MEDIA

MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTION COURSES AT SELECTED INSTITUTIONS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

John Henry Tyo In this article, Dr. Tyo summarizes his doctoral study at Indiana University. He is now associated with the System Development Corporation, Los Angeles, California.

A N E W CLUSTEROF COURSEShas appeared in the curricula of institutions of higher learning in the United States over the past decade. These courses deal with many aspects of the motion picture, from the level of general appreciation to that of specialized engineering. The Problem The purposes of the study reported here were: (a) to examine the administrative practices of motion picture film production teaching units in selected colleges and universities in the United States; (b) to determine the extent of motion picture production courses in those institutions; (c) to analyze the methods of instruction used in those courses; (d) to analyze the content of those courses; (e) to analyze the meth-

ods used to evaluate students' achievement in those courses. Procedure and Source of Data In an effort to determine the status of film production training in this country, research and other literature in the fields of audiovisual communication, theater arts, television, journalism and related media were examined for descriptions, case studies, research, surveys, problems, findings, recommendations and conclusions. These materials were examined in light of their relationship to film production training in institutions of higher learning. From previous research the ten institutions in the United States then offering the most film production courses were identified and located. They were: Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Boston University, Boston, Mass.; Columbia University, New York City; New York University, New York City; City College of New York, New York City; Bob Jones University, Greenville, S.C.; University of Miami, Miami, Florida; Syra-

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cuse University, Syracuse, New York; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Because this was to be a study in depth of instructional and administrative practices, the study consisted of a series of personal interviews with administrators and instructors of film production courses at the ten institutions. An Administrator's Interview Guide was constructed under four headings: (a) organization of film production courses; (b) instructional policies; (c) staff characteristics; (d) future plans. Instructors' Interview Guides were divided into three sections: method of teaching, course content, and evaluation methods. For the sake of the analysis, "film production" was divided into 11 categories: acting, animation, cinematography, directing, editing, laboratory techniques, lighting, make-up, sound recording, supervision and management, and writing. The Administrator's Interview Guide was used as the instrument to obtain data from the administrators of ten film production training programs in the selected universities. The Instructor's Interview Guides were administered to 104 teachers of 172 motion picture film course-units (that is, courses or parts of other courses) in the ten selected institutions. The personal interviews were conducted in 1959 and through the spring of 1960 when each of the institutions was visited. In order to give perspective to the study, some film production training programs in other countries, as reported in the literature, were examined. These countries included Chile, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The outstanding characteristics of these programs are that they are generally government-supported, and are actually "colleges of

film," in that they are organized not as departments of other colleges, but as self-contained undergraduate and graduate schools. There have been only nine research studies dealing with motion picture production courses in the United States, and all of these studies were reviewed. In the main, they were concerned with locating and identifying film production courses. The research techniques they most commonly used were surveys of college bulletins and catalogs, and mailed questionnaires. By these means more than 575 film courses were located. The identified categories were "appreciation," "business," "equipment," "mass communication," or "production."

Major Findings The findings of the study conducted through personal interviews may be grouped under two general headings: administrative findings and instructional findings.

Administrative Findings 1. All of the selected schools offered degrees for which film production courses would constitute a "major" concentration of courses. 2. For the survey year, there were 442 undergraduate students and 243 graduate students majoring in film production in the 10 schools. 3. When administrators were asked to rank the 11 subject areas of film production in what they considered order of importance, the top three subject-areas were found to be writing, directing, and editing, in that order. 4. Eight of the ten schools had access to motion-picture sound stages, which averaged 1394 square feet in area. 5. The teaching staff in the ten schools totalled 108, made up of 65 full-time

FILM PRODUCTION

teachers, 30 part-time teachers, and four teaching assistants. The distribution of these teachers ranged from one parttime teacher at one institution to a teaching force of 26 in the largest department. Of these teachers 42 were themselves graduates of the same film production teaching programs in which they eventually found themselves teaching. Many of them continued to work in the motion picture industry while teaching film production courses. 6. There were 172 separate courseunits in the 11 subject-areas. Writing, cinematography, and editing made up 54 per cent of the course-units. 7. The actual class hours offered in each subject-area were tabulated for the ten schools; it was found that there were 8272.5 class-hours offered during the year of the survey. Including "workshops" in film production, 10,529 class hours were offered, of which the top three schools offered 55.1 per cent.

Instructional findings 1. Film acting. Only three courseunits dealing with film acting were found in the ten schools. Instructors of film acting relied most heavily on the lecture method of teaching, but they also favored the filming of students' acting assignments as a method of feedback for instructional purposes. The highest ranking content items were body responsiveness, stage technique, period styles of acting, and improvisation. Subjective evaluation based on the students' acting assignments ranked first as a method of grading students, followed by term papers. 2. Animation. There were 11 animation course-units surveyed, with individual student conferences ranking highest of the methods of instruction, followed by screening and analyzing of

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animation films. The content of these courses was concerned primarily with the mechanics of animation, planning cue sheets, and the preparation of story boards. "Pop-on" and "pop-off" animation received more emphasis than fullyanimated cell techniques. Instructors indicated they preferred to grade students by a course-long subjective evaluation. 3. Cinematography. There were 32 courses, or parts of courses, devoted to cinematography. The lecture method of teaching was indicated as most effective, followed by study of printed material, screening of films, and actual shooting of films. Though the concern was mainly with camera techniques and exposure determination, pictorial quality (composition, key, mood, etc.) and photographic optics were not far behind. These instructors also preferred to evaluate their students subjectively, rather than by tests or examinations. 4. Directing. Instructors of 15 courses or parts of courses devoted to film directing reported that the most effective way of teaching this subject is to give students an opportunity of seeing their efforts projected on a motion picture screen. In addition, lecturing and the assignment of student projects were reported as effective instructional techniques. Important content items were the director's responsibilities, principles of visualization, and planning movement. These instructors, too, indicated they preferred to evaluate their students' achievement subjectively, rather than by tests or examinations. 5. Editing. In 15 courses or parts of courses devoted to film editing, instructors indicated that the most effective teaching method is to screen students' editing projects in front of the class, for criticism. Following close behind as a teaching method was the screening and

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discussion of the editing of commercial and other films. As for evaluation of students' achievement, the instructors indicated as most effective the subjective assessment of each student's editing projects, screened in classroom sessions. 6. Laboratory techniques. There were five laboratory courses surveyed, with the instructors ranking first as a method of instruction the practice of requiring students to spend a certain amount of time in an operational film processing laboratory. Densitometry and sensitometry received most emphasis, followed by chemical theory and the operation of laboratory equipment. For this subject area, the instructors found written term papers or reports the most effective evaluation method. 7. Lighting. This subject was offered in 10 courses or parts of courses. The two teaching methods reported as equally effective were demonstrations of lighting techniques, and the assignment of student lighting projects. Lecturing followed next, and then the photography of student lighting set-ups. Primary content emphasis was given to methods of illuminating interior settings for motion picture photography. Slightly less emphasis was accorded to lighting equipment and "effect" lighting techniques. These instructors, also, indicated that a subjective evaluation of each student's achievement over the period of the course was the most effective evaluation method. 8. Make-up. There were only two courses in motion-picture make-up offered in the ten schools. Preferred methods of teaching were the assignment of student make-up projects in class, and photographing the results for criticism, followed by straight lecturing. The content of the courses dealt in sequence with straight, corrective, character, age,

and racial and national make-up techniques. Instructors indicated that a practical examination in make-up application was the most effective evaluation technique. 9. Sound recording. There were 17 course-units in sound recording offered in the ten schools surveyed. Instructors indicated that they found the straight lecture method of instruction most effective, followed by demonstrations of recording techniques. They placed more emphasis on mixing techniques than on original recording. Once again the subjective evaluation of students' progress was rated the most effective evaluation technique. 10. Supervision and management. These materials were offered in 16 course-units in the ten schools surveyed. The straight lecture method of instruction was indicated as being the most effective, followed by the seminar method. Problems of production scheduling, budgeting, and location management, in that order, received the most emphasis as content items. Subjective evaluation by the instructors, extending over the period of the course, was ranked the most effective evaluation technique. 11. Writing. All ten institutions offered film writing courses. There were 32 course-units surveyed, and the most effective method of instruction, as indicated by the instructors, was the individual student-teacher conference. Next was the class seminar method, with students discussing their writing projects, and sharing criticism and advice. More emphasis was placed on film treatments than on shooting scripts, although both were major content items. As might be suspected, the instructors rated subjective evaluation based on writing assignments the most effective technique.

FILM PRODUCTION COURSES

Conclusions Conclusions based on the findings of this study are as follows: 1. There is a general need for a wider dissemination of information concerning the role of the film-maker in modern society, so that larger numbers of intelligent people will be attracted to the film production training programs offered in colleges and universities. Filmmakers are needed; the university film production instructional programs can provide them, and should be doing so now.

2. There is a need for a general clarification in regard to the fundamental interrelationships between the theoretical and the practical aspects of film production. On the one hand, universities are striving to keep their courses above the "trade school" level, and on the other hand they are demonstrating that theory proceeds from facts and circumstances, and that students can perceive theoretical considerations in proportion to the related real-life experiences to which they are exposed. The conclusion here is that what is needed is the development of professionalism in motion picture curricula. 3. There is a need for a wider interchange of teachers. Of the 108 members of the teaching staffs in the ten film production programs surveyed, 42 received their training in the institutions in which they were presently teaching. 4. There is a need for more information concerning the nature of film production training programs offered at the various schools. In the course of the visitations, it became apparent that there was a great lack of knowledge of film production training programs in other institutions. 5. There is a need for increased at-

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tention to certain aspects of film production which were apparently being neglected. Only three courses in film acting and two courses in film make-up were available in the ten schools surveyed. Similarly receiving very little emphasis are courses in the design of production sets, commonly called decor, as well as production management and laboratory techniques. 6. There is a real need for adequate teaching materials, including specialized textbooks, syllabi, and audiovisual aids, as well as varied pre-planned problem materials, exemplified by editing-problem film footage. 7. There is a need for increased attention to the improving of film production teaching techniques. A firmly established principle of learning indicates that learning is increased when there is an opportunity to check the results of tried efforts, commonly expressed as the "feedback" principle. Film and tape recordings are provided by some instructors as feedback channels for their students. 8. Laboratory experiences in many areas of instruction need to be extended. For example, there comes a time in a cinematography course when students should obtain actual experience in exposing motion-picture film. The same conclusion is drawn with respect to editing, sound-recording, directing and so on throughout the various subjectareas of film production. Recommendations From the findings and the conclusions presented, the following suggestions are offered to help improve instruction in motion picture production in colleges and universities: 1. Every effort should be made by

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those connected with film production instructional programs to bring to the attention of prospective students the opportunities open to qualified university-trained film-makers. This recommendation extends not only to those students who might be interested in careers in the area of motion-picture films, but also to those young people who could find in the film a useful tool in other vocational fields. 2. Film production teachers should become affiliated with regional and national professional organizations, and should take an active part in committees concerned with film production teaching, curriculum, etc. 3. Administrators of colleges and university film production instructional programs should assist their graduates in obtaining teaching posts in other schools. It is strongly recommended that names and qualifications of graduating students be mailed to administrators, and introductions effected where possible. 4. Film production instructional units should cooperate with other departments in providing courses to further the cause of film production. For example, it is suggested that the film teaching organization provide courses designed for those students who are majoring in television. Drama and theater departments should be invited to provide courses in film acting, film make-up, film decor, film costume design, etc. 5. It is recommended that experienced film teachers accept the responsibility of preparing adequate textbooks, manuals, handbooks and other publica-

tions which are sorely needed in film production teaching. 6. Opportunities for advanced students to obtain practical film production experience should be expanded. Such experience might be obtained in producing films for other departments of the university, and for non-profit groups such as the Red Cross, Community Chest, and state agencies. 7. An attempt should be made to reduce student production costs. This might be done by the use of 8ram film and equipment for the early stages of a student's experience, and with the use of magnetically-striped film for inexpensive sound tracks. 8. Arrangements should be made for the exchange of experienced teachers of film production with their opposite numbers in foreign schools of cinema. The exchange period of instructing and observing should be for a year or longer. 9. To assist prospective students, and as an aid to scholarship, a census of film production courses at all colleges and universities in the United States should be conducted periodically. 10. An analysis should be made of a number of sponsored student-produced films, dealing with their genesis, the history of their production, and an evaluation of their effectiveness in teaching film production techniques. 11. An analysis should be made of the skills and competeneies possessed by motion-picture film production teachers in the colleges and universities. t2. An investigation should be made of the implications of an integrated film production training program involving television and motion picture students.