Teaching About The Film

TEACHING
ABOUT
THE FILM aj’(,c’v
.,v:
St)
CT
by J. M. L:‘PETERS
4
UNESCO
PRESS, FILM, RADIO AND TELEVISION IN THE WORLD TODAY
Titles in this series :
Professional trainina of fournalisis
by Robert W. Desmbnd, Chairman of the Department of Journalism,
University of California
Trainina for radio
by l&&ice Gorham, former Director of the BBC’s North American
Service, Light Programme and Television Service
Education by radio : school broadcasting
by Roger Clausse, Director-General of the Belgian National Broadcasting
Service
The use of mobile cinema and radio vans in fundamental education
by Film Centre, London
The problem of newsprint and other printing paper
by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, London
Low-cost radio reception
by Claude Mercier of the Engineering Department of Radiodiffusion
Francaise
Radio in fundamental education
bv J. Grenfell Williams. Head of the Colonial Section of the BBC
Pro’rojessional training of firm technicians
by Jean Lods, Deputy Director of the Institute for Higher Cinemato-
graphic Studies, France
The entertainment film for juvenile audiences
by Henri Storck, Belgian film producer
Legislation for press, film and radio
by F. Terrou, legal adviser for information matters to the French
dovernment, and -L. Solal
The film industry in six European countries
by Film Centre, London
Visual aids in fundamental education. Some personal experiences
Television and education in the Uniled States
by Charles A. Siepmann, Professor of Education and Chairman of the
Department of Communication, New York University
The child audience: a report on press, film and radio for children
by Philippe Bauchard
Paper for printing--today and tomorrow
by the Intelligence Unit of The Economist, London
Canada’s farm radio forum
by John Nicol, Albert Shea and G. J. P. Simmins, R. Alex. Sim, ed.
Television and rural adult education : the tele-clubs in France
by Joffre Dumazedicr, assisted by A. Kedros and B. Sylwan
The training of journalists : a world-wide survey on the training of personnel
for mass media
An Indian experiment in farm radio forums
by J. C. Mathur and Paul Neurath
Rural television in Japan. A report on an experiment in adult education
Television teaching today
by Henry R. Cassirer
Teaching about the plm
by J. hf. L. Peters
,41,-
“/. y/ _ . --..i
TF(-T
Published in 1961 by the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Place de Fontenoy, Paris-7e
Printed by Imprimeries RCunies S.A., Lausanne
0 Unesco 1961
Printed in Switzerland
~IC.GO/IV.%3/A
PREFACE
This book has been published by Unesco in the belief that, for
persons of all ages but perhaps particularly for the young, the
best protection against the faults and excesses which may be
encountered in the mass media of film and television is the
awakening, the development and the proper training of the criti-
cal spirit ; not criticism for its own sake, but for the better selec-
tion and understanding of vyhat is offered so prodigally by the
visual mass media. If there are objections to the term ‘criticism’,
one can say instead ‘discrimination’ or, perhaps better still,
‘appreciation’.
Signs are accumulating that in a good many parts of the world
attention is being attracted to the teaching of film apprecia-
tion-and it should be specially noted that this now means films
for the television screen as well as for the cinema screen. In
several countries, film-teaching is already common practice in a
number of schools, and this is not merely an activity organized
outside the school time-table, in a tine-club, but is one which is
starting to be found within the classroom, as part of the curri-
culum. As evidence of developing interest in the subject, it may
be mentioned that there is an active Society for Education in
Film and Television in England which could claim that by 1960
the number of English schools where film was being taught had
reached nearly 700 ; that the International Catholic Film Office at
a congress in Vienna in 1960 supported the principle of intro-
ducing some courses on film and television appreciation in school
programmes ; that the International Centre of Films for Children
in Brussels regards the sponsorship of film and television appre-
ciation as an increasingly important part of its work ; and that
the largest groups of items in A Bibliography on the Influence of
the Cinema on Children and Adolescents (which Unesco has just
published) are those dealing with the topic of film education in its
various aspects. As the introduction to this bibliography points
out, a growing interest in, and encouragement of, film education
represents the most noticeable trend in writings over the past
three decades about the cinema’s influence on young people.
It is hoped that the appearance of the present book will stimu-
late further interest and practical activity in film-teaching. The
evidence now available would seem to indicate that the next stage
of development should be for teachers in different countries who
engage in teaching film appreciation to share their experiences
5
and to work out together pedagogical methods which could be
generally adopted, as well as for an attempt to be made to assess
in what manner, and to what extent, the techniques of teaching a
critical approach to television entertainment differ from those
already in use for teaching about the cinema film.
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . 9
PART ONE. THE CONTENT OF FILM EDUCATION
I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF FILM-TEACHING . 13

Leading a ‘double life’ . . . . . 16
The screen makes us world citizens . . 18
Summing-up. . . . . . . . 20
II. UNDERSTANDING FILM LANGUAGE . . . 22

The elements of film making . . . . 22
‘Seeing’ can be as difficult as reading . . 32
The activity of understanding a film . . 32
Learning to understand film language . . 33
III. APPRECIATING A FILM AS A WORK OF ART . 36

The principles of the art of the film . . 36
The importance of Aim aesthetics . . . 48
IV. CRITICAL ASSIMILATION OF FILM CONTENT . 51

Environments, situations, courses of action. 51
The characters . . . . . . . 52
Tendency of the film and its ideas . . 54
‘Critical viewing’ . . . . . . 54
Freedom from illusions, and ‘liberation’ . 55
PART TWO. PRACTICAL POSSIBILITIES FOR FILM-TEACHING
v. METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF FILM EDUCATION. . 61

Instruction and demonstration . . . . . 61
Discussion . . . . . . . . . . 64
Making films . . . . . . . . . 67
Analysing films . . . . . . . . . 73
Miscellaneous activities . . . . . . . 74
VI. FILM-TEACHING IN CONNEXION WITH AGE AND MENTAL

DEVELOPMENT . . . . . . . . . 76
Mental development and ‘understanding film language’ 77
Mental development and ‘aesthetic appreciation of
films’ . . . . . . . . . . 79
Mental development and ‘critical assimilation of film
content’. . . . . . . . . . . 80
Mental development and methods of film-teaching . 82
VII. FILM-TEACHING AT SCHOOL . . . . . . 84

The right place for film-teaching . . . . . 84
Film-teaching in connexion with other subjects. . 88
Film-teaching at school as an extra-curricular activity 92
Film-teaching practice from infant school to university 94
VIII. THE TRAINING OF THE FILM-TEACHER . . . . 101

What the teacher needs to know . . . . . 101
Draft programme for training in ‘film pedagogics’ . 103
Organization of film-teacher training . . . . 103
APPENDIXES
1. Mental development and film understanding . 108
2.Listoffilms. . . . . . . . . 112
3. Selected book list. . . . . . . . 115
I N T R 0 D U C T I 0 N
The main purpose of this book, commissioned by Unesco, is to

arouse an active interest in film-teaching l among educational
authorities, teachers, parents and all others concerned with the
cinema-going of young people. Recent investigations have shown
that there has been a considerable increase in the amount of
attention given in educational circles in various parts of the
world to the problem of helping children and adolescents to
understand and appreciate-and to choose with discrimination-
the entertainment films which they see so frequently, whether
at the cinema or on the television screen. It is hoped that this
book, while drawing attention to the importance and potentialities
of film-teaching, especially in connexion with the school, may
also serve as a guide for a systematic survey of its various aspects.
At the same time, although not designed directly for this purpose,
the publication-with its practical examples and suggestions-
may well be regarded as a kind of model handbook on fllm-
teaching. As such it may prove valuable to all those, particularly
perhaps young teachers and training-college students, who are
anxious to tackle the problem of cinema and TV appreciation
either inside the classroom itself or in a film club conducted
outside school hours.
The book is based largely on the experience and ideas of edu-
cationists and teachers in several countries who have been active
for a number of years in the field of film-teaching. Thanks to
my personal contacts with many experts, my reading of books,
1. I have tried for a long time to find a term which would adequately and succinctly
convey the subject of this book. One of the diflkxlties is the need to avoid
confusion with the ‘teaching film’-that is, the flhn which is used expressly
as a teaching instrument, a visual aid. Our concern here is not at all with the
flhn in this narrow, pedagogical sense. Though not ideal, the term ‘film-teaching’
has finally been chosen, on the analogy of such expressions as ‘history teaching’
and ‘science teaching’ (teachin g of history, or science), and because it has a
wider meaning than the term ‘(teaching) film appreciation’. It will be noted
that I have used the hyphen : this is both to mark ‘film-teaching’ as a special
coinage, and to emphasize that it is a specific branch of teaching which occupies
our attention. It may also be noted that the terms used in other languages for
this particular subject do not seem to be satisfactory either. In German Film-
kunde-Unterricht means the teaching of film technique, film aesthetics, and
so on ; Filmerziehung refers to the development of the critical sense of young
people in relation to film. The French term usually employed is 6ducafion cindma-
fographique. In both the United Kingdom and the United States of America,
the term ‘film education’ is used, and although this compound is linguistically
not quite spotless, I shall use it now and then as a synonym for ‘film-teaching’.
9
Introduction
articles and pamphlets dealing with many aspects of the film

and education, the reports of national and international con-
ferences, and my own practice as a teacher, I have been able to
collect a large body of material, out of which I have tried to
construct not merely a theoretical framework but also a practical
structure covering the whole topic of film-teaching.
The starting point of the book is my conviction that the film-
and, along with the film, television-is by and large assuming
the proportions and shape of what we may call a ‘second world’
for our youth, and therefore education must take serious note
of the way in which young people ‘live’ in this modern environ-
ment of the visual mass media which occupies so much of their
leisure time. More and more, modern man, and particularly
modern youth, lives ‘visually’. Film and television, as the most
popular and powerful means of mass communication and recrea-
tion, are gradually usurping the place formerly occupied-and
not so long ago - solely by books and by other written, or spoken,
material. But people-and young people especially-are not suffl-
ciently prepared for this change and do not assimilate its effects
in a satisfactory way. It is a new and urgent task for education
to build, so to speak, a bridge between the life of children and
adolescents in the ordinary, everyday world and their imaginary
life in this ‘second world’ of the cinema and TV. Film-teaching
is the means whereby this may be done.
The author wishes to express his gratitude to all those who
in one way or another have contributed to the writing of this
book : by supplying him with oral or written data, literature
and other material; by answering his questionnaire ; and by
permitting him to reproduce stills and sequences from films as
well as extracts from shooting scripts.
The pages which follow have no pretensions to be a standard
work about film-teaching. But if they succeed in encouraging
and stimulating others to greater activity in the practical sphere,
as well as to further reflection and examination on the theoretical
side, they will have served their purpose.
10
P A R T 0 N E
The content of
film education
CHAPTER I
Purpose and scope

of film-teaching
These days many educational authorities, as well as parents,
seem to have it on their consciences that they ought to ‘do some-
thing about the film’. They often appear to envisage some form
of intervention, or interference, from the sphere of education
into that of the cinema. The arguments in favour of such action
stem mainly from the conviction of many adults, including many
educators, that motion pictures are a danger to young people.
Their view is that even though most films do not overtly express
ideas and opinions which might be considered morally bad, and
even though sympathy is not actually expressed for gangsters
and other villains, nevertheless the cinema may form a bad
emotional environment or intellectual climate for the young and
immature.
Certainly the world shown by many films is not a true reflection
of reality. It is often a world where, for example, family life,
work, culture and religion appear supremely unimportant. Rarely
is family life depicted as being important in itself ; it offers only
a framework for the actions of the principal characters on the
screen. Similarly, many films give the impression that work is
an unimportant part of man’s life. Only very seldom is the relation
of the film hero or heroine towards their jobs of any importance
for the development of the film story. As for cultural values,
it can surely be said without offending anybody that art, science,
technical and social progress are not the main concerns of many
film makers nor of the persons who play a leading part in their
films. Again, religion as an integral part of the daily life of many
people is represented only rarely on the screen.
Thus it is no exaggeration to say that many films are likely
to induce the inexperienced and uncritical onlooker to believe
that life is made up largely of crime and sex. The actions of the
leading characters are often motivated by the desire for social
success, wealth, prestige or authority. Sex and romance, crime
and adventure, swashbuckling heroics and personal achievement
are the predominant themes of a great many iilms. The senti-
mental element is over-emphasized at the expense of reasonable
argument. Problems are solved in a way designed to satisfy the
onlooker’s emotional wishes rather than the claims of his intellect.
Physical advantages-strength or beauty-are generally presented
Teaching abouf fhe film
as more desirable than brains or character. The social situation

of man (and woman) as depicted by the movies also differs consi-
derably from reality. The heroes of the screen generally have
‘romantic’ professions or jobs ; they may be cowboys, dancers,
singers, actors, sporting champions, detectives, officers in the
armed forces. But the office stool is not valued very highly.
Indeed, a large percentage of the characters on the screen are
already apparently so rich that they do not need to work at all.
Similarly, the surroundings most frequently shown in films arc
the prairie, the theatre (behind the scenes as well as from the
stage), the racecourse and boxing ring, the luxury flat, the night-
club frequented by gangsters, the glamorous outpost of empire-
not the wash-tub, the factory or the poor apartment.
Yet since (it is argued) one cannot prevent or counteract these
‘hidden dangers’ solely by means of negative measures, such as
film censorship, one has to do something positive. However, what
is meant here by ‘positive’ has often in the past turned out to be
still rather ‘negative’ ; young people, it has been said, ought to
be put through a process of being ‘disillusioned’ about their film
experiences. As early as 1933 the American Professor Blumer,
in one of the well-known Payne Fund studies 1 wrote that one
ought to teach young cinema-goers not to involve themselves
too deeply in the action of a film or in the problem of its heroes,
in order not to lose their critical detachment towards the film
itself. Young people, he thought, had to learn to develop what
he called ‘adult discount’-that is, they should cultivate aloofness
-in order to remain consciously the spectators and to avoid
becoming sympathetic participants. I myself think that nowadays
we see more clearly that one may develop a critical attitude
towards the cinema without at the same time becoming so detached
that a film experience in which one participates as a deeply-engros-
sed spectator is forfeited. As was remarked by Professor Dale 2
twenty years after his compatriot Blumer : pedagogically speaking
it would be no small loss, and seeing a film would be a less rich
experience, if one were to cultivate such an emotional detachment
among young people. What Lord Radcliffe wrote in The Problem
of Power is worth recalling at this point : ‘The spread of education
has given most people the apparatus of criticism ; what it has not
always given them is the knowledge how to use their machine for
an end that is not merely trivial or destructive. Yet criticism is
essentially a method of appreciation. It has no necessary connexion
with the awful luxuries of contempt or condemnation.‘s
Therefore, the cultivation of a critical attitude means, in a
1. Herbert I3lumer, Mouies and Conduct, New York, Macmillan, 1933, 257 pp.
(Payne Fund Studies.)
2. Edgar Dale, ‘Teaching Discrimination in Motion Pictures’, in : Nelson B. Henry
(ed.), Mass Media and Education, Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press, 1954.
3. Cyril John Radcliffe (Baron), The Problem of Power, lieith Memorial Lecture,
1951, with a postscript by the author, London, Collins, 1958, 128 pp. (Comet
Books, No. 13.) See postscript, p. 12%
14
The content of film education
___-
sense, ‘self-immunizing’. The spectators must not be bluffed by

the glitter of a picture and its stars, nor by the refined techniques
of film production. In this respect the advice that ‘one ought to
learn to withdraw from the suggestive power of the film’ can have
real meaning. It really comes down to this : where a worthwhile
film is concerned, the film experience of the young spectator should
certainly be allowed to be deep ; the depth of his impressions,
however, should not primarily be due to the glamour of the stars,
the fabulous production costs, or technical novelties and trickery.
To offer a protection against this type of spurious appeal is a
negative postulate of film education : the need for critical evalua-
tion and assimilation is a positive demand.
In American literature on the subject, film education is mostly
referred to as ‘motion picture discrimination’, and in that term
I think both the above meanings (of withdrawing from the sugges-
tive power of the film, and of critical evaluation and assimilation)
are present. However, in the so-called Wheare Report of 1950 r
-which could be regarded as the English charter of film-teaching-
the dangers of the film and the necessity of arming young people
against those dangers were given priority. The view that the
film may be also a new form of art in its own right has been late
in coming to the forefront of pedagogical studies and of film
educational practice in most countries. It is remarkable that,
generally speaking, the teaching of appreciation of the film as
art must still be first defended with the argument that the best
way to protect young people against the moral dangers of the
cinema is to cultivate their film aesthetic taste.
Yet changes have been coming over this scene. Whereas in
England the view was held for many years that film education
had to be art education in the first place, many members of the
Society for Education in Film and Television (formerly called
the Society of Film Teachers) have, for instance, for a long time
past been concerning themselves with aspects of the film other
than its aesthetic ones, that is, with its social, ethical and cultural
values.
What has happened in England has also happened in other
countries where film education has become an accepted notion,
and in other circles besides those professionally interested in the
subject. But let us not be carried away : right up to the present
there has remained a strong and active body of opinion upholding
the opposing viewpoint that tllm education can have nothing to
do with social or moral values. Sometimes one even hears the
opinion expressed that a discussion about moral or social pro-
blems inspired by a feature film does not rightly belong to the
domain of film-teaching but to the sphere of the teaching film
(that is, visual aids). This reveals a common misunderstanding.
There are, of course, points of contact between film education
___-
1. Home Offke, Heport of the Departmental Committee on Children and the Cinema,
London, HMSO, May 1950, 109 pp.
15
Teaching about the film
and the use of film as a visual aid in teaching, but a very essential
difference is that in film education one always comes back to the
film ; the film, however, regarded not merely as an aesthetic
object, but also as a social institution, as a means of mass entertain-
ment having special effects and influences on the cultural and
spiritual level of the people, a medium for communication of
ethical, religious, and other spiritual values. As things stand, the
film only very seldom qualities as being wholly a form of art.
Most often it is something like the newspaper, or a form of public
amusement such as a fair or a sports meeting.
Of course, one may take the view that one cannot be bothered
with this type of film-thereby excluding from one’s interest
the major part of film production. This may be a legitimate
attitude for the private individual, but in my opinion it is not a
valid one for the educator to adopt. For the latter cannot get
away from the fact that many non-aesthetic or extra-aesthetic
elements in the film represent an important part of the normal
world in which young people live. This has nothing to do with
the use of films as teaching aids ; it simply means that one ought
to teach young people how to integrate the experiences they have
acquired from a film into their own lives.
Leading a ‘double life’
To the average member of the average cinema audience, the film

seems to have a similar function to the novel or the stage play.
All these ‘media’ offer him an opportunity to participate in another
life, the life of other people, in other surroundings and circum-
stances, in other regions of the world. The cinema screen, the
covers of a book, the theatre curtain are alike the doorsteps to
a second world, where he can lead a second life-perhaps in some
respects a ‘double life’. But the reading of a book can be compared
only to leading a second inner life, because the world described
in words is an inner world, which we can perceive with our spiritual
eye only. However suggestive and vividly evocative a novelist’s
description of the outer world may be, this outer world exists
in our imagination only, and thus becomes an inner world. The
theatre, it is true, represents a world perceptible by our senses ;
yet the spectator stays outside this world. He is no more than
an onlooker, however deeply he may be moved emotionally by
the events on the stage.
But the film not only represents reality almost true to nature
but also places the spectator emotionally right in the centre of
the life that is going on within this reality. Let us examine this
phenomenon a little more deeply, by citing an illustration which
may seem a trifle homely but which is nevertheless very much to
the point.
16
One day when we were still at school, the physics teacher

entered our classroom. He put a mirror on the demonstration
table and placed a burning candle before the mirror. And then we
made a ‘scientific’ discovery about something which we had
probably seen a hundred times already : we found out ‘scientifi-
cally’ that the candle we were seeing in the mirror and the candle
before the mirror were identical. We also heard the scientific term
for this : the candle before the mirror was called in physics a real
object, the one in the mirror was a virtual object. For the rest,
there was almost no difference between the two candles, except
for this major one-we could touch the real candle, the virtual
one we couldn’t.
This school experience has been recalled to make clear what
is meant when we say that the film confronts us with reality in a
‘virtual’ way. When we are truly fascinated by a film it seems
indeed to reproduce reality more or less true to nature, apart
from the fact that we cannot touch this reality ; that is to say,
we cannot experience it physiologically.
There are still other similarities between the experience of
looking in a mirror and seeing a film. When we look into a mirror,
we find ourselves physically in a room in which the mirror in
question hangs on the wall. Yet at the same time we are in some
way-‘virtually’ again-present in the room on the other side of
the glass, in the room that is reflected by the mirror. The furniture
and other objects in the real room, we see from the reflected room.
In a sense, we have stepped over into the room of the mirror and
from there we perceive our environment.
In much the same way, like Alice through the Looking Class,
we experience the people and things on the cinema screen from
the space (it may be a street, the interior of an aeroplane, or a
living-room) in which they happen at that moment to be situated.
If, when a film is being made, a certain scene is shot in a living-
room, where some people are talking with each other, then the
spectator sees this scene from the same point of view as the camera
saw it from when shooting the scene. And if the same scene is
taken from several angles, the spectator will see the scene successi-
vely from those different angles. Though he is, physically, sitting
down in his chair in the cinema, he finds himself at the same time
virtually in the room where the film actors are, and indeed moving
about in it. He sees the action on the screen from time to time
through the eyes of the actors.
Thus there is a kind of two-way traffic between the spectator
and the film, and as a result we are often strongly involved in the
events of the film, even though we still remain mere ‘onlookers’.
For, of course, we have to limit our activity to mere looking and
we cannot intervene in any real sense in what is happening on the
screen. And here we come across another facet of this phenomenon.
Again, a homely illustration : If we are eye-witnesses of a car
accident, our activity will probably not be restricted merely to
looking but will take some form of practical action. Seeing a
17
similar accident, just as serious, depicted on the cinema screen, we

omit all such action, however strongly we are emotionally affected
by this scene. (And we may be very strongly affected, because the
film maker will possibly have shown us the scene through the eyes
of the driver or of the victims.) Now in such a case, where there is
no escape valve for our inner urge for what can be called motor
activity, this activity turns inwards and our emotional reactions
become all the stronger.
Such emotional participation consists mainly of two mutually
connected processes which are, of course, usually called ‘projec-
tion’ and ‘identification’. In this phenomenon, on the one hand,
the spectator attaches his own tendencies, feelings and character
traits to the actors on the screen-he ‘projects’ them into the
actors-and, on the other hand, the spectator thinks himself into
the spirit of an actor and his role to such an extent that he identi-
fies himself with him and feels and thinks like him. On the one
hand the spectator loses himself mentally in the screen ; on the
other, he incorporates the world of the film into his own person.
And again we can apply the term ‘virtual’ to these processes, for
there is no real contact with the people on the screen and there is
no such relationship between the spectator and these people as
there would be in reality-because the ‘glass of the mirror’ stands
between them.
The conclusion to be drawn from this exposition is that seeing a
film can be a ‘virtual physical’ and a ‘virtual mental’ participation
in the life of other people in another world. Or, to put it another
way, to see a film is to lead a second (virtual) life in a second (vir-
tual) world. For some persons this experience can be as real as
normal daily life, apart from its ‘virtuality’, so to speak. However,
from this very virtuality it derives its own charm, its appeal, its
magic. We cannot ‘touch’ it, but neither can it ‘touch’ us : it
happens to us and we go through it, but without any risk.
The screen makes us world citizens
It is impossible as yet to state in detail, or even to foresee comple-

tely, what will be the educational consequences of regular and
repeated excursions into this so-called ‘second world’. But one
thing is certain ; a new pedagogical situation has been created.
The situation in which youth is now growing up is completely
different from that of fifty years ago, as a result of the fact that
young people are, as we have said, living in two worlds. They are
not subjected to the geographical, social and cultural isolation
which was the rule for former generations. Fifty years ago it was
not unusual for the limits of one’s experience and one’s horizon
to be identical with the limits of one’s own home town. The screen
has turned us all, whether we want it or not, into world citizens.
18
The child of the television era can see the whole world just by
turning a knob. He lives in the whole world, and the world as
a whole influences his development.
And all this begins at rather an early age. Much sooner than
would have been the case half a century ago, the child knows
about the life of others. Long before he has learned to know him-
self, the young child in very many countries is made to share in
the thoughts, feelings and ambitions of people whom in earlier
times he would not have been able to meet on any sort of personal
basis, or whom he could not possibly have met at all. The child
who is just starting to go to school may already have television
experience of several years’ standing. He is no longer the tab&a
rasa of earlier days. Teachers and parents are no longer the only
authorities, guiding the child into the big world. The child learns
to ‘know’ the world at an amazingly early age and moves in it
with an ease that, to older persons, appears startling. Much earlier
than before, in a much more direct and far-reaching manner, the
young people of today are confronted with views, traditions and
standards different from those of their home environment. And
they are also confronted with what can only be described as a
new ‘language’.
Some educationists-for instance, Professor Sttickrath in the
Federal Republic of Germany l-have stressed the point that
film, before being a work of art (or a medium for entertainment,
a visual newspaper, and so on) is a new language, a new means
of understanding and, along with that, a new means of gaining
knowledge. In our culture, which until recently was mainly a
book-and-word culture, our mental life and the all-important
process of communication between human beings have been
primarily a matter of discursive thinking and reasoning. What-
ever is to be communicated to us by other people by means of
books and words, or whatever we ourselves want to communicate
to others, has to be analysed, so to speak, in a logical-rational
way ; it has to be broken down and placed within the grammatical
categories of the sentence-construction. But with the development
of film language as a new species of the general genus ‘language’,
a non-discursive means of communication has been put at our
disposal. This not only presents us with new laws of thinking
and reasoning but also leads our minds to other ways of acquiring
knowledge. The film language opens up to our minds a new
dimension; perhaps a dimension that, in different respects, meets
the needs of modern life better than verbal language alone is
able to do. If this is indeed so, then the incorporation of this
new language into our film educational activities should not be
merely supplementary, but the most fundamental thing of all.
Thus it quickly becomes clear why of recent years in almost
every textbook for the teaching of English in the United States
1. Fritz Louis Berthold Stiickrath, ‘Der Einbruch des Films in die ptidagogische
Provinz’, Film, Bild, Ton, Vol. 5, No. 9, December 1955, p. 9.
19
of America there is a chapter on the film. In that country, perhaps

intuitively, they have realized that language-teaching can no
longer be limited to verbal language alone, but has to be expanded
to cover teaching about communications in general, and that
film-teaching should not be just a part of general art education
and social and moral education but also a part of the teaching of
general communication theory.
From this point, it is only a short step to recognition of the
fact that film education is itself just a part of an educational
process related to all the mass media of communication and
especially to the mass medium which is most closely associated
with film, namely, television. This again presents new tasks for
educators, of which not the least important is the need to teach
young people that there are other means besides film and tele-
vision for passing leisure time in a useful and agreable way.
Summing-up
These then are what our examination has shown to be the most
important tasks and purposes of film-teaching :
1. Film-teaching (or film education) means helping young people
to develop a critical defence towards those films which rely
for their primary attraction on the display of technical
novelties, on expensive-looking stars and on other superficial
factors properly belonging more to the sphere of advertising,
rather than on the true and inherent qualities of the cinema.
Young people should, as far as possible, be helped to immunize
themselves against the spell-casting power of films which USC
such means.
2. Film-teaching is a part of general art education. The significance
of art education does not require to be considered here ; ge-
nerally speaking, it may be claimed that the aesthetic experience
means an enrichment of human life without which the har-
monious formation of personality is scarcely possible. The art
of the film is an autonomous art, and perhaps it is an art
which fits our own times better than all other arts. That may
be a matter for argument, but at least it can be agreed that
our youth will be confronted with this art more than with
the older ones. Furthermore, aesthetic education in other
spheres can only be damaged by poor education in the art
of the film.
3 Film-teaching takes into account all the educational possi-
bilities of the film. That is to say, it involves also the extra-
aesthetic values of film content-the social, ethical, and
spiritual qualities. In this respect, seeing a film may be likened
to living in a ‘second world’ which is an expansion of the
real world, a ‘second world’ where young people may, by
20
---- ____
exercising discretion, gain understanding and experience which

will be of value later in their lives.
4. Film-teaching has to deal with cultivating an understanding
of the new ‘language’ of the film medium. This new language
gives us the opportunity of understanding the world around
us with a new dimension of our minds. We have not yet got
used to this. We are now accustomed to having ideas, opinions
and emotions first passed through the rational ‘sieve’ of the
verbal language, before letting them enter into our minds.
Therefore we often at present find ourselves helpless and
unprotected when confronted with a medium of communication .
such as film, which permits the external world to penetrate
our minds directly and without being adapted first. However,
we must learn to appreciate this phenomenon, because it
offers us the faculty of ‘visual thinking’.
5. Finally, the film-teacher has to realize that the ever-widening
growth of the mass media, and of the visual mass media in
particular, makes it essential to find the right place for these
media within the whole orbit of those activities and interests
which affect the development of personality in young people.
Thus the ‘subject to be taught’ in the field of film-teaching could
be divided into the above five parts, but since the first, the third
and the fifth have many points of contact, a division into three
sections only has been found more convenient for the purpose
of this book : teaching film language ; teaching young people to
appreciate a film as a work of art ; and teaching them to assimilate
critically the contents of a fihn (in this last section everything
relevant under points 1, 3 and 5 above is included).
Finally, it will be noted that the plan of this work has called for
a major division into two parts. Part One is devoted to the basic
general problems with which film-teaching has to contend. Part
Two contains chapters on the methods and techniques to be
used in film-teaching, on problems of age and mental level in
this connexion, and on the possibilities of film-teaching in schools.
Thus, having considered what is to be done, we try to give some
ideas on how it could, and should, be done.
21
CHAPTER II
Understanding
film language
The elements of
film making
To begin our venture in understanding the peculiarities of what

we call ‘film language’ l we shall take a concrete example for
examination : a sequence from the motion picture ‘The Fallen
Idol’, directed by Carol Reed. 2
Felipe, the young son of an ambassador who lives in London,
has to stay for a short time by himself in the large Embassy house.
The butler, Baines, and his wife, are to look after him. Felipe
hates Mrs. Baines, but Baines himself is his great friend. There
is no love lost between Baines and his wife either ; this situation
is caused mainly by the relationship between Baines and a girl
secretary at the Embassy.
Our sequence begins with a quarrel on the stairs between Baincs
and his wife, when the latter is intending to enter the room where
the secretary is waiting for Baines. Felipe, who has just been
taken to bed, has heard their quarrelling ; he has come out of
his room and watches their struggle from behind the banisters in
front of his room. Scared by Mrs. Baines, who curses him, hc
climbs out of the window to reach the fire-escape. While he runs
down these stairs the quarrel inside goes on up to the moment
when Baines turns away and enters the room where the secretary
is waiting. Mrs. Baines now runs to a large flap-window, hoping
1. I use the term ‘film language’ (and ‘visual language’) analogically. The analogy
between verbal language and film language is very plain. Both words and film
images may be used to convey ‘ideas about something’ and in both cases there
are more or less definite rules and laws that govern this process, so that we
may speak about a system of forms to convey ideas. This comparison does not,
however, include any suggestion that the two form-systems are identical. I do
not feel any need to carry the comparison further, and realize that to suggest
a parallellism between separate images and combinations of images on the
one side and between words and sentences on the other side would go too far.
2. Information about all films illustrated in this book, including the names of
directors, producing companies, country of origin and year of production,
will be found in a list beginning on page 112, together with acknowledgements
to the compnny or distributor concerned for the use of these illustrations. The
list also gives similar information about other films referred to in the text.
22
Shot 2
Shot 3
Shol .i
Shot 7
Shot 8
Shot 9
l’late IV
The Fallen Idol
)?r j
shot 10
Shot 11
l’late v
The l~allen Idol
Shot 13
Shot 11
Shot 15
Plate VI
The I;allen Idol
Shot 16
Shot 17
Shot 1x
Plate VII
The F~alletl Idol
Shot 10
Shot ‘20
Shot 21
Plate vttt
me I’allcn Idol
Plate lx
The I:allen Idol
Shot 23
Shot 26
Shot 25
Plate 9
‘allcn Idol
The confenf of film educafion
to see what her husband is doing. As she does not see anything,
she hits the window in her rage with her fists. It flaps open and
knocks her from the landing. Just at that moment, Felipe, coming
down the fire-escape, passes by a window and sees Mrs. Baines
falling. In his panic, and thinking the butler, his good friend, has
thrown her from the stairs, he rushes down the fire-escape into
the street intending to run away from home.
THE SHOOTING SCRIPT
Before the shooting of a film starts, the action that is to be shot

is split up into a series of short fragments. The event described
above has been divided into 33 such fragments in the shooting
script.
1. Baines and his wife are struggling at the head of the stairs.
2. Felipe looks on from behind the banisters of the landing in
front of his bedroom.
3. Baines and his wife fighting on the stairs.
4. Felipe runs away, out of the picture.
5. Felipe climbs out of the window which opens on to the flre-
escape.
6. He runs down the fire-escape.
7. Felipe passes a window and sees Mr. and Mrs. Baines fighting.
8. Felipe looks at the struggling man and woman.
9. Baines and Mrs. Baines struggling on the stairs.
10. Felipe runs away from the window.
11. Felipe continues running down the fire-escape.
12. Baines and Mrs. Baines. Baines turns away.
13. Mrs. Baines watches him go.
14. A large flap-window.
15. Mrs. Baines watches her husband go and then sees the flap-
window.
16. Baines enters the guest-room.
17. Mrs. Baines runs to the flap-window.
18. Mrs. Baines on the landing at the flap-window.
19. Mrs. Baines seen, from the guest-room through the flap-
window.
20. A door, probably leading to the guest-room.
21. Mrs. Baines beating the window with her fists.
22. The lower part of the flap-window hits her legs.
23. She utters a piercing scream.
24. Baines comes out of the guest-room.
25. Felipe, running down the tire-escape.
26. Mrs. Baines’ body rolls down the stairs. Felipe sees this
through the window.
27. Baines runs to the stairs.
28. Felipe behind the window.
29. Baines at the head of the stairs.
30. Felipe behind the window.
23
Teaching about fhe jilm
31. Baines rushes on downstairs. Felipe runs away from the

window.
32. Felipe runs down the last of the fire-escape.
33. Felipe runs into the street.
SHOOTING
Each of these 33 moments is shot separately, i.e., a separate shot

is made of each of these brief pieces of action and for each
shot the camera may choose another viewpoint. Shot 1 will be
taken so that the camera looks down on the two fighting persons.
Shot 2 shows us Felipe looking down from behind the banisters.
Shot 3 will have the same camera position as shot 1, so that
again we are looking down on Baines and his wife (probably
from Felipe’s viewpoint). And so on. For shot 7 the camera was
put up on the fire-escape behind Felipe, so that we look as it
were inward with his eyes, into the scene, when once more we
get the chance to see Baines and his wife.
With each shot the viewpoint of the camera can vary in distance,
height and angle.
With regard to the distance of the camera from the object to
be shot, we distinguish : a close up, when the whole screen is
taken up by a person’s face or by a detail of an interior or exterior ;
a medium shof, when the actors can be seen in the picture from
the head to the waist. Between close up and medium shot there
are : the close shot and the near shot. We speak about a long shot
when the actors can be seen at least at full length or when the
camera stands at about 15 to 30 feet from the object to be shot,
so that the object comes completely into the picture.
Between the medium shot and long shot there lies also the
medium long shot or semi-long shot. We speak of a distant shot
when the camera is at a great distance from the object. These
distances need not always be real, they can also be suggested by
the focal distance of the lens. A lens with a short focal distance
makes the same object look more distant than a lens with a long
focal distance.
With regard to the optic angle of the camera, we speak of a
low angle, when the camera shoots an object from below ; and
of a bird’s eye view, when the object is shot from above.
With regard to the heighf of the camera, we speak about a
low camera when the camera is kept lower than the level of the eve
of a standing (adult) person ; a high camera when the camera-is
kept higher than the level of the eye ; and a normal height when
the camera is kept on the level of the eye.
While shooting, the camera can be in motion. We speak of
pan (panning) when the camera pivots about its own vertical axis ;
tilt when the camera pivots about its own horizontal axis ; frack
when the camera moves forward, backwards and sideways ;
crane when the camera takes a moving shot by means of a crane
24
Joining a number of separate shots to a sequence is called cut (to)

when the shots just follow one another ; dissolve when one shot
gradually blends into another. We speak of fade in when the
picture lightens up out of the dark ; fade ouf when the picture
gradually becomes completely dark ; wipe when one picture
‘pushes’ another off the screen.
EDITING
When all the shots are taken and selected the ‘editing’ can be
started, i.e., the pictures can be marshalled into a definite appro-
priate sequence. According to the final shooting script, in which the
camera-position for each shot and the sequence of the different
shots are accurately described, the whole scene looks as follows : 1
1. Long shot. Raines and Mrs. Raines struggling on landing.

MRS. BAINES (over) : Let me get at her. I’ll tell her
a thing or two.
BAINES : We can say all we have to say to each
other downstairs. Don’t make such a scene.
Raines switches on landing light.
MRS. BAINES : Get out of my way. Don’t tell me what
to do. You’re a fine one to dictate to me. How dare
you ? Let me go. I’ll see you and her- (Cut to :
2. Medium close shot. Felipe, crouching behind banisfers.
MRS. BAINES : -in the gutter before I’ve finished
with you. [Cut to :
3. Medium long shot. Baines and Mrs. Raines sfruggling at head
of stairs.
BAINES : You’re not going into that room.
MRS. BAINES : You come out of there and I’ll show
you something you’ll remember all your life. Will you
let me go.
Mrs. Raines staggers back down fhe sfairs. [Cut to :
4. Medium close shof. Felipe, running from behind the banisfers
ouf of the picture.
BAINES (over the next two cuts) : You’ll only hurt your-
self going on like this. Don’t be silly, you’re hysterical.
MRS. BAINES : Thought you’d get me safely out of the
way, didn’t you ? You hypocrite. [Cut to :
1. The words ‘long’, ‘medium and ‘close’ refer to the type of shot in relation to
the distance from the camern. The photographs reproduced on Plates I to XI
correspond to the numbers of the shots in the shooting script ; consequently
each photograph represents a moment of each shot.
25
5. Medium long shot. Felipe, running along landing and climbing

out of window on to the fire-escape.
MRS. BAINES: Oh, . . . you needn’t go on hiding in that
room.
6. Long shot. Felipe, running down exterior fire-escape.
MRS. BAINES : I recognized you. You needn’t think
you can come back here on Monday to your safe
little job. I’ll get you deported out of the country.
[Cut to:
7. Long shot. Baines and Mrs. Baines, camera shooting through
outside landing window. Felipe, in pyjamas, runs across picture
near camera.
BAINES : For heaven’s sake don’t go on like this.
Listen, if you don’t care for yourself or me-at least
think of the boy.
MRS. BAINES: Him ! When I’ve finished with her,
I’ll give him what he deserves. [Cut to :
8. Medium close shot. Felipe, behind outside landing window.
MRS. BAINE : He’ll think twice before he starts on his
sneaking, thieving little ways. The lying deceitful
little brat. [Cut to :
9. Close shot. Mrs. Baines, back to staircase and struggling with
Baines.
BAINES : Shut up, or I’ll lose my temper.
Baines pushes Mrs. Baines backwards down several stairs.
MRS. BAINES : oOOOOOOOO... [Cut to :
10. Close shot. Felipe, running from behind window. [Cut to :

11. Long shot. Exterior fire-escape. Felipe, running down fire
escape. [Cut to :
12. Medium long shot. Baines and Mrs. Baines at head of stairs.
BAINES : Now you go downstairs and I’ll join you
later.
Camera pans. Baines walking back along corridor. [Cut to :
13. Medium close shot. Mrs. Baines, standing at head of stairs.
She turns and looks at guest-room window. [Cut to :
14. Medium close shot. Guest-room window. f-cut to :
15. Medium close shot. Mrs. Baines, back to camera, looking
towards right. [Cut to :
16. Long shot. Baines, turning left into guest-room. [Cut to :
26
17. Medium close shof. Mrs. Baines, running. . . along landing,

fo window. [Cut to :
18. Long shot. Mrs. Baines, shot from below, stepping on to window
ledge and up to window. [Cuf fo :
19. Medium close shot. Mrs. Baines, shot through guest-room
window. [Cuf to :
20. Medium long shot. Guest-room French window. [Cuf fo :
21. Medium close shof. Mrs. Baines, from behind the window,
beating her hands on window pane. [Cut to :
22. Close shof. Mrs. Baines’ legs and lower part of window. Window
moves out and Mrs. Baines goes with if. She falls. [Cut to :
23. Close shot. Mrs. Baines behind window. She screams.
MRS. BAINES (screams) : [Cuf fo :
24. Medium long shot. Baines, turning from guest-room door.
MRS. BAINES (screams carried over) : [Cuf fo :
25. Long shof, Felipe, running down fire-escape.
FELIPE : He has pushed her ! [Cuf to :
26. Long shot. Mrs. Baines through outside landing window. Her
body rolls to boffom of sfairs as Felipe passes outside window and
pauses to look in. [Cut lo :
27. Long shof. Baines, running fo head of stairs. [Cuf to :
28. Close shof. Felipe, behind outside landing window. [Cut to :
29. Long shot. Baines, leaning over firsf landing banisfers and
looking down. [Cuf to :
30. Close shot. Felipe, behind window. [Cuf to :
31. Long shot. Baines, through landing window running down main
staircase. Felipe runs back across outside window fo right. [Cut to :
32. Long shot. Felipe, running down fire-escape. [Cut to :
33. Long shot. Felipe, in pyjamas running from fire-escape info
Embassy Crescent, and towards camera.
COMPOSITION OF THE PICTURE AND POSITION OF THE CAMERA
Having seen the construction of a sequence demonstrated by the

example from ‘The Fallen Idol’ ‘let us now briefly examine the sepa-
rate camera shot and its result, the separate picture. What can
such a picture actually tell us ? What does it express and what
27
Teaching abouf the film
-
does it communicate 7 It is obvious that such a picture is some-
thing more than a mere image of the persons or objects which have
been filmed. Caught within the picture frame, these persons and
objects enter into a mutual relationship that did not exist before.
In the upper still on Plate XII from ‘The Blue Lamp’ the parti-
cular composition of the picture reflects a very special relationship
existing between the two persons. Even without knowing what
these people say, we feel that there is something going on between
the man in the foreground and the girl in the background, and
that the girl is greatly worried about it. Although the facial
expressions add to the effect, it is especially the remarkable divi-
sion into ‘planes’ which gives this picture its particular expres-
sivencss.
The lower photograph on Plate XII (from ‘The Set-Up’) empha-
sizes in a striking way the contrast between the loser and the
winner of a prize fight. The camera might have shot these two
persons from a different viewpoint. But then the two boxers
would have made quite a different impression on us, even if the
attitudes of the two men had not been changed. In the picture on
Plate XIII (from the film ‘Notorious’) the composition illustrates
the relationship between the girl in the background and the cups
of coffee. In ‘composing’ this picture the lighting is extremely
important. The shadow of the hand which has offered the cup of
coffee gives a threatening effect to the whole. In the photographs
from the motion picture ‘Variationen iiber ein Filmthema’ (Varia-
tions on a Film Theme) (Plate XIV) the same face, under different
lighting, changes its expression completely.
A third element in the composition of the film picture is the
manner in which the picture, so to speak, is framed. The main
section of the picture may be limited to certain details which,
thanks to the ‘frame’, assume a particular expressiveness of their
own. This is the case with the hands of the violin players round the
face of Marlene Dietrich in the photograph on Plate XV (from the
film ‘Martin Roumagnac’). Similarly, a special expressiveness is
given to the simple gesture of the little boy in ‘Ladri di biciclette’
(Bicycle Thieves) who spontaneously takes the hand of his father,
just when the latter has suffered a terrible moral defeat. The ges-
ture is isolated from the central event, and this emphasis gives it
a new significance.
This isolation also explains the expressiveness of the close-up.
Of course the close-up of a face may help to make a scarcely notice-
able expression clearly perceptible. But the fact that a close-up
can completely detach a face from its usual situation in time and
space is even more important in view of the close-up’s function as
an element of film language.
Except with commentaries which are spoken as an explanatory
text to a film (‘non-functional’ sound), we should not regard
sound-that is, dialogue and accompanying music-as being a
separate element added to the visual one, but as forming a compo-
nent of the picture itself. Sound has as much of a compositional
28
function as have the optical factors. It adds to the meaning of a

picture, and often determines it. This is obvious whenever sound
forms the complement of a visible action. When we see a person
in a picture talking, it is only natural that we should hear him talk
as well. Naturally, sound, as much as other means at the disposal
of the film maker, can be used to achieve more complex effects
as well. If, for instance, the words of an actor are in obvious contra-
diction with his facial expression, the shot as a whole will have
an entirely different meaning from that of the image or the sound
taken separately.
Another possibility of using sound is the so-called ‘interior
monologue’, a device which makes us hear a person’s thoughts
without seeing him talk. Finally, the lack of sound at a spot where
one would be sure to expect it may add a new meaning to the
visual content of the picture. (See Plates XVI and XVII.)
The screen naturally imposes limitations on the spectator’s field
of vision. Yet he does not necessarily become aware of this limi-
tation, because the camera-his eye, as it were-continually
changes its viewpoint. Moreover, the projected picture is, of course,
two-dimensional, yet it nevertheless has a certain depth. This is
partly due to the fact that we perceive objects and people in
movement; this prevents them from merging with the background.
We have already referred to another kind of movement-the
movement of the camera and, consequently, of the spectator. As
a result of this kind of movement, we experience the film picture
as part of our own living space. Each new shot brings a change in
the spectator’s spatial relations to the people and objects shown.
(See Plates XVIII to XX.) Obviously, we seem to find ourselves
closer physically to a face shown in a close-up than to a person
who has been photographed as if from a considerable distance.
But physical distance easily becomes mental distance. When the
camera looks from above on the people in a crowded street, this
may express a mental ‘looking down’, that is, an attitude of
contempt. On the other hand, when we are ‘looking up’ to a person
from below, our attitude may be marked by respect or veneration.
The film picture therefore is not limited merely to showing
persons and objects, events and situations. It establishes apparent
physical as well as mental relationships (See Plate XXI.)
Sometimes we are made to see events from the viewpoint of
one of the film characters. When the actor himself no longer
appears in the picture, but the other persons or objects appear as
seen through his eyes, our spatial and optical relationship with him
becomes complete. There is a partial identification when the actor
remains visible, but the other persons or objects are seen more or
less from his eyeline, distance, height and angle. Shots 7 and
28 from ‘The Fallen Idol’ give an example of partial identification.
The photographs from ‘Amo un Assassino’ (Plate XXII) give
examples of complete identification : first, we look down on the
young man below from the viewpoint of the two persons on the
landing, then we look upward from the latter’s viewpoint.
29
Teachina about the film
Consequently, we must distinguish between an objective posi-

tion of the camera, which makes the spectator look at people and
things from a more or less neutral viewpoint, and a subjective
position of the camera which makes the spectator ‘take sides’.
VISUAL SYNTAX
Each film picture may thus convey a definite impression, as the

result of an intelligent use of such elements as lighting, composi-
tion, and sound. But while several of these elements-apart from
movement and sound-are also present in the one photograph,
film language as we know it is based on the sequence of individual
shots. In the film, the individual picture never appears separately ;
it is only by theoretically isolating the separate shots of a sequence
that we are able to examine the basic structure of the film lan-
guage.
To understand the structure of this language, we shall also
have to investigate the elements which connect the individual
pictures with one another. Some older theorists expounded the
view that no special connecting elements are needed to blend a
series of pictures together, and that it is sufficient to rely on the
associations aroused in the spectator by the content of successive
scenes. However, close study of modern film sequences shows that
the desired linking of successive pictures can usually be achieved
by the spectator only when the elements indicating that relation-
ship are to be found in the pictures themselves. These elements
have to be looked for either in the composition of the picture
itself or in the feeling of expectancy which is created by the indivi-
dual surrounding shots.
As an example of connecting elements to be found in the compo-
sition of film pictures, we might again go back to our sequence
from ‘The Fallen Idol’ (Plates I to XI). It is the movement of the
boy that establishes a link between shots 4 and 5, which show
Felipe running away from the banisters, and Felipe climbing out
of the window. The same link exists between shots 5 and 6. The
linking element in shots 12 and 13 of the same sequence is the
direction of Mrs. Baines’ look. In shot 12 Mrs. Baines looks to the
right, and she sees her husband entering the room from that
direction in the following picture. Additional links are provided
by the accompanying music and the dialogue. During the second
picture of the sequence, we hear Mrs. Baines complete the ascent
which she began in shot 1, even though she no longer appears on
the screen. In an even more obvious way, the transition is effected
between shots 23 and 24. Mrs Baines screams when she topples
over, and Baines appears at the door of the guest-room.
Other linking elements are to be found in the relation between
the spectator and the picture, this being determined by the
position of the camera. In shot 7 we look with Felipe (partial
identification) through the window at Mr. and Mrs. Baines.
30
The Set-Up
Notorious Plate XIII
I’lale ss 'I'wclvc Angry hlcn
Shot 8 is a so-called ‘reverse-angle’; now we see Felipe face-to-

face. In shot 9 we again see Mr. and Mrs. Baines, this time through
the eyes of the boy (complete identification). In the same way,
shot 19 shows Mrs. Baines looking through the flap-window and
in shot 20 we see a door of the guest-room from her viewpoint.
The important fact to be noted about the connecting elements
in picture composition, is that they are subject to the rules of
logic just as is the structure of our verbal language. As to the
linking elements offered by the relationship between the spectator
and the film picture, it is important to remember that the spec-
tator is accustomed to such changes in the position of the camera,
and that they are governed by certain conventions.
SUMMARY OF FILM LANGUAGE
The structure of film language can be summarized as follows :

1. The separate picture derives its expressiveness in the first
place from the composition of its visual and auditory compo-
nents. The division into ‘planes’, the lighting, the picture
framing and the relation between the functional sound and
the visual content of the picture all play their own parts.
Next to that and in connexion with it, a special meaning
can be given to the separate picture, depending on how the
spectator stands, so to speak, both mentally and spatially,
in relation to the persons and objects in the picture. The
placing of the camera (distance, height, angle, position and
movement) determines this position of the spectator, and so
influences his mental approach to the scene. And this position
may be objective or subjective ; in the latter case a distinction
must be made between a partial or a complete identification
with one or more persons in the picture.
2. The connexion between the successive pictures may depend on
the way in which the picture is composed (e.g., by the move-
ment of persons, by the continuation of the dialogue) or on
the relationship established between the spectator and the
persons or objects in the picture (i.e., by the view-direction
of the camera). Both kinds of connecting elements are often
used in combination.
3. Individual action complexes can be deilned and divided from
each other by special means such as ‘fading’, ‘dissolving’ or
‘wiping’. These always establish a time relation between two
or more action-complexes which we might define in terms such
as ‘some time later’, ‘meanwhile’ or ‘at the same time’.
Changes in sound can also help to establish time relationships.
It is also not difficult to indicate a ‘space relationship’ for
actions which take place simultaneously ; the simplest method
perhaps is to use the split screen device, whereby two or
more events may be shown occurring together, or in the same
place.
31
‘Seeing’ can be as difficult as reading
One often hears the complaint that most cinema-goers passively

accept the situations the film maker wants them to take part
in, but fail to experience them properly. More specifically, it is
thought (a) that seeing a film requires scarcely any ‘thinking’ ;
(b) that the average cinema-goer is not aware of aesthetic values
in films ; and (c) that he generally fails to give critical thought
to the ideas expressed in the film and does not take the trouble
to assimilate them. Here we shall occupy ourselves only with the
first point. Points (b) and (c) will be dealt with later in Chapters
III and IV.
It is often taken for granted that to read a book is far more
demanding in terms of intellectual or at least imaginative activity
than to view a film. It is even claimed that the book gives free
rein to the reader’s imagination, while the film does not offer
a comparable challenge to the viewer. But what exactly happens
when we read a book ? We do not translate each individual word
or every sentence into a mental image. If we did, our reading
would proceed very slowly. Normally, the words are only signs
of which we catch the meaning immediately when we have sufh-
cient knowledge of the language.
This meaning is not the same as the object indicated by the
word, but is what we think about the object, or, more correctly,
what the author makes us think about it. In much the same
way, the image has a meaning which we have to learn before we
can understand it. The learning process will be easier because
the image is a natural sign, immediately derived from the object
it represents, whereas the word, as a conventional sign, has no
direct relation with the object it is meant to indicate. One glance
at the photographs shown on Plates XII and XIII should be
sufficient to prove that the meaning of the film picture is usually
not identical with the object or situation represented by it. The
picture from ‘The Set-Up’ does not merely represent two boxers
one of whom has just knocked out the other, but it ‘says’ some-
thing which could be rendered in such terms as : ‘The winner
dominates the whole situation, the loser’s defeat is absolute.’
All the pictures on Plates XII and XIII ‘say’ something about
the objects (or situations) represented, and that precisely is
what we may call their ‘meaning’.
The activity of understanding a film
No long schooling is needed to understand these ‘meanings’, yet

they cannot be memorized like the meanings of words. They
cannot be gathered in a dictionary, nor can they be stored in
our memory in order to be reproduced automatically when WC
32
meet them in a film. For each picture (or scene) is original and
unique, and it would be a curious coincidence indeed if two film
makers ever created exactly the same picture. Each picture has
a meaning of its own, and each picture presents a new challenge.
However, the film maker is more or less limited in his choice
of the ways in which a certain object can be filmed, and this
makes the viewer’s task easier. The experienced cinema-goer has
summarized all these different ways of shooting an object into a
series of patterns which make it easy for him to ‘recognize’ the
meaning of the film picture. The degree to which he absorbs the
meaning of film images depends largely on his skill in recognizing
and applying these patterns. While reading a book we form
almost no ‘representations’ of the objects described, and we
do not think about them independently from the text. Our original
thinking begins only when we interrupt the reading, either because
we have failed to grasp the meaning at once, or because we want
afterwards to give free play to our imagination and our critical
thought. It is true that such an interruption will not ordinarily
be possible when we are looking at moving pictures, but that is
the only difference between film and book so far as the viewer’s
or reader’s intellectual or imaginative effort is concerned. Naturally,
the reader is not completely passive. The mere concentration of
his attention represents a form of activity, and he also has to
join the meanings of successive words and sentences into wholes.
This ‘work’ is facilitated by the sentence patterns stored in the
reader’s memory. A spectator performing the same activity with
film pictures requires classification types and ordering patterns,
which serve as a ‘blueprint’ for the construction of the whole.
Look once again at shots 7, 8 and 9 from the sequence from
‘The Fallen Idol’. From these pictures we gather that the boy
has reached a window by a fire-escape which runs along the outer
wall of the house ; through this window he looks at the flight
of stairs ; then, face-to-face, we see him looking at the fighting
man and woman on the stairs (even though the latter are not
in the same picture), and afterwards we look-as it were, through
his eyes-at that man and woman. In fact, this interpretation
of shots 7,8 and 9 is based on our understanding of three successive
picture compositions and camera positions. This succession-par-
tial identification with the boy, close-up of the boy, medium shot
of the two grown-ups from the boy’s viewpoint-operates as one
of the ordering patterns. The partial identification in itself forms
a smaller ordering pattern ; on the other hand, the sequence we
have selected is only part of a bigger pattern.
Learning to understand film language

Seeing a film is a kind of thinking ; ‘perceptive thinking’ we might
call it. When this activity is systematically analysed, it turns out
to involve the process of :
33
1. Establishing the relations between two or more objects or

persons in a separate picture (e.g., Plate XII, ‘The Blue Lamp’) ;
2. Making comparisons ; establishing causes and consequences
(e.g., Plate XIII, ‘Notorious’) ;
3. Realizing one’s viewing point (e.g., Plates XVIII to XX,
‘Twelve Angry Men’, and Plate XXI, ‘The World, the Flesh,
and the Devil’) ;
4. Putting oneself in the place of somebody else (e.g., Plate
XXII, ‘Amo un Assassino’) ;
5. ‘Decentring’ oneself continually (e.g., Plates I to XI, ‘The
Fallen Idol’) ;
6. Filling up gaps between the pictures (e.g., between shots 11
and 25 of the sequence from ‘The Fallen Idol’) ;
7. Foreseeing what will happen, and anticipating (e.g., shots 13
to 19 of the sequence from ‘The Fallen Idol’) ;
8. Remembering what has happened already (e.g., from shot 25
of the sequence from ‘The Fallen Idol’ back to shot 11) ;
9. Making time leaps (e.g., when a dissolve is used).
We have seen that it takes less time to learn the meaning of
pictures and sequences of pictures than it takes to memorize
words. Yet, because film pictures are always unique, it can be
argued that seeing a film requires a more original activity than
reading a book ; this is especially true if the film has been made
intelligently. But it is a fact that film language is usually only
superficially understood and that the intentions of the film maker
are only partially comprehended. Many spectators, seeing the
objects in a film picture, fail to perceive what the director says
about these objects ; that is, they fail to understand the meaning
of the pictures. This superficiality is, however, not inherent in
film language, but may be due to the viewers’ poor command
of this language.
Not all cinema-goers are experienced interpreters of film lan-
guage. Many have not got beyond the stage of merely ‘looking
at pictures’. In opposition to this passive attitude, this book
puts forward the postulate of active seeing ; that is, seeing in such
a way that the spectator really uses film language as the key to
the world of the film maker. It is only through a knowledge of
film language that we can find our way in this world.
Just as a thorough command of verbal language is necessary
for reading a book with ease, a good knowledge of film language is
required if we want to follow the ‘speaking’ tempo of the film
director. Many adults who do not make regular visits to the cinema
complain about the high speed of the film and find that it is
tiring to keep up with.
lnstead of saying that it is necessary to know the language
of film, we could say it is necessary to find one’s way around in
the world of film. This does not refer only to the element of space
-the continual changes in the position of the camera, picture
composition, etc.-but also to chronological order. Long periods
of time, for instance, are compressed into a few brief scenes.
34
So it becomes obvious that one has to learn to find one’s way in

the world of the screen.
This is particularly true for the child. Before his sixth year
he will not be able to follow a illm which consists of anything
more than a simple reproduction of simple realities. Only between
6 and 12 years of age does the child begin to identify the objects
in the external world as something distinctly separate from himself.
But even then, the child has to find out how these pictures-
which do not give him the same experience of time, space and
movement as the real world does-must be interpreted. He must
put his imagination to work to replace or complete missing ele-
ments which he needs in order to arrive at a comprehensive and
accurate meaning.
Knowledge of film language is indispensable if we want to
understand completely what the film maker is trying to communi-
cate. In choosing a picture composition, the intelligent director
acts with a definite intention and a sense of purpose. However,
if the audience finds it difhcult to follow a film, this is not always
the fault of the spectators : it may also be due to the inadequacy
of the film maker.
35
CHAPTER I I 1
Appreciating a film
as a work of art
The principles of
the art of the f&n
In this chapter we shall have to limit ourselves to discussing

the main points of film aesthetics-what has to be ‘learned’ in
order to appreciate a film-and we shall not be able to tackle
any such fundamental question as : What is a work of art ?
It can be accepted, however, that a skilful use of film language
does not necessarily lead to the creation of an artistic film even
though film language in itself has a natural tendency towards
artistic expression. Films may be used for outright purposes of pro-
paganda or information ; but while an advertising film may have
some artistic value, it can hardly be considered an independent
work of art.
Technical achievement alone is not sufficient to produce a
work of art. The work must also correspond to the laws of aesthetic
form ; it must strike us as agreeable and beautiful. But even that
is still not enough : a work of art has to ‘tell’ us something, it
has to ‘make sense’. This third factor in the structure of the work
of art is usually called ‘symbolic expression’. The work of art
itself becomes, or contains, the symbol of a deeper meaning to
which we have no other access. In trying to evaluate a film as
a work of art, we therefore have to appreciate the technical
achievement of the film maker, the beauty of his work, and the
significance of the whole and its parts.
CREATING ‘TENSION’
Suppose that in some story or another-it could be in a play, a

novel or a film-a factory worker rises from the breakfast table
and says to his wife : ‘Well, I’m off to the factory ; so long I’
In themselves these words have little dramatic power : we take
note of the communication, but are unlikely to be emotionally
touched by it. However, if we know that a general strike is in
progress at the factory where the man is going, the same words are
36
suddenly directed towards a future moment-the moment of

the man’s arrival at the factory. This makes the spectator or
reader anxiously wonder : what will happen should the strikers
try to stop him ‘I
This relation to another moment in the action is the ‘dramatic
element’ in the story. In fact, nearly every moment in almost any
story should be brought into such an emotionally tense relation
with some other moment that the reader will be kept enthralled.
What we call ‘tension’ is really nothing else than a new expecta-
tion, hope or fear which the story creates in us and which is
directed towards another moment in the story, whether future
or past. Dramatic construction consists of creating this tension :
of partly relaxing it, of tightening it again, of intensifying, decreas-
ing and finally loosening it completely. The exact distribution
of these tension moments over the whole course of the story
is all-important. When a film does not succeed in holding our
attention, that is probably because there is something wrong with
the dramatic construction. The development of the action in Carol
Reed’s ‘Seven Days to Noon’ (the story of a mentally-disturbed
professor who threatens to explode an atom bomb in the centre
of London) shows clearly how artistically the intense excitement
of this film has been contrived. From the very start of the film the
spectator is filled with curiosity. What, for heaven’s sake, is
the message in that mysterious letter which the professor has
sent to the Prime Minister ? When at last this question is answered,
we are only just at the starting point of the real dramatic tension.
The drama develops great intensity, though now and again it
is temporarily relieved by a humourous moment. Often the
spectator hovers between dread of the approaching catastrophe
and hope of a timely solution.
The following example illustrates how, within a short compass,
the tension may be built up and brought to a provisional solution.
The script sequence is taken from the film ‘13 Rue Madeleine’,
a semi-documentary film by Henry Hathaway. During the second
world war an agent of the American Secret Service, Sharkey, is
sent to France on a special mission, but members of the French
underground movement consider him a spy. They want to eliminate
him but he succeeds in making them send a special message in
code to his headquarters in London. The message which London
must broadcast that night if Sharkey’s sincerity is to be proved
runs : ‘A lamb is ready for the slaughter’. So Sharkey’s life depends
on this radio broadcast. In an atmosphere of great tension, Sharkey
and the members of the French underground, whose leader is
the local mayor, are waiting that night for the radio messages.
1. Farmhouse on hilltop. Camera pans across to semi-long shot
of house. [Cut to :
2. Close shot of radio. Hand partly seen. Camera pans up. . .
ANNOUNCER ON RADIO : This is London. Our news
bulletin will follow in a moment.
37
Teaching about the film ---
includingmayor, and continues to pan across men listening

attentively
to radio. Some hold guns ready.
But first here are a few personal messages.
Camera finally includes Sharkey.
The little dog laughed. The play is over-the play
is over. Jill wants Jack to come home-Jill wants
Jack to come home. The churchyards yawn-the
churchyards yawn. This ends the personal messages.
Camera stays in semi-close-up of Sharkey.
And now [Cut to :
3. Close shot of mayor.
for the news. [Cut to:
4. Semi-close shot of Sharkey. Mayor with back to camera.
In one of the [Cut to :
5. Semi-close shot of Sharkey.
largest daylight raids five thousand Allied planes
6. Semi-close shot of mayor as he reacts. Others in the background.
battered twenty-seven [Cut to :
7. Semi-close-up of Sharkey.
invasion area targets in [Cut to :
8. Semi-close shot of man, partly seen, as he cocks gun.
Holland, Belgium and [Cut to :
9. Semi-close-up of Sharkey.
France. I must interrupt the news for an important
[Cut to :
10. Semi-long shot of Sharkey. Two men in background, mayor
in foreground with back to camera.
announcement. Listen carefully please. A lamb is
ready for the slaughter-a lamb is ready for the
slaughter.
Mayor flicks off radio.
The tremendous tension caused by this radio message sequence

is in the first place due to the special combination of picture
and sound. As soon as the radio is tuned in on the right wave-
length and the announcer starts speaking, the camera shows us
successively (‘Camera pans up. . . includes. . . continues to pan
across. . . ‘) the mayor and the members of the underground, some
of whom have their guns ready. This shot, carried out by a slowly
panning camera, adds to the tension aroused by the broadcast,
38
I'htr XXIII The nrtor iif l/w /~/III. '1‘11~~ achicvunrnts of lhc actors become
part of thr art of tllc lilm oilly through the special possibilities
of the film nlctliunl. b‘or in\lancr, by the use of lighting and
shadows that rsprrss I hc c-motions of Lhc actor hcttcr than
acting. I<va
For instance, by a camera position that is more expressive
than tlialoguc. Non c’i: paw lra gli ulivi
the threat of the calamity which will fall on Sharkey if the radio
does not broadcast the correct message. Only at the end of the
‘personal messages’ does Sharkey himself come into the picture.
The slow panning of the camera with a shot of him as the final
picture, marks Sharkey as the object of the threat.
As soon as the announcer passes on to the ordinary news (‘and
now... for the news’) the camera shows us the mayor. For now
it is the mayor who has to decide on Sharkey’s fate. Then we see
Sharkey again from the mayor’s viewpoint (‘Mayor with back
to the camera*) and in the next shot we see him once more close
to. The mayor examines Sharkey’s reactions, and the spectator,
too, can see how Sharkey takes the situation. The sharp contrast
between the scored successes mentioned by the announcer (‘in
one of the largest daylight raids. . . ‘) and Sharkey’s disappoint-
ment is emphasized by the way in which picture and text are
blended. With every word from the announcer, Sharkey’s rest-
lessness grows ; we also experience this intensely for the very
reason that we have been shown Sharkey and the members of
the underground movement alternately (in shots 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9).
In shot 8 the tension reaches its climax when one of the men
cocks his gun. Just when Sharkey appears again, in shot 9, the
news bulletin is interrupted. This is in the first place important
for Sharkey himself, as it gives him new hope. That is the reason
why we are to see him exactly at that moment. As the radio
announcer insists that his words be listened to intently, shot 10
shows the whole group, which allows us to take note of the com-
plete change in the feelings of the men.
BUILDING A SITUATION
The total development of the action in a film consists of a number

of situations following in succession. Of course, out of the great
number of possible situations which might be used, the director
chooses those which are essential for the whole pattern he has
in mind. The choice of a limited number of situations as well as
the invention and elaboration of each single situation (with
particularities of place, time and circumstance) have an aesthetic
significance. Here is an example of how a situation is created
and depicted, taken from ‘The Third Man’, directed by Carol
Reed :
Holly Martins, an author of undistinguished novels, who has
arrived in Vienna from the United States soon after the second
world war, to give a series of lectures as well as to see his old
friend Harry Lime, has just learned that Harry has been killed
in a car accident. The circumstances of that accident, however,
are rather strange. Two friends of Harry have told Martins that
after the accident they carried him into a house, while the janitor
of that house affirms that he saw a third man. Martins determines
to find out the identity of that third man. At night he goes to
39
a bar with Anna Schmidt, Harry’s girl friend, and there first
meets Crabbin, an official of the organization which is arranging
his lecture tour.
1. Close shot of neon sign over club entrance, reading: 'CASANOVA.

REVUE BUEHNE BAR'. Sound of traffic.
2. Medium shot of Anna entering club followed by Martins.

DOORMAN : Bitte schon.
As they leave door and move into hall, camera pans from door
and reveals Crabbin and his girl friend. Anna exits. Martins
stands left of Crabbin : they shake hands-the girl stands to the
right of Crabbin waiting for him.
CRABBIN : Hello, Martins, we tried to get you at
your hotel. We have arranged that lecture for to-
morrow.
MARTIN : What about ?
CRABBIN: On the modern novel-you remember
what we arranged and we want you to talk on the
Crisis of Faith.
Crabbin’s friend exits and Martins hands his hat and coat to the
hat-check girl.
MARTINS : What’s that ?
CRABBIN : Oh, I thought you would know ; you’re
a writer. Of course you do. Good night, old man.
He starts to exit, then turns back.
CRABBIN : Oh, I’ve forgotten my hat. I’ll let you
know the time later.
Crabbin exits and camera tracks back as Martins walks forward
into close shot. Camera pans with him as he turns to his right
and walks through archway into the empty bar revealed beyond.
Anna, the only customer, is seated with her back to the camera
on a stool at the bar-the barman to her right. Martins walks
upstage to her, with his back to the camera.
3. Close shot of Anna seated in right profile at the bar. Martins
comes to stand at her right side, looks at her for a moment, then
turns to lean with his back against the bar facing her-in left profile.
MARTINS : Drink ?
ANNA : Whisky.
MARTINS (to bartender off) : Two whiskies.
4. Close shot of fat woman customer at a table in restaurant-past
man with her in right foreground opposite side of the table. She
is drinking soup. Kurtz is standing close to her-leaning over
her serenading with a violin.
40
5. Close shot. Anna and Martins-barman puts drinks on the

counter in front of them in foreground from offscreen.
BARMAN : Zwei whiskies.
MARTINS : How much ?
BARMAN : Zwanzig Schilling.
ANNA : They don’t take army money here.
Anna starts rummaging in her handbag for money-in the pro-
cess some of the contents tumble out on to the counter, including a
photograph. Martins picks it up.
MARTINS: Harry?
ANNA : Yes. He moved his head, but the rest is good,
isn’t it 7
She takes back the photo and puts it in her bag again.
6. Close-up of woman customer at the table, with Kurtz bending
down close to her-smiling and playing the violin. He suddenly
reacts on sighting Martins offscreen. He finishes playing and
straightens up, camera panning up with him and losing woman
customer ; we hold him in close up, looking off still.
7. Close shot of Popescu seated at table reading a paper and smoking
a cigar.
8. Close-up. Kurtz nods at Popescu, then, closer to camera, looks
nervously off at Martins. Moves forward to exit.
9. Close shot. Popescu looks off at Martins, paper still in hand.
10. Close shot. Anna and Martins. Kurtz moves downstage to stand
between them full face. Martins puts down his glass.
KURTZ : Good evening, Miss Schmidt.
ANNA : Good evening.
KuRTZ: So, you have found out my little secret.
A man must live. How goes the investigation ?
Have you proved to the police they are wrong ?
11. Close-up of Martins looking at Kurtz.
MARTINS: Not yet.
KURTZ : But you will.
12. Close-up of Kurtz past Martins in right foreground.
KURTZ : Our friend Dr. Winkel said you had called.
Wasn’t he helpful ?
13. Close-up of Martins past Kurtz in left foreground.
MARTINS : Well, he was, er, limited.
14. Close-up of Kurtz.
KURTZ : Mr. Popescu is here tonight.
MARTINS : The Rumanian ?
KURTZ : Yes. The man who helped carry him.
41
15. Close-up of Martins.

MARTINS : I thought he left Vienna ?
KURTZ : He is back now.
17. Close-up of Martins.
MARTINS : I’d like to meet all of Harry’s friends.
KURTZ : I’ll bring him to you.
(He exits)
19. Close-up : Anna looking off at Martins.
ANNA : Haven’t you done enough for tonight ?
20. Close-up of Martins, camera panning down to bring in Anna
as he leans down on the bar, close to the right of her full face.
nfAmms : The porter said three men carried the body
-and two of them are here.
21. Long shot from Martins’ eyeline. Some members of the Interna-
tional Patrol appear in the doorway to the bar. Footsteps.
22. Medium close shot of Anna and Martins leaning on the bar.
Behind them in the reflection of the wall mirror Martins watches
the International Patrol as they enter bar. An American MP fol-
lowed by a Russian enters, crossing screen behind Anna and
Martins. As they go, Martins turns back to bar.
MARTINS : Who are they looking for now ?
ANNA : Sssh ! Don’t, please.
MARTINS : Silly looking bunch.
23. Medium long shot of Kurtz, followed by Popescu, making their
way through the tables and some members of the patrol. Camera
tracking back with them and panning, revealing Anna and
Martins at the bar in foreground. They stop, facing them. Kurtz
introduces Popescu.
KURTZ : Mr. Popescu ; Mr. Martins.
MARTINS: How do YOU do?
POPESCU : Any friend of Harry’s is a friend of mine.
KURTZ : 1’11 leave you together.
Kurtz exits.
POPESCU : Good evening, Miss Schmidt. You remember
me ?
ANNA: Of COUI-SC.
POPESCU : I helped Harry fix her papers, Mr. Martins.
MARTINS : Oh, you did.
POPESCU : Not the sort of thing I should confess to
42
a total stranger, but you have to break the rules

sometimes. Humanity’s a duty. Cigarette, Miss
Schmidt ?
He puts a cigarette in his mouth and offers the packet to Anna.
ANNA : Thank you.
POPESCU : Keep the packet.
24. Close shot of Martins.
MARTINS : I understand you were with ...
25. Close shot to Popescu.
MARTINS: Harry...
POPESCU : Two double whiskies. Was wiinschen Sie ?
He looks off at Anna.
ANNA : Nichts danke. Nein.
POPESCU : Entschuldigen Sie. It was a terrible thing.
26. Close-up of Anna holding glass and looking down thoughtfully.
POPESCU : I was just crossing the road to go to Harry.
27. Medium shot of Popescu and Martins crossing bar into resfaur-
ant, camera panning and tracking with them and revealing
the almost empty tables beyond. They move upstage with their
backs to the camera, and stop in the centre of the room.
POPESCU : He and the Baron were on the sidewalk.
If I hadn’t started to cross the road it wouldn’t have
happened. I can’t help blaming myself and wishing
things had been different. Anyway he saw me, and
stepped off the sidewalk to meet me, and the truck. . .
28. Close-up of Popescu : Martins walks forward and stands close
to him in profile.
POPESCU : It was terrible, Mr. Martins, terrible. I have
never seen a man killed before.
He lights a cigarette.
MARTINS : I thought there was something funny about
the whole thing.
POPESCU: Funny?
MARTINS : Something wrong.
POPESCU : Of course there was. Some ice for Mr. Martins.
A tray with two drinks comes into picture and they each take one.
MARTINS : You think so, too ?
Martins walks round Popescu.
POPESCU : It was so terrible for a man like Harry to
be killed in an ordinary street accident.
Martins is now close to him in the foreground.
43
MARTINS : That’s all you meant ?

POPESCU : What else ?
Music stops.
29. Close-up of Martins, with Popescu in the right foreground.
MARTINS : Who was the third man ?
This scene is interesting for more than one reason. Carol Reed has
deliberately chosen the environment of a bar for the meeting
between Holly Martins and Harry Lime’s questionable friends.
The bar is like a symbol of the unreliability of the men whom
Martins meets there.
The International Patrol, entering suddenly, emphasizes that
symbolic meaning, but at the same time the arrival of the patrol
is a clear indication of the time and circumstances (the occupa-
tion of Vienna by the Allied Forces) in which the events are set,
Several other factors give evidence of that situation : army money
is not accepted in the bar ; when the patrol passes by them, Anna
warns Martins to be careful what he says ; Popescu says that
he forges passports and tells Anna that she may keep the (probably
scarce) cigarettes which are left in the packet. Moreover, the
whole situation explains and justifies the action which follows,
for here Martins realizes that Harry’s friends are not truthful. 1
THE CHARACTERS
It is the writer’s task to think up the characters of his story, and

then it is for the actors, the make-up men, the cameraman and
others to give visual form to his conception. Only in a very na’ive
film (such as a serial) is the character written on the actor’s face.
In more sophisticated films, the spectator has to deduce what
the characters’ peculiarities are from their acting, from their
behaviour and from their relations with others. In ‘The Third
Man’, long before Harry Lime himself appears, the spectator has
gradually built up his character from the elements gathered by
Martins who is searching for his friend. This is what we might call
the viewer’s ‘imaginative co-operation’ with the film artist.
In the sequence from ‘The Third Man’ described above, Popescu’s
questionable character becomes clear to us as we watch him in
I. Following the incident in the bar described here, during which Holly Martins
has begun strongly to suspect that his friend Harry Lime was not the tine and
honest man he (Martins) had always thought him to be, the story of ‘The Third
Man’ continues with Martins running ioto an ofTicer of the British military
police in Vienna, from whom he learns that IIarry must still he alive and is,
in fact, a very dangerous blackmarketeer in penicillin and other rare and costly
medicines. Although at first Martins is not willing to help the police, by betraying
his old friend, he is at last convinced that Harry must be found in order to stop
his disastrous negotiations. Harry Lime is traced with Martins’ help and finally
killed by him, after a dangerous pursuit through the sewers of Vienna.
44
his contacts with Kurtz, Anna and Martins. First the spectator
has noticed that Kurtz winked secretly at Popescu ; then it pro-
vokes some curiosity that Popescu immediately speaks about
having forged Anna’s papers. His remark, ‘Humanity is a duty’,
is apt to make the spectator suspicious. He tells Anna to keep
the cigarettes-which may be an expression of kindness or a
calculated attempt to impress her favourably. In his dialogue
with Martins, Popescu attempts to avoid a direct explanation,
first by two whiskies, then by taking the glass from the tray which
the waiter presents to him. This not only delays the answer,
which is expected anxiously by Martins (and by the audience),
but also makes it appear more and more likely that Popescu has
something to hide,
While the author is primarily responsible for his characters,
it would be wrong to under-estimate the merits of his collaborators.
Costume designers, hairdressers, make-up men have to see to it
that the actor looks like the character he is supposed to represent.
The actor himself has to create his role by means of mimicry,
gestures, demeanour and speech. However, his work is rather
different from that of the stage actor, who is expected to live
with his role through the total length of a play. The movie actor’s
performances are really limited to a few seconds each-the time
required for each separate shot-and they are only the ‘basic
material’ for the director, the cameraman, and the editor of the
film, however essential that basic material may be. The director,
the cameraman, the lighting man, the sound engineer, the cutter,
the composer and the musicians all collaborate in combining the
parts contributed by the individual actors into the whole, composite
film. The photographs on Plates XXIII and XXIV clearly show
that it is not the actor alone who makes a film into a work of art.
SYMBOLISM OF FORM AND CONTENT
Abstract elements such as feelings and ideas, the emotional

significance of an event, the season of the year in which an action
is set-all these have to be expressed by symbols, which appeal
to the creative sense of the spectator.
We have seen that some degree of symbolism may be conveyed
by the placing of the camera, so that a close shot can indicate
a short distance between the viewer and the filmed object in
a mental as well as in a physical sense. In the same way, the
atmosphere produced by a static shot is different from that
produced by a dynamic shot. The camera’s slow movement
towards an object may give the impression of a growing menace.
When sequences have to be linked together the collection of
successive shots in a ‘dissolve’ may express a certain softness
and subtlety, whereas the device of ‘cutting’ can give an impres-
sion of abruptness or even of harshness. In all these examples
the optical-spatial factor in the film image adds a certain mental
45
significance to the scene. When this significance becomes pre-

dominant, the film is using what we might call ‘figurative language’;
the picture’s immediate sense yields to its figurative meaning.
It could be said that a purely spatial attribute in a film image
assumes a figurative quality at any time when the distance,
angle, height or motion of the camera becomes abnormal : abnor-
mally long or short, abnormally quick or slow. In the film called
‘Enchantment’ (directed by Irving Reis) we see an old general
relaxing in his armchair after his return to the deserted parental
home, gradually losing himself in old memories. This dozing
off is symbolized by a slowly withdrawing camera, so that the
old man in his armchair seems to disappear, while the images
of his youth appear on the screen. In one scene from Duvivier’s
‘Un Carnet de Bal’ (Life dances on) we see the world through
the eyes of an epileptic doctor : the pictures are shot with a tilted
camera, the horizon seems to slant, and we conclude correctly
that the doctor has lost his mental balance.
As the result of an unusual camera position, the film object
may appear quite different from the way we are accustomed
to seeing it. If-as in ‘Ditte Menneskebarn’ (Ditte-Child of
Man) (directed by B. and A. Henning-Jensen)-a fat person
is filmed from below, the bulkiness of his belly will be grossly
exaggerated. In this way a rich, ambitious farmer, who thinks his
son too good to marry a day-labourer’s daughter, is characterized in
his ridiculous self-conceit. The close-up may concentrate the view-
er’s attention on certain objects which thereby assume symbolic
significance. In Eisenstein’s ‘Bronenosec Potemkin’ (Battleship
Potemkin), the soldiers at Odessa trample over the bodies of the
slain people. Then, suddenly, in a close-up, only their boots remain
in the picture ; it is no longer men who are treading on men, but
just boots, soulless objects, in which there is no trace of humanity.
Finally, the contents of an image or a situation may in itself
have symbolic character. A blossoming orchard indicates spring;
the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower means that Paris is
the setting and, almost inevitably, that the theme is love. A
picture of two raindrops merging into each other on a window-
pane may serve as a symbol for the unification of two lives.
The background, too, may have a symbolic function. In Delannoy’s
film ‘Dieu a besoin des hommes’ (God Needs Men) a murderer
confesses while a thunderstorm is raging outside. The hunt for
the unscrupulous criminal in ‘The Third Man’ ends in the sewers
of Vienna. And in ‘Riso Amaro’ (Bitter Rice) (directed by De
Santis) a slaughterhouse is the scene of the final and decisive
struggle between the two hostile couples.
FILM RHYTHM
Artistic rhythm is the vital principle of every work of art and

determines its structure. With dynamic art, the material itself
46
Plate xx\
Nakctl (:ity
mot 3c
He turns anti looks up.
(7 12 secolltlh)
Shot (i
The pursuers from the
left come ncarrr. (1 ‘,:!
sccollds)
1 1hc
the
ontls)
CIIICII
,f Lhc
shot.
may be in motion-the art of dancing is concerned with the

motion of the human body, poetry with the motion of language.
With static arts, such as painting and sculpture, the element
of motion lies in the viewer’s perception. He may receive an
impression of movement from the composition of the painting ;
he may allow his eyes to wander over the picture, or he may
follow the movements of the persons shown in it. Each perception
is of a motory nature ; when seeing a painting or a sculpture,
we not only embrace the forms and lines in one look, but we
also, so to speak, feel about and follow with our eyes so that
our sense of sight and motion are both concerned with the per-
ception of these works of art. We can thus speak of an objective
and subjective motion. The objective motion lies in the work of
art itself, the subjective motion is connected with the perception
of the work by the viewer.
The film consists of projected pictures, each of which is an
optical (and acoustical) image of a real or staged event or situation.
Various elements of motion may be present in each picture: the
objects in the picture may be moving, the camera may have
been in motion when shooting, or the composition of the picture
itself may arouse a sense of ‘subjective motion’ in the viewer.
The question now is : in what way are the objective and subjective
motions of the separate shots in a sequence combined into a
rhythmic totality ? To answer this question, let us examine a
shot sequence from a film chosen more or less at random, ‘Naked
City’ (directed by Dassin), reproduced on Plates XXV to XXVIII.
In nine shots, the sequence shows a criminal who seeks refuge
from the New York police by entrenching himself between the
steel construction of the great Hudson Bridge.
In shot 1 the criminal runs towards the camera (objective
motion). The camera follows him, turning to the right (subjective
and objective motion). In shot 2, we see the policemen as we
would see them through the eyes of the criminal (subjective
motion). In shot 3, the man runs back, the camera turns with
him to the left and shows how some policemen are also closing
in from the other side. The man withdraws again and the camera
follows him once more, turning to the right. The man, searching
for a way out, notices a flight of stairs between the steel construc-
tion leading upward. In the third shot we therefore get objective
and subjective motion to the left ; the motion of the second
group of pursuers ; then objective and subjective motion to the
right ; in picture 4, we see what the man sees-the flight of stairs
(subjective motion). Shot 5 takes us back to the end of shot
3 : the man now climbs the stairs (objective motion). In shot 6,
the pursuers are coming nearer-a repetition of the (objective)
motion in the second part of shot 3. In the seventh shot, we
find ourselves with the camera at the top of the stairs and see
the man climbing upwards-in the direction of the camera.
The view-direction of shot 5 has been reversed. From the same
direction, but somewhat nearer, we see in shot 8 one of the
47
policemen at the foot of the stairs firing a shot at the criminal. The
(subjective) position remains the same as in the preceding picture,
and we view a policeman’s action more or less from the standpoint
of the criminal. In shot 9, ilnally, the camera once more follows
the motion of the man who, although he has been hit, still drags
himself up the stairs. By combining the subjective motion (of
the camera) with the objective motion (of the man) the film
producer makes us in a symbolic way experience the painful
efforts of the man in climbing the stairs.
The first conclusion which we may draw from this example
is that the whole scene is composed of alternating objective and
subjective motions. The second conclusion is that each transition
from one shot to the next means a turning-point in the progress
of the motion. One motion stops and the following begins. In
other words, the ‘motion between the pictures’ is formed by the
alteration of the motion. This refers not only to the transition
from objective to subjective motion, but also to changes in the
moving object, in the direction of the motion and the distance
of the moving object, and in the duration and speed of the motion.
These ‘multi-dimensional’ changes in the motion present the
film artist with a host of opportunities for rhythmic elaboration.
Objective motions alternate with subjective ones ; one object
makes room for the other ; the direction of the motion changes
over and over again ; the distance between the objects and the
viewers varies continually ; each shot has its own duration and
the tempo may be regulated as required. In addition to these
optical and spatial possibilities, there is, of course, the ‘movement’
of the spoken word and of the accompanying music.
The importance of film aesthetics
Aesthetic education, today generally considered an indispensable

part of education as a whole, is not only concerned with art
appreciation, but also with the development of the creative
faculty. It gives access to a new mode of existence in which one
can move ‘more freely ‘, in which one is no longer wholly bound
to one’s own limitations or to the circumstances of life ; an existence
which allows one to be more human. Aesthetic experience is
not an escape from everyday reality, but represents some sort
of victory over it. Aesthetic appreciation can be likened to tra-
velling to remote, strange countries and coming back with a
horde of new experiences. For that reason, experience of works
of art fulfils a pedagogical function.
It is sometimes claimed that to know a lot about films can
limit one’s faculty to enjoy them. If this theory were well founded
then a novel writer would no longer be able to enjoy someone
else’s literary products, a musician could no longer abandon
4s
himself to the pleasure of listening to music played by others.

Acquaintance with the principles of film appreciation may en-
courage a more critical outlook, but it will certainly not blunt
the viewer’s receptiveness for what is good. It does not decrease
the effect on his imagination either. Nor does it stop the viewer
from experiencing real emotions. It does, however, prevent him
from losing his intellectual liberty by becoming only emotionally
involved while seeing a film. The film experience thus remains
a free and personal experience, and this is precisely what makes
it so valuable.
In principle, it will be readily agreed that the truest value in
any form of artistic creation lies in the creative activity itself,
and that therefore the best way to gain understanding and appre-
ciation is to engage in the activity. But in practice, if one goes
on to advocate that young people who are receiving film-teaching
should accordingly be given an opportunity, if one can be found,
to make films for themselves, the suggestion is likely to seem
much too far-fetched for some people to accept. There is indeed
some danger that their immediate reaction may be to question
the whole concept of introducing film-teaching into the modern
school syllabus. While recognizing this, I am still of the opinion
that, in situations where the possibilities for it exist or can be created,
film education on the practical side deserves to be encouraged
along with ‘passive’ ilhn appreciation. This belief stems from my
conviction that the art of film-and before long the art of tele-
vision-is bound to become increasingly important in modern
life. Furthermore, it may well be argued that unless one has
been prepared for it by special training, frequent contact with
film and television may easily spoil what has been achieved
already thanks to literary and other forms of aesthetic education.
The subject is treated in more detail in Chapter V, but here
it is relevant to point out that just as children write compositions,
or paint water-colours, or produce plays, so they can be encouraged
to make modest short films. The experiments already carried out
in this field have shown that it is possible to develop creative
talents as well as mere film appreciation. The great drawback
is, of course, money. Film production always seems a costly
proposition, and it is true that a good deal more money is needed
to have children make short films than to have them paint pictures
or produce a simple play. Yet other educational activities, such
as physical education or the teaching of physics, require expensive
apparatus and materials, too. Moreover, the writing of a scenario,
or of a shooting script, does not need much money and has a
value of its own as an exercise, even if actual production of the
film is not intended. Again, film-making is based on team-work
and may therefore demand considerable efforts in organization
on the part of the teacher; yet team-work in itself is considered
to confer important educational benefits.
An obvious prerequisite for education in film aesthetics is both
to know the film language and to have a certain familiarity with
49
- ___- ___-.-
film technique. This will enable the viewer to recognize and
admire technical skill, yet it will preserve him from mistaking
such skill by itself for artistic achievement. Even serious film
fans are often too much preoccupied with good photography,
successful colour shots, or the performance of the actors. Their
interest is understandable, but it is necessary to consider such
technical and personal achievements in relation to the work of
art as a whole, especially in relation to its meaning. Technique
only gives the artist the possibility of ‘speaking’ ; what really
matters is what he has to ‘say’ (that is, the symbolic meaning
of the work of art) as well as the way in which he ‘says’ it (that
is, the symbols he has used).
Therefore, the manner in which meaning is expressed deserves
close study. There are several values which the spectator should
learn to appreciate. For example, he has to learn to see the dif-
ference between a disorderly construction of the action and a
tight one, between a cliche and an original development of an
idea, between a scene which strikes him as truthful and one that
is merely evoking cheap sentiment. Finally, in addition to technical
knowledge and the ability to appreciate formal values, the movie-
goer should possess some understanding of the symbolic language
of the art.
50
CHAPTER IV
Critical assimilation
of film content
The environment shown by the film, the people to whom it intro-
duces us, their actions, behaviour and ideas-all of this may be
referred to as the ‘content’ of the second world which we encounter
at the cinema. This world clearly differs in many ways from our
ordinary surroundings. Indeed in the world of film one often seeks
to experience what one lacks in one’s own life-or to escape from
what one has too much of I What does this film world look like ?
At first sight it is obviously different in every film. But if you go
regularly to the cinema, you will begin to notice that some envi-
ronments, situations, scenes, types and attitudes regularly return,
even although in the course of years the emphasis may shift
slightly. It is, however, not easy to give anything but general
descriptions of these regularly recurring patterns or characteristics
of film content, because research in this particular subject is
still not very far advanced. 1
Environments, situations,
courses of action
We have noticed already that the environments shown in films

are frequently not at all the same as the ‘ordinary’ environment
of the average viewer. To satisfy our escapist wishes, the film
maker may present remote countries, the jungle, or the inside of
a submarine ; or he may wish to flatter our hidden yearnings for a
more luxurious existence by staging his screen play in a sumptu-
ously furnished flat or an elegant finishing school for girls. It is
reasonable to do this occasionally, for such places do exist-but
1. See, for instance, Edgar Mm-in, Les Slam, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1957 Gordon
Mirams. The Ideas in Films, Wellington, New Zealand Education Depnrtment,
1953 (Discussion series, VII (9)) ; H. S. Muller, el al., Sociografie uan de Tweede
Wereld. Waf krijgt onze jeugd in de Bioscoop te zien 7, Punnerend. Muusses,
19.58; M. Wolfenstein and N. L&es, fifouies: a Psychological Study, Glencoe,
III., The Free Press, 1950.
51
one question we have to ask ourselves is whether the film presents

a genuine or a false picture of reality. When distortion is deliberate
-when the film is presenting fairyland or life on the planets, for
example-there is little danger that the viewer will get a false
impression of real life. But when the film pretends to picture real
life and at the same time makes the poor secretary live in a super-
luxury flat, then we should qualify any enthusiasm we may have
for the entertainment by noting that it is a forgery of art and life.
In many cases, of course, the effect of such ‘virtual’ wanderings in
strange spheres may be only skin deep. Yet the question remains
whether a night-club, a gambling den, a battlefield or somebody
else’s bedroom form suitable mental environments for the youth-
ful cinema-goer. Is he perhaps still too immature for them ? Or
can it be said that they ‘broaden his view of life’ ?
The film takes the viewer through all the situations which each
leading character has to experience. He is being pursued and shot
at, he goes to a wedding or loses a close relation, he experiences
personal trouble or romantic success. The successive situations
together form the action of the film ; this action has to be com-
pressed within a period of one or two or, at the most, three hours.
The resulting tension is shared by the spectator, for whom the
film becomes a very concentrated experience indeed. If it concerns
external development only, even an action experienced in extreme-
ly emotional concentration will affect nothing more than the
periphery of the spectator’s personality. But an action which also
develops in depth may involve deeper strata of his mind. Accord-
ing to several authors the main themes of film activity are iden-
tical with those of the day-dreams of the average person : eroticism,
romanticism, crime, adventure, heroism and success. The lack of
originality in developing these themes appears less alarming than
the inherent falsification of values and its impact upon young
people. Eager to absorb every bit of information on what they
conceive to be the world of adults, they eventually base their
own day-dreams on cinema plots. What was supposed to appeal
to day-dreaming adults becomes food for the minds of exper-
ience-hungry adolescents.
The characters
THEIR APPEARANCE AND SOCIAL STATUS
In this respect, too, there are justified complaints about a certain

one-sidedness. The leading characters are nearly always young
people ; middle-aged people are obviously no longer sufficiently
interesting. One is too old at 40, it seems, to have any more adven-
tures ; one can no longer feel any ‘deep love’. An exception to this
rule is the male lead in many American films. Although it is
notorious or clearly perceptible that the male lead (Gary Grant,
52
Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, and others) is well

beyond the age of the jeune premier he still plays the ardent lover
and/or the adventurous hero. The explanation of this fact may
be that the female spectator looks up to the man with experience
and that the elderly male spectator identifies himself more readily
with the older-but-still-young lover or hero.
The female and male leads nearly always fulfil the public’s idea
of what constitutes physical beauty at that particular moment.
(This ideal, of course, will to a large extent have been established,
if not created for the public, by the motion-picture industry itself).
Representation of character is often limited to mere cliches : the
woman is not only beautiful but also very intelligent, the man is
courageous, determined and sure of himself. The ‘good-bad’ girl,
however, a highly attractive creature living in suspect or adventu-
rous circumstances, yet noble and virtuous enough to become a
devoted wife, is a very familiar type, as has been pointed out by
Wolfenstein and Leites. 1 This type in itself has become a cliche,
yet it offers one of the few examples of character drawing not
limited to mere black and white.
Unmarried leads are often represented without family attach-
ments ; their relatives are rarely shown and they are very seldom
seen in the family circle. Usually the male lead’s job is mentioned,
but we learn nothing more about it except when the man happens
to have a spectacular or adventurous position in life such as that
of a Western sheriff, a police inspector, an army officer, a singer
or a dancer.
BEHAVIOUR AND MOTIVES
In many films the behaviour of the characters conforms to a

strongly stereotyped pattern which probably results at least in
part from a compromise between the rules of the film censor and
the film producer’s desire to comply with the conscious and
unconscious desires of his public.
Adolescents are mainly impressed by the attitudes and gestures
of the film stars whom they imitate-or would like to imitate-in
their own social demeanour. The impact of this hero-worship could
be very positive if the average film star’s behaviour on the screen
were less stereotyped. Fist-fights and embraces, reckless pursuit
on horseback over the prairie or in cars through the busy traffic
of city streets may speed up the film action but is likely to leave
the viewer in a state of over-excitement. On the other hand, when
the behaviour of the film characters is determined by solid per-
sonal qualities and motivated by worthwhile ideals it can provide
the young viewer with many stimulating examples which will be
remembered.
But motivations are often too superficial, too general or too
1. Wolfenstein and Leites, Movies: a Psychological Study. See Note 1, page 51
53
selfish. An amorousness that is determined only by external fac-

tors such as good looks, good clothes and a fat bank account,
vague patriotism, blind hatred, a thirst for revenge, an immediately-
accepted urge for adventure-these and similar generalities can
scarcely turn the viewing of a film into any sort of spiritual expe-
rience. Indeed the motives of characters on the screen are usually
so limited in number and in variety that frequent viewing of the
average film cannot be expected to make a constructive impres-
sion on the young spectator’s personality.
Tendency of the Glm

and its ideas
That a great number of films have no explicit or implicit ten-

dency can hardly be considered a shortcoming. The value of a
film is not generally determined by its efficiency as a propaganda
tool for some idea or ideology. Even without any more or less
obvious tendency, a film may be valuable for its educational,
artistic or recreational qualities. However, criticism and suspicion
are justified when the moral of a film is so wavering and vague that
it can raise only confusion and misapprehension or when the film
pretends to be preaching one thing but in fact is saying something
else-or nothing at all 1
The same is true about the ideas propounded in a film-pro-
claimed by the characters or borne out by their actions-
concerning personal or social ideals or institutions. Disregard for
marriage, cheap and unwarranted criticism of the police and
other authorities, idolization of physical strength and the weight
of numbers, undifferentiated dislike of officialdom, stereotyped
characterization of people belonging to other races, sentimental
arguments and particularly all half truths, can make the film
experience dangerous for young and uncritical spectators. In
the face of them the educator must walk very warily. At the same
time, however, they offer him opportunities for fruitful discussions
with his pupils, at least if the ideas advanced by the film lie
within the scope and sphere of interest of the latter. This is even
more the case should the film exhibit positive tendencies and ideas.
‘Critical viewing’
If a knowledge of film language is necessary to find one’s way

about in the world of film, and if a certain familiarity with the
aesthetic principles of film is required to experience this world
creatively, the faculty of critical viewing makes it possible to
integrate the film experience into one’s personal life. What is
required to bring this integration about ?
54
Freedom from illusions,

and ‘liberation’
As indicated in our opening chapter, many experts concerned

with film education believe that the young audience must be
freed from the tremendous emotional impact of the movie. Ex-
cessive admiration for technical achievement (tricks), the fascina-
tion of impressive productions, and the myth of the film stars
all contribute to the uncritical surrender of young people to
films. American educators have stressed the need for ‘emotional
detachment’, l and their German colleagues mean the same
thing when they speak about the need for ‘disillusioning’ the
young viewers. a This has nothing to do with the peculiarly
suggestive power of film language-what I myself advocate is that
young people should not be overwhelmed by the more spectacular
aspects of film or by the glamour and fame of its stars.
Obviously, a certain understanding of film technique will help
to make this type of ‘emotional detachment’ easier. A viewer
aware of the principal techniques used by the cameraman and
the cutter will not lose any of his interest in the film action, yet
he will always remember that even the most admirable tricks
and proceedings are only the means to achieve a purpose. The
same holds good for his attitude towards the players ; the film
educator will counteract blind star-worship which tends to prevent
critical evaluation of the film experience. It is, of course, parti-
cularly difficult to cure young people of such blind admiration
without at the same time suppressing their natural need for hero-
worship. But the film educator may explain that the value of
a film is not primarily determined by the actors who take part
in it. Moreover, it would seem that this struggle against the
idolization of film stars belongs to the sphere of general education
rather than to the teaching of film appreciation.
When speaking about the need to ‘liberate’ ourselves from
the suggestive effects of a film, what we have in mind is the
process that must come after we have seen the film. This really
means that the viewer must be enabled to find his own self again,
to free himself from the film’s emotional impact. The following
quotation from a paper by Raphael Deherpe s explains clearly
what is meant by this aspect of film education: ‘Yet a film, which
may not always be a work of art, is never just a work of art.
As already pointed out, it suggests thoughts, choices and attitudes
in relation to serious political, moral or religious problems. . .
1. Blumer, Movies and Conduct. See Note 1, page 14.

2. Johan Gerhard Wiese, ‘Zur Frage der Filmerziehung’, Film, Bild, Ton, September
1953, p. 199; Adolf Lensing, ‘Warurn Filmerziehung in der Schule ?‘, Film,
Jngend, Schule, September 1954, H. 1.
3. Raphael Deherpe, ‘Pour une PBdagogie du CinBma’, Education et CinCma,
Paris, No. 1, 1954, pp. 39-42.
55
‘Let us assume that the purpose of a film is to persuade us to

adopt a certain attitude towards a given social, political, moral,
religious or philosophical problem ; that is all very fine, but
what is the solution in the film worth ? What intrinsic value
has it and what good is it to us ? Does it tally with our own moral
code, with our general outlook ? And, if not, ought we to adjust
our behaviour and ideas to it ?. . .
‘For we must not forget that the viewer is not free ; while he
is watching the film, he is open to every kind of influence or
suggestion and if he does not revert to his normal state of mind
after the performance, it will leave him bewitched in real life
as he was in the cinema. . .
‘This is where we come back to the problems of the cinema
as a technique and a means of expression. . .
‘At this level, education through the cinema is no longer a
question of art education, but of moral education.. .
‘Impressions received and accumulated over a period of two
hours detract from the viewer’s natural spontaneity, his ability
and desire to create, whereas expression (through criticism,
conversation, film-club debates or, for children, story-telling,
drawing or acting) is, on the contrary, a release, an antidote to
repression.’
The expression ‘critical viewing’ could with some justification
be used to describe the process of comparing one’s own life and
standards of values with those which are offered for our examina-
tion in the films we see. It will be recalled that in the opening
chapter there was a discussion of the theory that in viewing a
film we seem to enter its world in much the same way as when,
by looking into a mirror, we seem to enter the room reflected by it.
If we wanted to pursue this comparison, we could say that, just
as we can look at ourselves in a mirror, so we can look at our-
selves in a film, in the sense that we can see a person experienc-
ing a situation which we vicariously are also experiencing
as spectators and we can compare our reactions as imaginary
participants with those of the character shown on the screen.
The following scheme gives suggestions for more systematic
discussions about the content of films. The viewer may want
to go by himself through the points which are raised, or he may
want to talk them over with others. Naturally it is not suggested
that every film visit should be followed up by a discussion along
these lines ; the scheme merely offers a few ideas which might
be worth using.
SCHEME FOR THE CRITICAL EVALUATION OF FILM CONTENT
Environment, situation and course of action
What are the environments presented ?

Wealthy or poor environments.
56
Family surroundings, work atmosphere (e.g., factory, business).

Recreational atmosphere (e.g., theatre, cafe, beach, night-
club).
Scenery (familiar, strange countries, the sea, exotic environ-
ments).
How are these environments described ?
Thoroughly or superficially.
Does the description correspond to reality ?
Are these surroundings of interest or value to all viewers (for
instance, children) ?
Is your encounter with these environments a new experience ?
Why are you interested in this environment ?
Can acquaintance with this environment lead to confusion and
blur your perception of real life ?
What principal situations occur in this film ?
Work, recreation, family relations, travel.
Situations of danger, romantic situations, pursuits, serious
conversations.
Are these situations described in detail or sketched only super-
ficially ?
Do we actually see people at work ?
Is this work done with pleasure ?
Is the ‘exciting pursuit’ merely a sensational feature or an
important element of the film action ?
Has the film producer perhaps gone too far in describing the
technicalities and details of a crime or an intense flirtation 7
What is the principal theme of the film and what secondary
themes play a part in it ?
Crime, love, career, adventure, travel, theatre, biography.
Compare the treatment of similar themes in other films.
Do secondary themes appear to have genuine importance in
relation to the main one ?
How does the action develop ?
Is it based on a series of accidents or on a genuine dramatic
development ?
Does the outcome of the story depend on the characters of the
persons involved, or on external circumstances ?
Is the emphasis throughout on external developments or on the
mental development of the main characters ?
The Characters (appearance, characfer, social status, attitudes

fowards the outer world and mofivafions)
What kind of people are the main characters ?
Young, old ? (Does their age appear probable in relation to
the action ?)
Attractive or displeasing ? (Why ?)
Appearance and character (which is stressed most ?)
Profession, family relations, married/unmarried.
What importance does the external appearance, the character,
57
etc., of the main persons have on the development of the Alm

action ?
Are their professions or occupations fairly represented in the
work that we see the main characters doing ?
Does the attractive or the displeasing character come out as
‘winner’ or ‘loser’ ?
How does their age influence the behaviour of the characters ?
Is the character of the main persons ‘genuine’ 7
Do the persons who are shown to have certain characteristics
act in accordance with these characteristics ‘?
What actions illustrate their character ?
Do their conversations or actions give us any information as to
the intellectual development of the main characters ?
Which professions appear in a favourable light in this film ?
Is the occupation of the main characters presented in a more
favourable light than would generally be justified by reality or
vice versa ?
Does it become clear whether the main characters are good at
their work ? If so, how ?
How do the main characters behave ?
In what respect do we have to approve their behaviour or reject
it ?
Does it deviate from general social or moral standards, and does
it nevertheless appear defensible ?
Are such attitudes clearly demonstrated, and how ?
What is the character’s attitude towards murderers, children,
women, priests, officials ?
How does he behave towards animals ?
What are the motivations of the main characters ? Are they
based on :
Egotism or altruism.
The wish to obtain wealth, success, authority, or to appearheroic.
Idealism, love, self-sacrifice.
How do these motivations become apparent ?
Tendency of the film and ideas of the producer as well as of the main
characters
Does the film have an obvious or hidden tendency ?
Does it make propaganda for a certain belief or cause ?
What is the moral of the film ?
Can we agree with these views?
What ideas are advanced about cultural, social and other standards
and concepts ?
For instance, on marriage, family, love, friendship, the State,
war, use of force, service to religion, the Church, internatio-
nalism, racial discrimination ?
Can we agree with these views ?
Does the film use proper arguments in defending or rejecting
certain views 7
58
PART TWO
Practical
possibilities for
f&n-teaching
_ .-.-. -.
p__--I_.__ - -- ._._lll_._ ---_.. .
CHAPTER V
Methods and
techniques of
filxn education
The distinctions we have made between ‘knowledge of film
language’, ‘appreciating a film as a work of art’ and ‘critical
assimilation of film content’ will not, when it comes to putting
film education into practice, involve its separation into three
different branches. While one lesson will often have to be devoted
exclusively to problems of film language or another lesson to a
critical evaluation of film content, it will generally be necessary
to consider the various aspects of film education simultaneously.
What now follows is a discussion of the methods used in film
education. Four such methods can be distinguished : oral instruc-
tion (with or without demonstration), discussion, film-making
and film analysis. A few miscellaneous activities which cannot
conveniently be classified under these headings have been grouped
in a fifth section.
Instruction and demonstration
To convey his knowledge of the subject to his pupils, the teacher

has to rely mainly on oral instruction and demonstration. While
this will often be followed by discussion, the pupils cannot be
expected to find out everything by themselves. Even if good,
simple manuals about film existed, the teacher would have to
explain the subject-matter of these books. Instruction is also
required when the pupils are expected to make their own films
or to write scripts. In this case, the teacher will have to provide
technical guidance of some kind or another. However, he should
be careful not to subordinate the urge of the pupils ‘to say’ some-
thing in pictures to his own concern for the purely technical aspects
of the cinema. This was a fault committed by many of the drawing
teachers of our youth who used to over-emphasize the importance of
perspective and other technicalities at the expense of graphic
expression,
61
.-1 _L”_ _I__ __--__-____ - ._..- --.-- --._I_ ---

-111-.-
The repertory of short films or filmstrips on film technique,

film language and related subjects is steadily increasing. Some
examples are given here :
‘Eine Filmszene entsteht’. About the making of a simple film
scene. Silent, 16 mm. Institut fur Film und Bild, Munich.
‘Variationen tiber ein Filmthema’. On the expressive possibilities
of camera position, camera movement, lighting and music.
Sound, 16 mm. and 35 mm. Institut fur Film und Bild, Munich.
‘Telling a Story in Pictures’. About the first principles of editing.
Silent, 16 mm. Society of Film Teachers, London.
‘Naissance du Cinema’. On the early development of cinema-
tography. Sound, 16 mm. and 35 mm. Les Films du Compas,
Centre National de la Cinematographic, Paris, 1946.
‘Screen Director’. 10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm.
Teaching Film Custodians Inc., New York, 1949.
‘Screen Writer’. 10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm. Teach-
ing Film Custodians Inc., New York, 1949.
‘Screen Actors’. 10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm. and
35 mm. Teaching Film Custodians Inc., New York, 1951.
‘Costume Designer’. 10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm.
and 35 mm. Teaching Film Custodians Inc., New York, 1949.
‘The Cinematographer’. About the work of the chief cameraman :
10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm. Teaching Film Custo-
dians Inc., New York, 1949.
‘Sound Man’. About the work of the sound technician. 10 min.,
sound, black and white, 16 mm. Teaching Film Custodians Inc.,
New York, 1950.
‘Director and the Film’. Presents David Lean who comments
on aspects of his work and introduces extracts from some of
his films. 46 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm. and 35 mm.
British Film Institute, 1959.
‘Understanding Movies’. Illustrating some principles of direction,
acting, editing, film music, etc., with excerpts from several
American feature films. 20 min., sound, black and white,
16 mm. Teaching Film Custodians Inc., New York, 1951.
‘Critic and “Great Expectations” ‘. No. 1. Analysis of an editing effect
in David Lean’s film ‘Great Expectations’. 6 min., sound, black
andwhite,16mm.and35mm.BritishFilm Institute,London,1948.
‘Critic and “The Overlanders” ‘. No. 2. Analyses the editing of
a sequence in Harry Watt’s film, ‘The Overlanders’. 15 min.,
sound, black and white, 16 mm. and 35 mm. British Film
Institute, London, 1949.
‘Critic and “Odd Man Out” ‘. No. 3. Analyses the narrative
construction of Carol Reed’s film, ‘Odd Man Out’. 35 min.,
sound, black and white, 16 mm. and 35 mm. British Film Insti-
tute, London, 1949.
‘Critic and “Twelve Angry Men” ‘. No. 4. Analysis of the writing
and characterization in Sidney Lumets’ film, ‘Twelve Angry
Men’. 25 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm. and 35 mm.
British Film Institute, London, 1959.
62
Practical possibilities for film-teaching
‘Beginnings of the Cinema’. A selection of early films made between

1896 and 1900. British Film Institute, London. 14 min., silent
black and white, 16 mm. and 35 mm.
‘Der Filmschnitt’. On the aesthetic possibilities of film editing.
Sound, 16 mm. and 35 mm. Institut fiir Film und Bild, Munich.
‘Road to the Screen’. Shows the work of the State School of
Cinematography in Moscow, with scenes from current Russian
feature productions, and students attending lecture sessions
and producing their own film exercises. 21 min., sound, colour,
16 mm., French commentary. 1958. Available from British
Film Institute, London.
Subjects such as the invention of cinematography or the history
of film can probably best be dealt with by oral instruction, com-
bined with the showing of historically interesting films, photo-
graphs and so on.
One or two examples of the practical application of this method
may help to show what is meant.
In France, the Federation Loisirs et Culture Cinematographiques
(FLECC) has for several years been organizing lecture courses
for the students of about 500 secondary schools. During the first
year of the three-year programme, the subject of film language
is treated in a series of six lectures which are followed by film
showings and discussions. Film history is the main topic of the
second year, and the various kinds of films are discussed during
the third year. This same programme is also carried out in some
100 clubs for rural youth, as well as in some factory clubs for
which detailed information sheets about films are published.
The Centre Catholique de Recherches Filmologiques, of the
Centrale Catholique du Cinema, de la Radio et de la Television,
has developed a method of teaching children of elementary school
age how to ‘read’ a film. The method involves three stages. In
the first, use is made of drawings or comic strips (e.g., ‘Tintin
et Milou’, by Herge) in which the designer has applied filmic
means such as long shots, medium shots, close-ups, low angles
and reverse angles, etc. Afterwards a very short film (e.g., ‘Le
Petit Soldat’) is shown without sound, and the teacher tells
the story. Then the children hear only the sound track and they
have to reconstruct the story by recalling to mind the pictures
they have seen just before. Finally the film is projected normally.
For a different age level Age1 l suggests that each film showing
should begin with a talk about film language, illustrated by the
analysis of a short film.
Once the means used by the film maker have been made clear,
the film may be shown again, but this time without sound, so
that the lecturer has the opportunity of drawing the viewer’s
attention to the most important points in the film.
In the United States, where film is often discussed during
high school English classes, many of the more important text-
1. Ned Agel, Le CinCma, Tournai, Paris, 1954, 282 pp.
63
books contain data about film on which the teacher can base
his instruction. For example, Mastering Good English 1 contains
a special chapter about radio and film ; in the space of about
nine pages the following items are treated : acting, photography,
directing, special techniques (transition in space and time) and
‘film reviews’ (selecting motion pictures). Our English Language z
devotes several paragraphs and practical exercises to film, and
the supplementary Teacher’s Guide makes concrete suggestions
as to the way in which the film may be applied to language teach-
ing. Among the specialized handbooks on film appreciation,
Edgar Dale’s How to Appreciate Motion Pictures 3 ranks very
high. It includes chapters on the history of the movies, a visit
to a film studio, motion picture reviewing, the film story, acting,
photography, settings, sound and music, direction, etc. A number
of brief demonstration films (they run for ten to twelve minutes)
are available which are devoted to the work of the screen director,
the cinematographer, the costume designer, the screen actor,
the screen writer, and the sound man. A 20-minute film, ‘Under-
standing Movies’ attempts to give an idea of what good directing,
editing, acting, photography, music and art direction may con-
tribute to a film. *
Discussion
Generally speaking, the aesthetic appreciation and critical assi-

milation of a film are not rational but predominantly emotional
processes (suggestion, identification, projection, etc.). The dis-
cussion of films is valuable from a pedagogical point of view,
particularly because judgements and opinions which have been
formed in that sphere of the mind where the processes of appre-
ciation and assimilation happen automatically, are now subjected
to rational examination. Discussion thus helps to externalize
and ‘objectify’ the film experience, thereby enabling the students
to integrate this experience into the structure of their own per-
sonalities. If used with some regularity, this may cultivate a
‘habit’ (not an automatism) of (rationally) assimilating films,
and this in turn may lead to a more rational choice of the films
one goes to see.
To be able to share the artist’s creative experience, and to
integrate the film’s social and cultural tenets with one’s own
1. Henry Seidel Canby, et al., Mastering Good English, New York, Macmillan,
1947,495 pp.
2. Mathilde Bailey and Lalla Wailer, Our English Language, New York, American
Book Co., 1956, 146 pp.
3. Edgar Dale, How to appreciafe Motion Pictures; A Manual of Motion Picture
Crificism prepared for High School Students, New York, Macmillan, 1938, 243 pp.
4. See list on page 62.
64
world and life, one has to undergo a learning process which has
very little to do with the memorizing of facts. It involves the
need for continuous definition of one’s own position and attitudes.
The best method of achieving this end is ‘to think aloud’, in
company with the other partners of the group, about one’s own
Alm experience ; and this is precisely what we mean by film dis-
cussion. Moreover, the group is man’s natural social element.
Group experience has a strong suggestive effect, and it also tends
to develop a spirit of sound competition. The teacher must,
however, prevent such discussions from being monopolized by
a few ‘talkers’, and must try to elicit the comments of the more
timid group-members by touching upon the things in which they
are interested. 1
Two English authors, Stanley Reed a and A. W. Hodgkinson, 3
describe in some detail how discussion of films should be organized.
The teacher may start out with general statements, such as :
‘Is it right to film a well-known book ?’ or ‘Films today are
better/worse than those produced five to ten years ago.’ Or
discussions may be conceived as ‘mock trials’ in which an actor,
director or cameraman might be accused of certain shortcomings,
e.g., ‘Marlon Brando is charged with having failed to understand
the nature of his role as Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar” and with
playing it too much in American gangster style.’ Students may
also be asked to award ‘Oscars’ to what they consider the best
film, the best direction, the best acting, etc., in their recent
experience. They would, of course, be required to justify their
choice and to defend it against opponents. Two-minute talks on
a prepared subject (such as ‘How does a film camera work ?‘)
will call forth many questions and often lead to a lively exchange
of ideas. ‘Brains trusts’ in which some of the members of the
group play the part of the actor, director, producer, cinema-
owner, and the man in the street, demand somewhat more from
the students or members of the club, hut will prove worthwhile.
Naturally, discussion of the films shown in the neighbourhood
will always remain an attractive feature of such activity.
Brudny * and various other German authors also stress the
value of such discussions. Brudny, in particular, stresses that
children must first be taught to see (i. e., they should be changed
from being merely passive viewers into becoming active obser-
vers) ; second, the inclination to take a critical attitude towards
a film should be increased ; third, the moral judgement should
be strengthened; fourth, the sense of style developed. Brudny
1. For useful information about the conducting of such discussions, see : Adult
Education Groups and Audio-visual Techniques, Paris, Unesco, 1958, 35 pp.
(Reports and Papers OR Mass Communication, No. 25.)
2. Stanley Reed. Film Teaching in England, a mimeographed report presented
at a conference in Luxembourg, 1955.
3. A. W. Hodgkinson, Film Appreciation in Youth Clubs, London, British Film
Institute, 1955.
4. Wolfgang Brudny, Filmerziehung, Jugend und Film, No. 2-3/VI, Munich, 1955
(special number).
65
_“...I -.-“._ ---_- _-_..

suggests that written compositions about films the students

have seen recently, or about particular aspects of such films,
should be used to supplement the oral discussions.
In France, Deherpe l warns against the kind of debate which
ends up with a mere rehashing of individual conceptions without
leading to agreement on any of the points discussed. Further,
discussions on film must not be limited to text analyses of the
sort favoured in courses on literature. In his opinion the ideal
discussion must have a dramatic quality just as the film itself
has. Speaking about the discussions in film societies, at an inter-
national congress in Namur in 1959, J. J. Camelin of the Union
FranCaise des Oeuvres La’iques d’Education par 1’Image et par
le Son (UFOLEIS) advocated a type of discussion that comprises
four different phases. The first he called the ‘evocation’. By a
series of questions (such as : Which pictures do you still remember?
Which scene impressed you most ? Which is the most important
scene ?), the discussion leader should try to base the discussion
on the facts. After the outstanding images have been enumerated,
described, and compared, he takes the opportunity of recalling
the whole film again. Then comes the second phase : the ‘classi-
fication’. The reactions of the audience are classified : the main
aesthetic, psychological, moral, philosophical, technical and social
aspects of the film are identified. In the third phase one tries
to arrive at ‘comprehension’-an understanding of the aesthetic,
moral or philosophical meaning of the film. Then in the fourth
phase comes the ‘appreciation’. The different aspects and view-
points which have been analysed before are now compared with
reality, with other films, or with books and stage plays. This
is followed by an attempt to arrive at an ‘explanation’ (expli-
cation) : Why has the film maker treated his subject in this way ?
By what circumstances has he been influenced ? The discussion
leader concludes by giving the audience some practical hints,
and some further factual information about the director of the
film and his other work. 2
An excellent aid for discussions about films is provided by the
fiches filmographiques prepared by a number of French organiza-
tions such as the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques
(IDHEC), the Union FranCaise des CEuvres Ldiques d’E?ducation
par 1’Image et par le Son (UFOLEIS) ; the Federation Frangaise
des Cineclubs and the Federation Loisir et Culture Cinematogra-
phiques (FLECC). Abstracts of several hundred films have been
published in this form. The IDHEC cards as a rule contain basic
biographical data about the director, information on the film
story, as well as an analysis of the story and of the way in which
the film artist has manipulated his medium. The fiches prepared
by the UFOLEIS are directly related to the activities of the film
1. Raphael Deherpe, ‘L’fiducation Cinknatographique : Les Moyens’, in:
Education et Cindma, No. 1, Paris, 1954, p. 65.
2. See Union de 2’Europe Occident& : Compte rendu des Trauauz du Stage ‘Loisirs
aclifs par le film’, Namur, August 1959, p. 29 (mimeographed report).
clubs and contain suggestions for introducing the film screening

and for subjects to be treated during the discussion.
Comparable in purpose are the so-called ‘Green sheets’ issued
by the Film Estimate Board of National Organizations in the
United States. l They contain extensive reviews of new films and
an evaluation of their suitability for different age groups, but their
principal value lies in the suggestions they give for the discussion
of certain films in class. They contain eight to fifteen basic ques-
tions touched upon by the film, and also indicate how the film
might be used for English, social science, home economics or other
subjects.
As an example we reproduce some of the questions on the film
‘Moby Dick’ :
‘It has been said that the novel Moby Dick is three things : a
sea chase, a dramatic homily on the sin of vengefulness, and a
textbook on whales and whaling. Does John Huston’s film version
give you the same impressions ? Are there other pleasures which
his film gives ‘7’
‘Do you think that Herman Melville intended to portray
Captain Ahab as a character for censure or praise ? Can you
think of other characters in recent films who pursued their goals
no matter what the cost ? Can you recall such characters from
other works of fiction ?’
‘The time of the story is 1841. What indications as to the period
can you find (viz., costume, architecture in New Bedford, trans-
portation, speech, ways of thinking, ways of illumination) 7’
Making Sims
THE VALUE OF ACTUAL EXPERIENCE
If one seeks to achieve complete mastery of the language of

film, it is very helpful not only to learn to understand film lan-
guage as used by others, but also to use it oneself. In other words,
one should learn how to translate a certain idea or event into
visual terms. Just as we come to understand the language of words
by using it actively, the best way to gain an understanding of film
language is to use it, and the best way to learn how to appreciate
a film as a work of art is to take a creative part in making films.
This proposal, as was pointed out earlier, may seem to some
readers to derive from a rather idealistic, and therefore not wholly
realistic, viewpoint. For film-making depends on several inesca-
pable requirements. First, the equipment must be available : this
can be limited to the most essential items and can probably be
1. ‘Green sheets’. Joint estimates of current entertainment films of the Film

Estimate Board of National Organizations, New York.
67
-.-, _-.- - .-. . -. .-. _ .--.--_. -.--. .. - -- .- --

shared between several schools. Next there must be a budget

(though it can be small) covering the purchase of raw film and
certain other essential items such as a splicing-kit, as well as
payment for processing the film. Then a teacher must be available
with sufficient experience and interest in film-making to guide the
exercise. Yet if one wonders whether the proposal would have any
practical value, one should bear in mind that the number of people
for whom a practical grounding in visual self-expression will be
) valuable for their future work-and here one must not forget tele-
vision-is likely to be continually on the increase. It may before
long become necessary for a fairly large number of people to have
at least an idea of how to formulate in visual language the know-
ledge they want to convey to others, the opinions they want to
win others over to, and the events they want others to take part
in. Photography is already being used for several such purposes
and has become a subject of instruction in some schools.
To achieve the desired results it is probably best to combine the
method which teaches us to understand film language as used by
others with the method of actually making films. In fact, the for-
mer method is most suitable if one wishes to learn the character-
istics of the film language ; but the effect of this visual language
is best experienced through the latter method. At the same time,
teaching of the film language will provide examples of an adequate
use of this language, with which one may compare one’s own
achievements in using it.
Among English authors, Reed l and Hodgkinson * devote some
attention to the writing of ‘treatments’ or shooting scripts ; this
may be carried out individually or as a group activity. Very
quickly the young students learn the shorthand of the shooting
script (c.u. equals close-up ; two-shot equals a shot in which two
persons appear close to each other, etc.), and then they have to
cut the story-often based on a familiar tale-into shots and
scenes. Sometimes the students make a sketch for each shot, so
that the script resembles a ‘comic strip’. The difficulties may be
considerable yet the results are encouraging. The degree of per-
fection reached by children engaged in this form of activity is of
course relatively unimportant. The main thing is that through
team work the different activities of cameraman, director, actors,
camera assistant and others, are carried out by the different
members of the group, and without too much help from the teacher
they do succeed in capturing an action in film language. Operating
a 16 mm. camera is not a very difficult task for youngsters who
are used to manipulating a photographic camera. The British Film
Institute has in stock several of these films made by children and
on certain conditions supplies them to groups in the United
Kingdom who want to start making their own films. 3
1. Reed, Film Teaching in England. See Note 2 on page 65.
2. Hodgkinson. Film Appreciation in Youth Clubs. See Note 3 on page 65.
3. The hiring of the films made by children which the British Film Institute has
in stock is restricted to joint members of the Institute and of the Society for
68
Practical possibilities for ftlm-teaching
A PRACTICAL LESSON
The making of even a small film involves several varied activities

such as : writing the scenario, selecting the players, choosing the
settings and background, determining the viewpoints or set-ups
of the camera, seeking the most satisfactory picture compositions,
and finally editing the film. Probably a large number of children
can formulate a story immediately in pictures, so that real transla-
tion from word language into film language is not called for.
However, when trying to represent a simple idea in pictures, they
will discover that the task is not altogether easy. But if they are
helped and guided by older persons and inspired by the example of
good films which they have studied, they will slowly learn, through
their own experience, the possibilities for expression that are
inherent in the film picture and in the editing process. Lack of
technical experience and inadequate apparatus need not dampen
their enthusiasm. On the contrary, these shortcomings will compel
them to depend on the expressiveness of the pictures themselves.
Of course they will often have to use lengthy sub-titles to connect
individual film passages, and they may make mistakes in applying
the ‘grammar’ of iilm, but that does not limit the usefulness of
the practical method.
The teacher must, however, insist on a systematic way of
working. First of all, the essential moments of the story to be
filmed will have to be singled out ; and these will then have to be
subdivided into scenes. It is wise to prepare outlines, indicating
the camera set-ups which are to be chosen successively for each
essential moment. The distance, height, angle and movement of
the camera are selected ; the position of the actors defined, each
picture divided into plans. Thus, in principle, the editing process
already starts to emerge. Such thorough preparation helps to save
expensive film material, and enables the ‘director’ to keep in
mind the requirements of the whole when making each separate
shot.
An example drawn from the author’s own experience may
serve to elucidate this technique. A group of young people were
requested to make a short film about a car accident. The story
ran as follows :
A Mr. Smith leaves his house for his office. When he is in the
street he waves to his wife, who watches him from a window
of the second floor. When he is crossing the street his wife sees
a car arriving at high speed from the right. She shouts to her
husband to watch out. He is startled, wants to run, but it is
already too late ; he is run over by the car. . . .
This story was limited to one scene and one scenery set (an
Education in Film and Television, except by special arrangement. Non-joint

members wishing to borrow these films should make special application to the
Film Appreciation Officer, British Film Institute, 4 Great Russell Street, London,
W.C.l, stating the purpose for which the films are required.
69
ordinary street) and required three actors only. First the following
plan was drawn :
House B
Sidewalk A Mrs. Smith
Mr. Smith
Street d-Car
I
A is the front door of the house, through which Mr. Smith

emerges on to the street. B is the window on the second floor
through which Mrs. Smith is seen. Mr. Smith comes outside,
stops at the edge of the sidewalk, turns and waves to his wife.
Now, we first wanted to know from which viewpoint this action
could best be shot. After some discussion everybody agreed
with setting up the camera at C, just in front of Mr. Smith’s
house. Then the attention of the group was drawn to the effects
that might be obtained by shooting the whole action from several
viewpoints, so that there would be a possibility for editing. We
referred to film sequences which had previously been projected
and discussed, when attention had been drawn to the principles
of cutting and editing. The group then also decided to split up
the action into several moments as follows : First, of course,
Mr. Smith had to be shown leaving his house. The second essential
moment was the ‘farewell’ scene between Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Then Mrs. Smith was to see the car approaching at high speed ;
she had to shout a warning to her husband (which could only
be recorded visually since we were making a silent film). Mr. Smith,
reacting to his wife’s warning, would be terribly frightened. The
driver would have to make an effort to stop his car. Then Mr. Smith
would appear in a close-up, his face drawn with fear. The last
shot would be the actual smash. However, it was felt that this
would involve technical difhculties ; although somebody suggested
that the car should run very slowly against Mr. Smith and that
this should be shot in slow motion. Then we put forward the
alternative of an intermediate shot which would be less difficult
to take and which might span the moment of the actual collision,
so that it would be sufficient to show the result of the collision
only, e.g., a picture of Mr. Smith lying on the ground in front
of the wheels of the car. Very soon everybody agreed that this
intermediate shot could be a close-up of Mrs. Smith who witnesses
the accident.
70
The second stage consisted of turning this splitting-up of the

event into a shooting script, in which the exact position of the
camera would be noted for each shot. This gave rise to discussions
around such questions as : Is the camera to be set up at a short
or a fairly long distance from Mr. Smith when he leaves his house
(first shot) ? Is the car to be shown first and after that the mo-
ment when Mrs. Smith shouts her warning, or vice-versa ? Finally,
after films that had been seen a little while before had been
referred to, the following shooting script was agreed upon :
1. Mr. Smith leaves his house. Long shot from C in ground plan.
He walks in the direction of the camera, stops at the edge
of the sidewalk. He turns and waves upward. (Mrs. Smith
at the window cannot be seen yet.) Total duration of this shot :
10 seconds.
2. From the window of the second floor Mrs. Smith waves back.
Mrs. Smith seen from Mr. Smith’s viewpoint as it is at the
end of shot 1. The camera looks upward to the bedroom
window where Mrs. Smith stands. Duration of this shot :
3 seconds.
3. Mr. Smith is going to cross the street.
Long shot. Mr. Smith viewed from the bedroom window.
The camera looks down on the street and at Mr. Smith over
the shoulder of Mrs. Smith, who appears in the picture with
her back to the camera. Duration : 5 seconds.
4. From the right (i.e., left from Mrs. Smith’s standpoint) a
car approaches at high speed. Long shot. Car seen from
Mrs. Smith’s viewpoint, i.e., from above. Duration : 3 seconds.
5. Mrs. Smith screams to warn her husband.
Medium shot of Mrs. Smith. The camera (on a ladder) stands
at the same level as Mrs. Smith. Duration : 3 seconds.
6. Mr. Smith, now in the middle of the street, starts and looks
to the right. Medium shot of Mr. Smith from point C.Duration :
3 seconds.
7. The car comes up at high speed. From long shot to medium
shot. Camera stands where Mr. Smith stood in shot 6 and
looks down from his viewpoint in the direction of the approach-
ing car. Duration : 4 seconds.
8. Mr. Smith is terribly frightened and tries to get away. From
medium shot to close shot. Mr. Smith viewed from the ap-
proaching car. The camera is set up in the car behind the
driver. Duration : 2 seconds.
9. The driver jams on the brakes. Medium shot of driver in
profile. Duration : 1 second.
10. Mr. Smith’s face drawn with fear. Close-up. Duration: 1/4second.
11. Mrs. Smith shields her face with her hands. Close-up. Duration:
1/Z second.
12. The car stops, the wheels skid. Close-up of skidding wheels.
Low camera. Duration : 3 seconds.
13. Mr. Smith lies in front of the front wheels of the car. Medium
long shot slightly from above. Duration : 6 seconds.
71
Teaching about the ftlm
The scenes were shot in accordance with this shooting script,

most of them only once, in view of the economy with which the
raw material had to be used. When we came to edit these shots
it was apparent that the script was not free from flaws. These
were thoroughly discussed by the members of the production
group. The least important mistakes concerned the length of
the shots. A few could easily be shortened, but with shots 7, 8
and 9 the solution was not so simple. After shot 9 it was felt
that Mr. Smith should not be seen once more in close-up, because
the feeling prevailed that by that time he should already have
been run over. An improvement was finally reached by inverting
the order of pictures 8 and 9. The transition from shot 3 to 4
was not satisfactory either, but no improvement seemed possible.
The transition from shot 12 to 13 was not quite ‘smooth’ but
that could be remedied by simply leaving out shot 12. In addition
to that, the view-direction of the camera in shot 2 did not quite
correspond with the view-direction of Mr. Smith in shot 1, but
that might have been due to the kind of lens used for this shot.
At any rate, by the time this film was made the members of
the group had the impression of having learned a good deal.
Their experience was also reflected in subsequent discussions of
films seen by the group.
FILMSTRIP FILMS
When actual film production appears impossible because of the

cost factor, it is still possible to represent the successive shots
of a sequence by means of a series of still photographs. This
provides a fair enough substitute so far as experience in the
handling of the camera and picture composition is concerned.
Although the rules of editing cannot easily be studied by this
method, the photographs can be turned into filmstrips and pro-
jected in the right order. In addition, this technique requires the
writing of a script, which is an important exercise in itself.
An account of this method as developed by an English teacher
can be found in an article by L. F. Williamson in Film Teacher. 1
WRITING A SCENARIO
It is possible either to have the whole group work on one sce-

nario, or else to have each individual member prepare a scenario
by himself. Both methods have their advantages. An excellent
method is to have the students compose a scenario about a subject
that has already been filmed. Useful comparisons can then be
1. L. F. Williamson, ‘Filmstrip Films’, Film Teacher, spring 1953. Film Teacher

is the bulletin of the Society for Education in Film and Television (originally
called the Society of Film Teachers) in England.
72
made between the results of the students’ efforts and the solutions
actually employed by a professional film maker. The sequence
selected for this purpose should be rather short ; if it is limited
to a few feet it can be turned into a loop film which can then be
projected over and over again. However, if the students are
asked to suggest suitable transitions for a change of place or a
jump in time, it will be necessary to connect several short scenes,
with or without the use of ‘dissolves’ or ‘wipes’. The subject to
be filmed could be formulated in this way : Show in a few shots,
which must not exceed a total of two minutes’ duration, how
a person gets up at 7 a.m., washes, dresses, has breakfast, puts
on his coat, walks into the street, strolls about in town and finally
enters his office, where he starts working and receives an important
telephone call at 10 a.m. To achieve this result the student will
have to limit himself to the most significant moments of these
three hours in the life of the character.
Analysing iilms
ANALYSIS OF FILM SEQUENCES
When our students are asked to analyse film sequences, it will

not be possible, nor indeed advisable for them to separate the
study of film language from the examination of artistic values.
The important thing is that the students should develop a feeling
for the expressive possibilities of the picture language. If two
or three separate film sequences, each showing a similar subject
(e.g., a conversation), are available, the means used by the different
film makers could be compared. Transitions, changes in the
position of the camera, picture composition, the function of sound,
the lighting, etc., are other aspects that could usefully be analysed.
Another possibility is to have the students draw up a plan re-
presenting the scenery of a film sequence which they have been
shown. Naturally, the increasing number of short films intended
for teaching film ‘grammar’ can be used to attract students’
attention to the peculiarities and the possibilities inherent in film
language. The short extracts from good feature films prepared
by the British Film Institute are useful for this purpose. In addition
to those mentioned on pages 62 and 63, a special series has been pre-
pared which includes : the ‘race-against-time river steamboat
incident.’ from ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ (USA, 1939) ;
the ‘Chips’ first day’ flash-back sequence from ‘Goodbye, Mr. Chips’
(Britain, 1939); the ‘locust plague extract’ from ‘The Good
Earth’ (USA, 1936) ; the ‘poaching scene’ from ‘The Maggie’
(Britain, 1953) ; the ‘balcony scene’ from ‘Romeo and Juliet’
(USA, 1936) ; the ‘storming of the Bastille’ sequence from ‘A Tale
of Two Cities’ (USA, 1936). Each extract is in 16mm., sound,
and is of ten or eleven minutes’ duration.
73
Study of photographs and parts of shooting scripts
If film sequences are not available, or if a more detailed study

of a particular film sequence is required, sequences of photographs
taken from films can be used (e.g., the reproductions from ‘The
Fallen Idol’ and ‘Naked City’ in this volume). The film sequence
itself could perhaps be screened subsequently, especially if the
dialogue is very important. Even very short sequences are capable
of giving a clear insight into cutting and editing practices.
The reading of shooting scripts will be profitable only for more
advanced students, because this requires a knowledge of technical
terminology and a strong imaginative faculty on the part of the
reader. However, several scripts have been published which give
clear indication of cutting and editing techniques and of the
transitions between successive shots. l To advanced students a
good shooting script offers the possibility of examining the varia-
tion between shorter and longer scenes, with the use of ‘dis-
solves’, etc.
Finally, something may be learned from single photographs
(not stills) from films. The photographs printed in this book on
Plates XII, XIII, XVI, XVII, XVIII to XX, XXIII and XXIV
make clear that all sorts of aspects of picture composition and
camera position may be studied on the basis of occasional photo-
graphs. However, these should be used as incidental expedients
only, because the individual film image achieves its full meaning
only when seen in the context of the pictures preceding and
following it.
Miscellaneous activities
A ‘film corner’ may be set up in the class or club rooms. It would

comprise newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs from
folders and personal contributions by members of the group.
On the basis of such material, it becomes possible to compare
the more authoritative film reviews, the publicity recommenda-
tions and one’s own opinions of the films shown. In England,
1. For example : Dal Soggetto al Film. Collano Cinematografica. Dir&ta da Penzo
Renzi. Boloana. Camxlli Editore. This is a series of scrirats of Italian and other
films, in wh&h &rE ihan a dozen scripts have already been published, including :
Giulietta e Romeo, by Renato Castellani ; Sense, by Luchino Visconti ; Guerra
e Pace, by King Vidor ; Le Notti di Cabwia, by Fed&co Fellini ; II T&to, by
Vittorio de Sica.
Ren6 Clair, Corn&dies et Comment&es (‘Le Silence est d’Or’ ; ‘La Beau% du
Diable : ‘Les Belles de Nuit’: ‘Les Grandes Manceuvres’: ‘Porte des Lilas?. I, Paris. I
Gallimard, 1959, 421 pp.
Script of ‘Secret People’ in : Lindsay Anderson, Making a Film, London,
Allen & Unwin, 1952, 223 pp.
Roger Manvell (ed.), British Film Scrip&, London, Methuen, 1950. Contains
final shooting scripts of ‘Brief Encounter’; ‘Odd Man Out’; and ‘Scott of the
Antarctic’.
74
Practicul possibilities for film-teaching
the Screen Guide (formerly called Film Guide) of the British Film
Institute facilitates this task. l
The students can also be encouraged to keep ‘film diaries’
containing descriptions of different films and personal comments
about them, or such a diary may be kept by the group as a whole.
Young children may also be asked to re-enact scenes from
feature films they have seen. If such exercises are properly guided,
they can have a worthwhile effect on the language of pupils and
on their intellectual development. Children could also be asked
to prepare film scenery with improvised means, a method which
appears particularly suitable in view of children’s general interest
in technique.
It has also been suggested that children should be asked to
make drawings of film scenes they have particularly noticed. 2
In this way film education may coincide with general art edu-
cation-a topic which will be returned to in the next chapter.
The preceding sections by no means completely cover the methods

which may be used to convey the basic elements of film language
and film appreciation. They describe only a few of the numerous
methods and techniques that have so far been developed. In fact,
the possibilities confronting the teacher are very wide. Yet it is
hoped that what has been suggested will make it easier for the
beginner to interest his students.
1. The Screen Guide is an illustrated wall sheet on current films for secondary
schools and youth clubs, published monthly by the British Film Institute.
2. Gerhard Clostermann, ‘Musische Erziehung nach Filmeindriicken ; Schiilerzeich-
nungen bezeugen Bildungsm6glichkeiten der Filmerziehung’, Film, Jugend,
Schule, September 1953, H. 21 : Egon Ossig, ‘Jugendliche malen zum Film
“Louisiana Legend” ‘, Film, Bild. Ton, November 1953.
75
CHAPTER VI
Film-teaching in
connexion with
age and mental
development
The subject-matter to be ‘taught’ must of course be adapted to
the age and mental level of the children and students. To give
directives for such a ‘distribution’ of film education over the
successive periods of mental growth is risky, since very few
preparatory studies on this subject are available. So the following
synoptic account is apt to contain some gaps and even errors.
Moreover this account cannot take into consideration the many
individual differences which are involved in intelligence, home
environment, special interests, and previous film experience.
Similarly, the phraseology to be used, especially to denote age
groups, presents certain problems.
Somewhat arbitrarily-but still in accordance with the views
of many authors on genetic and educational psychology-the pro-
cess of mental development in relation to the cinema can be subdi-
vided into four phases : one from the age of 7 to 9, one from 10 to 12,
one from 13 to 15, and one from 16 to 18. (For the sake of simpli-
fication we shall from now on refer to these approximate age-
periods as phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, phase 4.) Before the age
of 7, all teaching is so little differentiated that education specially
directed towards the film is certainly out of the question, even
though the teacher may talk with children under 7 about a film
they have seen. Any sort of clear distinction between ‘knowledge
of film language’, ‘aesthetic appreciation of films and ‘critical
assimilation of the film content’ is probably almost impossible
to convey before the beginning of puberty round about the age
of 13 (phase 3).
76
Mental development and

‘understand@ film language’
Very little is yet known about the development of the faculty

of understanding film language properly. 1 However, there can
be little doubt that the development of perception and thinking
has a direct bearing on it. So let us see what can be learnt from
genetic psychology in so far as it deals with perception and think-
ing, bearing in mind that the interpretation of the data is inevi-
tably a personal one to some extent.
Children between the seventh and ninth year are mainly inter-
ested in the world of objects, which is experienced at first only
as a totality. Very frequently the imagination has to make up
for ‘missing parts’ of the total picture, which were not clearly
understood by the child. Gradually, the interest taken in the
work and actions of men and animals increases. All that moves
and has anything to do with activity attracts the child, who is
very active himself. During the second phase (the age-period of 10
to 12 years approximately) this trend increases still further. The
child himself would like to engage in all kinds of activities without
being unduly worried about their intricacy. The child now begins
to look more critically and objectively at reality. The fairy-tale
is replaced by stories which (may) have ‘really happened’ (the
Robinson period), and there is a beginning of logical thinking.
At the end of this period, the child begins to understand con-
nexions, relations of time and space, and causal relations.
The child of phase I, then, will be able to follow a short film
only if it is not too complicated. As a rule he will not be able
to follow time-shifts by means of a ‘dissolve’, any more than he
will be able to understand the ‘simultaneousness’ of two different
actions by being shown alternately a part of each (‘cross-cutting’),
unless he has already had a fairly wide experience of seeing films.
Therefore, one has to be very cautious with the editing of a film
for children below the age of 9. 2 As soon as perception becomes
more differentiated, with the schoolchild of phase 2, the under-
standing of film language also increases. Now the child can ‘de-
centralize’ himself more easily ; he can learn to take in another
viewpoint, although to do so requires some practice. The extent
to which he can understand a change of viewpoint in its proper
meaning (e.g., identification with one of the persons in the film)
is still uncertain.
1. G. Mialaret and M. G. M&Ii&s, ‘ExpWences sur la Compr6hension du Langage

Cin6matographique par l’Enfant’, Revue Internationale de Filmologie, Vol. V,
No. 18-19, June-December 1954 ; Bianka Zazzo, ‘Analyse des Difficult& d’une
Sdquence CinBmatographique par la Conduite du R&it chez l’Enfant’, ibid.,
Vol. III, No. 9, January-March 1952, pp. 25-36 ; Bianka Zazzo and Ren& Zazzo,
‘Une Exp&ience SW la Comprehension du Film’, ibid., Vol. II, No. 6, pp. 159-170.
2. See, for instance, Mary Field, Good Company, London, Longmans, Green, 1952.
77
Should the opportunity arise for him to take part in production,

only the schoolchild of phase 3 (between 13 and 15 years approx-
imately) will prove sufficiently interested to use film language
himself, and even then he will look on his capacity to do so mainly
as a technical achievement. This means that the film for him
is not yet a ‘means of communication’, but a moving object which
fascinates him, which he would like to examine and with
which consequently he would love to work. It is questionable
whether he can yet really interest himself in such things as ‘camera
position’ and ‘editing’, or whether he is mainly captivated by the
‘reality’ of filming personally and by the satisfaction which the
result-a real moving picture-gives him.
If one of the characteristics of the average schoolchild during
phases 1 and 2 is a strong, objective interest in the external
world, and a ‘realistic’, active urge for exploration, after the
eleventh or twelfth year of age his view of the external world
starts to become more subjective. During the years of puberty
(which we have taken as occurring between 13 and 15) the youngster
gradually begins to discover his own inner world and that of
others. The logical thinking of the 13-, 14- or 15-year-old child
develops rapidly and to an ever-increasing extent ; but his interest
remains focused upon the concrete. All this activity (‘the years
of indiscretion’) is directed upon the external world. Gradually
he acquires the habits of perception of the adult. Time and space
are not only understood as objective data, but are also experienced
as subjective relations. The world becomes larger, and at the same
time it draws closer and closer. During the period of adolescence
(what we have called phase 4-between 16 and 18 years), per-
ception and thinking are still highly coloured by the personal
problems of life, but the capacity to think and perceive is almost
identical with that of the adult. 1
If the child has had some experience of film-going, most difficul-
ties in understanding a film will have disappeared after about
the age of 13. But even the child who is older than that will not,
of his own accord, easily reach the stage of ‘active seeing’, in the
sense which we have given to that conception. However, he has
the latent possibilities of doing so and he will be very grateful
for any guidance in this direction. In the beginning of phase 4
(the period of adolescence) this active understanding of film
language will probably still be largely confined to the ‘physical
relations’ expressed in the pictures and in picture composition ;
although it is nevertheless quite certain that the child of 16 is
no longer completely impervious to the ‘figurative’ meaning of
the film pictures-that is, to the ‘mental relations’ which are
evoked. However, it is probably only when the age of 18 is reached
that real pleasure is found in these.
1. See, for instance, Karl C. Garrison, Psychology of Adolescence, 4th ed., New York,
Prentice-Hall, 1951 ; David P. Ausubel, Theory and Practice of Adolescent
Development, New York. Greene % Stratton, 1954.
78
The boy or girl in phase 2, then, will delight in making film

pictures for the sake of the activity itself, and only later on, in
phase 3, will discover that a story in words can be ‘transposed’, or
translated, into pictures ; whereas for the adolescent of phase 4,
making a film will mean the manipulation of a new skill. The
17- or IS-year-old will even try to find original forms for the films
he or she wants to make and will care less about the whole business
of ‘production’ with actors, cameramen, director and all the tech-
nical apparatus that attracts the younger ones so much.

‘aesthetic appreciation of films’
The term ‘aesthetic appreciation’ applied to phase 1 and phase 2

should certainly not be understood as involving real artistic
feeling. During phase I the child still lives completely in the sphere
of playing : he plays with the world of objects; he experiences the
world as it is made by himself ; he shapes the world to his own
view of it. He does not draw or model things as they are object-
ively, but as he ‘knows’ them. The child expresses in his aesthetic
(play) activity what he has experienced emotionally. In phase 2,
the schoolchild does not only ‘play with the world’ but is busy
with it. The world entices and attracts him.
It follows that the child in phase I will venture on aesthetic
expression more easily with other materials than those of the
film-which is too much tied up with technical skill and apparatus
-although, in fact, what he expresses may be the result of a film
he has seen. 1 His film-aesthetic experience will find expression in
drawing or modelling. Or he will imitate in his games what he has
seen in a film, provided that the film was simple in structure. He
loves to ‘play cinema’. But during phase 2 he values a film as
‘diversion’ and can already admire some objective qualities of
the film, e.g., the ‘nice pictures’, the ‘acting’ and even-taking
into account his interest in the technical side-the ‘clever photo-
graphy’. The strong urge for activity, proper to this ‘Robinson’
period, naturally finds plenty of inspiration in the movies, so that
imitation of the film story occurs very often in games. During
phase 2 the child’s admiration is directed towards the ‘perfor-
mance’, especially the physical performance.
With films as with books the interest is particularly focused on
the content (the thrilling story, the courage and efforts of the
hero or heroine, and especially the spectacular and grandiose
1. Gerhard Clostermann, ‘Musische Erziehung nach Filmeindriicken ; Schiilerzeich-
nungen bezeugen Bildungsm6glichkeiten der Fihnerziehung’. Film, Jugend.
Schule, September 1953, H. 21 ; Egon Ossig, ‘Jugendliche malen zum Film
“Louisiana Legend” ‘, Film, Bild, Ton, November 1953.
79
nature of their behaviour). 1 Between 10 and 12 years the child is

not yet really mature enough to feel beauty as a value of life. In
this phase, and to an even greater extent in the following phase 3,
work in a group on a film or on a script completely satisfies the
child’s need for social activity, although in this social contact the
egocentric ideal to dominate still prevails. But such a group cannot
get along without the guidance of an older person, who must
maintain his authority by his prestige and achievements while
at the same time taking care not to harm the children’s own
feelings of self-esteem.
Only during late puberty and adolescence (phases 3 and 4) do
receptiveness to beauty and the urge for artistic expression reach
full development. The discovery of the values of life-and of
beauty as one of them-belongs among the characteristics of
these periods. The evaluation of the work of art is emotionally
highly coloured, but-especially among boys-it is also intellec-
tually reasoned. The adolescent-and often the pubescent,
too-is capable of deeply experiencing the beautiful and at the
same time he tries to adopt a standpoint with regard to the world
of art. Also he will be able in film art to appreciate the real aesthe-
tic values if he has once become familiar with the proper idiom of
the art of the film. 2 He will not be content with appreciating the
beautiful form only, but will also want to recognize the sense
which lies enclosed in the form. Of course, the whole of his intellec-
tual and emotional development plays an important part here.
Making films, together with all the activities connected with it,
may now become a creative outlet, quite apart from the pleasure
which may be derived from the group activity itself.

‘critical assimilation of film content’
We have noticed that between the age of 7 and 9 the interest of

the child gradually evolves from the fantastic to the real, from
the fairy-tale atmosphere to what ‘really happened’ and, going on
from this, to everything that is ‘ action’. The child also demands
this element of ‘action’ from the films he sees and therefore he is
fond of cartoons in which the story develops at a high speed, even
if he understands only half of it. He accepts with little criticism
what the film maker presents as good or bad. Moreover, he really
experiences the action as a game, usually without feeling any need
to form an opinion about what is happening. The child of phase 1
1. See, for instance, H. A. Tonnessen, En Underseking OWP Kinovaner og Filminte-
resser hos Oslo. Ungdom i alderen 12 til 18 or, Oslo, 1952.
2. See, for instance, Ludwig Kerstiens, ‘Filmunterricht in der hijheren Schulr’,
in Film, Jugend, Schule, December 1953, H. 60.
80
does not bring the events of the film into relationship with his
own life. Between 10 and 12 the interest for the external world
increases-even for the external world which lies quite beyond
the personal horizon. The documentary (or the feature film with a
documentary backgound) is more and more appreciated, although
‘real action films are still the great favourites.
At the beginning of phase 2 (that is, between 10 and 12 years)
the critical sense is already awake, which means that, when seeing
a film, the youngster takes sides. What seems to him too fantastic
compared with everyday life starts to arouse his resistance ; he does
not really ‘believe’ in it any more. l On the other hand, however,
his interest in ‘supermen’ and startling technical devices is never
more lively. In general, stories about heroism and great achieve-
ments appeal most to his imagination, because in them he sees
the best expression of his age. Films about far-off countries,
especially when there is some adventure in them, will captivate
him equally. Among the real ‘film fans’, worship of the film star
now begins, at first probably revealing itself in the form of collect-
ing photographs, later in imitating the external appearance and
behaviour of favourite stars.
With the onset of puberty (phase 3) the interest, though still
mainly concentrated on the concrete external world, turns increas-
ingly to the personal inner life. In particular, those films which
in one way or another can be related to his own life will captivate
the pubescent. But this does not alter the fact that films in which
only adults appear will also be very favourably received, for it
is through the medium of such films that the pubescent and the
adolescent hope to learn something about the adult’s life. He is
equally interested in the ideals of adults and the motives of their
behaviour. During phase 3, important spiritual and cultural values,
such as religion, beauty, moral ideals, patriotism and the like,
become highly attractive. In this phase, too, the older boys and
girls are also growing more and more interested in the opposite
sex. The romantic and erotic aspects of numerous films appeal
to them very strongly. Although in these years the critical sense
is becoming strongly developed, and although boys and girls
during puberty and adolescence are normally inclined to resist
following the patterns of their elders, nevertheless the suggestive
power of the film (and of the whole cinema environment) is very
often too strong for them to be able to take a stand of their own
against the behaviour and conceptions expressed by the film.
Often, too, the pubescent shows a clearly pronounced preference,
usually marked by gushing enthusiasm, for certain film themes
or film characters. If film-star worship was putting in an appear-
ance during phase 2, it will probably by now be markedly
developed.
1. M. Keilhacker, ‘Der Wirklichkeitscharakter des Filmerlebens bei Kindern und

Jugendlichen’, Jugend und Film, 1957, No. 1.
81
Mental development and methods

of film-teaching
To attempt to outline a methodology based on considerations of

age and mental development is probably even more risky than
to suggest a subdivision of the subject matter as I have done.
It is therefore with some hesitation that I venture the following
proposals.
For the schoolchild of phase 1, who is unable to achieve ‘free
expression’ in film pictures because of the nature of the film
material, a film may be an inducement to free expression in other
materials. During handicraft lessons, devices may be made with
which a ‘moving picture’ can be produced (zootrope, etc.) or a
‘toy cinema’ may be rigged up. Talking about a film may have
more the value of a language lesson than of a film lesson, but
it is a good preparation for future discussions.
With the lo- to 12-year-old youngsters of phase 2 it will of course
be found easier to start a discussion about a film of interest,
the teacher will mainly have to refer to special moments in the
story or, in the case of a documentary, to the subjects treated
in the film. In addition to action films and documentaries about
subjects they are interested in, e.g., techniques and remote
countries, the older children in this phase will also enjoy a
simple film about film (e.g., the English film ‘Telling a Story
in Pictures’). l
Film making itself will be most interesting for boys and girls
between 13 and 15 (phase 3). Here also the greatest importance
must be attached to team-work. Should facilities exist, making
a film could easily become a ‘project’ around which all further
film education might be built. But other more practicable activities
will be to show films with content suitable for the age group
concerned ; to show filmstrips and films about the processes of
production, about the technical development of cinematography,
about building the scenery, about film tricks, and perhaps about
the elementary principles of editing ; and to hold film discussions
in all possible forms. The ‘collecting craze’, which is a fairly
common feature of this age, may be put to use in the ‘film corner’
and in the ‘film diary’.
Among the oldest group (phase 4) the instruction given-
helped by filmstrips and film sequences-can deal with picture
composition, camera technique, achievements in acting, direction,
lighting, rhythm, etc. These subjects may supply the material
for discussions, compositions and lectures, on such themes as
‘Film and theatre’, ‘Film and book’, ‘The social problem in films’,
‘The film industry’, ‘The film star’. The analysing of film se-
quences (which may be shown several times) offers the chance
1. See list on pages 62 and 63.
82
for personal experience of aesthetic values and offsets the danger

that the pupil may acquire merely empty conceptions. If the
opportunity presents itself for making films, the students should
be allowed to indulge their desire to make ‘something original’,
even if this involves technical difficulties.
In the outline given in Appendix 1 I have tried to place together
the main data discussed in this chapter. Apart from clarifying the
data and the relations between its various aspects, this outline
may have practical value for those readers who have to prepare
programmes for courses in film education and the like.
83
-_-__ I__ . ..-. ..- . . ..._- ..-.-..-_. _- ...--_.-_--__IXI_

CHAPTER v I I
Film-teaching
at school
The right place for film-teaching
There seems to be little doubt that school is the best place to

learn film language ; but should the school go further than this
in the sphere of education about the film ? Should it be entrusted
also with teaching appreciation of film art, and the critical evalua-
tion of film content ? If we are of the opinion that the school has
to be concerned with character building and with the general
cultural development of its students as well as with the develop-
ment of their intellect, then the logical conclusion must be that
the whole field of film education properly belongs to the school.
British experts on film-teaching believe that film appreciation
should be a classroom subject rather than an outside activity
reserved for clubs or film societies. ‘In the schools the introduction
of the formal study of cinema as a classroom subject is long
overdue’, states Stanley Reed. 1 His most important argument
for film education at school is that ‘the boys and girls who go
most often to the cinema and who need the greatest help, are
mainly to be found among the less gifted, i.e., those who feel
the least likely to learn film appreciation after school’. 2 Janet
Hills writes : ‘Since it is socially important to reach all the un-
discriminating cinema-goers, film appreciation must cease to be
a wholly voluntary activity ; it has to find its way into the school
time-table. 3
Pointing out that the film society, used in isolation, has a
disadvantage in that, because it is voluntary, many children
receive no film education at all, A. P. Higgins goes on to say :
‘For this reason most of us believe that film should have its place
on the school time-table. Whether or not it does, depends very
largely on the head teacher of the school.’ Higgins is here writing
as the chairman of the Society for Education in Film and Tele-
1. Stanley Reed, Film Appreciation as a Classroom Sobjecf, London, British Film

Institute, n.d. (mimeographed).
2. Reed, Film Teaching in England.
:3. .Janet Hills, Films and Children ; The Posifioe Approach, London, British Film
Institute, nd., 59 pp.
84
vision in England where, he says, there were in 1960 (some twenty

years after the film-teaching movement first appeared), about
700 schools where film was taught. ‘The people who teach it
have widely varying backgrounds, but all have one thing in
common : they love the cinema, they enjoy seeing films, and
they want to convey something of this love and enjoyment to the
children they teach.’ According to the Cinema Advisory Sub-
Committee in its report to the Cinema Consultative Committee,
British Board of Film Censors, l the work of the above Society
(until 1959 called the Society of Film Teachers) has proved that
the teaching of film appreciation is practicable in all types of
schools and under widely differing sets of conditions. In Scotland,
interested teachers are working on similar lines, encouraged by
the Scottish Educational Film Association and the Scottish
Film Council.
In the Federal Republic of Germany there is nowadays almost
no doubt that film education belongs to the school. Since films
may be an art like literature, the plastic arts or music, aesthetic
education at school should also be concerned with film, according
to many German writers. 2 Perhaps even more concerned, because
the film may often spoil good taste in other arts. For one thing,
education in film aesthetics is closely related to literature
teaching and to language teaching in general. Language skill
and literary taste can be favourably influenced by education in
film language and film art.3 As an ‘image of life’ the film offers
many examples for the study of social problems.* The same
holds good for the teaching of religion.5 By bringing his lessons
into relation with the film the teacher makes them concrete and
true to life.
In France, as far as we know, film education is virtually never
included as a subject in the regular curriculum. But quite a number
of schools have so-called ‘tine-clubs’, and where there is no film
club at school the students can very often become members of
a local club not connected with their school. Most French lyce’es
and other teaching institutions on the secondary level have a
film club, often under the guidance of one of the teachers. At
1. See Higgins, ‘Education by Film and TV in Great Britain’, News, No. 12, April
1960, pp. 13-15, published by the International Centre of Films for Children,
Brussels (mimeographed) ; and The Teaching of Film; A Report and Some
Recommendations, London, British Board of Film Censors, Cinema Consultative
Committee, 1958, p. 6.
2. Johann Gerbard Wiese, ‘Filmkunde in der Schule’, Film, Bikf, Ton, September
1953. D. 20 : Adolf Lensine. ‘Warum Filmerziehuna in der Scbule?‘. Film. _
Jugend, Sch&, September i&4, H. 1.
3. ‘Filmerziehung im Rahmen der musischen Erziebung ; Ausziige aus einer Dis-
kussion’, Film, Jugend, Schute, November 1952, H. 2 ; Ulrich Haase, ‘Film-
erziehung im Krmstunterricht’, ibid., July 1956, H. 22.
4. Rosa Aibauer, ‘Film und Filmschaflen sozialkundlich gesehen’, Ptidagogische
Welt, Donauwdrth, Ludwig Auer, July 1955.
a. Winfried KLmpfer, ‘BildungsmBglichkeiten der Filmerziehung im Rellgions-
unterricht der biiheren Schule’, Film, Jugend, Schule, September 1954,
H. 61.
85
some schools introductory courses on the cinema are organized

as an extra-curricular activity.
As for the United States, William Lewin 1 states that in 1950
about 11,000 out of 60,000 teachers of English had lessons about
film appreciation fitted into their time-tables. By 1958, it would
seem that two-thirds of the study courses and guides for high
school English included suggestions for teaching about news-
papers, magazines, radio, film and television. According to Arno
Jewett,Z the chief aims of such instruction are to help pupils
become discriminating in their selection of mass media, to evaluate
what they encounter, and to appreciate and enjoy worthwhile
entertainment based on well-known literature. Almost half of
the courses covering grades 7 to 12 have one or more units on
mass media. A few courses offer guides at successive grade levels.
Jewett cites as an example the Minnesota Guide for Instruction
in the Language Arts, which includes these units : ‘Choosing
Books and Movies’ (grade 9) ; ‘Radio and Television’ (grade 10) ;
‘The Role of the Press’ (grade 11) ; and ‘Motion Pictures’ (grade 12).
Here one may aptly quote the view of Rita Hochheimer
that the possibilities for the corruption of taste and morals
‘which constitute the sole alternative to sound educational
approach in this field impose this inescapable task upon the
school’. 3
Substantial support both for the principles and practice of
film-teaching, as set out in the foregoing section and elsewhere
in this book, may be adduced from the discussions which took
place in Vienna in July 1960, at a Congress of the Office Catholique
International du Cinema (International Catholic Film Office-
OCIC). The theme of these ‘International Study Days’ was
‘Cinema, youth and censorship’, but it was noteworthy that the
general emphasis of the deliberations was less on the traditional
negative role played by public and other censorship bodies (control
and suppression of material considered unsuitable) than on their
newer function in the ‘nositive’ snhere : this consists not onlv
of supplying ‘guidance’ .to young. people and parents through
the classification of films but also of activelv encouraaina tllm-
teaching (whether for the cinema or for television) as part-of the
school curriculum. One recommendation presented to this inter-
national gathering seems worthy of quotation here : ‘No less
important is the film education of the young, aiming to help
their comprehension of Iilmic language, and to understand and
take advantage of the positive values-both educational and
aesthetic as well as entertainment-of films (and the related
1. William Lewin, ‘Why use Feature Films in Schools ?‘, Audio-visual Guide,
Vol. XVII. No. 5. October 1950.
2. Arno Jew&t, English Language Arts in American High Schools, Washington,
D.C., United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, p. 94
(Bulletin 1958, No. 13).
3. Rita Hochheimer, Motion Picfure Discrimination in Schook, Wihnette, III.,
Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, n.d., 7 pp. (mimeographed).
86
medium of television), and to react healthily against their harmful

effects. To this effect it is indispensable to introduce in school
programmes, both primary and secondary, a certain number of
courses for teaching children the rudiments of film history and
techniques, and at the same time inculcating the share of respon-
sibility of every spectator towards himself and others and towards
the seventh art and its future progress.’
Often the curriculum of each type of school seems already to be

so over-crowded that any proposal to insert the subject of ‘film
into it could earn only limited sympathy from the average school
authority. In my opinion, however, it is not necessary-or even
desirable-to have a Mm-teacher whose sole duty is film education.
The three basic aspects of film education have so much in common
with other already existing subjects that they may easily enough
be housed along with the latter. It would seem possible that
somebody whose teaching disciplines have a link with film edu-
cation could be put in charge of a basic film course concerned
in particular with film language and film techniques ; while most
points concerning film appreciation could be discussed in con-
nexion with general aesthetic education, language and literature
teaching and general social education. Whenever other subjects
offered suitable points of contact, the teacher of that subject
might want to take advantage of these, in the interests both of
his own subject and that of film education.
The teacher in charge of the basic course would thus become
the film-teacher of the school and he would have to be trained
for this. He also would act as a co-ordinator ; his functions in
this direction would involve awakening the active interest of
his colleagues in film education, procuring the films needed,
supervising the equipment, and so forth.
To what discipline should the basic film course be attached ?
This is a question to which no hard-and-fast answers can as yet
be given. Hereunder we examine the situation as it has developed
in several countries. But it may well happen that the future will
produce a situation in which solutions will differ from country to
country, just as particular national problems will differ. These are
pedagogicaland organizational problems. For example, if the teacher
who has to assume responsibility for the basic film course should
already be working full time, a reduction in his ordinary duties
will clearly be necessary. There will also be the problems of
organizing the training of teachers in film education at normal
schools, at universities or possibly at other institutions. As
indicated already, and as will be shown later in this chapter,
there is a marked tendency in the Anglo-Saxon countries to
attach film education to English language teaching. This is a
development which should not by any means be neglected,
particularly because of the connexions which exist between the
teaching of film language and of the mother tongue. But it would
be going too far if one were to advocate as a general rule that
x7
film education should be attached to mother-tongue teaching.

While such a solution may work in countries where the pro-
duction of feature films is well established and where therefore
an ample supply of ‘mother-tongue-speaking’ films exists, the
situation is different for countries which have to rely largely
for film education purposes on foreign-speaking feature films-
whether sub-titled or not. In such cases the proposition loses
most of its force. Dialogue has such an important function in
films that the introduction of foreign speech into classes for
teaching the mother tongue might meet with objections. There
are, however, arguments which operate in favour of attaching
film language teaching to basic language teaching courses where
this can be satisfactorily arranged; these arguments will be
discussed in the following section, after which we shall examine
the relationship of film education with general aesthetic education
and with social education.
This approach is in keeping with the principle of decentralization
of film education in schools, already referred to. Such decentra-
lization will necessarily encourage student participation in school
cinema clubs and related extra-curricular activities. It is my
belief that eventually systematic film education will assume its
rightful place within the curriculum itself, and the clubs will
become the meeting place of those who want to make film their
personal hobby.
Film-teaching in connexion
with other subjects
TEACHING OF FILM LANGUAGE AND MOTHER TONGUE
The growth of film and television has often been compared with
the invention of the art of printing. But while the art of printing
only strengthened the position of language in general, film and
television have brought us a completely new language and with
it a new way of thinking, perceiving and communicating. The
coming of the visual language has up to now barely touched
education, but its consequences could be almost as radical as
were those following the introduction of printing.
Language has a double function : it helps us to form ideas and
it allows us to communicate with others. Film language has
essentially the same two functions. In an age in which the techni-
que of non-verbal thinking and communication has so great
an importance, language teaching could perhaps even be accused
of one-sidedness if it did not include the visual language within
its scope. The visual language has added a new dimension to our
world. Young people who have learned to master this language
will find it easier to get along in this new world and to reap the
88
fruits of technological progress without losing their mental

freedom.
Once pupils have acquired a basic knowledge of film language-
by grasping the principles of picture composition, camera position,
picture arranging and so on-their teacher will find that the
study of verbal language offers useful points of contact for the
study of film language. Here are a few examples. Younger children
often find it difficult to understand the logical coherence between
the successive moments of a simple action as described in words.
A simple film in which the essential moments have been fixed
in a sequence of separate shots teaches the children to observe
well and to fix the essentials of their observation-a technique
which is equally important for expression whether in verbal or
in visual language. Another point of contact is offered by the
study of what is generally called ‘figurative language’. We know
that the film picture is often used metaphorically, for instance
when the distance between the camera and the object indicates
a mental rather than a spatial relationship. This same principle
is often applied when words are being used in their metaphorical
sense (e.g., ‘that’s beside the mark’). This may lead to interesting
comparisons, which allow reflections on the shortcomings of one
language in relation to the other. The study of verb tenses may
gain in clearness by comparing them with ‘the flash-back’, ‘the
dissolve’ and similar techniques used in the film. The students
will soon realize that verbal language is much richer in possibilities
of expressing all sorts of time aspects than is film language. The
present tense is the preferred form of film language, while the
average novelist sticks to the past tense. Exercises in the ‘trans-
lating’ of film shots and film sequences into words and sentences
and vice versa may help the students to understand the possibilities
inherent in each of the two languages. They will see that verbal
language is primarily an expedient for thinking (for contact with
the ‘inner world’), and film language is primarily for perception
(for contact with the ‘outer world’). In other words, film language
is revealed as being not only another means of communication
additional to verbal language, but also as being a quite different
means of communication, with potentialities and functions of
its own.
FILM AESTHETICS AND GENERAL AESTHETIC EDUCATION
It seems scarcely necessary to argue that education in film aes-

thetics can form a natural part of general aesthetic education.
At most schools this latter subject is really subdivided into
literature and drama of the mother language and of foreign
languages, the teaching of ‘art appreciation’ and ‘free expression’
in the field of drawing, painting and modelling (usually part
of the former ‘drawing lessons’), and musical education (actively :
singing and making music ; passively, getting acquainted with
89
the main musical genres, instruments and compositions). Film

education can legitimately claim a place within each of these
‘sections’ of general aesthetic education. When, for example,
a famous literary work has also been made into a film, this offers
the opportunity to compare the dramatic structure, the presenta-
tion of the characters and the technique of telling a story. The
composition of a painting can be compared with that of a film
picture. Free pictorial expression may have its importance when,
in writing a script, each shot has to be fixed in a sketch, or when
the students are making simple cartoon films. And finally, so
many points may be found in common between dramatic art
and film art that nothing would seem more obvious at school
than to be continually bringing the two forms of art into relation
with one another.
Once in a while, some special lessons will have to be devoted
to film aesthetics as such, especially in the upper classes of a
secondary school, where some aspects of the film (history, genres,
the work of certain directors, etc.) may need to be dealt with more
specifically and deeply. But as a rule the characteristics of the
art of film may be best appreciated by comparing it with other
forms of art.
Individual free expression in film language (i. e., individual
creative activity in the form of writing scripts and making short
films), could, where practicable, find a place alongside literary
composition and also alongside drawing, painting, modelling,
making music and play-acting. Even if this activity, owing to
the shortage of time and money, should have to be relegated
to periods outside the regular class hours, it is highly important
that the inspiration for such activities should spring from regular
classroom work.
CRITICAL ASSIMILATION OF FILMS AND GENERAL SOCIAL EDUCATION
When we come to general social education, this is treated at the

average school as being even less a separate ‘subject’ than is
aesthetic education. Social problems and social behaviour are
topics which are (or may be) treated in lessons about geography,
history, religion and ‘civics’. Certainly, in the teaching of these
subjects, it would often be worthwhile to point to practical
examples-without which all theoretical considerations must
remain sterile-taken from films. The advantage of such examples
lies in the fact that they belong to a ‘real’ situation and that
they are intensely experienced by the students themselves. In
the absence of the film, social and economic geography will too
often have to appeal to the imaginative faculty of a pupil who
is called on to visualize circumstances and situations he has
never seen with his own eyes or met in his own experience. The
same may be said about lessons in history, religion and civics.
What the young pupil has not experienced in his own environment
90
and consequently has not become acquainted with in reality,

he may experience-with many variations-in the ‘second world’
of the screen.
The teacher who wants to use these experiences of the ‘second
world’ can rest assured that these examples will attract the pupil’s
full attention. For him they represent ‘reality’ even if very often
these film examples will have to be denounced as inaccurate,
incomplete, exaggerated or out-dated. The viewing and analysing
of films under such circumstances is extremely valuable from
the point of view of film education.
Let us suppose, for a moment, that the geography teacher
seriously discusses the scenery of a Western ; that the history
teacher enters into the factual content of a historical film ; that
the teacher of religion talks about the morals of the young couple;
that the civics teacher comments on the working methods of the
police in a gangster film. A better method to promote the critical
assimilation of the film content could hardly be found. And
nobody could maintain that the subjects mentioned could suffer
from it.
Apart from being a ‘reflection’ of social life, film and television
are themselves important aspects of social life ; they belong to
the subject-matter to be treated in ‘social studies’. As a means
of mass communication, as a product of culture and as a technique,
both film and television must have a place in the different manuals
for these studies. None of these manuals can really be considered
‘up to date’ if film and television are not mentioned. Unfortunately,
quite a number of school books deserve that particular reproach.
As against this, let it be recognized that there are many individual
teachers who are already putting into practice the ideas men-
tioned in the preceding paragraphs, even although film-teaching
may not yet have been formally allowed any place on their school
time-tables.
OTHER SUBJECTS
For the sake of completeness let us mention in passing the con-

nexion between film and physics, and the opportunities which
the latter subject offers for a discussion about light and lenses,
recording and reproduction of sound, movement, third dimension,
etc., in relation to film. Similarly, there are the foreign languages
(e.g., in connexion with synchronization, sub-titles, etc.), and
the handicraft lessons (making the auxiliaryapparatus for filming).
91
Film-teaching at school
as an extra-curricular activity
So long as it is impossible to find sufficient classroom time to

give systematic-or even incidental-film education, the film
club at school offers some compensation. Activities which are
particularly time-consuming, such as making films and showing
lengthy features, belong properly within the field of the film
club or some similar institution. Moreover, a film club is especially
suited for those students who want to know more about film
technique and film aesthetics. (Practice has shown, however,
that the aid of an expert teacher or of a leader from outside
is indispensable for these topics.) If the school does not do any-
thing at all about film education, then the film club can take
in hand the more systematic aspects of film-teaching as well.
An example from France may illustrate this point further.
Since 1945 the Cinema Scolaire de 1’Academie de Paris has been
organizing special film performances with introductory lectures
for high school students, partly at the LycCe Montaigne, partly
in public cinemas. 1 A Cercle d’Etudes du Cinema, for secondary
school students in Paris, was founded in 1946. The meetings
of this group are also held at the Lycee Montaigne. Films are
shown there regularly on Thursday afternoons in collaboration
with the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographiques
(IDHEC). Each meeting generally consists of a lecture of about
half an hour, the projection of a feature film (or sometimes several
documentaries) and a debate. Sometimes the lecture is replaced
by an introduction to the film. The participants are divided into
groups : a groupe d’initiation and a groupe d’e’tudes. In the former
are to be found the beginners who do not yet know very much
about film; the latter is for the more advanced students. Here,
as an example, is the programme of both groups for the year
1959-60 :
Lectures Films
Groupe d’initiation
The theme of a film and the script Les Corsaires du Bois de
Boulogne
The birth of a film Farrebique
The constituent parts : the setting,
the picture, sound, music, actors
The visual components and parts
of a film : frames, shots Something of Value
1. See ‘Les Cintklubs de .Jeunes’, in Enfance, Paris, Laboratoire de Psychologie
de l’Enfant, 1957, pp. 218-3.5 (special number).
92
Lectures Films
-
Dramatic, comic, or farcical ex-

pression : framing, lighting, move-
ment High Noon
Cutting and punctuation La Meilleure Part
Rhythm and editing The Set-Up
Style in the cinema Goemons
Le Tempestaire
Transhumance
Suite Polonaise
Music and sound effects La Bataille du Rail
Work on the set A Nous la Liberte
Study of films Manniskor i Stad (Rhythm
of a City)
Waverley Steps
Explanation of a film Les Dames du Bois de
Boulogne
The revival of an era Les Grandes Manceuvres
Groupe d’e’tudes
The film actor Drole de Drame
Hitchcock The Trouble with Harry
Jean Cocteau La Belle et la B&e (Beauty
and the Beast)
The cinema and the Far East Films made in the Far East
The modern Western Bend of the River
The cinema and psychology The Quiet Man
The Scandinavian cinema and its Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)
poetic expression
Chaplin Modern Times
The contemporary French school of Des Hommes dans le Ciel
short documentaries Du Cot6 de la C&e
Les Oursins
Paris Flash
The work of Gremillon Pattes Blanches
Films from India Paras Pathar (The Philo-
sopher’s Stone)
Study of a film Le Journal d’un Cure de
Campagne
There are other ways in which a school can do something in the

field of film-teaching. Students interested in film may be encour-
aged to write about it in the school paper or to discuss it in the
school debating club. But neither these activities nor the school
film club itself can completely take over the task which faces the
modern school in this field.
93
-- .----_l__
Film-teaching practice
from infant school to university
In this section we quote some examples from England and

the United States of experiences with film-teaching at school
(at different age levels and in different types of school).
Grace Greiner 1 thinks that film-teaching ought to begin when
children are going to the cinema regularly. In England this is
already the case with 5-year-olds, and moreover quite a lot of
young children regularly view television programmes. In infant
schools the children often tell stories about films they have seen
on television programmes. The teacher does well to encourage
these discussions and to answer the children’s questions. Because
children are full of what they have viewed, a similar opportunity
for the teacher may often occur when they try to express their
film experiences in their drawings or modelling work. Also when
playing they often imitate scenes from films. This playing is
important, the author remarks, as it helps to give the children
a sense of the situations they are rendering. In several infant
schools the children like pretending to make their own radio
and television sets and cinema. A simple apparatus for the ‘cinema’
consists of a light wooden framework with a kind of wooden
bobbin at either side, around one of which a broad strip of paper
can be wound and drawn across the ‘screen’ to the other side.
On the paper strip the children themselves have made drawings ;
these form a ‘story’. Here and there a drawing has a caption
which is read by one of the children, who acts as the ‘sound track’.
A small light behind the paper makes the whole thing even more
‘real’. Also, ordinary story-telling filmstrips may be used in the
classroom as a sort of small ‘cinema’ ; the teachers take care that
the children learn to interpret each picture correctly.
The junior school student, Grace Greiner says, takes his film
experience very seriously. He often sees shows which are actually
meant for adults, but he can, as a general rule, fluently and clearly
give his opinion about what he has seen in the film, if he is urged
to do so. For that reason the discussion method suits him best.
The author quotes a number of discussions she had with children
about films they had seen, and from them it seems quite clear
that children may easily be induced to think and talk about
films. In this way quite a few wrong conceptions and muddled
ideas can be corrected or clarified. In order to bring about some
change in the discussion the author also applies the brains-trust
method ; or she makes the children draw questions from a hat
and then without preparation they have to give a short talk
about such subjects as ‘What sorts of film do you enjoy most ?’
1. Grace Greiner, Teaching Film; A Guide to Classroom Method, London, British

Film Institute, 1955, 32 pp.
94
and ‘Should Westerns have love in them as well as adventure ?’

Because nearly all children of this age are passionate collectors,
they enjoy keeping ‘records’ and diaries about everything they
find in the field of film. In the ‘film corner’ they stick all the
news which they come across about the films that are on in their
neighbourhood, and next to this they give their own experiences
and criticism. The teacher may expect that this film corner will
become a kind of shop-window where children can find out which
film is worth seeing in the near future. Divergent reviews of a
film, taken from the local papers, may be used as a subject for
discussion, so that the pupils learn to choose their films with
discrimination.
Miss Greiner’s experiences and ideas are supported by those
of S. G. P. Alexander, who wrote about them in Film Teacher
(winter 1952). He lists a number of films which seemed to him
extremely well suited for discussion with third- and fourth-graders
(e.g., ‘Three Little Kittens’, ‘The Adventures of Bunny Rabbit’
and ‘Eskimo Sea Hunters’). With fourth-graders one may go
somewhat further and take such films as ‘Night Mail’, ‘Bush
Christmas’ and even ‘Louisiana Story’ as a starting point ; however,
these films are too long to allow for discussion immediately after
the show.
Miss Greiner also recommends having upper-grade pupils from
elementary school make their own films. Moreover, she argues
that the stages preceding actual film-making-i.e., composing
the story and developing the scenario-may have an excellent
influence on the artistic education of the children as well as on
education in their mother-language. This, she says, is the way
to go about it : ‘The actual film-making is preceded by working
exercises which set the pattern to be followed. Since a film consists
of a series of scenes, a theme is worked out in much the same way
as the comic-strip method of telling a story. A simple story is shown
in a given number of pictures to correspond with the scenes in
a Alm. A sentence is written to provide a caption under each
picture, so that the story is complete in both pictures and sentences.
The next step is to write the sentences first, then make the pictures
to tit the sentences-this corresponding with the procedure of
making a film from a script-the scene being drawn instead of
being “shot” ‘. Obviously these are silent films. What the children
cannot adequately express in pictures is inserted as a caption
in the editing stage. The children themselves find the material
for the ‘plot’, which is to be shot in the classroom or in the imme-
diate vicinity of the school. Moreover, all the children have a
part in it. The tasks involved in the shooting process itself are
also carefully shared out. Miss Greiner mentions as very successful
the following division of tasks among members of a unit : Director
and assistant director, 1 girl and 1 boy ; camera crew, 2 girls
and 2 boys ; lighting (if needed), 2 boys ; continuity, 2 girls.
The director and his or her assistant change jobs alternately
(e.g., per scene or per ‘session’) and the members of the camera
95
crew alternately take charge of the shooting. The director, helped

by his assistant, decides how each scene is to be shot and is res-
ponsible for the smooth running of the whole unit. He determines
the position of the camera, leads the rehearsals, and gives the
necessary orders. The first member of the camera crew controls
the camera and manipulates it. Number two is responsible for the
tripod, helped by number three whose special responsibility it
is to take care of the measuring tape (to focus the lens). Number
four is the ‘clapper boy’. The ‘continuity team’ writes down all
the details of the shots (camera position, costumes, stage proper-
ties), so that the shots tally with all the scenes which have been
filmed before or which remain to be filmed later.
From a pedagogical standpoint, the editing process is probably
of greatest importance. First, the ‘rushes’ are shown a few times
to the whole class who make comments upon the work, and only
then is it jointly decided which ‘rushes’ will be used for editing.
The editing itself is a matter of routine with a simple splicer.
First a ‘rough cut’ is made, the selected ‘rushes’ being merely
arranged in their right order. The ‘fine-cutting’ process requires
more care and takes longer, since each shot has to be adjusted
to its right ‘timing’ until the most satisfactory result is achieved.
In secondary schools, says Grace Greiner, the same methods
may be used both for discussion and for the making of films.
In addition there is the comparison of the film with other arts ;
and the history of the film and film technique may be introduced.
During the discussions emphasis should be placed on the moral
problems posed by the film, on the social aspects of the contents
and on the aesthetics of film art. The comparison of film art with
other arts may have an important impact on other subjects.
An interesting exercise for students is to write a story in prose,
as a drama, as a ballad and as a film. Moreover the film may be
brought into relation with history (e.g., the historical background
of a popular hero such as Robin Hood, in connexion with the film
in question), with literature (comparing Walter Scott’s novel
Ivanhoe with the film of the same name), and even with Biblical
history (in connexion with a film based on a theme from the Old
Testament). The history of the cinema itself may be discussed
with the help of films which are acknowledged to have ‘classical’
value.
Reports, drawn from various sources, about experiments in
different types of schools for advanced learning, give an interesting
view on the possibilities and difficulties of film education in the
classroom. Helen Wilks describes her experience in an article
entitled : ‘A Grammar School Approach’, in Film Teacher (winter
1952). In the second half of the third year (i.e., with children
of about 15 years of age) a part of ‘composition time’ in English
was devoted to a film course. The students wrote compositions
about films, film reviews and scripts. L. F. Williamson (‘Filmstrip
Films’, in Film Teacher, spring 1953) considers the making of
films as the ideal method, but found it too expensive and therefore
96
worked with ‘filmstrip films’, that is, with ‘shots’ consisting of

only one photograph made with an ordinary photographic camera,
and then put on to a filmstrip. This method has an advantage
in that the students need to have a precise idea of the most essential
moments of the story to be ‘Almed’, for only these moments can
together form an understandable story. In Sight and Sound
Ceinwen Jones’ work in a secondary modern school is described. l
Janet Hills a extensively describes Stanley Reed’s experiments
in a secondary school ; Mrs. E. M. Pointon, in Film Teacher
(August 1955) also relates her experiences with the making of
films in a secondary modern girls’ school, and emphasizes the
fact that even a teacher with little experience and knowledge
of film matters can make a success of this work.
According to Elsa Marcussen, in a paper on film research and
film-teaching methods presented to a conference on ‘film, television
and the child’ in London in October, 1958, Norwegian as well
as British experiences indicate the ‘enormous advantages’ of giving
children as part of their film-teaching programme the possibility
of making films themselves. And at the OCIC Congress in Vienna
in July 1960, 3 which warmly supported the general concept of
film-teaching, it may be mentioned that a recommendation was
presented to the effect that children at school should if possible
be encouraged to make their own films under the supervision of
teachers.
Special mention should be made here of an experimental
investigation by the late Maurice Woodhouse, training college
lecturer in Leeds. 4 This investigation was carried out at a school
where only a minority of the children were of more than average
intelligence ; a large number had an IQ between 80 and 95.
Mr. Woodhouse divided the children-three girls’ classes, three
boys’ classes, aged respectively 12-13, 13-14, and 14-15 years,
and two boys’ classes for comparison-into an ‘experimental’
and a ‘control’ group. A number of films were shown to both
groups and afterwards some questions were asked ; however, only
the ‘experimental’ group received ‘film lessons’. After every
weekly film show the pupils filled out their questionnaires ; a
week later Mr. Woodhouse came back to the films he had shown,
attaching special attention to the reactions expressed in the
questionnaires. In a later stage of the film course he introduced
a simple discussion about technique and criticism. Once or twice
the students themselves spontaneously asked him for other
special lessons. As Mr. Woodhouse sums up the results : the habit
of seeing films critically had been stimulated ; at the end of the
experiment the students had learned to use a few elementary
1. Ceinwen Jones and F. E. Pardoe, ‘Film Study’, in Sight and Sound, London,
British Film Institute, summer issue, 1949.
2. Hills, Films and Children; The P&live Approach.
3. See page 86.
4. Maurice Woodhouse, Researches and Sfudies, No. 1, University of Leeds Institute
of Education, 1949.
97
-
principles of film evaluation ; and a more ‘alert’ attitude of the

students towards the film seemed to have been developed. An
analysis of the answers to the questionnaires resulted in the
conclusion that the older and more intelligent students-espe-
cially the girls-had benefited most from the lessons. The ‘ex-
perimental’ group showed an outspoken superiority over the
‘control group’, which proved that, at least to some extent, the
lessons had been effective. Another provisional conclusion was
that in film-teaching it is best to start from the subject right
at hand, for a preparatory analysis of film techniques by means
of documentaries might cause a gap to appear between film study
and ordinary film experience.
In a recent pamphlet issued by the British Film Institute and
the Association of Teachers in Colleges and Departments of
Education, l several programmes for film and television courses
at training colleges are suggested : a programme for a ‘main
course’ (an academic study to which a student devotes a large
part of his time throughout the whole course) ; a programme for
film and television study as a section in a wider (obligatory)
course; and another programme for a one-year curriculum course.
In numerous instances in the United Kingdom it is the English
teacher who has to undertake the main responsibility for film-
teaching. This is understandable enough in view of the fact that
discussions or essays about film, comparisons of novel and film,
etc., are closely related to the development of the pupil’s skill
in using the English language and to his general literary education.
Several textbooks for the teaching of English contain a paragraph
or even a chapter about film appreciation.
At those schools in the United States where some film-teaching
is provided, this also mostly occurs in relation to the teaching
of English as a subject. This probably results from the fact that
most films shown on general circuit in the United States come
from English-speaking countries, and indeed mainly from the
United States itself. The film is considered as a means of ex-
pounding ‘English’ culture, and is accepted as a form of English
literature. Motion picture discrimination is treated in textbooks
on English. 2 The film may also be brought into relation with
social studies, and treated as an extra aspect of that subject,
In so far as the author can ascertain, there is no question of
film-teaching, as it has been defined here, at the elementary
school level. Activity is limited to organizing screenings of films
which have been selected as suitable for children, these often
being supplied by the Children’s Film Library of New York.
In more than eighty of the largest population centres there are
‘Parent-Teacher Associations’ and ‘Motion Picture Councils’,
which form the channel between current films with an educational
value and the school. Moreover, these bodies are the promoters
1. RiZm and Teleuision in Educafion for Teaching, London, British Film Institute,
1960, 66 pp.
2. Arno Jewett, English Language Arfs in American High SchooZs.
98
of special afternoon performances for children, where programmes

from the Children’s Film Library are shown.
At several secondary schools (junior and senior high schools)
film education receives more or less regular attention, usually
taking the form of a ‘unit’-which means that, once a year, a
series of lessons is devoted to film. Many articles summed up in
the bibliography of Dale and Morrison 1 contain reports about
the activities which such a unit embraces.
C. G. Hedden * mentions experiences with a two-week movie
appreciation unit at Jackson Junior High School, Batavia, New
York. In class discussions such questions were raised as : ‘How
is sound added to a film ?’ and ‘How does a film camera work ?‘.
After such discussions the students wrote film reviews from which
it clearly appeared that their discrimination had improved. At
Doylestown High School, Pennsylvania, (about which Margaret
Lehman reportsa) film appreciation started in 1938 with a lo-week
course, during which all phases of the film production process
were briefly discussed. By general request this course was extended
over the whole school year at the rate of two meetings a week.
This was an extra-curricular course. The discussion method
offered an excellent opportunity to examine theories about
direction, acting and script writing. By studying film reviews
the students themselves reached the point where they could
express opinions as to the suitability of a given film for students
of different ages. Making films, however, seemed to be the best
method. Considered from an aesthetic viewpoint the results were
not satisfactory ; yet the experience not only deepened the theo-
retical knowledge of the students to a high degree but also
gave them a good insight into the practical difficulties of actual
film making. H. L. Marcus4 has reported on a film course at
Eastern District High School, New York, which was given ex-
clusively to ‘honour students’. The course was subdivided into
19 units, with titles such as ‘Standards for films’, ‘Validity and
treatment of social problems’ and ‘Types of motion pictures’.
The students learned to develop discernment, to be on guard
against propagandistic elements in the film, and to adopt a critical
attitude about the cinematic treatment of some social problems.
As part of the course the students also made their own silent
films. Joseph B. Maggio 6 has written an interesting report about
___-
1. Edgar Dale and John Morrison, Motion Picture Discriminafion; An Annotated
Bibliography, Columbus, Ohio, Bureau of Educational Research, Ohio State
University, n.d., 41 pp.
2. C. G. Hedden, ‘Pin-Up Girls in School : What to do about Movies in the Class-
room’, The English Journal, January 1946.
3. Margaret Lehman, ‘Motion Picture Education in a Small Suburban High School’,
Fundamentals in a Democratic School, Philadelphia, Pa., University of Pennsyl-
vania, 1938, pp. 409-13.
4. H. L. Marcus, Plea for the Mouies, High Points, New York, Board of Education,
City of New York, November 1945.
5. Joseph B. Maggio, A Guidance Program in Film Appreciation and Task, a
‘Green sheet’ of the Film Estimate Board of National Organizations, New York,
15 June, 1956.
99
a ‘term-long unit on current film evaluation with a Arst-year

high school English class’. His design was mainly based on the
‘communication arts syllabus’ used at school, in which such
questions and items were to be found as : ‘Why are we less selective
about our choice of films than we are about the books we read ?’ ;
‘Discuss propaganda, advertising, movie critics, and the limitations
on the types of movies which students see’ ; ‘Discuss the influence
of films and actors on youth, on habits, on dress ; the possibility
of imposed standards for films and actors’ ; ‘Are young people
taken seriously in motion pictures ? Are they real ? Are they
given credit for intelligence ?’ ; ‘Pictures have social values as
well as entertainment values. On the basis of a recent picture you
saw, answer the following: Does the story encourage right relation-
ships between husbands and wives, parents and children, etc. ? Does
it defend ideals of justice, freedom and honesty ?’ And so on.
The questions and subjects were merely suggested when the
students discussed films which were relevant-for example, ‘The
Wild One’, ‘Rebel without a Cause’ and ‘Blackboard Jungle’.
Television shows of the films ‘The Ox-Bow Incident’ and ‘Richard
III’, were also included. The author summarized the results of
this ‘unit’ as follows : ‘First of all, the panel method of discussion
had reached some degree of facility, and students were encouraged
to improve their ability to communicate orally. Secondly, the
students were brought to the important conclusion that they,
too, could judge the worth of motion pictures since they had
seen their own evaluations coinciding with those of the profes-
sionals. They are presently on the verge of realizing that once
brought to an intelligent appraisal of advance notices on films,
such as advertising, reviews, and casting, they could evaluate
and act early upon a film by seeing or refusing to see it. They
had learned many of the words of criticism, the vocabulary without
which concepts and valid opinions cannot be formed. Finally,
and most important, they had developed a set of criteria based
upon comparisons of what is good and what is bad. Unworthy
as well as worthy films were discussed, and they had begun to
recognize the good as it towers over the bad, instead of, as is
more often the case, being exposed to an abstract set of reasons
why a particular film is exemplary.’
At United States colleges and universities, film-teaching usually
forms a section of the ‘fine arts department’. Gradually the study
of film is finding its own place, and in conjunction with this the
students will very often, for all kinds of purposes, make their
own films and often even run their own theatre. To mention a
few examples only : the University of California, Los Angeles,
has a ‘department of theatre arts’ where film technique and
film history are taught ; New York University has a department
of film, radio and television ; Oregon State College and Boston
University each have a film department.
100
C II A P T E R v I I I
The training of
the film-teacher
In the opinion of the English author Stanley Reed,l the most
serious obstacle standing in the way of introducing film-teaching
at school is the fact ‘that very many teachers (and probably an
even greater proportion of head teachers, their average age
being higher) have themselves an inadequate understanding of
cinema. . . . Indeed the schoolchild of today probably under-
stands the film medium better than most of his teachers. The
minds of those schooled in the older arts and brought up in the
academic tradition do not come fresh to the cinema and while
people of education, generally speaking, may be more discerning
in their judgement of a film’s content, they are often inferior in
their understanding of illm as a medium of expression to those of
lesser education who approach the cinema without any cultural
inhibition.’ Although these words were written several years ago
and although in the meantime considerable progress has been
achieved in this field, the fact remains that the training of film
teachers is still a cause for concern. For in practice the success of
any activity in this sphere stands or falls on the attitude of those
who have to introduce the film in school education. That is why
we shall try to answer the following questions : What educational
experience and what specialized knowledge about film ere needed
by the film teacher ? How can he acquire this knowledge ? Is it
possible to make provision for such training within existing
teacher-training programmes ?
What the teacher needs to know
The film-teacher must be imbued with a great enthusiasm for his

subject-this, indeed, is a minimum requirement for any teacher
whatever his field. There are still too many educators who feel
that they can afford to adopt a purely negative attitude towards
the cinema. But to be a good film teacher, one has to be deeply
convinced of the great educational possibilities of the medium.
1. Heed, Film Teaching in England.
101
What the teacher needs to know about film will largely depend
on the level of his school and on the experience of his pupils.
Obviously, an elementary school teacher will not have to become
as thoroughly acquainted with film aesthetics as will a secondary
school teacher who instructs the upper grades. The curriculum for
the training of a film-teacher, given below, is designed for those
who are supposed to provide a complete film education. It will
probably appear too extensive for the average teacher, but may
offer useful hints for individuals who will themselves know best
what kind of basic knowledge and experience they need in their
particular situation.
The film-teacher will have to know something about the back-
ground of his field, along the lines indicated in the introductory
chapter of this book. The place occupied by the processes of visual
communication in our culture, the special nature of recreation by
means of the moving picture, the way in which the individual
experiences the visual world, its advantages and drawbacks for
society-all these and many other aspects are part of this back-
ground knowledge. Naturally, each teacher will personally have
to decide which type of subject-matter and which methods will
have to be taken into account to suit the needs of the students at
his own school (cf. Chapters VI and VII).
) Then again, the teacher himself should know as much as he can
about the ‘subject-matter’. He ought to be familiar with the
nature of the visual communication process ; he should know at
least the historic principles of film language and be able to recog-
nize their application in current films; he should be able to apply
them when writing scripts or making short films (cf. Chapter II).
Technique, in the sense of knowing something about the possi-
bilities of the film medium, together with the history and princi-
ples of film art comprise the subject-matter which the teacher has
to assimilate in order to impart ‘film-aesthetic’ education to his
students. To achieve its proper purpose this should go hand in
hand with a general understanding of aesthetic education (cf.
Chapter III).
In order to help the student to assimilate a film critically, the
teacher will have to know something about the way in which the
student experiences a film, and also something about the charac-
ters, the settings and the ideas he encounters in the film. To
understand how his students experience a film showing, the
teacher does not have to be a professional psychologist, but he
should be a careful and skilled observer. It will be necessary for
him to keep up-to-date with the films which the students like to
see and to discuss (cf. Chapter IV).
Finally the teacher must be familiar with the most important
instructional methods used in this field, and he should be able to
apply them in a practical way without, however, regarding them
as unalterable. For over and over again it will happen that the
teacher will have to use his own imagination and ingenuity. This
will be especially necessary when he wants to establish a close
102
relationship between his own subject and that of the film (cf.
Chapter V).
Draft programme for training

in %hn pedagogics’
In the following synopsis an attempt is made to summarize a

curriculum for training film-teachers.
Insight into the ‘background’ of visual communication and
recreation :
1. Social-cultural meaning of the phenomenon of film and tele-
vision.
2. The place of film and television in the life of young people.
3. Effect of contact with film and television on perception,
thinking and behaviour of young people.
Principles on which Mm-teaching should be based :
1. The concept of ‘film-teaching’.
2. Film-teaching as a part of general education.
3. Results which may be expected from film-teaching.
Knowledge of the ‘subject-matter’ to be taught :
1. Elements and structure of ‘film language’.
2. Principles of film aesthetics.
3. Elements of film content, and critical evaluation of them.
6. Psychology of film experience.
Knowledge of the methods and practical possibilities of fllm-
teaching :
1. Instruction, discussion, film study, workshop activities.
2. Film making : script writing, direction, camerawork, editing,
projection.
3. Film-teaching in connexion with the age and mental develop-
ment of students.
4. Fitting film-teaching into the school curriculum ; film educa-
tion as an extra-curricular activity.
Organization of film-teacher training
It is clear that any programme of training for Mm-teaching

must first of all find a place within existing teacher-training
schemes in the teachers’ training colleges, in the universities, etc.
In several countries the training colleges provide a period which
103
is expected to be used to impart some insight into and knowledge

of cultural and social life. Under that heading an introduction to
problems of visual communication and recreation would find its
proper place and-if no separate period for ‘aesthetic education’
is available-even the principles of film art might be treated.
In view of the fact that film and television are important factors
of contemporary cultural and social life, an examination of the
content of film and television programmes could well be included
here. Thus the subjects treated in Chapters I, III and IV would,
in effect, have found a suitable place in the time-table of training
colleges. Furthermore, since the ‘didactics of the educational
film are among the obligatory subjects of almost every teachers’
college, film language (Chapter II) might be inserted under that
heading ; and a place for the methods of film-teaching could
be found in the pedagogics classes.
On the practical side of film-teacher training, especially in so
far as the making of films is concerned, special courses are indis-
pensable, at least for the time being. The duration of these courses
will depend mainly on the previous training of the students, Apart
from a more or less permanent film course (the lessons of which
may be attended all the year round, perhaps once a week) special
‘continuation classes’ may also be organized. If oral lessons
are impossible, correspondence or TV courses could offer a
solution.
In the United Kingdom, although teachers are not required
to attend special courses in film education, a number of training
colleges have made provision for film training in one form or
another. At university level the department of drama at the
University of Bristol provides a training in film education, and
the Department of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of
London, together with the Lecture Service of the British Film
Institute, organizes training courses of one, two and three years.
A kind of extra-mural ‘post-graduate’igroup (known as ‘Cinema 25’)
takes care of students who have completed the three-year course
and wish to engage in research projects, by organizing special
lectures of an advanced nature. About 125 students engage in
these activities. Film courses for leaders of youth organizations
as well as for teachers are regularly organized by the British
Film Institute ; they are generally held during the Easter or
summer vacation. Among these the ‘Summer School’ at Bangor
has become especially well known.
In the Federal Republic of Germany regular courses for teachers
and youth leaders have been organized, especially by the Institut
fur Film und Bild in Munich. Two recent publications deal with
the question of training teachers. The first 1 discusses the ways
in which film-teacher training may be introduced into the teachers’
training colleges in the Federal Republic of Germany. The second
1. Karl Heinrich and Josef Heun (eds.), Die technischen Mittler in der Lehrerbildung.
Frankfurt am Main, 1939 (mimeographed).
104
publication is a report of a training course on methods of film

education, held in 1960. l
In France, the Union Francaise des (Euvres LaIques d%ducation
par 1’Image et par le Son (UFOLEIS, Paris) organizes Alm courses
of its own and also provides assistance for the setting up of film
classes at a number of teachers’ colleges. The Direction G&&ale
de la Jeunesse et des Sports of the Ministry of Education also
organizes stages d’initiation cirdmatographique for teachers, leaders
of film clubs and leaders of youth and cultural organizations. The
University of Paris offers regular lectures about the history of
film and about film art. The Institut de Filmologie offers lectures
and seminar classes on the psychological, sociological and aesthetic
aspects of film. In the United States, introductory courses for
teachers are organized by the Bureau of audio-visual instruction
of the Board of Education of New York City. Film workshops are
organized in a few cities, and several universities offer extension
courses on film appreciation. In the Netherlands, three different
correspondence courses are available. The Catholic Film Action
organizes one- and two-year training courses for teachers and
youth leaders. The Netherlands Film Institute started a one-year
course on film pedagogics at university level in 1958 in Amsterdam.
TEACHING AIDS
In addition to a general textbook the teacher may wish to have

special books about special problems (e.g., about the discussion
method in his film classes). Students will need textbooks in which
they can study by themselves. The ordinary, regular textbooks,
whatever their field, should pay some attention to the relationship
between the film and other fields of learning. Film sequences
suitable for the purpose of analysis, and instructional films about
film language and film art, are still comparatively rare and hard
to come by. Moreover all these teaching aids have to be tried
out first in the classroom before film-teaching can in this respect
‘compete’ with any other subject. International co-operation might
help to provide solutions to many difllculties in this particular
sphere.
CONTACTS BETWEEN FILM-TEACHERS
Regular contacts between the film-teachers of the same city or

of the same country can be stimulating. Informal meetings or
regular conventions, information bulletins or more ambitious
periodicals, as well as other publications, offer a forum for the
exchange of ideas and experiences and for the introduction of
1. Methoden der plmkundlichen Unterrichtung und Filmerziehung, Institut fiir Film

und Bild, Munich, 1960 (mimeographed).
105
Teachina about the film
new teaching aids. The value of such co-operation is shown by

the experience of the Society for Education in Film and Television
(formerly the Society of Film Teachers) in England, which pub-
lishes a regular journal, Screen education (previously called Film
teacher), and by that of the German Alm-teachers’ organization,
the Westdeutsche Schulfilm, which prints 25,000 copies of its
bulletin Film, Jugend, Schule. French organizations such as the
Federation Loisirs et Culture Cinematographiques and the Union
FranCaise des CBuvres Lalques d’Education par I’Image et par
le Son have already been mentioned.
Film education, then, is on the march. The examples quoted in

the last two chapters, and in other parts of this book, show that
in several countries it is already common practice in many schools.
Some time may still elapse before film-teaching is widely accepted
as ‘natural’ and necessary, and before it finds its definite shape
and an honourable place on the school time-table. But it is surely
not over-optimistic to believe that this will one day happen.
106
Appendixes
1. MENTAL DEVELOPMENT AND FILM UNDERSTANDING
General mental Understanding fllm
development language
Perception and thinking Only films that are very

Rudimentary perception simple in form and
directed towards the content are understood
object-world ; imagina- well. (No complicated
tion has to make up for editing.)
the missing parts. Inte-
rest in everything that
is ‘activity’.
Aesthetic receptiveness Expression of film expe-

and creativify rience in drawing and
The child ‘plays with modelling; also in play-
the world’ : the aesthe- ing in imitation of the
tic experience is ex- film story.
pressed in play activity.
Interest and criticism

At first the child is
mainly interested in the
fairy-tale ; later on in
‘what has really hap-
pened’ and in ‘action’.
He accepts everything
on authority.
f Perception and thinking Displacements of the

Much activity, directed camera and the like are
towards the concrete. gradually better under-
Differentiation in per- stood. Making films be-
ception ; the outer world comes interesting mainly
is looked on more objec- from a technical point
5 tively. Beginning of lo@- of view. The film me-
cal thinking. dium is not yet seen as
e a means ‘to communi-
$ cate’ or ‘to express’
5.
2 something.
5 Aesthetic receptiveness Admiration for the ob-
d and creativity jective qualities of the
+ The child is ‘busy’ with film (‘beautiful pictu-
1 the world and is enticed res’, ‘fine photogra-
hi to imitate it. The aesthe- phy’), especially for
o tic feeling is in the technical achievements.
w ‘intellectual’ phase. Activity in all fields
z draws inspiration from
Znferesf and criticism
the films seen.
Growing interest in the
outer world, outside
one’s own horizon.
Gradually the critical
, sense develops.
108
Appendix 1
Critical assimilation of tilm content Methods and practical possibilities
Trying to repeat what one has seen

in a film ; free expression in drawing
and modelling.
Playing in imitation of the action of

the film that has been seen.
Playing with self-made film ‘appa-

ratus’.
At the end of this period : incidental

conversations in class about a film.
The child is mainly interested in the

story of the film; at first in fairy-tale
films, later on in any story that
contains ‘action’. The film content
is accepted as true, without much cri-
ticism. Film experience still is a
play, without further consequences for Showing of films that are suited to
real life. this age.
Instruction with the help of short

films about the way a film is made.
Writing film stories and making

simple short films.
Discussion about what is beautiful,

from a technical point of view, in a
film that has been seen by the whole
class : following this by discussion
with the aid of filmstrips or short
sequences from films, which can be
shown twice.
Discussions about the story, the
actions of the hero or heroine or, in
the case of a documentary film, about
the subject treated. But always only
about the surface aspects.
More interest in films about ordinary With the aid of filmstrips there may
life, also about other parts of the be discussions also about the life of
world ; but films of ‘action’ remain the persons behind the scene ; about
the favourites. the work of the film technicians and
so on.
109
__--._ -----. -.
General mental Understanding film AestheFf ;~~seciation

development language
Perception and thinking There are no difficulties

The view of the outer anymorein understand-
world becomes more ing film language, but
subjective, but remains there is no real ‘active’
directed towards the viewing.
concrete. Time and
causal relations are
understood now.
Aesthetic receptiveness Making films personally The boy or girl is not
and creativity is only a possibility to yet susceptible to beauty
The aesthetic interest is ‘vocalize’, to make one- as a value of life; but the
still mainly directed to- self heard. boys are very sensitive
wards technical achieve- about technical perfor-
ments and heroic deeds. mantes. Group activity
in making one’s own
Interest and criticism films is ve;y much liked.
Interest in the ‘fantas-
1tic’ elements in the
~technical world ; in ad-
venture and far coun-
tries. Avowed preferen-
ces. Strong ego-feelings.
’ Perception and thinking Capability for ‘active’

Strongly coloured by viewing; insight into the
personalproblems,butin expressive possibilities
structure and capacity of the film medium.
equal to those of the Film language becomes
adult. a means of ‘communica-
tion’.
Aesthetic receptiveness In making their own Capability for real aes-

and creativeness films the young people thetic film experience.
Verysusceptibletowards are now capable of find- Insight into the true
beauty as a value of ing original forms. artistic values of a film.
life; strong urge for per-
sonal creativeness. Making one’s own films
can be a conscious crea-
Interest and criticism tive expression.
Young people are now
mainly interested in their
own inner lives and
those of others. Apart
from that, there is grow-
ing interest in the other
sex. Criticism is a conti-
nuous need ; is strongly
coloured by subjective
preferences (‘film-fan
phase).
110
Appendix 1
Critical assimilation of tllm content Methods and practical possibilities

_____
Making illms as team-work.

Discussions about film tricks, stage
settings and the like. If possible with
the help of pictures, filmstrips, films
or other visual aids.
Discussions about the achievements of
the film director, cameraman, actors,
taking the form of a ‘mock trial’,
awarding an ‘Oscar’; a ‘brains trust’,
etc.
Showing a good film as a starting
point for the discussion.
Collecting reviews and criticisms from
newspapers and magazines for a film
Growing critical sense. corner or film diary.
Admiration for big efforts and other Discussions about the film content,
external performances. about the motives for the behaviour
Films of adventure are favourites. of the principal actors.
Film star worshipping.
Writing essays about the film one has
seen.
Instruction with the aid of films or

filmstrips about camera position, pic-
ture composition, editing, film rhythm,
lighting, etc.
Exercises in ‘translating’ a theme in
film language (eventually organizing
a competition on this in the class).
Making films; also trying to find
original forms (‘experimental’ films).
Aesthetically analysing films. Making
comparisons between the films of
different directors.
Young people are now mainly inte- Introduction to the history of the
rested in the internal life of the cha- cinema. Making comparisons bet-
racters in the film, their problems and ween the film and other arts (e.g., with
ideals. They are very much interested reference to a film based on a book).
too in the life of the adults, especially Discussions and essays about the film
in love and marriage, social cir- star, the film industry, film censorship,
cumstances, etc. etc. Also about the ideas and ideologies
of the film artist and of the characters
Strong desire to criticize traditional from a film, in the field of ethics,
values. polilics or social life ; about the kind
of life depicted in the film ; about the
way the main problem in a film is
solved, etc.
111
2. LIST OF FILMS
This list gives, in alphabetical order, the titles and main production
details of films mentioned in the body of this book. (References
to some other films will also be found on page 73.) After the
title, the name of the director is followed by that of the production
company, and it will be noted that, in order to differentiate between
feature films and shorts, the lengths of the latter are given.
Permission to use scenes from some of the films listed here,
as illustrations to the text, is gratefully acknowledged to the
production company or distributor concerned.
Adventures of Bunny Rabbit, The. Encyclopaedia Britannica Films,

USA, 1948. 10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm.
Amo un Assasino. Baccio Bandini. Lux Film, Italy, 1952.
A Nous la Liberte. Rene Clair. Films Sonores, France, 1932.
Bataille de 1’Eau lourde, La (Operation Swallow). Titus Vibe
Muller and Jean Dreville. Le Trident and Hero-Films, France-
Norway, 1947.
Battleship ‘Potemkin’. See Bronenosec Potemkin.
Beauty and the Beast. See La Belle et la Bete.
Belle et la Bete, La (Beauty and the Beast). Jean Cocteau, Andre
Paulve, France, 1946.
Bend of the River. Anthony Man. Universal, USA, 1951.
Bicycle Thieves. See Ladri di Biciclette.
Bitter Rice. See Riso Amaro.
Bizarre, Bizarre. See Dr6le de Drame.
Blackboard Jungle. Richard Brooks and P. S. Berman. MGM,
USA, 1954.
Blue Lamp, The. Basil Bearden, Michael Balcon, United Kingdom,
1950.
Bronenosec Potemkin (Battleship ‘Potemkin’). S. M. Eisenstein.
Gosmico, USSR, 1925.
Bush Christmas. Ralph Smart. J. Arthur Rank Organization,
United Kingdom, 1947.
Carnet de Bal, Un (Life dances on). Julien Duvivier. Sigma Films,
France, 1938.
Corsaires du Bois de Boulogne, Les. Norbert Carbonneaux. Pete
Films, France, 1953.
Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Les. Pierre Bresson. Raoul Ploquin,
France, 1946.
112
Appendix 2
Day of Wrath. See Dies Irae.

Dies Irae (Day of Wrath). Carl Th. Dreyer. Paladium, Denmark,
1940.
Dieu a besoin des Hommes (God needs Men). Jean Delannoy.
Transcontinental Film - Fox, France, 1949-50.
Ditte, Child of Man. See Ditte Menneskebarn.
Ditte Menneskebarn (Ditte, Child of Man). Bjarne and Astrid
Henning-Jensen. Nordisk Films Kompagni, Denmark, 1947.
Drale de Drame (Bizarre, Bizarre). Marcel Car& Corniglion-
Molinier, France, 1939.
Enchantment. Irving Reis. Samuel Goldwyn - RKO, USA, 1949.
Eskimo Sea Hunters. Louis de Rochemont. Louis de Rochemont
Associates, USA, 1949. (‘Earth and Its People’ series.) 20 min.,
sound, black and white, 35 mm.
Eternal Return, The. See Eternel Retour.
Eternel Retour (The Eternal Return). Jean Delannoy. Discina,
France, 1941.
Eva. Gustav Molander. Svensk Fihnindustri, Sweden, 1948.
Fallen Idol, The. Carol Reed. London Films, United Kingdom,
1948.
Farrebique. Georges Rouquier. L&ran Francais - Les Films
Etienne Lallier, France, 1946.
God needs Men. See Dieu a besoin des Hommes.
Goemons. Jannick Bellon. Films Etienne Lallier, France, 1948.
20 min., sound, black and white. 35 mm.
Grandes Manceuvres, Les. Rent! Clair. Filmsonor, Paris-Rizzoli,
Rome, 1955.
High Noon. Fred Zinnemann and Stanley Kramer. United Artists,
USA, 1952.
Ivanhoe. Richard Thorpe. MGM, USA, 1951.
Journal d’un Cure de Campagne, Le. Robert Bresson. UGC,
France, 1950.
Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves). Vittorio de Sica. PDS, Italy,
1948.
Life dances on. See Un Carnet de Bal.
Louisiana Story. Robert Flaherty. Robert J. Flaherty Pro-
ductions, USA, 1948.
Mandy. Alexander Mackendrick. Leslie Norman - J. Arthur Rank
Organization, United Kingdom, 1952.
Manniskor I Stad (Rhythm of a City). Arne Sucksdorff, Svenska
Filmindustri, Sweden, 1953. 13 min., sound, black and white,
35 mm.
Martin Roumagnac. George Lacombe. Alcina, France, 1946.
Meilleure Part, La. Yves Allegret, Le Trident - Silver Films and
Noria Film, France, Italy, 1956.
Moby Dick. John Huston, Warner Brothers, USA, 1956.
Modern Times. Charlie Chaplin. United Artists, USA, 1936.
Mon Oncle. Jacques Tati. Specta Film, France, 1957.
Naked City. Jules Dassin. Universal, USA, 1948.
Night Mail. Basil Wright and Harry Watt. GPO Film Unit,
113
United Kingdom, 1936. 24 min., sound, black and white,

16 mm. and 35 mm.
Non ?&pace tra gli ulivi. Giuseppe de Santis. Lux Film, Italy, 1950.
Notorious. Alfred Hitchcock. RKO, USA, 1946.
Operation Swallow. See La Bataille de 1’Eau lourde.
Oursins, Les. Jean PainlevB. Institut de CinCmatographie Scien-
tifique, France, 1953. 15 min., sound, colour, 35 mm.
Overlanders, The. Harry Watt and Michael Balcon. J. Arthur
Rank Organization, United Kingdom, 1946.
Ox-Bow Incident, The. William A. Wellman, Twentieth-Century
Fox, USA, 1942.
Paris Flash. A. Champeaux and P. Watrin. Les Films Pierre
RCmont, France, 1959. 10 min., sound, colour, 35 mm.
Petit Soldat, Le. Paul Grimault. Les GBmeaux, France, 1949.
Animated Cartoon, 10 min., sound, colour, 16 mm. and 35 mm.
Quiet Man, The. John Ford. Republic Pictures, USA, 1951.
Rebel without a Cause. Nicholas Ray. David Weisbart - Warner,
USA, 1955.
Rhythm of a City. See Msnniskor I Stad.
Richard III. Laurence Olivier. L. Olivier Production, United
Kingdom, 1956.
Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice). Giuseppe de Santis, Lux Film, Italy, 1948.
Set-Up, The. Robert Wise. Richard Goldstone - RKO, USA, 1949.
Seven Days to Noon. Roy and John Boulting. London Films,
United Kingdom, 1950.
Smulstronstallet (Wild Strawberries). Ingmar Bergman. Svensk
Filmindustri, Sweden, 1957.
Something of Value. Richard Brooks. MGM, USA, 1956.
Tempestaire, Le. Jean Epstein. Filmagazine and France-Illus-
tration, France, 1946. 22 min., sound, black and white, 35 mm.
Third Man, The. Carol Reed. A. Korda and D. 0. Selznick, United
Kingdom, 1949.
13 Rue Madeleine. Henry Hathaway. Louis de Rochemont,
USA, 1947.
Three Little Kittens. Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, USA,
1945. 10 min., sound, black and white, 16 mm.
Transhumance. Marcel Lucien. Diafilms, France, 1949. 10 min.,
sound, black and white, 35 mm.
Trouble with Harry,The. Alfred Hitchcock. Paramount, USA, 1955.
Twelve Angry Men. Sidney Lumet, United Artists, USA, 1956.
Ultimo Incontro. Gianni Franciolini. Ponti de Laurentis, Italy, 1951.
Variationen tiber ein Filmthema (Variations on a Film Theme).
Ernst Niederreiter. Institut ftir Film und Bild, Munich, Ger-
many, 1955.
Wild One, The. Laslo Benedek. Colombia, USA, 1952.
Wild Strawberries. See Smulstronstallet.
Woman in Question, The. Anthony Asquith and Teddy Baird.
J. Arthur Rank Organization, United Kingdom, 1950.
World, the Flesh and the Devil, The. Roland MacDougall.
MGM, USA, 1938.
114
3. SELECTED BOOK LIST
The following list gives a selection of those books, pamphlets,

and periodicals which have a more or less direct bearing on the
subject of this book. The list is divided into four parts. The relatively
few books listed in the first part arc to be considered as giving
a ‘basic’ knowledge about film, which no sensible approach to
the theory or practice of film-teaching can do without. The second
part deals with the relations between youth and film, furnishing
the film teacher, so to speak, with a general educational back-
ground on which his activities can be based and from which he
may draw inspiration. The third part of this list contains publica-
tions which are directly concerned with film-teaching itself.
Lastly, since several film periodicals, especially those of the past
few years, regularly give information and documentation about
film-teaching, a fourth part, listing the most important of these
periodicals, has been added.
GENERAL BOOKS ABOUT FILM AS A ‘NEW LANGUAGE', AS AN ART

AND AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON
AGEL, Henri. Le cint!ma. Tournai, Paris, Casterman, 1954, 352 pp.

ARNHEIM, Rudolf. Film als Kunst. Berlin, Rowohlt, 1932, 334 pp.
English edition : Film. London, Faber 6: Faber, 1943.
BALASZ, B&la. Der Film; Werden und Wesen eincr neuen Kunst.
Vienna, Globus Verlag, 1949, 347 pp.
English edition : Theory of the film. London, Dennis Dobson,
1952.
CAULIEZ, Armand Jean. Le film criminel et le film policier. l?ditions
du Cerf, Paris, 1956, 121 pp. (Collection ‘7~ art’.)
EISENSTEIN, Sergei Mikhai’lovich. I. Film form; II. The film sense.
New York, Meridian Books, 1957.
EPSTEIN, Jean. Esprit du cinima. Geneva, Paris, Jeheber, 1955,
217 pp.
IROS, Ernst. Wesen und Dramaturgie des Films. Ziirich, Niehans,
1957, 282 pp.
JACOBS, Lewis. The rise of the American film; a critical history.
New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1939, 585 pp.
LINDGREN, Ernest. The art of the film; an introduction to film
appreciation. London, Allen & Unwin, 1948, 242 pp.
115
Lo DUCA, Giuseppe. Technique du cine’ma. Paris, Presses Univer-

sitaires de France, 1953 [1943], 127 pp. (Collection ‘Que sais-
je ?‘)
MANVELL, Roger. Film. London, Pelican Books, 1946, 240 pp.
The film and the public. London, Pelican Books, 1950, 352 pp.
MARTIN, Marcel. Le langage cinCmatographique. Paris, fiditions
du Cerf, 1955, 267 pp. (Collection ‘7e art’.)
MAY, R. I1 linguaggio de1 film. Milan, Poligono, 1947.
MIRAMS, Gordon. Speaking candidly; films and people. Hamilton,
New Zealand, Blackwood Paul, 1945, 240 pp.
MORIN, Edgar. Le cine’ma, ou l’homme imaginaire, essai d’anthro-
pologie sociologique. Paris, I?ditions de Minuit, 1956, 250 pp.
(Collection ‘L’homme et la machine’.)
Les stars. Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1957, 192 pp. (Collection
‘Le temps qui court’.)
PETERS, Jan Marie Lambert. Inleiding tot de filmaesthetiek.
Purmerend, Muusses, 1954, 71 pp.
POWDERMAKER, Hortense. Hollywood, the dream factor;]. Boston,
Mass., Little, Brown & Co., 1950, 342 pp.
PUDOVKIN, Vsevolod Illarionovich. Film technique and Film acting.
New York, Grove Press, 1960, 388 pp.
REISZ, Karel. The technique of film editing. London, New York,
Focal Press, 1953, 2S8 pp.
RIEUPEYROUT, Jean-Louis. Le western ou le cinima ame’ricain par
excellence. Paris, l?ditions du Cerf, 1953, 185 pp.
ROGER, Jos. Grammaire du cine’ma. Brussels, I?ditions Universi-
taires, 1954, 185 pp.
SADOUL, Georges. Histoire ge’ne’rale du cindma. Paris, Deno&l.
I : L’invention du cint!ma, 1832-1897, 1948, 439 pp. ; II : Les
pionniers du cine’ma, 1897-1909, 1947, 726 pp. ; III : Le cinCma
devient un art. 1. L’avant-guerre, 1909-1914, 1952, 384 pp.
2. La premit?re guerre mondiale, 1952, 547 pp. VI : L’e’poque
contemporaine 1939-1954.1. Le cine’ma pendant la guerre 1939-1945,
1956, 329 pp.
SELDES, Gilbert Vivian. The great audience. New York, Viking
Press, 1950, 299 pp.
SPOTTISWOODE, Raymond. A grammar of the film; an analysis
of film technique. London, Faber Pr Faber, 1935, 326 pp.
THORP, Margaret (Farraud). America at the movies. New Haven,
Conn., Yale University Press, 1939, 313 pp.
BOOKS DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM OF ‘FILM AND YOUTH'
BELLINGROTH, Friedhelm. Triebwirkung des Films auf Jugend-

Ziche. Berne, Stuttgart, Verlag Hans Huber, 1958, 154 pp.
BLUMER, Herbert. Movies and conduct. New York, Macmillan,
1933, 257 pp. (Payne Fund studies.)
CHARTERS, Werrett Wallace. Motion pictures and youth; a summary.
New York, Macmillan, 1933, 60 pp.
116
Appendix 3
~____
FIELD, Mary. Good company; the story of the children’s entertain-
ment film movement in Great Britain, 1943-1950. London, New
York, Longmans Green, 1952, 192 pp.
Italian edition : La produzione di film per ragazzi in Gran
Bretagna. Rome, Bianco e Nero, 1952.
French edition : Cint!ma pour enfants. Paris, fiditions du Cerf,
1958. (Collection ‘7e art’.)
FLORES D'ARCAIS, Giuseppe. I1 cinema; il film nella esperienza
giovanile. Padua, Livania, 1953, 298 pp. (Biblioteca di cultura.)
FORD, Richard. Children in the cinema. London, Allen & Unwin,
1939, 252 pp.
GREAT BRITAIN. Honm OFFICE. Report of the departmental com-
mittee on children and the cinema. London, HMSO, 24 March
1950, n.p.
HAVE, Tonko Tjarko ten. Speelfilms in de belevingswereld van
jeugdigen. Purmerend, Muusses, 1956, 246 pp.
KEILHACKER, Martin ; KEILHACKER, Margarete. Jugend und
Spielfilm; Erlebnisweisen und Einfltisse. Stuttgart, E. Klett
Verlag, 1953, 127 pp.
KLAPPER, Joseph Thomas. The effect of mass media. New York,
Columbia University, Bureau of Applied Social Research, 1949,
192 pp.
LAPORTA, Raffaele. Cinema ed etir evolutiva. Florence, La Nuova
Italia, 1957, 187 pp. (Collection ‘Educatori Antichi e Modern?.)
LUNDERS, Leo. Introduction aux problt?mes du cint!ma et de la
jeunesse. Paris, IZditions Universitaires, 1953, 221 pp.
Dutch edition : Inleiding tot de problemen van film en jeugd.
Purmerend, Muusses, 1955.
MAYER, Jacob P. Sociology of film; studies and documents. London,
Faber & Faber, 1946, 328 pp.
British cinemas and their audiences; sociological studies. London,
Dennis Dobson, 1948, 280 pp.
MULLER, H. S. ; VAN DRIEL, A.A.E.; PETERS, J.M.L.; SIJMONS,
A. H. ; VAN WIERINGEN, H. Sociografie van de tweede wereld.
Wat krijgt onze jeugd in de bioscoop te zien ? Purmerend, Muusses,
1958, 80 pp.
SAVET DRU~TAVAZA STARANJE o DECI I OMLADINI YUGOSLAVIJE.
Film i omladina. Belgrade, Novi Dani, 1957.
STORCK, Henri. The entertainment film for juvenile audiences.
Paris, Unesco, 1950, 240 pp. (Press, film and radio in the world
today.)
French edition : Le film re’cre’afif pour les spectateurs juve’niles.
Paris, Unesco, 1950, 252 pp.
Spanish edition : El tine recreative para espectadores juveniles.
Paris, Unesco, 1950, 258 pp.
ST~~CKRATH, Fritz Louis Berthold; SCHOTT~MAYER, Georg. Psycho-
logie des Filmerlebens in Kindheit und Jugend. Hamburg,
Schropps, 1955, 172 pp.
TARRONI, Evelina. ‘Filmologia pedagogica’, in : Biblioteca det-
l’educatore, Milan, Anonima Edizioni Viola, lQ50, pp. 771-831.
117
UNESCO. Department of Mass Communication. The influence of

the cinema on children and adolescents ; an annotated international
bibliography. Paris, Unesco, 1961. (Reports and papers on mass
communication, no. 31.)
WASEM, Erich. .Jugend und Filmerlebung; Beitriige zur Psychologie
und Padagogik der Wirkung des Films auf Kinder und Jugend-
lithe. Munich, Basle, Ernst Reinhard, 1957, 140 pp.
WOLFENSTEIN, Martha ; LEITES, Nathan. Movies; a psychological
study. Glencoe, Ill., The Free Press, 1950, 316 pp.
SPECIAL BOORS AND PAMPHLETS ON FILM-TEACHING
AGEL, Henri ; AGEL, Genevieve. Pre’cis d’initiation au cinema.

Paris, Editions de I’Ecole, 1956, 376 pp.
BRUDNY, Wolfgang. ‘Filmerziehung’, in : Jugend und Film,
Munich, 1955, 52 pp. [Special number.]
CINEMA CONSZ'LTATIVE COMMITTEE. The teaching of film; a report
and some recommendations. London, British Board of Film
Censors, 1958, 16 pp.
DALE, Edgar. How to appreciate motion pictures; a manual of
motion picture criticism prepared for high school students. New
York, Macmillan, 1938, 243 pp.
MORRISON, John. Motion picture discrimination; an annotated
bibliography. Columbus, Ohio, Bureau of Educational Research,
Ohio State University, n.d., 42 pp. (Modern media of education,
I(7).)
GREINER, Grace. Teaching film; a guide to classroom method.
London, British Film Institute, 1955, 32 pp.
HENRY, Nelson B. (ed.). Mass media and education. Fifty-third
yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education,
part II. Second printing. Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago
Press, 1958, 290 pp.
HILLS, Janet. Films and children; the positive approach. London,
British Film Institute, n.d., 59 pp.
HOCHHEIMER, Rita. Motion picture discrimination in schools; a
consideration of the theatrical motion picture and its place in
education. Wilmette, Ill., Encyclopaedia Britannica Films,
n.d., 7 pp. (mimeographed).
HODGKINSON, A. \V. Film appreciation in youth clubs; some
suggested approaches. London, British Film Institute, 1955,
14 pp. (mimeographed).
JOINT WORKING PARTY of the Association of Teachers in Colleges
and Departments of Education and the British Film Institute.
Film and television in education for teaching. London, British
Film Institute, 1960, 66 pp.
LEWIN, William. Photoplay appreciation in American high schools.
New York, London, Appleton-Century, 1934, 122 pp. (English
monographs.)
118
Appendix 3
MARCUSSEN, Elsa Brita. ‘Film, television and child’, in : News, 7,

International Centre of Films for Children, Brussels, January
1959, pp. 3-17 (mimeographed). [A paper presented to the
conference sponsored by the British Film Institute and the
Society of Film Teachers, London, October 1958.1
MIRAMS, Gordon. Our choice of films, VI(g), 1952, 16 pp. ; People
who make films, VI(12), 1952, 32 pp. ; The ideas in films, VII(S),
1953, 36 pp. Post-primary school bulletin Discussion series.
Wellington, New Zealand Education Department.
MOHRHOF, Siegfried; HAASE, Ulrich; WINKLER, Gerd; BRUDNY,
Wolfgang. Filmgesprache mit Jugendlichen; Beitrdge zur Metho-
dik und Praxis der Jugendfilmarbeit. Munich, Institut fiir Film
und Bild in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 1957, 52 pp.
PETERS, Jan Marie Lambert. Filmopvoeding in Engeland. Amster-
dam, Nederlands Filminstitut, 1958. (Verkenningen, no. 1.)
PETERS, Jan Marie Lambert ; VAN I~RIEL, A.A.E. De film in beeld,
techniek, amusement, kunst. Purmerend, Muusses, 1954, 85 pp.
REED, Stanley. Guidance in aesthetic appreciation; the film :
United Kingdom. London, British Film Institute, n.d.
ROSENTHAL, Newman H. Films in our lives; an approach to film
appreciation. Melbourne, F. W. Cheshire, 1953, 68 pp.
SOCIETY FOR EDUCATION IN FILM AND TELEVISION. The film
teacher’s handbook 1956-60. London, British Film Institute,
1960 (future annual issues will appear as Screen education
yearbook).
ST~~CKRATH, Fritz Louis Berthold. Arbeitshinweise fiir Jugend-
filmclubs. Aachen, Verband der deutschen Filmclubs e.V.,
1956, 56 pp. (Jugendreferat I.)
UNION DE L'EUROPE OCCIDENTALE. Compte rendu des travaux
du stage ‘Loisirs actifs par le film’. Organized by Service National
de la Jeunesse (Belge), Namur, August 1959 (mimeographed).
WASEM, Erich. Presse, Rundfunk, Fernsehen, Reklame, Padogogisch
gesehen. Munich, Basle, Ernst Reinhardt Verlag, 1959, 284 pp.
WINKLER, Gerd. Handbuch Film und Jugend. Munich, Juventa
Verlag, 1956, 125 pp.
ZIELINSKI, Johannes, et al. Der Spielfilm im Schulunterricht.
Ratingen, A. Henn Verlag, 1959, 236 pp.
ZGCHBAUER, Franz. Jugend und Film. Emsdetten, Verlag Lechte,
1960, 220 pp.
PERIODICALS REGULARLY CONTAINING CONTRIBUTIONS ON FILM-

TEACHING
Beeldcultuur en Opvoeding. Documentatiebladen van hct Instituut

Film en Jeugd te Den Haag, The Hague, since 1957.
Cinema Pducatif et culturel. Revue trimestrielle du Centre Inter-
national du Cinema Educatif et Culturel, CIDALC, Rome,
Anteneo, since 1952.
Cinedidattica. Rivista de1 cinema, delle proiezioni flsse, della
radio e della televisione nell’educazione, sotto gli auspici
119
Teaching about &he film
dell’Istituto di pedagogia dell’ Universita di Roma, Rome,

since 1950.
Z?ducation et cint!ma. Revue trimestrielle des techniques d’expres-
sion cinematographiques dans l’education populaire, Paris,
1950-56.
Film, Bild, Ton. Munich, Institut fur Film und Bild in Wissen-
schaft und Unterricht, Heering-Verlag, since 1951.
Film et documents. La revue des techniques audio-visuelles.
Publies par la Federation Nationale du Cinema I?ducatif avec
lc contours de Education et cinima et de 1’Institut des Hautes
ntudes Cinematographiques, Paris, since 1936.
Filmforum. Foreholte Voorhout (The Netherlands), since 1952.
Film, Jugend, Schule. Zeitschrift fur Filmerziehung und Filmkun-
de. Landesbildstelle Westfalen und Westdeutscher Schulfilm,
Gelsenkirchcn, since 1952.
Image et Son. Revue de IUnion Francaise des auvres Lalques
de 1’Rducation par l’bnage et le Son, Ligue Francaise de l’En-
seignement, Paris, since 1946.
Jugrnd und Film. Mitteilungen des Arbeitskreises Jugend und
Film, Munich, since 1950. (Now called Jugend, Film, Fernsehen.)
Revue internationale du cinima. Publication trimestrielle de
1’Officc Catholique International du Cinema (OCIC), Paris,
since 1949.
Screen education (formerlv Film teacher, 1952-59). Journal of
the Society for Education in Film and Television (formerly
the Society of Film Teachers), London, since 1959.
Wir blenden auf. Fur die Filmreferenden in Schule und Verein,
Landcs Jugendreferat, Vienna, since 1955 (mimeographed).
120

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TEACHING

Published in 1961 by the United Nations

PART ONE. THE CONTENT OF FILM EDUCATION

I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF FILM-TEACHING . 13

II. UNDERSTANDING FILM LANGUAGE . . . 22

III. APPRECIATING A FILM AS A WORK OF ART . 36

IV. CRITICAL ASSIMILATION OF FILM CONTENT . 51

PART TWO. PRACTICAL POSSIBILITIES FOR FILM-TEACHING

v. METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF FILM EDUCATION. . 61

VI. FILM-TEACHING IN CONNEXION WITH AGE AND MENTAL

VII. FILM-TEACHING AT SCHOOL . . . . . . 84

VIII. THE TRAINING OF THE FILM-TEACHER . . . . 101

The main purpose of this book, commissioned by Unesco, is to

articles and pamphlets dealing with many aspects of the film

Purpose and scope

as more desirable than brains or character. The social situation

sense, ‘self-immunizing’. The spectators must not be bluffed by

Leading a ‘double life’

To the average member of the average cinema audience, the film

One day when we were still at school, the physics teacher

similar accident, just as serious, depicted on the cinema screen, we

The screen makes us world citizens

It is impossible as yet to state in detail, or even to foresee comple-

of America there is a chapter on the film. In that country, perhaps

exercising discretion, gain understanding and experience which

To begin our venture in understanding the peculiarities of what

The Fallen Idol

The l~allen Idol

The I;allen Idol

The F~alletl Idol

The I:allen Idol

THE SHOOTING SCRIPT

Before the shooting of a film starts, the action that is to be shot

31. Baines rushes on downstairs. Felipe runs away from the

Each of these 33 moments is shot separately, i.e., a separate shot

Joining a number of separate shots to a sequence is called cut (to)

1. Long shot. Raines and Mrs. Raines struggling on landing.

5. Medium long shot. Felipe, running along landing and climbing

10. Close shot. Felipe, running from behind window. [Cut to :

17. Medium close shof. Mrs. Baines, running. . . along landing,

COMPOSITION OF THE PICTURE AND POSITION OF THE CAMERA

Having seen the construction of a sequence demonstrated by the

function as have the optical factors. It adds to the meaning of a

Consequently, we must distinguish between an objective posi-

Each film picture may thus convey a definite impression, as the

Shot 8 is a so-called ‘reverse-angle’; now we see Felipe face-to-

SUMMARY OF FILM LANGUAGE

The structure of film language can be summarized as follows :

‘Seeing’ can be as difficult as reading

One often hears the complaint that most cinema-goers passively

The activity of understanding a film

No long schooling is needed to understand these ‘meanings’, yet

Learning to understand film language

1. Establishing the relations between two or more objects or

So it becomes obvious that one has to learn to find one’s way in

In this chapter we shall have to limit ourselves to discussing

Suppose that in some story or another-it could be in a play, a

suddenly directed towards a future moment-the moment of

includingmayor, and continues to pan across men listening

The tremendous tension caused by this radio message sequence

The total development of the action in a film consists of a number

1. Close shot of neon sign over club entrance, reading: 'CASANOVA.

2. Medium shot of Anna entering club followed by Martins.

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