See and hear : the journal on audio-visual learning (1945)

Editorial Notes and Comment • AN INTRODUCTION TO THIRD ANNUAL FALL REVIEW * * On the pages that follow, the editors of See and Hear present the annual Fall Re\'iew of New Classroom Films. Information on some titles was recei\ed too late for mention in the Review listings and we should like to call them to your attention in other pages of this issue. Every listed producer of classroom films was contacted by See & Hear staff editors in person, by mail, phone or wire in order to bring our nationwide family of readers as comprehensi^■e a report on recent production as possible. Now Being Widely Used Inaugurated two years ago as a special service, this annual Fall Review is being used many months after its early fall publication according to reports from producers and as evidenced by the flow of letters from readers to our Chicago staff headquarters. Supplementary pages will appear as before in succeeding issues -so that readers are kept up to date on all new releases from these specializing producers of school and community films. Few sponsored films appear in these pages. To list these without, serious evaluation would serve neither sponsor nor teacher and we recognize a prior responsibility in this Review to assist those who ha\e created educational materials without outside aid. Many outstanding new sponsored films are certainly available and these are reported ^vhenever they merit comment and whenever evaluation data is complete. Increasing Flow of Production An important measure of the growth of the educational film field is evidenced by the additional pages required to list nearly a hundred more titles than our previous (September 1948) 'inventory. Undoubtedly some excellent films ha^e been omitted but in the main this survey is representative of most materials issued since approximately January 1, 1949. The quality of materials listed is improving with some real greatness achieved at times. The art of the classroom and communit\ film is cer tainly at high standard in such subjects as The Looti's Necklace, Piclure in Your Mind, and Princeton. Color plays an increasingly important role and the importance of research and scholarly preparation is evident in recent efforts of McGraw Hill, EB Films, and others. FiLMSTRiPs Coming to Fore Behind the whole field, the basic and utterly simple but vastly important silent filmstrip is rapidly coming iiito its own. Note especially the increasing number of producers and the regular flow of correlated series listed here. Text book publishers have begun to recognize the filmstrip as an indispensable adjunct to new ^■ollnnes; its flexibility and economy make possible the lighted screen in tens of thousands of classrooms where visual education is more learend than fact. Motion pictiues and filmstrips have different and well-identified tasks. Having taken this basic first step toward impro\ing our teaching, there will be man)' more teacliers ready to use the 16mm sound motion picture in its rightful place Avithin the frame'ivork of the daily curriculum and i?i the classroom. The editors of LIFE announce a new educational service . . . LIFE filmstrips in color Limited editions; of 35nun, 50-frame filmstrips printed from life's color transparencies of the world's great masterpieces of art, architecture and archeology. Lceture notes inchnled. Ready in October: Heritage of the Mara. The Atom. The Middle Ages and GioUo's Life of Christ. $1.50 each. (hders Jillcil in itnlrr recpiivil. liiioklct on request. LIFE FILMSTRIPS . Time A Life Bl,lp. • ') Ko.k.-f.ll.r Plaza • N. Y. f 14 SEE & HEAR FALL REVIEW