“Typing Skills: Fields of Typing” is a black-and-white 16mm short educational film produced by Coronet Films and Creative Establishment, Inc. in 1972. Coronet was known for making documentary short films that were shown in public schools from the 1940s-1980s. This particular film was made in collaboration with educational consultant Lawrence W. Erickson Ed.D. Professor of Education at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education. Directed by Don B. Klugman, the film is centered around the story of a young typist, during her first typing exam for a job prospect, as she ponders how she did on the exam as well as what kind of typing jobs she will have. The film shows set ups from various commercial offices during the 1970s of female typists at work doing straight copy, statistics, calculations, and typing forms. The narrator adds extra details on the specific methodology to carrying out these different typing jobs.
Opening credits: Smith Type Stop Clock face (0:10). Woman’s hands speedily type on typewriter (0:20). Close-up of Smith Type Stop Clock as it rings (0:58). Office set-up: young woman hands secretary papers she typed for typing test (1:11). Inner dialogue of young woman reflecting on her typing test (1:34). Young woman does finger drill warm up: clasps hands together and rubs palms (1:44). Concentrating on the copy (2:24). Close-up of young woman’s hands typing on Olivetti Editor 3 Typewriter (2:56). 1970s business office set up: room of young women typists doing copy typing (3:01). Typists sets the margins on the typewriter (3:20). Centering letter on the page (3:28). Woman works on copy for newspapers and magazines: close-up of double spaced paper with wide margins (3:40). Proofreader’s pen marks on first draft of copy: close-ups of different symbols and their meaning (3:52). Copy for radio, TV, and motion picture scripts: close-up of copy, dialogue and scene description on opposite sides of the page (4:15). Another woman works on a business report at various stages: outline (4:42). Rough draft with proofreader marks (4:51). Camera pans office set up (5:33). Tabular reports: numbers and statistics; close-up of financial documents (5:52). Woman prepares graph on 1970s Olympia typewriter (6:20). Typist sets up for “Tax base from Center” method for creating graph columns; narrator talks through methodology (6:40). Typist at smaller office: using typewriter for record keeping, check writing, and billing (7:51). Scenes of various office setups with big and small typist teams (8:24). Examples of various forms (8:52). Methodology for perfectly typing forms (9:18). Inserting carbon copies: woman places folded sheet of paper over the documents, replaces with paperclip once documents are fed through (9:39). Hand rotates variable line spacer on IBM typewriter (perhaps the Selectric Typewriter model) (10:02). Close-up of pleated page; used for index and file cards (10:44). Interior of student dorm, male student types away at desk with typewriter (11:37). Teacher sits in classroom and uses typewriter to prepare lessons, handouts (11:51). Homemaker sits at dining table and types out recipes, checks (12:02). Two business men sit on plane, one works on portable typewriter (12:16).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
