Certainly the pace of the scholastic film is too rapid, and this rapidity causes a difficulty in a proper understanding of the pictures. The work of reducing the velocity of the film in cases where the movement of the pictures is too fast for proper perception has been considered, but for normal phenomena it would obviously be unnecessary. Teaching films which seek to demonstrate minute details must necessarily be slower than those showing complete pictures. The sixteen photographs per second can only be animated by a uniform velocity; the rapidity of the unreeling of the photos is relative, and depends on the various phases of the subject. There is a rhythm for shooting the picture just as there is one deriving from the nature of the images and the mounting. It shows itself when the projected scenes pass again in the memory. Children are no more insensible to the rhythm of the film than to that given to the lesson by the master. The problem of the number of images per second for the reeling off of the film is essential, but can only be solved by experiment. Titles and Substitutes. Certain pedagogues are for suppressing these as serving no purpose, but it they are well chosen, and the film is shown at a pace which allows of their comprehension, they may be very useful. It is, however, necessary today to avoid long titles which interrupt the development of the pictures. Each part of the film, suitably divided up, and headed by two or three words, and no profuse explanations, should be sufficient. A film that has lengthy and complicated comments is generally a bad film. Sub-titles are dangerous because the attention is drawn away from the picture. They must therefore be limited, and a rigorous analysis imposed and a careful selection made of the essential pictures. The titles and sub-titles of a well-made film must read like well written headings, without useless phrases. It has been sought to substitute sub-titles with numbers corresponding to headings in the text books but this is a useless complication and an unintelligent solution. The heading breaks the normal development or rhythm of pictures. If the sub-title is unnecessary to the picture it can be suppressed. Reduced Size Films. All that we have said of the elaboration and production of the scholastic film demonstrates that the problem of the reduced size film is closely connected with the future of the scholastic cinema, which must not be considered as the poor relatives, but needs independent treatment and a special technique of its own. There are three reduced sizes; 9.5 mm.,