SPECIFIC FACTORS IN THE PERCEPTION OF FILM AND TELEVISION

In the light of previous research, the author concludes that general comparison of the relative effectiveness of instructional media, either with each other or with class teaching, is likely to be inconclusive and should be abandoned in favour of investigation of individual characteristics of the media in relation to specific audiences.

Two examples of such specific investigations are given, both with respect to childen of infant school age. In the first it is indicated that the loss of the third dimension inherent in all pictorial presentations is a serious handicap to the communication of information, especially with the youngest children and that verbal cues offer no help in overcoming the difficulty. In the second, it is shown that children have difficulty in following the use of close‐ups, necessitated by the low definition of television and that cutting to the close‐up is harder to follow than zooming.

In both cases, no link is found with the Piagetian stage of development and hence hope is held out that the difficulties might be reduced by appropriate pre‐instructional training programmes