IDEAS AND FILM II

we're seeing a guided missile we're going to see what happens when it's launched when its landing gear is lowered by remote control and when it's brought back to earth it's a dramatic picture but more important than the picture was the idea that the picture be made the idea that with motion pictures and only with motion pictures could man see what happens see it again and again see it by the hundreds and thousands any place anytime without the development of the missile this motion picture would not exist but without motion pictures to aid in their development missiles might not exist modern cameras lenses films and projectors are highly developed capable of doing wonderful things but they are inanimate what they do depends entirely upon the ideas we have for using them to help spark our ideas a number of leading american companies and film producers and the armed services have furnished samples of films at work films that hold ideas for using films how many ways can film serve us for the answers let's look at sections from a great variety of films starting with something as plain as a light bulb but here high speed photography is being used to record the death of that ball how else could you see this but our study is clinical we ask what other actions too fast to see can the camera bring within range of study enabling us to test materials design performance safety and prove these tests to the public do things happen too slowly to suit us or even too slowly to see the camera speeds them up many have written that the forward march of time is relentless film is the master of time with power to hasten it it stop it turn it back do things happen too far away to see five miles up or five thousand miles around the globe film brings them right to your side for the camera's accuracy as a reporter is rivaled only by its mobility what about things too dangerous to watch the camera lets us watch in safety the camera with its long probing lens and its willingness to serve when required unattended again we say dramatic picture but what doors does it open for us nor are these the only ways that film magnifies our powers of observation little things spherolite crystals are made big through photomicrography big things another planet are made small through miniatures sounds become pictures permanently recorded for repeated study the invisible becomes visible we're seeing shock waves around a model airplane in a wind tunnel more important we're seeing how far ideas can advance the use of films in research and with the ability of film to bridge time and distance the results of research and testing conducted in widely scattered places can be pooled and shared and coordinated on a worldwide basis less spectacular but no less vital are ideas for using film in production where a man with a stopwatch might be resented a man with a camera is free to make a lasting time and motion study that can be analyzed at will time lapse photography permits accurate timing of any operation this and other filming techniques are being widely utilized in the areas of job simplification safety analysis methods improvement and overall production efficiency do things happen rarely or only once in a lifetime the camera is there and makes a permanent record that can be studied over and over again the event need not be spectacular it can be any event worth recording launching a new product laying the cornerstone of a new plant a company outing for now we come to think of film not only as a recorder but as a means of communication we attend less to the camera and its many possibilities but more to the projector and the role it plays in conveying messages from one group to another an automobile is undergoing tests on the proving ground engineers will study the films to check out the performance of the car but is there's the only interest in this activity no there's a story here to be told to the company's employees to its owners its customers and the general public management needs to maintain effective communication with all these groups and thousands upon thousands of films have been produced to serve this end as a business expands with sales offices and production facilities far flung across the nation it becomes increasingly difficult for employees to know the company film pulls the parts together showing the activities of the many plants and the total plant giving the overall picture and helping each worker understand the useful role he plays in a complicated production system and in our complex economy films that tell the company's story do important work in the fields of personnel relations employee orientation and personnel recruiting and films bring the company to life for the stockholders reporting progress and problems as well as a graphic picture of the financial report the armed forces have been leaders in the use of films for training and industry has kept pace for here is the means by which an expert instructor can be many places at once always teaching techniques and methods known to be right films teach new workers new jobs and veteran workers better ways to do old jobs films teach supervisors how to deal with people working under them training in the increasingly important area of human relations films teach safety films teach selling the way you want it taught selling in all its aspects from basic principles and company policy to specific techniques and features demonstrations and then film sell a filmed demonstration is always a good demonstration technically accurate unchanging films build up customer acceptance of a product and inspire confidence in the company and its products through showing its history its research and development programs manufacture and testing and film show the customer the product on the job not merely what it is but what it will do for it no claims but living proof for the man who says show me size means nothing to film there is no product so big that film can't bring it into a prospect's office and demonstrate it in action seasons mean nothing either you can have winter in summer and summer in winter just as you can leave all hurdles of time and space and weather just as film will help you leap all hurdles of communication with your customers with your employees and your stockholders and with the public at large films speak a universal language the audience is accessible and it's enormous through television theaters schools churches factories and the hundreds of daily meetings of the thousands of organizations to which millions of americans belong and where millions of them see films every day of the year yes the audience is waiting the tools are waiting and the future of films is waiting waiting for those with the vision and the insight and the nerve to pioneer one thing we know when man makes his conquest of space films will have helped him find the way and films will record his achievement for future generations less spectacular perhaps but almost as boundless are the potential uses of film in every field of human activity how will film serve it's up to you and your ideas you