CSIRO Film Collection: videos 400 - 498 - archival versions

CSIRO produced its first film in 1946. It was a two-hour, five-part epic in black and white designed for a specialist audience of Commonwealth scientists meeting in London. It showed them - in the most graphic way possible at the time - the nature and extent of the research facilities of an organisation embarking on the problems of post-war reconstruction. Within a few years, a permanent film unit was established and began to specialise in producing films for the specific audiences on particular areas of research. By the 1960's, it became apparent that many of the films were of interest to a much wider audience. Schools, colleges and universities were beginning to introduce the audio-visual medium to the learning process and CSIRO films were in increasing demand. Makers of television programmes looked to CSIRO films for images of science not yet accessible to the public eye.

澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织（CSIRO）于1946年出品了首部影片。该片分为五个篇章、总长两小时，为黑白史诗级作品，专为在伦敦出席会议的英联邦科学家这一专业受众制作。影片以当时最为直观具象的方式，向他们展示了该机构正着手解决战后重建难题时所拥有的科研设施的全貌与规模。数年内，该组织便设立了常设影视制作部门，并开始针对特定研究领域的目标受众定制影片。到20世纪60年代，人们逐渐意识到，大量影片的受众范围远超最初的预期。彼时，各级中小学、学院与高校正逐步将视听媒介融入教学流程，对CSIRO影片的需求持续攀升。电视节目制作方也纷纷从CSIRO的影片中汲取尚未对公众公开的科学影像素材。