Filmstrips 1960s

Three small cylindrical cardboard canisters with lids off and two monochrome and one colour transparent rolls of film containing frames of images and words..

Black and white filmstrips titled The Story of Timber and Some Australian Animals and a colour filmstrip titled Pied Piper, all produced by the NSW Department of Education, circa 1960s.

About the object

Filmstrips became a very popular visual teaching resource through the 1950s to l980s. They were produced by the NSW Department of Education and education departments in other states to support all subjects including social studies, mathematics, science, health and English.

Each filmstrip is a transparent continuous roll of still images and captions – very similar to a storyboard. They are 35mm positive film - like a transparent photograph.

Filmstrips were originally black and white and then colour from the early 1960s.

The Visual Education Centre of the NSW Department of Education produced hundreds of filmstrips. In 1963, almost 92,000 black and white filmstrips were issued free to the department's 2600 public schools. Colour filmstrips were more expensive to produce so sold to schools.

Each frame of a filmstrip was created on paper. The sequence of proposed frames was physically laid out on a long table for discussion by the editorial team. Once finalised they were photographed and produced as a filmstrip.

Significance

Filmstrips marked the beginning of the broad adoption of audio visual teaching resources in schools.

They brought the world into classrooms throughout Australia.

We have hundreds of filmstrips in our collection, indicating the wide use in schools. They provide:

a glimpse of society and technologies of the time
evidence of the knowledge content being taught to students during that period
an example of visual and projection technologies.

Object details

Date – circa 1963

Creator – NSW Department of Education

Place – NSW

Materials – plastic film

Dimensions – width 3.5cm x various lengths

Look closer

Adults looking at paper images, diagrams and maps laid out on a long table

The proposed frames of a filmstrip being checked by staff of the Visual Education Unit of the NSW Department of Education, in The Education Gazette, May 1964.

Transparent film of rectangular images and text

Filmstrip titled 'The Story of Timber' with photographs and captions. Produced by the NSW Department of Education, circa 1960.

Photograph of a timber truck carrying sawn logs with the text 'The felled logs are carted to the sawmill.'

A frame from a filmstrip titled 'The Story of Timber' projected onto a screen by a filmstrip projector. Produced by the NSW Department of Education, circa 1960.

Four A4 black and white booklets titled The Murray Valley, Dr Barnardo, Tasmania and Life in Papua and New Guinea.

Filmstrip reference notes for the teacher that accompanied filmstrips, produced by the Teaching Resources Centre of the NSW Department of Education, circa 1965.

Booklet titled Cook's second and third voyages with transparent strip of images with text and maps.

Filmstrip about Cook's third voyage and accompanying teacher reference notes. Produced by the NSW Department of Education, circa 1965.

Projected image of the NSW Department of Education name and government crest.

The first frame from a filmstrip titled 'Pied Piper' projected onto a screen by a filmstrip projector. Produced by the NSW Department of Education, circa 1965.

Think and wonder

See

What do you notice first?
What do you find surprising or interesting?
Can you see the individual frames on the filmstrips?

Think

How do you think filmstrips were used in classrooms?
How might you feel when you entered the classroom and saw the filmstrip projector set up?
What book work might follow the viewing of a filmstrip?
What technologies replace filmstrips today?

Wonder

What do you wonder about filmstrips?
What else would you like to know about filmstrips?

Do

Use a double Venn Diagram to express the similarities and differences in visual presentations from the 1960s and today. The differences will show changes over time and the overlap will show continuities.

Label the left circle '1960s filmstrips' and list the unique features.
Label the right circle 'Today's Powerpoints/Keynotes' and list the unique features.
Express similarities in the overlap between the two circles. The similarities are what hasn't changed over time.

Hint – the process of planning the sequence of information for a presentation hasn't changed since the 1950s – see article below.

>Go to filmstrip production process, 1964 (PDF)

Explore and connect

Small plastic projector with light through lens and spools holding a filmstrip

Hanimette filmstrip projector with a filmstrip attached horizontally on the spools behind the lens. Circa 1970.

Small plastic projector with round flat slide carrier and carrier with two spools.

Hanimette filmstrip projector with its parts - slide carrier, filmstrip carrier, U-shaped slide to slip into filmstrip carrier for vertical frames. Circa 1970.

Filmstrip projector, circa 1970

This small plastic Hanimette filmstrip projector is light and portable and came with a carrier for filmstrips and for slides. It was manufactured by Hanimex in about the 1970s.

The projector projects still images onto a screen, often the back of a wall map.

Often placed on a student's desk, the projector has an adjustable foot at the front and the end of the lens can be turned for focusing.

How it works

The filmstrip is wound onto the two spools of the filmstrip carrier – upside down and back-to-front.
The carrier is slid onto the back of the lens.
The projector is turned on and the focus adjusted.
The spools are manually turned to show one frame of the filmstrip at a time.

Dimensions – height 12cm x length 24cm x width 9cm

Long timber wall-mounted rack with holes containing cylindrical canisters

Timber filmstrip rack containing filmstrip canisters and teacher reference notes, circa 1965.

Filmstrip rack, circa 1965

This filmstrip rack held 98 filmstrip canisters and the teacher reference guides that accompanied them. It was was made of plywood timber by the NSW Department of Education Teacher Resources Centre.

Each filmstrip was stored in a small cardboard cylindrical canister with a label on the metal lid. Later plastic canisters were used.

Filmstrips were catalogued using the Dewey numbering system. This rack has the Dewey numbers on stickers under each hole.

These film strips are the 500s – Science. Our largest collection of filmstrips is from the 900s - History and geography.

Filmstrip racks were screwed to the walls of the teacher reference section of school libraries.

What are your thoughts on this purpose-built storage system?

Booklets and plastic sleeves containing square slides on top of a rectangular box with hinged lid

Teacher resource kit contents of the kit 'Some Wildflowers of Australia' produced by the NSW Department of Education, 1976.

Some Wildflowers of Australia resource kit, 1976

In the late 1970s and 80s multimedia kits were produced containing filmstrips or slides, blackline copying masters, teacher guides, information cards and cassette tapes.

This boxed kit contains a slide set, teacher's notes, copying masters, plants booklet and a national parks in NSW chart.

The slides could be projected using the slide carrier on the filmstrip/slide projector. The copying masters contained student activities for copying and distribution to students.

The kit was produced by Teaching Resources of the NSW Department of Education in 1976.

What has replaced this type of teaching and learning resource today?

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