A/V Geeks Films About Film (8-18-2019)

oh [Music] do [Music] so [Music] i remember me a while ago i made a film called easy rider well i'm here to say it's not so easy i'm peter fonda i've ridden bike for quite a few miles quite some time too it's a great way to get around it's a good sport if you know what you're doing if you don't know it can be a quick ride to the hospital or even the graveyard which are two good reasons why you should watch and listen to what this film has to say here's another friend of mine writer evil knievel if i look like i'm rigging up for a trip into outer space you're right i don't swing a leg over a bike for a trip to the neighborhood drug store unless i've got on leathers boots and gloves they've saved a lot of hide especially in accidents like mine and goggles and a face shield are a must they may save you from being blinded if you're riding a motorcycle behind an automobile and a helmet nobody should ever ride a motorcycle without a helmet i never do three out of four fatalities on a motorcycle have resulted from head injuries if the rider had been wearing a helmet he may be alive today another thing that's important don't get on a strange bike without checking the brake the gas and especially your rear view mirror you have to get the feel of a new bike too before you hit the road get familiar with the controls for example on some models the foot brake is located on the right and on others the left balance varies from model to model to and these are things you ought to have a feeling for before you tangle with traffic if you're an experienced rider that should make sense if you're a beginner don't do any of these things not on your own you should be learning to ride under the supervision of a pro training is available through schools police departments and motorcycle dealers by the way three out of five bike accidents happen to beginners during their first six weeks of riding boy but hey in case you're thinking that knievel and i are a couple of nervous old ladies let's not forget the kind of thing that knievel has done [Music] it isn't as hairy as this but it still takes a lot of rider to handle a freeway you've got a lot going for you on a bike if you really use it if a car cuts you off your braking and downshift will stop you much more quickly than a car same goes for superior acceleration and maneuverability on a bike that can get you out of bad spots fast take a good look your controls are positioned for almost instant response if your hands and feet are where they belong brakes clutch downshift maneuverability [Music] acceleration and for visibility there's nothing like it 360 degrees of unobstructed vision if you keep your eyes open and know when and where to look if the trouble isn't with the rider there's still the threat of the car driver for some reason most car drivers just don't seem to see bikes so you've got to think of them as asleep blind or drunk the records show that 9 out of 10 bike accidents at intersections are chalked against cars turning in front of or into cycles and in most cases the driver will honestly claim that he didn't see the motorcycle [Applause] there is some help in making yourself as visible as you can with what you're wearing like a white helmet also if you keep a safe distance behind the car you're following and right over in the left side of the lane you give yourself an edge even when that asleep blind or drunk driver tries to wipe you out you've had time and space to anticipate trouble and to avoid it [Music] but you still can't relax after you've passed the corner hard statistics show that mid-block bike accidents split just about evenly with intersections give parked cars a wide berth an opening door can really cream you and never forget that bit about the sleeping blind or drunk driver and it's a good idea to have your headlight on at all times day as well as night whether or not it's required by local laws on a three-laned highway it's good practice to ride the middle lane that means if there's trouble ahead you can choose between right and left lane stuck into and stick to the side of the lane you're riding to avoid oil slicks which are usually concentrated in the center of the lane one thing a bike doesn't have over a car is good traction in oil snow or gravel the left side of the lane is usually better than the right of course because a car driver can see you in his rear view mirror while the right side of a car is generally a blind spot but even more important in the right or left side of the lane you can see ahead of the car in front of you you should be able to see at least three cars ahead at all times that really counts when traffic gets rough [Music] and forget about slot riding man even if you seem to have plenty of space that hole in between cars can disappear a lot faster than you can get through it [Music] but if all this has you wondering if maybe you want to sell your bike here's an interesting hunk of information [Music] motorcycle police of the los angeles department ride by the book or if they don't they're just not on the motorcycle squad anymore they follow the rules and they've put together a safety record of less than 18 accidents per million miles ridden that's compared with 27.9 accidents for every million miles driven by the department's fleet of patrol cars which is almost 10 less accidents for bikes than cars for every million miles [Music] huh [Music] wow [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] it shows that motorcycles can be safe so let's do a quick double take of how it can be that way with you here's a motorcycle safety test make sure you know the right answers before you get back on a bike question number one protective clothing like boots goggles leathers and helmet are strictly for beginners an experienced writer does not need them true or false the answer is false the more experienced to rider the better he knows that he does not belong on a bike unless he is dressed to protect himself against that accident that could always happen question number two if you are a good rider it is okay to hop aboard any bike and take off true or false the answer is false it's important to check out a bike thoroughly brakes gas lights handling the works before you hit the road question number three nine out of ten bike accidents at intersections are caused by car drivers not the motorcycle rider true or false true car drivers just don't seem to see bikes you have to think of them as asleep blind or drunk question number four chances of an accident in the middle of a block or less than at intersections true or false false middle block accidents are just about equal to intersection smash ups so don't relax between intersections question number five it is a good idea to ride the middle lane on a three-lane highway true or false the answer is true the middle lane gives you a chance to duck to either the right or the left when there's trouble up ahead [Music] question number six whatever lane you are in it is safest to ride right in the middle of it true or false the answer is false middle of the lane is where you will usually find the oil slick that can throw you and besides if you're directly in back of a car you can't see far enough ahead to anticipate emergencies [Music] question number seven it is safer to ride in the left side of your lane rather than the right true or false the answer is true a car driver can see you in his rear view mirror his right side is usually a blind spot question number eight riding into the slot between cars is dangerous true or false the answer is true you can bet on it that slot can disappear awfully fast and you'd better not be in it when it happens question number nine the odds are against you on a motorcycle no matter how safely you handle it true or false the answer is false police statistics show that alert experienced riders observing all the safety rules can reduce motorcycle accidents below the normal car accident rate question number 10 your headlight should only be turned on at night on a dark day true or false the answer is false your headline will help a lot in catching the attention of car drivers question number 11 your helmet serves only one purpose to protect you from head injury true or false false if your helmet is white or light colored it also protects you by making you more visible to a car driver question number 12 a car is safer than a motorcycle in every way true or false the on answer bike you have greater visibility if you really bother to look and faster stopping if you keep your hands and feet where they ought to be quicker acceleration too when you need it to pull you out of trouble [Music] but on the other hand it's a lot easier to flip a bike than a car and you're not surrounded by protective steel as you are in an automobile so that if an accident happens you're a lot more likely to get hurt that's why you've got to be a lot better rider than a driver alert every split second for fast reaction to any possible threat [Music] okay that's about it have a good trip don't ride too easy [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] rest in peace peter fonda yeah that was kind of a bummer bummer news um but uh hi everybody i'm skip alzheimer uh of av geeks i collect old educational films and i'm playing with a new web camera so wow it's kind of like zooming it's like it's weird anyways um i collect all the educational films and show them to folks like you all over the united states and um try to do once a month screenings this summer i was going to try to do the screening every friday but i ended up getting out of town more than i thought um so you got to catch some stuff in there a lot of the stuff has been cataloged in um facebook and youtube so you can go and see previous shows or outings or whatever tonight's show is films about film um so i have some educational films and some films that were made that talk about the history of film and show how to project film blah blah blah blah anyways um yeah so in case you don't know who i am i collect old educational films and literally have tens of thousands of them are some that are not part of the 25 000 that i have um that i've cataloged these are just ones that have shown up recently that i'm trying to work my way through so there you go and what we do is we're actually watching them live on a um telecini uh so this is actually the film not so easy bike safety motorcycle safety film narrated by peter fonda featuring evil knievel um when i heard that peter had passed this is the first film that came to mind but then after that um i tried to look and see if there's other peter fonda educational films out there and there's not and what's interesting is uh there's a bunch of henry fonda and there's a couple of jane fonda but this is probably the only peter fonda one that i know of and i've always wondered like was this some sort of court ordered like you know he got busted with pot or he was drinking and driving and this was his someone's way a judge's way to make him kind of do community service you know i'm not sure that's pure conjecture i don't want to defame his character but all right so uh in everyone's while i like to get real meta show a film that talks about film um there's a lot of films well not a lot but there's films in my collection that are made to talk about how to thread film how to run film which is ironic because if you don't know how to run film how can you watch a film on how to run film so this would be shown to teachers kids in the av club etc this one's called facts about projection i don't have my normal table that's why everything's low so i apologize everything's off it seems weird because it seems weird to me all right so here is uh facts about projection enjoy well known in education that only carefully planned instruction produces maximum learning planning is especially necessary to achieve maximum educational value for motion pictures this means proper study and discussion of the material in advance of screening and a follow-up of planned related activities the careful use of films in religious education just as in our schools speeds up the learning process and provides more learning in less time industry 2 has learned that planned use of films is one of the most effective methods of communicating ideas and teaching specific skills to show films there are a number of excellent and easy to operate motion picture projectors available there are minor differences in the operation of these projectors such as the method for threading the film replacing the projector lamp cleaning the film gate the location of the speaker or rewinding however all motion picture projectors operate on the same basic principles a sound understanding of these principles will provide a basis for operating any type of sixteen millimeter projector a typical motion picture projector consists of two sections each with a different function the picture section which projects the picture from the film to the screen and the sound section which reproduces or recreates the sounds which have been recorded on the film soundtrack as the film moves through the projector it first enters the picture section this section consists of the projection lamp which is a very bright light source this light is concentrated on a single frame of the film by a condenser lens the brilliantly illuminated frame of the film is projected by the projection lens onto the screen the lens is moved to focus the picture as the film moves through the picture section it pauses on each frame in a sound projector this happens 24 times a second next the film enters the sound section here an exciter lamp passes light through the soundtrack area of the film this light is received by the photocell sound waves which have been recorded as variations of light and dark areas on this film cause the light beam reaching the photocell to vary in brightness when the film moves the photocell produces electrical pulsations corresponding to the original sounds which are then amplified and fed to the speaker in contrast to the picture section the film in the sound section must move smoothly and at a constant speed some motion picture projectors are equipped to record and reproduce magnetic sound this magnetic soundtrack coating often uses only part of the optical soundtrack area making it possible to use either optical or magnetic sound on the same film in the school the most effective use of films takes place in the classroom with its work-study atmosphere the class is already prepared work on the subject and before seeing the film there is discussion of the new ideas and words that will be used the teacher having read the film guide and having reviewed the film often leads the class in the discussion now they are ready for the film smooth professional projection in the integration of the film with the workaday atmosphere of the classroom greatly enhances effectiveness in learning but to achieve this professional screening there had to be proper preparation preparation in advance is the key to good projection in the majority of schools audio visual equipment and the films themselves are kept in a central location here under supervision the films are checked and if necessary repaired and the equipment is maintained much of the preparation behind good film use is in training operators in the principles of projection and in maintenance of the equipment some projectors are equipped with sealed long lasting oil reservoirs and seldom need oily but most projectors require regular lubrication the oil should be placed only in the proper holes or cups and any overflow carefully wiped away it's the same idea as lubricating one's automobile at regular intervals this preventive maintenance protects gears and moving parts from excessive wear if the windshield is dirty only a blurred image is seen a special fluid and paper are used to give a crystal clear view just so in cleaning the lenses of a projector remove grit and brush gently with a soft brush use a drop of lens cleaner then dry using a circular motion with lens cleaning paper a dirty lens projects a scene like this clean it and you have this this fuzz around the edge of the picture area is dirt in the aperture it is not only disturbing to see but it can scratch the film it may be removed easily with a brush the sound projector sprocket wheels have sprockets or teeth only on one side sound films have sprocket holes on only one side the soundtrack is on the other side to reduce strain on the film during projection the film is threaded with loops above and below the gate these loops serve as shock absorbers correct loop size is usually indicated on the projector if loops are too large they will slap about if they're too short they may tear the film about ninety five percent of film damage happens in the first twenty feet the lower loop must always be the correct size and the film must fit snugly over the sound drum in order for the sound to be synchronized with a picture this is because the sound is recorded exactly 26 frames in advance of the picture properly threaded film appears like this on the screen the movement of my lips is synchronized with the soundtrack however if the lower loop is too short the voice will be heard like this in advance of its picture and the two will not be synchronized and if the loop is too long the voice as you hear it now will lag behind the corresponding picture and will again be out of synchronization if at any time the film should break in the projector do not patch it with tape or anything else simply overlap and continue winding so that later on at the film library the break will be found and repaired not only is understanding the technical operation and maintenance of equipment important but knowledge of proper projection setups covering varied situations is equally necessary the screen should be set up at the front of the room so that everyone can easily see it the screen should be placed at least two screen widths in front of the first roll the bottom of the screen should be level with the tops of the heads of those in the front row if a room can be adequately darkened or if chairs are permanently fixed to the floor the screen should be placed at the front and center of the class some rooms are difficult to darken if this is the case it is best to place the screen diagonally in the corner of the room by the window in rooms extremely difficult to darken a lenticular screen placed in this position is most helpful to ensure a smooth running operation a supply of extra projection lamps exciter lamps fuses and belts should be on hand it's always a good idea to check the film before taking it to the room where it will be shown one way to do this is by placing the reel on the projector if the film is mounted on the reel properly it should fit on the arm so that it runs clockwise when held in this position the title should read correctly when the projector is started you won't have this or this the picture will be right side up and in the proper position all films that are to be projected should be checked in advance with much of the preliminary preparation done in the audio visual or equipment room where supervision and the necessary equipment and supplies are available the final setup in the classroom can be made this time the projectionist is able to set up the equipment before the class has assembled often the setup must be made while the class is in session the screen is placed directly in front of the projector and raised to the proper height the projector is then assembled the power cord is twisted around the leg of the stand to prevent the projector from being tipped over if the cord is accidentally pulled if an extension cord is used it should be secured by a knot if the sound fails to operate it may be because the plug is reversed in the outlet the projector is ready for a trial run the motor is turned on then the lamp if the image is too large for the screen the projector must be moved closer and of course the reverse is also true for the best sound the speaker should be placed off the floor and near the screen the speaker cord is secured in the same manner as the power cord in a few moments the amplifier will warm up and a hiss will be heard to indicate that the sound system is working testing with a card is a double check on the sound system by leaving the cans open at the start the changes of reels could be made quickly it's always a good practice if time permits to actually view the beginning of the film in order to check the focus the framing [Music] and the volume when the classroom is filled with students the volume may have to be turned higher a signal from the teacher and the screening is started preparation in advance is the key to good projection it will result in a oh that that one's exciting i definitely like that film um anytime i see a film with a film in it it's uh it's pretty exciting the the meta aspect of it especially i like when when an educational film has like a character who's like and then today we saw a film and they show them in a class watching a film um and then it's like i think in one case i noticed that it was a film that was the first edition of the second edition of the film we were watching so that what they did is they excuse me they took some of the concepts some of the graphics from the first edition and they showed it in the classroom in the second edition so it was a way to update it without having to reshoot everything um and there are actually some educational films that are shot for shot remakes when the first and second edition come out and um well there's one called are your pot are you popular which is the first edition in the second edition or the same script basically um but different people different characters from probably five years apart um really kind of odd and neither version do they act well so that's funny so films about film there were some great suggestions put out there on facebook or uh and youtube uh for like hey it'd be great if we show this or that um i don't have a lot of those films but it did make me think of a film that i do have um which i am happy i found it uh as i was running facts about projection and so it was at the top of a stack so thankfully didn't fall and collapse on my head so just as a recap we're showing this on film live who knows what can happen uh using my new webcam which tends to um compensate for focus and for white balance so it's kind of an interesting thing all right next film made for kids teaching them about something that i'm sure they've thought about or seen and i have a lot of films that teach kids like they go to different places like visit to the waterworks visit to farm that's very popular with city kids showing them where farms are and talks about where food comes from etc this one is a visit to a movie studio so you can find out it's like watching mate sausage being made the glamour has been removed and now it's just the gristle and the raw ugliness of it all so this is visit to a movie studio enjoy [Music] gee i wonder what's happened to tyler hi ty we were just talking about you hi jade boy what do you say we swing over to nairobi terrific maybe we can have a hamburger and take in a movie oh boy let's go yeah tell me what after the movie we'll go get some ice cream okay okay boy i love ice cream oh for your boy oh boy oh boy oh my boy oh boy me boy use tarzan me jane you buckle up right you buckle up too [Music] would you like to know how that film was made let's visit a movie studio and see good playback please camera can you check the gates please [Music] the first step in making a film is to write a script [Music] next the script is given to a director it's really good i'd like you to read it and then maybe we could get together right after that good that's the script on the tarzan right yes okay he calls an audition to select the actors to play the boy of tarzan in this movie about three will be enough let's hear you all do a tarzan yell [Applause] good good josh joey would you wait outside for a few minutes please alan what have you been doing lately in the way of stage plays or anything like that i was in the nutcracker belly that's good pretend that i was going to take you to disney world what would you say oh boy come on how about a little more force on that old boy try it again oh boy fine why don't you wait outside too and we'll call you later alan what do you think the director chooses the best actor for the part the actresses are here you want to see them now fine send in the first one well uh i've done quite a few things since i've been here here's my resume i've done quite a few films industrial films mainly and commercials and i did a feature film last fall oh sure i swim yeah and i jog and uh i play a little racquetball how about you play racquetball gary do you have the tarzan set sketches ready sure it's here they are great just finished since a special background or set is needed he confers with a set designer many ideas are talked about and plans are drawn before the right one is chosen i like the treehouse looks like a treehouse for a boy car fits under the tree fine how about this one that's the one right there i like the garage effect great i'm glad you like it electric garage opener on this one sure the stage crew builds the set and the film crew goes to work [Music] carpenters electricians makeup prop man sound man and a cameraman before the cast gets in set up a medium shot this way for each scene in the film the director decides what the camera and thus the audience will see on the screen can i have the cast in please lighting is like painting you can create the mood of the scene the cameraman can make a scene look bright and cheerful joe put a blue gel on the deuce up there or dark and scary fine fine the focus is checked and the camera is lined up for the first scene remember a little reaction when the tara's hand comes okay okay sound ready i need a level how now brown cow one more time testing how now brown cow now chill for your foreign [Applause] let's try a reversal okay [Applause] after the movie we can go get some ice cream okay the director works with the actors to help them deliver their best performance he plans all of their movements and rehearses them many times anyone after the movie we can go get some ice cream boy i love ice cream oh boy oh boy oh boy [Music] okay me jane you buckle up right stand by and quiet please roll sound speed roll camera speed latest six the slate helps get the sound and picture together we'll see that later in editing and after the movie we can go get some popcorn okay after that let's do another take jane come in just a little bit slower on this one okay let's do it once more let's roll sound speed camera speed played it six four thirty four please and action and uh after the movie we can go get some ice cream okay oh i'd love ice cream oh boy oh boy oh boy oh my god that was great can i have a playback let's wrap it all up [Music] [Music] after all the shooting is done the film is sent to a special laboratory where it's developed [Music] then the really interesting part of making a film begins editing [Music] lots of film was shot and many different ways of doing it were tried now the director and editor must choose the best scenes and put them together in order according to the script [Music] bruce i want to make the cut right here that's a good point yeah and then i think we've got to move to a three shaft will you check the film is cut apart and only what we want to see is then taped or spliced together hi jane maybe a reaction shot of allen would go in there [Music] maybe we can have a hamburger [Music] now let's go back to the three shot i think we've got a close-up that should be cut [Music] the slate does two things it identifies the scene and the sticks or clapper when struck together make a sound which is recorded separately by lining the two points up together in editing the sound and picture will be in sync or together what do you say we swing over to nairobi but look how funny it is if they're not lined up 3 2 15. hi jane boyd what do you say we swing over to nairobi then the scene will be out of sync [Music] visual effects like fades and dissolves are indicated as are the titles [Music] the titles of course are made in the art department and then photographed on the title stand remember buckle up for safety is that [Music] the okay is recorded on one track take two remember buckle up for safety and the music and sound effects are recorded on separate tracks all the soundtracks dialogue narration music and sound effects are mixed or blended together and re-recorded onto one track yeah then they should come down when tarzan comes in here he comes we're going down look good to me i think we got one problem there yet maybe we had to look one more time after the film is edited and mixed to everyone's satisfaction it's sent to the film laboratory where all the pieces of film and sound are printed and processed together [Music] in sync onto one piece of film just like the one in your projector they're all still pictures they don't move but when projected they go by so fast our eyes think they're moving that's the magic of movies it's really all a trick and now that you know how we make movies would you like to see the film again and see if you can spot the contributions of the technical people like the sound men mechanical people like the electricians and carpenters creative people like the artists and writers and multi-talented people like the cameraman the editor and the director action [Music] gee i wonder what's happened to tarzan [Music] we were just talking about you hi jay boy what do you say we swing over to nairobi terrific maybe we can have a hamburger and take in a movie oh boy let's go yeah tell you what after the movie we'll go get some ice cream okay hey boy i love ice cream oh for your boy oh boy oh boy oh my boy oh boy me boy you tarzan me jane you buckle up right you buckle up too [Music] remember buckle up for safety [Music] [Music] friends [Music] yeah so tarzan looked familiar uh as soon as i saw him i was like i think that's i think that's uh the guy that was in purely coincidental and sure enough i uh attached a link you can look at so that wasn't quite like going to a big movie studio but it was definitely you know showing what it goes into making a uh educational short uh which i definitely like but it wasn't like going to mgm or you know paramount or something like that um great film though shows how they made films in the 70s so i think what's what's interesting is that probably any or every large city in the united states and even medium-sized ones had all that equipment had a studio that made films for uh made commercials made uh educational made industrials um you know they were all over the place tv stations had their own film labs because they were shooting film so um you want to think about the loss all those jobs and all that um all that technology like film was everywhere yeah in some some cities had more than one film studio and so when someone says like how many educational films were made or industrial films you can't you have no way of knowing because sometimes you'd have a local or regional company that would make something and they would only make it internally or make it for their client and they wouldn't listed anywhere so it wouldn't be in a copyright record it wouldn't be listed in business screen or educational screen or religious screen so there's scores and scores of countless productions that may or may not have been documented at some point all right let's see how this one runs this is uh march of time which was a series of films made by time magazine in the 30s 40s 50s this one talks about early film and about the the ways that people are trying to preserve it back in the 50s i believe our late 40s [Music] it gives shout outs to my friends at um moma come on misbehaving there we go shout out to my friends at moma who i mean don't get me wrong this is all anecdotal but they were one of the first ones that started preserving american film history back in the day so here it is movies march on [Music] come on [Music] occupied by the um towns running for the rockefeller family and the spanking new home of a nationally important institution the new york museum of modern art no not the storehouse for old masters this museum is an up-to-date showroom for art in our time painting and culture architecture and film photography and smoking pictures for more than four years film library john kevin abbott and his curator iris larry have been gathering together a vast and significant collection of motion picture films milestones in the process of the youngest and liveliest of the arts here preserved for all time are all negative through which the people of the customs of an age long past will live forever a 10-minute film the greatest plane robbery produced in 1903 was man's first attempt to tell a connected story through his newly discovered nation the most victory [Music] today hardly 40 years after the great train robbery the art of telling stories with camera and film has become the nation's fifth greatest industry with a capital investment of three billion dollars and each production is a highly speculative venture for its story its direction and its cast must please the ever-changing tastes of those who support the industry an army of 250 million moviegoers international capital of the motion picture is a fabulously press agented suburb of los angeles hollywood a community whose name alone is a magic word throughout the world but in hollywood where 65 of all films are produced the making of movies is a serious and complicated business among the movie industries 30 000 employees are men and women from nearly 300 trades and professions nowhere in the world are there craftsmen who take more exacting care or in the making of a picture carelessness in one single detail can mar the combined work of the hundreds whose talents go toward the making of a scene today big time moviemaking requires weeks and months of tireless research and preparation before a camera turns a single foot of film and a big slice of every hollywood producer's budget must go for the studio sets which serve as background and atmosphere for his story for the great movie public becoming more and more observant demands scrupulous historical accuracy and strictest attention to minute details every studio has its own museum immense warehouses crammed with furniture and fittings props from every nation in the world from every period in history but for years hollywood producers have paid a quarter of their total production budget more than 40 million dollars a year to the men and women who are their players for upon the popularity of screen actors many a producing company has built its fame and fortune today the industry is more insistent than ever that its artists have something beside glamour and it demands that they know how to play a scene how to create a character [Music] or with the movie is no longer a novelty but an accepted art the cinema has a responsibility to the public a responsibility that must be upheld with all the creative skill the imagination and resources at its command out of its collection of books and original documents on the movies the largest library of its kind in the world the museum of modern arts film research staff is today compiling an encyclopedia of the cinema being added daily to this collection is important source material pertaining to a young art whose entire history has been made within a few decades but far more vividly than in any printed book the museum is already teaching the history of the movies to the public through its educational programs of important films of the past today being widely circulated to us colleges and museums in new york city the museum has its own theater showing programs designed to trace the progress of the motion picture since the days of its crude beginning in 1896 the first moving pictures projected on public screens were plotless incidents but a minute long that amazed and scandalized their audiences 16 years later in 1912 the moving picture had begun to tell simple stories in many other mary pickford was the heroine lionel barrymore her leading man [Music] by 1914 the screen had developed definite trend the serial thriller in the western which produced their greatest cowboy star in william s hart [Music] the same year 1914 william fox presented the world with the first great movie vamp peter barra whose exotic screen romances brought a nationwide storm of censorship [Music] throughout the early teens winning friends for the struggling movie industry were max senate's keystone comedy built upon a sure fire technique a chase [Music] in 1914 a famed stage actress mary dressler making her screen debut had an obscure london comedian charles chaplin as her leading man and max in its first feature-length comedy tilly's punctured romance almost overnight the public discovered in this obscure london pantomimist a great artist and made him the most popular and highly paid comedian the world has ever known [Music] my the year 1915 is one well marked in motion picture history for it was in this year that david walked griffith released his mighty spectacle the birth of a nation the most important single picture ever produced it was the turning point at which the movies became established entertainment [Music] early in 1918 a young prestige seeker samuel goldwyn lured mary garden from the opera to play in his silent version of tais [Music] in 1921 wrecked ingram's four horsemen of the apocalypse launched rudolf valentino the greatest romantic idol of the screen's history on his short and brilliant career [Music] by 1922 comedian acrobat douglas fairbanks had given the elaborate costume spectacle a permanent place in motion pictures giving realism and dignity to the old-time western producer jessie lasky and director james cruz started a new trend with their epic of the covered wagon [Music] in 1925 with the big parade produced by irving thalberg and directed by king vidor the silent motion picture reached a new peak of dramatic power so [Music] the year 1927 brought to a close the era of the silent film and the years in which unrestricted by any language barriers hollywood and its stars monopolized the picture screens of all the world well remembered in the slow development of the talking picture are dr lee de forest theodore case and earl spannable the research staffs of rca bell laboratories engineers donald mckenzie and edward winter well remembered too is the fall of 1927 when the late sam warner using bell laboratories equipment produced the most revolutionary picture in all movie history a film trademarked vitaphone that was to give to the screen a new dimension and a new power i'm coming i hope i didn't make you wait i'm coming [Music] i hope i'm not lazy don't you know me if you look crazy i'd walk a million miles [Music] with one sound picture the silent film was forever obsolete [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] memorable was the terrifying realism of universals all quiet on the western front greatest of war pictures [Music] [Music] [Music] unforgettable in fox films cavalcade was the restrained use of sound in the recreation of queen victoria's funeral five kings riding behind her [Music] she must have been a very little lady [Music] through the talkies will rogers was endeared to millions throughout the world well all i know is what i read in the paper in zola paul muni demonstrated for all time that the talking picture was unquestionably a modern art before prayer but for the whole world i swear that gracious is in us by my forty years of work by all that i have written to spread the spirit of friends i swear that great precedent may all that melt away may my name perish if races be nothing [Music] so young is hollywood that many of its earliest pioneers are still active in the industry men like nicholas skink able chief of mgm and his brother joseph chairman of the board of 20th century fox [Music] harry warner an industry veteran of 36 years is president of the great warner brothers enterprises heading paramount is barney balaban who entered the picture business in 1998. still a big name in hollywood cecil b demille made his first feature nearly 30 years ago back in the studios working with hal roach is the great dw griffith on the stages of 20th century the veteran laugh makers buster keaton and max senator at work again ever a master showman wise old samuel goldwyn has for an assistant the son of the president of the united states as overlord of the movies true diplomat will hayes has been steering the industry through its problems and crises for 17 years since 1930 the hayes production code voluntarily adopted by all major producers has been law to hollywood movie makers to will hayes enforcement officer genial joe breen has gone the difficult job of making sure that no picture offensive to any race class or creed shall reach the screen for in all its years hollywood has pursued one great objective to please and entertain its public but the hollywood of 1939 is finding that the public has new ideas of entertainment richly has it rewarded walt disney whose snow fight shattered traditions and box office records and established a new kind of feature a new kind of movie star another tradition breaker is jack l warner smart and successful producer of a long list of films in which the public has found both entertainment and significance meeting the growing demand for important drama rko's president capable george shaffer has signed raymond massey for the part of lincoln in the screen version of 1939's pulitzer prize play [Music] representative of hollywood's growing progressiveness is walter ranger soon to produce vincent sheen's outspoken narrative on present-day problems and we have facts to face wars abroad social and economic distress at home threats to democracy everywhere it is time for us to assume our responsibilities and to deal truthfully and freely with the problems which faces today master of the art of motion picture entertainment is colombia's age director producer frank capra for his newest picture mr smith goes to washington director capra has drawn on the almost untouched wealth of story material on the national political scene or john steinbeck's scrapes of wrath 20th centuries daryl zaneck has paid 75 000 dollars announced that he will faithfully portray the flight of u.s migratory workers and eagerly awaited by moviegoers everywhere is a film in which the world's most feared political figure will be burlesque by the world's greatest comedian 50 year old charlie chaplin but to hollywood each new trend is an experiment for 250 million moviegoers each week pass final judgment on the most powerful medium of expression the world has ever known an art form as great as any in man's history i'm marcuson [Music] all right movies march on this film might have actually been from a lot earlier um let's look it up you mind if i look it up hopefully it won't crap out movies march on what year march of time see i'm looking here you look at me looking at his 30s probably maybe no no no his march on [Music] 37 is is the date that i'm finding so 1937 um yeah long time ago uh just before we were in the war um but yeah you get to see moma museum of modern art and how they begin their process collecting film and the history of film and i i commented on youtube so it's it's unfortunate when you see like birth of a nation one of the most important films made to solidify that motion pictures are an entertainment medium and they show like klansmen going through and then they say you know the first talking picture um with sound and it's al jolson in blackface in the jazz singer it's it's hard um i know it's you can contextualize it but it's just hard to say like hey young people this look look at our wonderful film history it's really i mean i'm laughing but it's it's tragic um yeah oh yeah he's in blackface but he's not really doing blackface except that he's in blackface and that movie isn't mostly about the clan but but it really is about the plan so it kind of paints him as heroes so oops um yeah oh u.s u.s film history all right [Music] i'm all right this film just kind of popped out of the can on the floor i'm all right okay so this last film we're going to watch um put my glasses on to actually read it the title it's lyman howe's high class moving pictures it's film that i think was made in the 80s and actually talks about an itinerant film exhibition person so before many movie theaters existed you had people who traveled around with projectors on the films and this is their businesses they actually showed motion pictures showed films in tents kind of like av geeks when i travel although i don't show in a tent i you know travel with the films and the projector because it's a rarity and show things to entertain audiences of all ages uh in theory but someone was talking about early film stuff and this one popped in my head and i haven't really shown this anywhere so i'm just going to show it [Music] uh if you like av geeks we collect old educational films and show them to folks like you all over via internet and we do live screenings you can donate at patreon or go to av geeks and watch some movies order some dvds or tell your friends to watch these upcoming screenings i'm not sure when i'm doing the next one uh because august september is going to be kind of crazy for me um but maybe we'll try to do one on friday around lunchtime eastern standard time i don't know basically uh i'm going to be helping do the vhs table in raleigh north carolina where we're going to celebrate vhs culture a whole other aspect of av geeks is vhs we used to collect vhs before we collected film um we're a tape trader so we used a tape trade um anyways so there's a whole celebration like right around labor day weekend uh joe bob briggs is going to come into town and do his uh redneck presentation found footage festival is going to come into town jeff krulik who made heavy metal parking lots going to come into town we'll have some other filmmakers here also some great things that really got their launch on vhs even though they were shot on film they just didn't get distribution until the vhs version came out so like basket case and toxic avenger and things like that um but anyway so here's uh lyman howe's high class motion pictures for some money enjoy i'm gonna remember to change the microphone this time all right second thing i'm gonna do after i transition see i'm going away in 1912 when his luxurious three-story home was completed it had servants quarters guest chambers a billiard room and a wine cellar and it was located in wilkes-barre pennsylvania the owner of this home was a showman an entrepreneur he had gained national reputation as a traveling exhibitor of moving pictures his name lyman h hall [Music] long before lyman h howe's moving picture shows enterprising promoters had traveled with all kinds of entertainment to america's small towns [Music] there were magic lantern shows with hand tinted glass slides which gave the illusion of motion [Music] circuses and wild west shows were also popular in the early 1880s it was about this time that lyman h howe invested all the money he had and all that he could borrow to launch his career as a traveling exhibitor with a partner he bought a working model of a coal mine including the apparatus that breaks up the coal and they advertised it as the mechanical wonder of the age it weighed 5 000 pounds and was powered by two steam engines they hauled it from town to town for a few difficult years until 1884 when they arrived with it in baltimore [Music] lyman h how set up the attraction as a tent show back in pennsylvania coal country where he made money with it for a few more years he finally sold it at a profit and turned his attention to something new in 1890 he bought an edison phonograph by adding a six-foot tin horn to the machine he was able to amplify the sound so that it could be heard by a large audience the audiences heard everything from mockingbirds to marching bands as well as recordings made during the performance he traveled as far west as michigan splitting the profits with church groups and other sponsoring organizations newspapers called him professor howe in 1893 lyman h chao peered into thomas edison's new machine the kinetoscope and he saw pictures that moved like many others he tried to obtain one of the first projectors that the edison company put on the market when negotiations failed he turned to local craftsman to implement his own design he called it the lyman h howl and a motisco on december 4 1896 an audience crowded into the wilkes-barre ymca to see his projector and the films he had purchased the local newspaper praised his projection machine and said that lyman h howe had nothing to fear from his competitors the films were alternated with selections from his phonograph he was almost 40 at the time of that first show with 15 years of experience as a traveling exhibitor lyman h was born in wilkes-barre pennsylvania on june 9 1856 of a successful manufacturer he was the youngest of eight children the anthracite coal industry was bringing prosperity to wilkes-barre and lyman h howe took advantage of what his hometown had to offer first he worked his way up to baggage master on the railroad and then went into business as a sign painter a born salesman he once sold a full warehouse of telephone amplifiers some of the people who bought them didn't even own telephones lyman h hall married in 1888 a son was adopted in 1901 painful problems with one of his legs made it necessary for him to have a driver you see i drove for lyman howe on my summer vacations he was a good barnstormer and valley hoover he was good at that he wanted to get his pictures out where a lot of people could see him that was the motive that kept him going made him want to expand [Music] he started with the cities on his phonograph circuit the recorded sounds added a dimension of realism when the black diamond express raced toward the audience at 60 miles an hour some of the people nearest the screen jumped from their seats afraid that the speeding train was coming right straight at them there were of course problems transporting the equipment a different city almost every day films so flammable a burning cigarette forced an end to one whole season's tour moving pictures offered the opportunity for quick profits some failed while others became his rivals he responded to claims of other exhibitors with guarantees of his own when one of his employees wanted to start his own show lyman h howe told him to get the evil out of his heart and be glad to work for a man who was a winner by 1900 his programs included 40 to 50 films musical interludes and short entertainments were part of the two-hour show he charged as much as 75 cents for one ticket he claimed to have personally supervised the filming of the moving sidewalks at the paris exposition he said his shows were amusing and refined and educational pictures from atlantic city gave some people their first look at crowds of sunbathers splashing in the ocean one of his programs featured films on the assassination and funeral of president mckinley in 1901 mr howe claimed the record for a single performance of moving pictures in the united states between the actualities he often used novelty films like the trick pictures of the french illusionist georges melies he showed a dramatic reenactment of the coronation of edward vii of england and he called it an imperial pageant of unexampled splendor and magnitude scenes from the boer war whether real or staged were very popular he said the entire globe had been searched for the thrilling scenes that only bravery and money could procure the programs usually ended with a short comedy like the antics of buster brown and his dogs he said he would not include anything that might be offensive to his audience such as edison's film in which a baby elephant is electrocuted at coney island the great train robbery of edwin s porter while other exhibitors were experiencing tremendous success with this 1903 story film lyman h howe continued to feature actualities he expanded his staff by 1904 he was directing four traveling companies from his offices in wilkesboro the shows were promoted as the epitome of moving pictures and he promised an entirely new program twice every season his exhibitions played in opera houses and legitimate theaters as far west as missouri by 1904 his show included films he had produced himself when teddy roosevelt came to wilkesboro in 1905 lyman h howe's cameras recorded the visit of the 26th president of the united states his programs advertised the film as a lyman h hal exclusive in 1906 his hometown of wiltberry celebrated its centennial jubilee there were three days of festivities and parades and lyman h house cameras we're there [Music] [Applause] [Music] my he continued to buy most of the travel footage he needed and to search for special novelty films like ferdinand zekkers the golden beetle which was tinted by hand [Music] while lyman h booked his shows into community auditoriums and local opera houses some exhibitors were opening storefront theaters called nickelodeons they offered short programs of moving pictures for a nickel [Music] in 1908 thomas edison met with the established manufacturers and distributors in an attempt to control the moving picture industry it appears that lyman h howe avoided the years of conflict that followed the growth of the nickelodeons continued by 1909 there were more than 500 in new york city alone that same year lyman h took his film exhibition to the world's largest playhouse the new york hippodrome the scenes were accompanied by mr howe's piano player and by the theater's 26-piece orchestra there were people trained to do the sound effects actors read dialogue from behind the screen in the comedies when mr howe returned to the hippodrome two weeks later with an entirely new program billboard magazine said lyman h howe wants the people to go home satisfied to come again and of course to pay again [Music] his five road companies duplicated that success in other large cities his staff sometimes rehearsed for two weeks to perfect the psalms in the smaller towns they hired school boys to help a gentleman who was employed by lyman house put us through the paces and then he'd say now when this lady drops a plate i'll go like this and you'll have the sack with all the broken plates in there just drop it as hard as you can we had a bicycle back there and of course one fellow would would turn that the other fellow would put the spokes in there and all and he'd draw it back out and put it back in again and in that way while we made sound it's over an airplane taking off [Applause] to make horses gals we had two coconut shells a piece one in each hand clap clap clap clap clap down the street and people hollered and yelled they couldn't believe it a river a real fast flowing river and we had to work fast too we had great big blocks of sandpaper on a great big long board there was about six of us and it's just like it was water it was so real and so realistic it was 1911 his goal the first successful moving pictures taken from an airplane i was right in the middle of everything there well they hunted the plane all over to find a place where they could put it because it had to be cranked by hand and we lashed it on there somehow it got it on there good and tight uh when the camera was all set up and lincoln beachy was ready he took off and lyman how followed him with the camera through his taking off and his landing after premieres in pittsburgh and in chicago he showed the films in more than 500 z80s well we do we just thought it was impossible that's all i can't describe it any more than that he did the stunt of having the plate somersault turned around and it was quite sensational i was 11 years old then and as i recall the uh you could point out the different sections of the city as far as i was concerned and the audience i think it was the first time they had ever seen a picture taken from an airplane and bridge burners were crowded with people and here he came right right right at him he came down and the grass was wet and the plane just slid right into the fence [Music] lyman h howe's exhibitions were often welcome in places where some moving pictures might be censored he said he preferred to put his faith in the sound judgment of the american people and he predicted that flaming stories of war love and revenge wouldn't last but soon there were longer story films like birth of a nation and there were elaborate moving picture palaces both were a threat to the few remaining traveling exhibitors he began to send his cameramen on longer trips to bring back more extensive footage from places like hawaii i would say i was alone about 15 years old when i first saw a lyman how travel festival what impressed me mostly about his performance was the accompaniment that he gave it both in sound effects and music and lyman howe came along with a scholarly approach which wasn't scholarly at all pure showmanship played as a first-class attraction he was enough of a showman to build it up that way the whole show just kept building up till they finally shot the cannon of the panama canal and that was a grand finale they had a barrel backstage with a shotgun and they shot into this barrel and put half the audience out of their seats [Music] one of his cameramen spent two and a half months in panama while the canal was under construction one reviewer wrote that the only reason we don't know how the pyramids were built is that lyman h howe was born too late to film the construction [Music] in 1915 his shows featured a trip through the canal and highlights of the two california expositions celebrating its [Music] opening he introduced scenes of the san francisco exposition with trick pictures made by artists in his wilkes-barre studios his moving pictures made the exposition come alive for people all over the east and midwest his cameraman recorded one of the most significant events of the exposition a special parade celebrated the end of its cross-country trip [Music] san diego held its own exposition and declared a special lyman h hall day the official motion pictures of the exposition were taken under his supervision it was announced that a print of the pictures taken that day and the print of his film on the panama canal would remain sealed in the archives preserved for future generations the san diego union a newspaper called him the biggest producer of travelogue motion pictures in the country he attributed his success to his educational subjects but now the motion picture industry was moving in quite a different direction he was able to attract audiences for another three years with travelogues a series on the navy by 1918 lyman h how attractions could no longer compete the last of his six road shows was called home lyman h howe lived long enough to know that an updated version of his old film ride on a runaway train played a command performance at buckingham palace in 1922. it's ironic that he is most often remembered for a series of 110 short films produced by his company after his death new animation was added to the travel films and the lyman h hall hodgepodge accompanied feature films for more than a decade somebody at once asked him for the secret of his success the secret of success he said is no secret at all the more the exhibitor does the greater will be the measure of his reward [Music] do [Music] hey that was great i hope you guys enjoyed that as much as i did um i've seen that before but there were some details that i picked up again um and how great a lyman was for doing travelogues and actual actuarial films or actualities um they were definitely the precursor to educational modern educational films there's a journal i have which is called um educational screen that came out in the early 20s and it kind of talks about films that were being released and that were in distribution that you know what is the educational value of a educational film uh because they were marketed as educational films when they were shown by uh how and by in theaters um and you know it was usually just footage of something like san francisco earthquake or of the panama canal being built or of some natives i just did a big scanning project for a friend at oregon oregon cinema in pittsburgh and they got a bunch of films that were part of what's called the mogul film library and it was a camera shop in new york city that rented out films and a lot of them were these educational films so they showed they were silent they showed footage they had educational content with title cards um and so when there was a legitimate educational film market and educational organization film organization that was like okay can we show these in schools should we show these in schools then there was this like well let's judge what is that is there educational value in this is this factual or is it um anecdotal because certainly there were films that were being made by filmmakers who were kind of making up [ __ ] uh basically they were making up stuff like you know the what tribes were doing they were doing it based on you know the lore as opposed to the actual you know science of it um so uh educators were getting very sensitive to that and they wanted to make sure that um some of some of the uh smutty films or the films that were a little racier would not make it to to young eyes impressionable eyes so that's that anxiety and then eventually what started happening is companies started editing and making one specifically for educational film markets uh and started pulling some of the stat this material out licensing the film by film libraries add narration when there was sound um all this stuff that started happening uh at some point um so it's it's kind of interesting to have that there were educational films before they were actually being shown in schools um i don't have them because they're almost all on 35 but i did like i said i transferred a bunch recently and some of them are on youtube i think slowly making a way to youtube and um internet archive uh if you're a big fan of um films on internet archive i've been helping rick pellinger get probably close to three 000 more films from his collection online and that includes educationals industrials of home movies amateur films um so that's been a big push that we've been doing here this summer also we have been digitizing more of our stuff and and slowly getting it online so uh over the next couple of months you're gonna probably see thousands of more uh films from our archive and from other archives that we've been working with to get online if you like what you saw again patreon is a place to donate go to avgeeks.com if you want to buy dvds tell people about what we do have people come to our shows i'm doing a screen at the hunt library on nc state campus to a bunch of college kids it's always interesting to show films to new college kids who really don't even understand what film is and uh this one is a different the screening coming up on friday is they're actually pulling the films from their archive and they're having me comment on it because normally what it is is i pull films from my archive and then i haven't they have an expert from nc state come and talk about it but they have pulled stuff for me to watch and comment on so um a little twist uh then if you're in durham next wednesday no x thursday um poniosaurus i'm going to be doing the screening small for animals in the sins of man also for vhs table i'm going to be doing a visions of vhs