International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

THE VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE FILM 745 c) on the way in which he must use such tools or utensils, etc.; d) on the knowledge it is advisable for him to acquire in this connection; e) on the special aptitudes required for the craft or trade decided upon. A good motion picture is able to provide all these indications. The experience of the men handling French vocational guidance films shows that, according to the reports of the General Direction for Technical Teaching, such films can be of the greatest utility. Examples are to be noted among the following pictures: carriage and cart factory in operation; artistic iron utensils and their manufacture; the common motions of a mason; the worth of good Vocational Guidance and so on. The vocational guidance film exists then, and it is the task of an international congress such as that which took place this year in Rome to modify it and lay down its definite characteristics. All those persons who have had occasion to take a practical interest in the technical instruction film have been able to observe that, at the moment of having to choose a career, many children appeared undecided, if not actually indifferent. They do not, as a rule, show any special tendencies, but rather a complete apathy for work in general, a profound aversion for manual labour. All the lessons in the world have not really produced any effect on them. The illustrations showing the different future in store for the trained and untrained worker have made but little impression on them, while all the exalted phrases on the nobility of labour have left them completely cold. Must we then consider their intelligence closed to any of the ideas on the various forms of work? Have they no interest in the value of action and independence in life? Film for Pre-voea tional Guidance. This leads us to speak of those pictures which might be described as being pre-vocational guidance films. The object of such films is to endeavour to instil in the child's mind the first ideas of technical training and vocational guidance. Films of this kind exist today, and we may find them among those pictures which show the life and labours of fishermen, the flowering meadows and fields where the marketgardeners work, the miners' hard life wringing the ore from the earth, and the refined artistic creations of the French artisans. Nor should we forget the tremendous tumultuous life of our modern factories and workshops. It may be argued that pictures of this kind are not, strictly speaking, vocational guidance films at all. Nevertheless, it is sufficient if they can arouse the interest of the young people in the various forms of manual labour. We have used the expression technical attitude or state of mind. We cannot expect to create in the child in his early years a workman's point of view. The thing to be aimed at in films of this kind, whether documentary or otherwise, is to convince the young person that a man is of worth for what he can do, and not for what he possesses. It is a good idea in vocational guidance work to give an illustration of the workman returning to his happy home to enjoy the pleasures of family life after his day's work. Bernard Palissy at work can provide an admirable model of this kind. Without seeking to stress this point overmuch, it can be argued that our film repositories in France have enough pictures of this kind to meet all the needs of the case. Utilization of the We may allow ourVocational Guid selyes tQ at oncc ance Film. * . again that vocational guidance films should be shown in the schools. Little accompanying comment is required, lengthy explanations are not desirable, and advice suggestions, though well meant and intended to supply indispensable illustration of the picture, often enough do little more than waste everybody's time. One might even go so far as to say it would be advisable to eliminate all comment from films of this kind. The child will have heard