A vastly influential form of filmmaking seen by millions of people, educational films provide a catalog of twentieth century preoccupations and values. As a medium of instruction and guidance, they held a powerful cultural position, producing knowledge both inside and outside the classroom. This is the first collection of essays to address this vital phenomenon. The book provides an ambitious overview of educational film practices, while each essay analyzes a crucial aspect of educational film history, ranging from case studies of films and filmmakers to broader generic and historical assessments. Offering links to many of the films,Learning With the Lights Offprovides readers the context and access needed to develop a sophisticated understanding of, and a new appreciation for, a much overlooked film legacy.
Foreword by Thomas G. Smith Acknowledgments About the Companion Website Introduction
1. A History of Learning with the Lights Off,Devin Orgeron, Marsha Orgeron, and Dan Streible 2. The Cinema of the Future: Visions of the Medium as Modern Educator, 1895-1910,Oliver Gaycken 3. Communicating Disease: Tuberculosis, Narrative, and Social Order in Thomas Edison's Red Cross Seal Films,Miriam Posner 4. Visualizing Industrial Citizenship,Lee Grieveson 5. Film Education in the Natural History Museum: Cinema Lights Up the Gallery in the 1920s,Alison Griffiths 6. Glimpses of Animal Life: Nature Films and the Emergence of Classroom Cinema,Jennifer Peterson 7. Medical Education through Film: Animating Anatomy at the American College of Surgeons and Eastman Kodak,Kirsten Ostherr 8. Dr. ERPI Finds His Voice: Electrical Research Products, Inc. and the Educational Film Market, 1927-1937,Heide Solbrig 9. Educational Film Projects of the 1930s: Secrets of Success and the Human Relations Film Series,Craig Kridel 10. An Indirect Influence upon l