Chronicle's Bibliotheque

Croatian Educational Film

This is a historical survey of the development of educational film and its production by specialized film companies (Škola narodnog zdravlja, Nastavni film, Zora film, Filmoteka 16 and the educational programes of Croatian television) from the beginnings of film production to the newest development of new electronic media and digital systems of transmission of audio-visual information. The development of educational film has been observed ever since the first film reception at the end of the nineteen century. Different kinds and subjects of educational films, the means of expression that they use, cultural and historical importance of existing films have been analysed. Also, it is pointed to the multiple connection of this practical branch of film with economic, social, cultural and political conditions under which certain works were produced.

Special attention has been paid to health promotion films, ethnographic films and travelogues, to their reception, social evaluation of educational contents, special forms of educational films made for particular educational goals, and the attitude of pedagogical theory to the use of new media in the process of education. For this purpose, pedagogical texts on the use of motion pictures in education have been researched and analysed; from the first pedagogical reflections (J. Grčina, S. E. Tomić, D. Trstenjak, 1913/1914), the interwar and postwar period (M. Demarin, A. Štampar, S. Pataki), to the formation of modern approach to audio-visual communications in educational process that appears as »film and audio-visual pedagogy«, and a special analysis of teaching-method approach to audio-visual media (M. Vrabec, S. Težak).

Vjekoslav Majcen