These days, if you want to learn something, you probably turn to the Internet. There are tons of passionate teachers on YouTube who guide you with whiteboards and ideas, or you can turn to Wikipedia to learn from technical articles written of different quality. However, go back to the twentieth century, where there was an even more beautiful educational source – the educational film.
As it turns out, Shell Oil was a prolific producer of these films. The company has filmed and compiled a large library of content. The films delve into a wide range of topics in the automotive world and many engineering topics outside of it. Why did this come to my attention? Because the Shell Historical Film Archive has started sharing these beautiful films on YouTube.
If you have some blind spots in your knowledge of cars – especially the basics – these movies might be for you. Despite its age – nearly 100 years old – the concepts and interpretations within it remain quite relevant today. Moreover, these films are far superior in quality to many modern educational materials.
The old ways were better
There’s something very special about these films: their production quality. You are offered beautiful shots, filmed by experts with high-quality equipment. For example, take Explanation of engine lubrication From 1968 as shown above. A recent YouTube video might contain some basic diagrams and some stock photos of someone pouring oil into an engine [Ed Note: To Be fair, many modern videos have amazing CAD imagery, and I’d argue we’re at the peak of video production, but I do love the old-timey, physical shots here. -DT]. In contrast, Shell built a complete four-cylinder engine model with a clear head, block and sump. The film shows us, in full motion video, exactly How oil flows through every part of the engine, from the oil pan to the crankshaft to the cams. We are then treated to a British gentleman with a silky voice who explains to us what is happening. You’ll float away on a cloud of knowledge as he throws around euphemisms like “big bearings” and “stick pins.”
And it gets better from there too. The film goes so far as to provide an animation of how motor oil works at a molecular level, covering topics such as sludge, temperature-sensitive viscosity, and oxidation. Everything is so intuitive when you literally can See What’s going on here? The only drawback is that, at times, the conversion to digital video blurred some of the subtle animations to the point where they became somewhat less legible.
This is how engineering content is supposed to be delivered. Clear descriptions from trusted voices with the best practical demonstrations. If you have ever seen some of the educational films of the 1950s From the US Armyyou will be familiar with this type of instruction.
Shell’s videos cover a wide range of topics. Whether you want to get to know Car suspension in 1938works Diesel engineor Hydraulic power transmissionShell Films has it all covered. The organization has produced films on all sorts of technological topics over the years relating to Shell’s operations and many topics of general interest.
The operation was founded in 1934 by legendary documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The films were often shown in cinemas and in non-theatrical settings such as universities and schools, which relied on these films as a valuable technical resource. Shell films will continue to be distributed in many languages around the world. The work even led to the formation of a branch Shell Films Unit in Australia In 1948. The Antipodean Branch produced a large body of local content on 16mm film, covering Domestic oil industrythe Natural sciencesand Australian Motorsport.
You might think this is just a light and simple look at diesel engines, but it’s surprisingly comprehensive. It starts with the context of diesel engines and then gets into the nitty-gritty. You can see the burning inside the cylinder in slow motion! Heck, it even covers opposed-piston and sweep engines! Scavenging, people!
It also covers it British Film InstituteThe emergence of new technology would witness a decline in the work of the organization. The distribution of non-theatrical films declined as video became the preferred format in this regard. Renamed the Shell Film and Video Unit, the organization’s work continued, although its production of high-quality engineering documentary content declined in subsequent years. The golden age of these documentaries extended from approximately 1934 to 1984, with the organization eventually passing its entire archive to the National Film and Television Archive at the British Film Institute.
We have great stuff on YouTube and Netflix these days, but I wish we had more videos like this based on physical models that were commissioned on this scale by major companies. What companies are out there that are working to enhance the actions of chemicals and lubricants at the molecular level? Tutorial videos are still being made – great ones that show all sorts of intricacies via animation – but I don’t see many of them at this level showing the actual hardware.
I think a lot of it comes down to money. There simply is no business case for producing high-quality content at this level/scale anymore. Doing so is expensive, requiring engineers to set up the content, models and equipment, and a talented crew to film, animate and narrate everything. None of this comes cheap, and there aren’t many customers who will pay for this type of content.
For whatever reason, Shell has spent much of the last century producing quality content that was largely just for the public good (and of course, it was advertising for Shell products by people familiar with engines that use Shell oil). This is something I don’t see a lot of oil companies doing today. If I were the supreme ruler of commerce, I would make this kind of thing mandatory. It can only be a good thing.
Image credits: Shell via YouTube screenshot
