International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

772 EDUCATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHY is limited, since our films are not presented before children to as great an extent as before adults, but such reports as we receive from teachers who use our films tend to indicate that silent pictures in some respects are better that « talkies » for work with children of the lower grades. Our conclusion with respect to the ultimate prevalence of 16mm. film in most educational work is based on observation of the actual trend of development rather that on belief that the merits of narrow-width film in all respects justifies the trend in that direction. It is our belief that for serious educational work, outside of the small classroom, standard film is far superior to 16mm. films, especially for sound, and that the advantages of the 16mm. projector, as compared with the 35mm. portable, are not so great as is popularly believed. We know that this contention runs counter to a very general belief, but we feel that the facts fully justify our position. That producers and exhibitors of educational films should zealously strive to attain the highest degree of excellence in quality, both as to picture and sound, will scarcely be denied by anyone who is genuinely interested in the success of educational cinematography. It will generally be admitted too, that the public is already exceedingly critical as to the quality of motion pictures, especially as to sound. Nor can it be denied that 35mm. film is better than 16mm. film for commercial presentation. Indeed, it may be laid down as self-evident, that, everything else being equal, 16mm. film can never be as good, intrinsically, as 35mm. film, which offers more than seven times as much area for transmission of light and two and onehalf times as much room for the modulations of the sound track, which, even in 35mm. film, may run as high as several hundred sine waves to the inch, and in 16mm. must approximate 500 to the inch if fair quality of sound is to be obtained. So I think it may be assumed that, if no question of cost, personal convenience or legal restriction is involved, the educator who has any technical knowledge of the presentation of motion pictures will use 35mm. film if he uses films at all. Nevertheless, the fact remains that most educators are laymen in the field of motion pictures, with little knowledge of the technical question involved, hence it seems likely that amateur rather than professional opinion is to prevail in this regard, for the time being at least, and that the 16mm. film will presently be largely used in a sector of the educational field where the standard portable projector would be decidedly more efficient. This is a situation comparable to that which would obtain in military affairs if civil opinion were to override professional experience and decree that soldiers should be armed with toy 22-caliber rifles, rather than standard 30-caliber military rifles using high-power ammunition. It could plausibly be argued that 22-caliber ammunition is very cheap and easy on the taxpayer, and that the 22-caliber rifle is light and convenient for soldiers to carry, but who can conceive of such an argument prevailing in the matter of national defence? Yet the same fallacious kind of argument is quite generally advanced as to equipment for use in education, and too frequently accepted as valid. We strongly feel that those who have at heart the development of educational cinematography on a scale commensurate with its importance should lose no opportunity to point out that such argument is based on assumptions that cannot be justified in the light of knowledge of the serious technical problems involved. Surely the cause of education is, in its way, as important as