Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1922)

10 MOVING PICTURE AGE December, 1922 lections were taken up, and when all twenty-four showings had been made we figured that they had cost the farm bureau about $1 each above receipts. We felt that this expenditure was well worth while, and when showing again we hope to make more than expenses. The projector and equipment were purchased outright from funds in the farm-bureau treasury. Murray E. Stebbins, Agricultural Agent, Valley County, Mont. — To get project work before a community it is necessary to get the people together, and, once together, put them in a pleasant mood. Then they are in shape to take hold of a program of work with spirit ; and while in this mood they will also give good attention and thus have a much better understanding of the work than could be obtained in any other way. The people come out to the meeting and see a few reels on the subject, and then it is an easy matter to get them to adopt the work and select a good leader. There is no one sleeping or disputing during a motion-picture program. When a film program is announced a good attendance is assured ; about 90 per cent of the people in the community will be there, rain, snow, or blizzard. How much more encouraging and how much greater the work with an almost complete and really interested attendance ! A program was scheduled for a farmhouse one evening at 8. About noon the weather turned stormy, and the snow started to lift and travel in the air, which is a bad sign on the prairies of Montana. 1 started for the place and arrived at the farm home about 4. About half of the people were there then, and by 5 they were all there. They came early on account of the storm. I dare say that without the motion-picture program not more than a dozen persons would have turned out because of the storm; but as it was the project work was completed and the program was put on with good results, making a second trip unnecessary. Those present stayed all night, as the blizzard was so bad they were afraid to start home. In instances like this one I have been saved a second trip to a community, and have completed a definite piece of work, thanks to the help of our motion pictures. At summer picnics the schoolhouse is seldom large enough to hold the crowd, for at such gatherings four or five hundred is an average attendance. Therefore it is necessary to show the films outdoors, and this is successful unless it is a very windy or a bright moonlight night ; then the difficulty can be solved by getting around on the side that the wind does not strike or on the shady side of the building. In fact, in the summertime it is more comfortable to film the pictures outside than inside, and is just as satisfactory. I often put on two programs a day by filming the pictures in the afternoon. By putting a horseblanket or some dark covering such as an overcoat over the windows no difficulty has ever been experienced in putting on a program at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The financing of the exhibitions is very important, but not difficult. In this county educational films have always been used, and the only expense we have had has been the transportation. That amounted to a lot of money, and had to be met. The way the expense was handled was by getting the business men of the different towns to advertise on slides. These were run at the beginning of each program all over the county. Each business house was charged $10 per year per slide. The business houses considered it good advertising, and it more than paid our expenses and added no extra expense or work to the program. The business men were glad to co-operate with us in this way. E. M. Phillips, Farm Adviser, Greene County Farm Bureau, III. — From the standpoint of the farm-bureau officials motion pictures are not staged merely for the purpose of entertainment. They are a means to an end, though oftentimes the films themselves may teach highly important lessons. Stories of better farm management, better cultural methods, better livestock, better rural social conditions, better country homes, etc., have been put into attractive pictures that not only entertain but instruct. Couple these with the other serious purposes of farm-bureau service and you have abundant reason for assembling the people of a rural community at any time the occasion is suitable. We find that farmers enjoy homely pictures depicting the familiar everyday scenes such as planting the crops, cultivation, harvesting, etc., especially those in which modern machinery and up-to-date methods are employed. They like also to see the best types of livestock— animals of show-ring calibre. We have made quite wide use of a reel produced in our own county, on the Gregory farm at White Hall. This is a picture showing Mr. Corsa's prize-winning Percherons in action before a large crowd of men assembled to attend one of his famous horse sales. The big problem of the farm bureau, especially in these pioneer days of its existence, is to establish contact with its members to the largest possible extent. The bureau has developed several very important lines of service that should appeal to every member of the organization. Farm visits on the part of the county agent, consultations with farmers who come to the office, field demonstrations, etc., are among our best means of reaching the membership, but out of a thousand or more members in the bureau it is found that a goodly number of men are not reached by any one of the above activities. Taking the farm bureau out to the members through community meetings and telling the story of its service in the byways and hedges we believe is an important method of reaching men everywhere. Motion pictures are an important factor in this accomplishment. The story of motion pictures in farm-bureau work would be incomplete without a mention of their influence on the young people, the rising generation on the farm, for the boys and girls take a livelier interest in these meetings than do their parents. It is one of the ways in which the attractiveness of farm life may be played up so that the young people will get a vision of the possibilities of a career of success on the farm. Most of the films we use are naturally on agricultural subjects, but we also employ other themes for our exhibitions. Farm folks like to get away from shop stuff as well as do people in other vocations ; hence we frequently intersperse travelogue pictures, roadbuilding, manufacturing scenes, and humorous subjects. A. H. Pickford, County Agent, Story County Farm Bureau, la. — We find two important uses for the pictures : instruction and entertainment. As a means of delivering authentic information in a clear, concise, convincing manner we think the moving-picture route is hard to beat. Consider, for example, the comparative efficiency of an hour's talk, without illustrations, on the eradication of intestinal parasites of hogs, and the snappy, clear, conclusive presentation of the same subject in the two-reel production "Exit Ascaris." The former leaves the audience imbued with a sense of mystery on the whole topic, and literally dormant when you attempt to check your results. Not so, however, if you use the film. The presentation has been so easily understood that the audience is ready to go — to tackle the problem in a pleasingly effective manner. Field workers have for years talked on the dangers lurking in the consumption of milk from herds of dairy cattle infected with tuberculosis, yet where or when has there been the reaction to equal that which follows the presentation of that excellent film "Out of the Shadows" ? As one of our farmers put it : "My herd was tested within 48 hours after seeing the picture. The health of my wife and children is too valuable to run the risk." For pure entertainment we find the films of considerable value. Regular farm-bureau meetings are held in many of the townships. These meetings are usually held in the natural community center, the consolidated school, with home talent furnishing the major portion of the program. Oftentimes films of a lighter vein are run, sometimes at the opening of the program to hold the gathering crowd and help to start the meetings on schedule time ; and at other times a reel or two is run at the close of the program — to send HFolks home with a smile. G. F. Baumeister, County Agent, Stephenson County Farm Bureau, III. — Motion pictures play an important part in our farmbureau work. We would not know what to do without them now, for we are always assured of a crowd when films are used. We prefer meetings in rural schoolhouses ; we think the school district the best local unit to work with. Practically every family has an interest in the school. It is a small unit, and everyone is acquainted with everyone else. All can come without covering a great distance, and the whole family generally comes. Often there is no standing room when the exhibition begins. In the summer we frequently put up the curtain on the outside of the building, and the optience sits comfortably in automobiles in a semicircle or lounges on the grass. We sometimes have used town halls and rural churches as meeting places. Practically all of our picture meetings are in the evenings. After using motion pictures as much as we have, it is hard for us to conceive ©f carrying on our farm-bureau work without them. Demand for meetings exceeds our ability to supply them. We have'lined up many communities and several have been interested in forming community organizations. We have shown pictures many times to those who had never seen pictures before — old men and women and many children. By means of pictures we have increased attendance at our annual meetings, at meetings of breed associations, etc. We have given our picture to rural churches and established a point of contact there. We believe that there is no limit to the possibilities of good from the use of pictures other than lack of sufficient finances and the physical inability of putting in every night at it.