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“The evolution of the educational film is intimately related to the larger history of educational technology”

Paul  Saettler shared this sentiment in his book The Evolution of American Educational Technology and it is easy to see why he felt this way.   The development of educational film required a convergence of technology, pedagogy, equipment, distribution and distributors.   These components as well as the interests of government, schools, churches, and industry all helped to shape the growth of educational film.   This fragile framework was just beginning to take shape in the late 1920s when sound arrived.  Saettler describes the advent of sound as a “critical period in educational film history.”  This crisis came “just as educators were becoming convinced of the educational merits of the silent film, the advocates of the sound film realized they had to fight the battle all over.”   The mixed reactions brought about by these first sound films were for a variety of reasons:

“Some educators repudiated the old silent films; others rejected the new sound films; still others refrained from either open approval or disapproval until they became convinced that the addition of sound was not just another technical novelty. Many hesitated to accept the sound film because they feared their silent equipment would become useless.”

This blog will take a look at this era in the development of educational film and the battle over sound.   We will start by taking a look at film sources and distribution in these early days followed by examples of silent and sound films and then some of arguments surrounding the introduction of sound film.

Before Sound- The Silent Film in Education

Many early films were designed primarily to entertain.  The educational interests came second, therefore some of the earliest educational films were things like the newsreel and travelogue which could be adapted for educational purposed to teach history or geography.   There were several categories of film producers at this time:  Governmental, Educational, Industrial, and Film Producers.  One of the primary problems with educational film at this time was film distribution.   Ellis and Thornborough (1923) identify distribution as “the most troublesome problem”, the authors believei it is “an even greater problem today than that of film production, for of what use are the thousands of excellent pictures that may be in the vaults of producers in New York if the user of films in Texas or California cannot obtain them?” (Ellis and Thornborough, 1923, p. 27)

Aside from distribution, film quality for many pictures was poor.  Technical aspects of the film were often poorly done with too much or not enough lighting, misspelled words, and thinly constructed plots.  As film was a new art, one criticism was that filmmakers would sometimes film something immovable, such as a wood pile, just for the sake of filming.  Moreover, most movies available to educators had almost no connection to their instructional goals. Many of these same problems such as distribution and disconection to educational goals follow the film from silence to sound.  The film below is a travelogue that could have been shown in a class in conjunction with a geography lesson.  In the case of the silent film, the skill of the educator was needed to connect the film to the topic of study and to point out areas of interest to the students.

The Land of Montezuma- Undated Travelogue

Tides and the Moon- undated

Critics and Visionaries:

Exciting new technologies can carry with them disproportionately high hopes or strong fears.  Perhaps no one exemplifies the high hopes envisioned for the future of educational film more than Thomas Edison.   Edison was an inventor and visionary and “was one of the first to produce films for classroom showings” (Saettler, 2004, p. 138).  He has been identified by every author in the readings as someone who has made “extravagant claims have been made for the use of films in education” and as someone who identified film as a “panacea for all educational ills and shortcomings”  (Dent, 1939, p 183).  Saettler quotes Edison as saying that “Books will soon be obsolete in the schools. Scholars will soon be instructed through the eye. It is possible to teach every branch of human knowledge with the motion picture” (Saettler, 2004, p. 141).   Ellis and Thornborough quote Edison as saying that “films are inevitable as practically the sole teaching method” (Ellis and Thornborough, 1923, p. 125).

Lewin1 Lewin2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edison may have been identified as the poster child for these types of extravagant claims, but he was not alone.  In his article “Where Does Progress Lie in the Development of Educational Pictures?”, William Lewin also predicts that “With the coming of the talkies, textbooks were destined to be radically modified, and the old-style, traditional classroom procedures will disappear.”  Lewin goes on to claim that “with the addition of color and sound, the film will tell more about the world in ten minutes than any ordinary book could in a whole hour” (1930, p. 8).   Six years before the advent of sound Ellis and Thornborough were warning about these ‘excessive claims.”

“Some educators have made excessive claims for the motion picture as the coming panacea of all education’s shortcomings, destined to supersede textbooks and supplant teachers, to furnish a soft and easy knowledge.   Others have been equally excessive and intemperate in discounting pictures as a frill, a fad, as of no real merit in education.  But between these two extremes have been men and women who have recognized in the motion picture a valuable supplement and aid to the imparting of knowledge and who have been patiently and with much Iabor and confidence in the future helping the pictures over the rocks of early endeavor” (Ellis and Thornborough, 1923, p. 16)

Edison so believed in the power of film that he predicted that it would end the need for textbooks.

Edison so believed in the power of film that he predicted that it would end the need for textbooks.

The Sound Crisis

The debate about the advantages or disadvantages of silent film were still raging when sound was introduced in the late 1920s.  Saettler calls thsi a “a critical period in educational film history” because “just as educators were becoming convinced of the educational merits of the silent film, the advocates of the sound film realized they had to fight the battle all over” (Saettler, 2004, p. 149-150).  These strong words used by Saettler were used again in every text- words like “crisis” and “battle” convey the turbulence this brought to educational technology.  The caption below “The battle rages on!” is taken from the Audio-Visual Handbook by E.C. Dent published in 1939.   This is ten years after the advent of film and the writing still conveys a sense of conflict over the use of sound.   BattleRagesOn

 

There is a section in the book titled “Sound or Silent Film” which begins with the statement “A great deal of controversy has arisen in recent years over which is more desirable in a particular learning situation, the sound or silent film.”   It had never occurred to me that the use of sound would be so controversial.  Other factors could have contributed to this less than enthusiastic welcome from many educators.  Sound came along at an unfortunate time,  “in the late 1920s and the early 1930s commercial educational film enterprises were failing at an alarming rate”  This can be attributed to the depression and the “sound crisis”of the 1930s, but as Saettler notes these failures occur “just when research findings were emphasizing the particular usefulness of the film as a medium of instruction” (Saettler, 2004, p. 150).

 

Perceived Disadvantages of Sound

1. The Inflexibility of the Commentary

When comparing a silent film to a sound one, one concern was that the teacher would have less ability to “adapt her remarks to teh requirements of the class” (p. 16).   This would have been especially necessary if the film in question were an industrial film which is being modfied to fit the lesson.  Some teachers felt this inflexibility was a distinct disadvantage.  Rulon (1933) points to studies that suggest that an experienced teachers’ “running commentary has consistently shown itself to be more effective than the same film when shown without it” (p. 16). Rulon then compared the sound motion picture to “a silent motion picture which is accompanied by a running commentary supplied by a well-trained and thoroughly informed speaker” (Rulon, 1933, p. 16).  There are additionally some suggestons for overcoming this difficulty- the teacher can always turn the sound off and present the film as they would a silent film and still adapt it to suit the needs of the class.

From Title page 16

The Sound Motion Picture in Science Teaching (1933) Rulon

2. They “divide the student’s attention”

The sound film was also feared to “divide the student’s attention” and as such should be “used cautiously” (p. 58).  There was an easy solution to this problem and that was to show the movie multiple times.  In the first viewing, the teacher should not interrupt the film, but “during subsequent showings, when students have become familiar with the film’s continuity of though and are observing specific features, it may not be amiss for the teacher to throw in a parenthetical comment or question not and then” (p. 58).  The teacher is warned not to disrupt the student’s visually as “the auditory interruption may be less likely to distract than the visual interruption” (p. 58).

58 Title

Selected Films for American History and Problems by William H. Hartley p. 58

 

3. Mechanized presentation of Subject Matter

Another fear was that the sound film presented a machine-like, “mechanized presentation of subject matter” (Brunstetter, 1937, p. 47).   The solution to this problem lies with the creativity of the teacher.  Ingenious teachers have found ways of adapting the film showing itself for special instructional purposes.”   Additionally, if mechanistic presentation is still a concern, the teacher has other options available to her.   The film may be shown: “as a silent subject with teacher comments, as a silent subject with pupil comments or descriptions, and as a sound film a few sequences in length. Or, during repeated showings, projection may be halted momentarily for comments and discussion” (Brunstetter, 1937, p. 47).  These options of presentation as well as the creativity of the teacher.

 

4. Listening and watching at the same time will “tax the student’s concentration”

Another criticism about sound film is that “The combined impression made by the visual and auditory components of the sound film would seem to tax the student’s concentration sufficiently.”  This was more of a concern in “the early years of the educational sound film” when some people argued that the child “could not attend to one without missing part of the other.” (Brunstetter, 137, p. 56-57).  The solution for this problem is to “experiment with various methods of securing  pupil reactions  during the  projection of a film”

Criticism of Film in General

Many educators were wary of film before the advent of sound.  In this 1923 book, Motion Pictures in Education:  A Practical Handbook for users of Visual Aids, authors Ellis and Thornborough address the top 17 complaints against the use of film.  Among the top complaints:

  1. Eye strain
  2. Mechanical difficulties
  3. Fire hazard
  4. Cost
  5. Films make learning too easy
  6. Films create superficial thinkers
  7. Films reduce reading
  8. Films destroy the sense of perfection in language
  9. Films dull the imagination
  10. Films distract from the lesson
  11. Films tend to replace the teacher-textbook method of instruction
  12. Slides and pictures are better than film
  13. Proper films are not available
  14. Films that are available are inaccurate, vulgar, and crude
  15. Films are too rapid
  16. The benefits of film are still unproven
  17. There is no established method of use

Film Pedagogy

Weber’s “instructional steps for film” adapted from Johan Herbart.  Similar to instructional design steps we might employ today which involve building on prior knowledge, an anticipatory set, formative evaluation, review and summative evaluation.

  1. Preparation, or discussing the synopsis of the film in light of the learner’s previous experience.
  2. Presentation, or presenting the film when learners’ “curiosity is at high pitch and their minds sharpened for the central message of the film”
  3. Informal discussion and assignments consisting of readings, problems, or projects;
  4. Supplementary showings, either running the film again without interruption or, preferably, showing it in parts, followed by more informal discussion;
  5. Formal recitation, or assimilating the film’s concepts through generalization and application, with the teacher having a carefully prepared lesson plan structured as to aim, content, and procedure; and
  6. Check-up, or oral or written review quizzes or check-up, or oral or written review quizzes or a list of test items in the form of an essay, report, or project.

Saettler, 2004, p. 160

Use of Silent Films Continued Long After Sound Films became Available

Medical Teaching Films

Silent films continued to be made and used long after sound films became widely distributed- below are some examples from the late 1930s which still present material in the silent format.

Care of Minor Wounds 1933