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344 R. B. LEWIS Vol 44, No. 5
are not effective. Long films usually result from an attempt to cover too much material, too many details, or from inadequate planning and organization of the film. Yet many training films, both slide films and motion pictures, are long — long and overloaded.
Navy experience seems to indicate that 20 min is the maximum length for a film for efficient utilization and effective teaching. If the subject matter is complex, a short film or a series of short films is most desirable. For example, one preliminary plan for a film on a gun used by the Navy called for 3 reels to include the duties of each member of the gun crew, the techniques used by each gun crew member in carrying out his duties, and stripping and assembling the gun. Instead of making one film, obviously too long and filled with too much detail, 3 one-reel films were made, one for each of the problems to be taught. It is unquestionable that such a series of short film units provides much more effective teaching, from the viewpoints of both instructors and students, than one long, loaded film.
The blunder of making training films too long can be eliminated in the planning stage of a training film production. The attention limits of an audience must be respected. The number of facts or principles which can be absorbed by an audience in one session must be considered. The training situation in which a film is to be used must be remembered. Keep training films short.
Blunder No. 2, Poor Organization. — Many films lack a plan which will insure effective teaching. Some are organized like a string of beads.* This treatment appears often in films which purport to instruct students how to run a machine or a device. One we reviewed about a year ago told how to start a complex engine. The film started with a long shot of the engine; the sound track warned the student that the task is a difficult one. The film proceeded from valve to lever to dial to lever to valve to dial to button to dial, and so on, for 20 min. This is the string of beads treatment with a flagrant eloquence. No man can remember procedures with such a presentation, even if he stays awake until the end.
Training films must be organized into clearly defined large groups of ideas, and within the large groups, smaller groups should appear. In the engine film, the grouping could have been :
* If training film writers and producers would read and apply the precepts of Harry A. Overstreet in his "Influencing Human Behavior," from which this expression was taken, they would go far in eliminating training film blunders.