Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

REEL and SLIDE become newly enfranchised citizens the screen is becoming a power in awakening them to a sense of responsibility. Films showing the organization and work of city departments have sometimes been used to this end. Finally the fact that the fire losses of the United States and Canada during 1917 aggregated $267,273,300, shows that too much stress cannot be placed upon the subjects of fire prevention and fire protection. News Reels Contain Material The rental of the films varies from $2.00 to $35.00, depending upon the original cost of production, the length of time they have been issued, and the demand for them. In some cases a request is made that no admission Jje charged when pictures are shown. There are so few copies of these films that arrangements for their use should be made at least a month in advance. While every effort has been made to secure accurate information concerning cost of rental and availability, conditions change so rapidly in the motion picture industry that such data are intended as a guide to those interested rather than an absolute check list. When ordering from a large manufacturer it is •jvise to consult your local exhibitor regarding the nearest exchange. Much valuable material has been found in the rrews reels of various film corporations, as the "Pathe News," Gaumont "Graphics" and "Life Reels," or the Universal's "Film Magazine." Each of these films, usuallj' 1,000 feet in length, contains a collection of from six to twelve subjects, each of which may be from 100 feet to 500 feet long. Such films, after a few months' time, are either destroyed or simply the negatives are kept. This means that they cannot be rented and can only be reprinted at considerable expense. Yet they include such subjects as "Americanization Daj' Celebrated," "A Square Deal for Baby," "Keeping the Big City Clean," "Hetch-Hetchy Project." "Rose Festival, Portland, Oregon," "Making School Safe," "Children Dancing Around IMaypoles," "Children Gather and Preserve Vegetables," etc. Columbia Students Corps Taught by Government Films By Jonas Howard THE Students Army Training Corps of Columbia University, New York City, is the first to be instructed in topography" and military geology by films loaned by the government for that purpose. The Bray Studios have completed 20,000 feet of film, 2,000 of which were shown at the Columbia School of Journalism to 700 members of the Students Army Training Corps in October. Waldamar Kaempfert, editor of the Popular Science Monthly, heralded these films as the first of a great educational movement which will spread over the country to the greater efficiency in methods of teaching, and making possible many experiments along educational lines which have hitherto been considered impossible. "Edison," he said, "expected the use of motion pictures as a method of teaching children to be put ahead of their use as a means of amusement. It is simply a matter of time now till all schools and colleges will be using them and saving the time and tempers of both students and teachers." The practical demonstration included the drawing of field maps in four different scales, the interior workings of a Stokes mortar and the operation of the rifle grenade and the Lewis gun. Max Fleischer of the Bray Studios and Lieut. Leventhal, a member of the Signal Corps, spent several months at Fort Sill perfecting a process and taking the pictures which compose the films now owned by the government and used extensively in camps and cantonments. / The use of motion pictures in teaching the elements of map making is intended to condense many hours of text book study into a few moments of visual understanding. This method leaves no room for misinterpretation. The films are so made that diagrams and drawings are interspersed with natural photographs, and paragraphs of explanation, so that one acquires the knowledge of how to work a Lewis gun or a Stokes mortar almost painlessly and with wonderful speed. The films showed the possibility of condensing many hours of text book matter to less than seven minutes of visual presentation. The lesson in map dra,wing and the interpretation thereof were given in an amusing and instructive manner. In quick succession were shown a house, an orchard, a camp, an improved road, an unimproved road, trenches, a cemetery, a railroad, a bridge and mountains of various heights. The usual designations of these on maps were shown, and also the objects as they look from airplanes and balloons, from which the maps are drawn. Duluth Schools to Make Tests of Visual Instruction By John S. Bird, A.B. IT would appear that our more northern educators are more keenly alive to the educational value of moving pictures than are those in the East and South. We know that Wisconsin is equipped with more school projectors than any state in the Union, that Michigan follows close~ behind and that Minnesota schools have developed visual teaching to a great extent. At the Morgan Park School, Duluth, Minn., an interesting experiment is now being conducted with moving pictures. They are not making a haphazard affair of this plan; they are trying to make the film give full efficiency as a direct aid to the pedagogue by following a carefully laid plan of application and by making the pictures projected as of much benefit as possible to the class room. The plan adopted and now in operation in Duluth has many good points and undoubtedly will be of interest to teachers in other cities who wish to get full efficiency from their screens. The experimental procedure is as follows : a — The reel is first projected upon the screen, without comment from the teacher, b — When the picture has been run, the teacher proceeds to ask questions concerning what has been shown, c — The picture is once more projected, this time with comments by the teacher. Plan of Preparation Comes First These three phases of the work concern the actual application of the films. There is a carefully laid plan of preparation that comes before it. This preparation is made several hours in advance of the first showing. It consists of oral description of the objects or subjects to be shown. Also, small photographs of the subject are passed around in order that each child may have a good general conception of the moving picture subject. A discussion, interspersed with oral questioning, is designed to focus attention and to arouse the curiosity of .the pupil ip advance of the showing of the animated picture. Also, it is believed, that, knowing the chief points of the subject to be shown in advance, the class will take note more carefully of the moving pictures as they unfold themselves. When the pictures have been projected twice as described above, the information and impressions created in the young mind are reviewed orally and are the result of written memorandums on the part of each pupil. The first series of illustrative moving pictures to be shown in the class room at the Morgan Park School consisted of the following animal studies : "Beavers Preparing for Winter," "African and Indian Elephants," "Feeding the Fish Eaters," "The Larger Birds," and "Feeding Old Animals," all of the Ditmar "Living Book of Nature" series, produced bv Educational Films Corporation of America and released through Educational Films Company of Minneapolis. Reports from Duluth indicate that the plan has so far worked successfully. It was believed that animal reels offered the best opportunities for the early tests. Other subjects are to be taken up each month as the class progresses. Claim Films Save Teachers' Time T-he Morgan Park plan allows for two exhibitions a week, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 1 :45 o'clock being the time set for these classes. The Duluth educators are working on the theory that films should have some entertainment value in order to fulfill their mission of concentrating attention. At the beginning, parents were invited to see the tests made of the innovation. One of the chief claims made is that the pictures save the teacher's time. They amplify the text in certain studies where good films are available. They aid in driving in the points which the teached desires to accentuate. It is believed that to merely project the moving pictures with no advance preparation and to fail to utilize the effect of the pictures after exhibition, is falling short of the mark. In other words, that films used in a haphazard fashion in the school room merely descend to pure entertainment and fail of their real purpose— to inform. It is not decided yet that this procedure is perfect or that it is designed to get the full benefit from the pictures shown. But it is a start in the serious work that is contemplated with moving pictures in the Duluth schools. i