Cinematography Goes to War

The title of this paper, Cinematography Goes to War, is self-explanatory. It deals with the science of motion pictures as utilized by our Armed Forces in modern warfare. Principally, this paper concerns itself with the Army Air Forces which, within little more than one year, developed the First Motion Picture Unit at Culver City, Calif. The importance of motion pictures in the over-all war effort can not be overemphasized. In the fields of reconnaissance, news values on the home front, and visual aid instructions that are saving American lives and property, cinematography today plays a foremost role. — To correctly understand what the First Motion Picture Unit is doing, we must break its functions into two phases: the first trains combat cameramen who go into the thick of battle to photograph occurrences that are of inestimable value to our High Command; the second covers the making of training films. These, too, can not be underestimated in importance. To our Air Forces such films are as valuable as arms and planes. For through their auditory and visionary instruction are saved the lives of hundreds of American airmen and thousands of dollars worth of American planes.

Print ISSN

0097-5834

Published

1944-02

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J07398