EDUCATIONAL FILMS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 147, 23 June 1937, Page 7

EDUCATIONAL FILMS

GENERAL USE SOON

A DEMONSTRATION

An interested audience heard the latest form of 16 m.m. educational sound film at the meeting of the Wellington Film Institute at the Wellington College gymnasium last night. Amongst those present were the Acting Prime Minister (the Hon. P. Fraser, Minister of Education) and Mr. N. T. Lambourne, the Director of Education. Dealing with the advances made in visual education in the classroom, the president (Mr. W. A. Armour, headmaster of the college) spoke of their educational and recreational value. The educational side had not been taken up much yet in .New Zealand, but more could be done in this way. Perhaps children's theatres could be established so that out of school hours programmes suitable to their years could be shown while being at the same time elevating and entertaining. Children naturally expected films to be shown as well as they were in the commercial theatres, and some provision would be necessary for showing sound films in classrooms in the way of curtains, such as it had been found wise to provide in their own gymnasium. The films they were showing were purely educational, but he thought that there was room for film instruction in such institutions as the public works, railways, placement offices, dental services, and medical schools. TYPES OF SUBJECT. The films shown consisted of. two 35 m.m. examples, "Acoustics" and "How Talkies Talk," and three 16 m.m. samples, "The Thistle," "The Life Story of a Plant," and "York." The first was an exemplification of sound waves and their effect on the ear drum, their refraction through warmer air, and the effect of-bare walls on reverberations of sound, while the frequency cycles of music or voices, and the bizarre effects obtained by cutting out the higher and lower frequencies were demonstrated and explained. ' Thistles and lupins formed-the subject of two of the 16 m.m. films, and were beautiful examples of the reproductive processes of each, while the third dealt with the antique beauties of York, its walls, the Minster, and innumerable monuments of England's past. The photographic recording of sound was shown in the other 35 m.m. films. Replying to questions during the ensuing discussion, Mr. Armour said that the cbst to screen 100 feet of silent film would be perhaps ss, and that of sound film from 10s to 15s. ,The idea would be to have a central library from which a number of schools could hire films at a small cost. Both films'and projectors would be needed, as one was of no use without the other. There was no doubt that visual education was developing in South Africa and also in Australia. A VALUABLE MEDIUM. Mr. Lambourne said there was no doubt that films were going to play a large part in education; they were already doing so in other countries, particularly in Germany, France, and Italy. Undoubtedly visual presentations such as they had just seen must make a way for children to learn some information which was difficult for them to gather in any other way. There were two purposes for which films could be used, "foreground" and "background" types. The thistle film shown was of the former, and the York film of the latter kind, one having a direct teaching value, and the other supplying general information. There was not unanimity as to whether foreground films should be sound or silent. There were teachers who said that the sounds distracted the children's attention from the subject that was being taught, but he thought it was agreed that the background, or general information film, should be a sound film. He agreed with the idea of the film library, and he did not think there would be trouble with securing the requisite quantity of films, but the question of the purchase of projectors would have to be considered. "I have no doubt of the value of film for teaching," he concluded, "and I am sure that before long it will be in much more general use than it is at present. There are several places where there are groups of schools, which have established a film library, such as Auckland. Speaking from memory, I think that in Italy each high school has about 90 films available. ■ The sound quality of the 16 m.m. films we have seen tonight was excellent."

A vote of thanks to Messrs. J. R. Cuddie and J. H. Thorn, members of the college staff, who manipulated the projectors, the 16 m.m. from the back of the roonvand the larger films-from another projector well outside it, was carried by acclamation.^