AID BY CINEMA

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 254, 24 September 1935, Page 2

AID BY CINEMA

VISUAL EDUCATION. ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS. “To-day it is a common expression to hear that youth is all out tor pleasure. It is used by parents and grandparents, perhaps in a rather derogatory manner, but if we stop to think, this quest is not wrong if it is legitimate pleasure. It is quite right that they should devote as much time as they can to this apart from their ordinary vacation in life.” Thus commented Mr W. A. Armour, M.A., M.Sc., principal of the 'Wellington College, during an address to the Palmerston North Rotary Club yesterday on the cinema in relation to education. Mr W. E. Winks presided over a good attendance. “The comment made by older people that youth is always after pleasure,” added Mr Armour, “is usually uttered in a tone of censure, implying that they are not fond of work, that their manners are not all one could wish for, and that they do not settle down readily to business and making a living. They spend their time in motoring, Inking, modern dancing, sun-bathing, and devote a great deal of time to visits to the cinema. These young people are between the ages of 18 and 24, and they were aged three to nine years at the time of the Armistice. They are not a product of war years, but are an entirely new generation whose outlook is different because we live in an age of speed and organisation —especially organisation of sport. They can do a tremendous lot more in 24 hours than when I was a boy, and in the course of an afternoon and evening can indulge in a round of pleasures. They may possibly participate in a game, go swimming and sun-bathing, to a dinner, the pictures, and a dance. bo is their outlook and attitude made, and it is something on which we older people will have to ponder. With modern transport they can do many things in a short time.” The cinema, as a means of entertainment and pleasure, had great possibilities when first introduced, said MiArmour, and it was pleasing to know that in the. last year or two films had made tremendous progress, not only in the kind of picture shown, but iu technique. Older people expressed a dislike for what they termed canned music, artificial and unreal pictures, and their underlying sentiment. There was hardly a book to-day, however, which did not contain some reference to the cinema, which made its influence apparent in travel, social questions and political situations. For propaganda purposes the potentialities of the cinema had been realised by Soviet Russia, Italy, Germany and even Britain. African tribes were being educated by the cinema, for easier communications had brought an infiltration of Western ideas to native races, but it was important to ensure that the latter were given the true ideas of Western civilisation, for scandalous films had been released in Eastern Asia, giving a false impression of the West, and leading natives to regard its civilisation with, contempt.

INTERNATIONAL G OOD WILL. “The film is a wonderful agent for the promulgation of international understanding and goodwill,” continued Mr Armour, “it is a truism that goodwill follows understanding. Films should be an index to people's life and character. New Zealand has very advanced film legislation to deal with what are termed ‘loose’ pictures, and measures are at present being considered which will effect still further improvements. The children of this country are safeguarded to an extent not so in other countries.” He added that after branches had been established in the four chief centres a New Zealand Film institute was to be formed. It would work on identical lines with the existing organisation in Great Britain for educational, cultural and entertainment cinematography, to develop its use tor entertainment and public instruction, to influence public opinion and appreciation of its value, and to advance the organisation to link up the film trade with cultural and educational interests. Sixty per cent, of New Zealand children visited the einema once a week, and it was practically virgin territory so far as education was concerned ill this country. Films, in the speaker’s opinion, were far more valuable for educational purposes than the wireless, because they- gave both the voice and pictorial representation, with added conciseness and entity. South Australia had purchased school projectors which should be used for films Of 10 to 12 minutes’ duration, bringing the cinema actually into the classioom as an aid to education. As far back as 1921 Switzerland realised the value of the cinema in the schools, and practically every school in every canton was fitted with a projector. Germany had 10,000 school projectors and intended to increase the number of 60,000, but in England, which had lagged behind, there were only 700, or one for every 500 schools. In America, 11,000,000 children under the age of 14 attended the pictures once weekly, showing the potency with which the film could be used in education. Tests had disclosed that pupils taught per medium of films learned 19 per cent, more than otherwise, and learned more quickly. They remembered 16 per cent better, and entered into class discussions to a 10 per cent, greater extent than other pupils, besides reading 40 per cent, more supplementary material outside of the classr° Concluding, Mr Armour said the film gave impetus to religious instruction, and was being extensively used in medical and health work and business and commercial practice. It was hoped soon to be able to show films in undarkened rooms, also to produce them more cheaply on a cellophane material not readily inflammable, which would nob scratch, and which would be more permanent. All sound heads used ~ in New Zealand theatres were made within the country, and Mr Armour predicted that New Zealand would soon have its own film studios. The speaker was accorded a vote of thanks on the motion of Mr G. G. Hancox.