Page:The Educational Screen - Volume 1.djvu/17

The time is surely here when all who desire films for both community and school instruction and entertainment should insist upon motion pictures that are the equal of theatrical films. No longer should the out-and-out theatrical reel find a place in the classroom, for educators can demand films that bear some logical relation to the standard text books. Again, school authorities have at their disposal in practically every state divisions of visual instruction that can give them information concerning both recreational and the classroom film. There should be no division of visual instruction in the country content either to offer information about or distribute films made under old-time photographic conditions and wherein the talent amounts only to naive and inartistic posing and grimacing, which in former days constituted motion picture acting. Schools and community centers should demand the better releases and should seek them where they can be secured at possible prices.

Despite the fact that those who are interested in visual education can not fail to be optimistic, we are forced to find a few dark spots on the horizon. There yet remain some educators who, because of their superior knowledge in their chosen fields, are quite supreme in their confidence that they can write motion-picture scenarios and direct the production of both non-theatrical and theatrical films. Under such distinguished directors, it is small wonder that camera men can be found who will grind out a heavily padded production that causes regular producers spasmodic attacks of apoplexy. The shoemaker will stick to his last, but some educators would produce Hamlet in an eight by ten school loft. The future of the non-theatrical field depends on the ability of the producers to apply every known art to this motion-picture field. The finished product, if it be recreational, must in every way be as recreational as the films shown in the theatres, but it must be made with a selected optience clearly in mind. The purely instructional film will be made, and for that matter is now made in some instances, by talented directors, expert dramatic talent, in conjunction with educators, who will watch the literary and scientific interpretation or aspects. The advertising reel, still too commonly seen in both school and community gatherings, will soon be a thing of the past and in its place will be the industrial reel that will show, as its primary purpose, all phases of a certain industry. There is no objection, of course, to including in such a reel a title saying that such-and-such a firm contributes the release for vocational study.

At the beginning of this new year those interested—and they are more numerous than ever before—can look forward with considerable pleasure and confidence to future developments in the non-theatrical field. Sound business policies, right-minded attitudes on the part of both producer and exhibitor—each recognizing that the other’s cooperation is vitally needed for such produc-