Predicting film learning by pre-release testing

Abstract

It is concluded that, for subject matter of the nature tested and with the kind of film treatment given to “Flight Capabilities of the F86A,” a preproduction filmstrip based on the story-board for the film was capable of predicting the relative effectiveness of the final motion picture. Although on the average the motion-picture group showed higher scores for the test items used after the film showing than did the filmstrip group, the important result is that the itemby-item results were well enough correlated to yield a useful prediction of the differential effectiveness of the film in conveying different specific points of information. However, it should be emphasized that the film used in the study cannot be demonstrated to be representative of a defined universe of films, either in content or technique of presentation; thus the generality of the findings remains as a problem, for further investigation. In order to permit useful generalization, the experiment should be replicated with a number of other, different kinds of films, and other kinds of film audiences.