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Visual Training Part One, Why Things Are Seen, Merton (1947)

Wonderful, informative military training film about vision, which features shots of south London having been made at Merton Park Studios.

School programme and Educational film 1947 11 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for London's Screen Archives

Overview

Starting with a caption that states “lives were needlessly lost and many opportunities missed for killing” in WWII because of poor visual training, this Army film attempts to teach soldiers the principles of seeing: contrasts of colour, dark and light, texture, silhouettes, shapes, shadows, movement and size. Illustration comes partly from the streets of south London near Merton Park Studios, with shots of shops, pubs, toilets and a No 604 trolleybus.