Minutes of evidence taken before the Departmental Committee on Cinematograph Films (1936)

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE 69 19 May, 1936.] Mr. Paul Roth a. Cot tinned. 561. Would it? — Using colour, for example, or.e would probably make a film in black and white as well which would mean a camera crew of at least five people besides a producer, director and other assistants. This is not a negligible number. 562. I quite agree, I had not thought of that. Then in Part C, paragraph 1 (d), you say: — " Documentary Films are one of the finest means of training film technicians." I think everyone who has seen a documentary film would agree with that. You then say: — " Any encouragement of Documentary Film production must influence the technical quality of all types of films." That is a very large claim. Do you think that the increased documentary film production would be sufficiently great to make a sufficient number of technicians available for the production of ordinary entertainment films? — I think I can best reply by saying that the membership of Associated Realist Film Producers. Limited, whom I represent, is, I think, 12 people. Most of these people, who are reputable documentary film producers, have to my knowledge in the last year been offered posts in the ordinary story film studios on the grounds of their technical knowledge. Secondly, I would say that the application list of people wishing to come into documentary film production grows longer week by week and is becoming embarrassing, chiefly of young men coming from the universities and elsewhere who wish to go into film production, but who will not go to an ordinary film studio but prefer either to come to ourselves, the G.P.O. film unit, or the Strand Film Company, or G.B. Instructional as the chief producers of documentary films. 563. You say the applications are becoming embarrassing. Do you see your way to giving them the training that they need to cope with that demand?— If there is encouragement given by getting a full renters' quota by all means. 564. But there, is only a limited number of people qualified to give the training at present, is there not? — Quite, but it is the custom on documentary work to employ at least one new person on every film. 565. Is that part of your system? — Quite definitely, and if I may speak, my Lord Chairman, not as representative of the Associated Realist Producers, Limited for the moment, but in my capacity as director of productions for the Strand Film Company, I have two films being produced under my supervision at the moment. On both units I am employing people who have not before worked on documentary films and who are being thoroughly trained. I have two new films starting at the beginning of June, and on them I am employing two more new people who applied to me last year. That is our custom. Then, when two further films come along, the two people who started training will be advanced in their positions, and we are thus gradually getting trained personnel. 566. Is that your idea only or is it being done generally? — It is being done by the two sources of documentary film production, by the G.P.O. film unit and by the Strand Film Company, with which I am familiar. 567. (The Hon. Eleanor Plumer): Thank you very much, that meets my point. 568. (Chairman) : We are very much obliged for your evidence. (The Witness withdrew.) ANNEX I. Constitution of Associated Realist Film Producers Ltd. Members of Association. Edgar Anstey. Andrew Buchanan. William Coldstream. Arthur Elton. Marion Grierson. J. B. Holmes. Stuart Legg. Paul Rotha. Alex Shaw. Evelyn Spice. Donald Taylor. Harry Watt. Basil Wright. Consultants of Association. Alb. Cavalcanti. John Grierson. Prof. J. B. S. Haldane, F.R.S. Prof. Lancelot Hogben, F.R.S. Julian S. Huxley. E. McKnight Kauffer. Walter Leigh. Basil Ward, A.R.I.B.A. Associated Realist Film Producers is an independent, authoritative body acting as a consultant film organisation to Government Departments and other official bodies, to the various public services, university and education authorities, industrial -and commercial organisations, and others anxious to make their activities known to a wide public. A.R.F.P. is not itself a commercial production or distribution company but co-operates with existing film companies in the production and distribution of films. The association co-ordinates and develops the field of documentary cinema by grouping together producers and directors who have established themselves among the leading makers of documentary films.. As a group, A.R.F.P. is affiliated to the Association of Cine-Technicians. It welcomes and endorses in its entirety the memorandum drawn up by that body on quota and the British fiction film. ANNEX TI. Definition of a A Documentary Film, that is to say a film dealing with living facts and real life as distinct from fiction, aims to be something more than a prosaic description. It implies the use of the camera and the microphone to dramatise actuality, a use of cinema that requires a creative ability quite different from the technical skill of using camera and microphone to reproduce the natural scene. In its interpretation of current events, Documentary Film is concerned with the meaning behind things and the significance underlying persons. Unlike the travel or scenic film, it penetrates beneath the surface .1 the contemporary scene. Thus, it is not only the subject but the creative way in which that subject Documentary Film. is treated that is of importance in the Documentary Film. To the Documentary Film-maker, every manufacture, every organisation, every source of public service, every current event represents at one point or another the fulfilment of a human interest. The Documentary Film, quite simply, aims to bring about an awareness in every person of their place in everyday life and of the responsibilities of good citizenship implied by that membership. \\"h dealing with familiar subjects at home or with the more distant parts of the Empire, the Documentary Film fulfils the same purpose of combining knout with entertainment, presenting its themes with a