Summary

HOW NUMBERS WORK

Source Archive Films by Getty Images
Title: HOW NUMBERS WORK
File Number: EBC-302 Beta SP
Color: Color
Type: Educational
Year: 01/01/1991
Description: 01:01:49:00 Color 1991 Educational classroom-teaching film about basic math, intended to be seen by elementary school children Very late-night-PBS-style and shot-on-video VO narration [Three-star] JMR 01:20:05:00 - 01:02:52:00 Color 1991 Computer animation: cheesy sequence of multi-colored patterns, symbols and titles Math Sense and How Numbers Work Digital fireworks patterns 01:02:52:00 - 01:03:21:00 Color 1991 VS children playing on a jungle-gym on grass field outside of suburban elementary school building 01:03:21:00 - 01:04:35:00 Color 1991 Boy getting ready for school in the morning boy in a hurry or rush (sequence is in fast-motion) latchkey kid on his own, taking care of himself, acting like or pretending to be an adult: boy sleeping in bed in darkened bedroom digital alarm clock buzzes, reads 7:10, boy wakes up and reaches over to turn off alarm and turn on radio with morning news report on the soundtrack, the boy goes downstairs and into the kitchen, opens refrigerator-freezer door and removes frozen breakfast box CU cooking instructions on box boy cooks the frozen breakfast in microwave oven, eats it at table, reads sports section of newspaper and puts his books in his backpack ZI to note from absent parents posted on refrigerator with magnets inscribed Mike, don't forget to feed the dog! boy fills dog-bowl with food and mixes it with water boy leaves house on way to school VS boy wearing his backpack walking through suburban town on his way to school, which has a tall flagpole with American flag posted out front Good sequence 01:04:35:00 - 01:04:45:00 Color 1991 Animated wall-clock with sped-up hands ticking around the clock, stopping at 8-o'clock 01:04:45:00 - 01:04:52:00 Color 1991 CU the April month-page of a wall calendar, ZI to the day of April 20th, which is circled in red 01:04:52:00 - 01:05:12:00 Color 1991 VS boys and girls informally playing floor-hockey in gym of elementary school, boy scores a goal and hold up hockey-stick in happy triumph 01:05:12:00 - 01:05:18:00 Color 1991 Elementary school children sitting in front of computers in classroom 01:05:18:00 - 01:05:26:00 Color 1991 A yellow Lab dog (Labrador retriever) sits on scale to be weighed at veterinarian's office CU the scale LCD display reading 88 pounds 01:05:26:00 - 01:05:33:00 Color 1991 Man replacing the gas-pump nozzle after filling his car's gas tank at self-service gas station CU the digital meter on the gas-pump island 01:05:33:00 - 01:05:39:00 Color 1991 Silly wacky shot of three smiling people in a shopping mall concourse holding up tee-shirts of three different sizes (small, medium, large) for the CAM 01:05:39:00 - 01:05:45:00 Color 1991 Two boys shopping for posters measure posters in store with a wooden yard-stick ruler 01:05:45:00 - 01:05:59:00 Color 1991 Measurement of length: a small lizard sits patiently beside a wooden ruler, from head-to-tail it measures nine inches 01:05:59:00 - 01:06:22:00 Color 1991 Man sitting at workshop desk uses a micrometer instrument to measure the width of a small, narrow piece of wire in thousandths of an inch 01:06:22:00 - 01:06:25:00 Color 1991 WS a parked yellow firetruck, ZI to its engine-number emblazoned on side of door 01:06:25:00 - 01:06:28:00 Color 1991 An ugly, parked Chrysler car CU its serial-number, on dashboard? 01:06:28:00 - 01:06:39:00 Color 1991 Two boys playing a Nintendo video-game ZI to the serial-number on the back of joystick controller in boy's hands 01:06:39:00 - 01:06:48:00 Color 1991 ZI to the serial-number of a parked bicycle ZO from the serial-number of a different bicycle 01:06:48:00 - 01:06:53:00 Color 1991 Silly wacky gimmick telephone design: CU a green telephone on the shape of a frog CU a telephone on the shape of a dog with floppy ears 01:06:53:00 - 01:06:54:00 Color 1991 ZI to the street number address (1021) emblazoned on the EXT of a suburban house, next to the front door 01:06:54:00 - 01:07:04:00 Color 1991 CU roadside mailbox emblazoned Diebold Farm WS farm house and red A-frame barn buildings adjacent 01:07:04:00 - 01:07:54:00 Color 1991 VS a girl riding her BMX dirt bike bicycle (with aerodynamic disc-wheels) down street and sidewalk of a generic suburban housing development complex girl stops to look around and make sure she is going in the right direction ZI to the address street-numbers emblazoned next to the houses' front-doors as girl rides past a girl walks out of one of the houses and waves hello to her friend who rides her bicycle up to the house and stops 01:07:54:00 - 01:08:15:00 Color 1991 TU an ugly nondescript high-rise apartment building skyscraper cute, smiling black girl with corn rows and braids hairdo presses apartment buzzer button in lobby vestibule of the building the girl takes elevator, presses floor button in elevator girl happily skipping through hallway and greeting her waiting friend at apartment door 01:08:15:00 - 01:08:27:00 Color 1991 Three smiling children standing in front of blackboard in elementary school classroom proudly hold up their ribbons they've won in a contest competition (first, second and third place) 01:08:27:00 - 01:08:30:00 Color 1991 Children playing hopscotch, brief shot 01:08:30:00 - 01:08:40:00 Color 1991 Launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its mission carrying the Galileo space-probe 01:08:40:00 - 01:11:37:00 Color 1991 VS girl sitting on her bed shakes out pennies from her piggy-bank (shaped like a bear) onto the bed and counts them 01:11:37:00 - 01:11:54:00 Color 1991 Red-haired boy climbs on a pile of old truck tires in playground outside of suburban school 01:11:54:00 - 01:13:13:00 Color 1991 PAN slowly around group of elementary school children sitting in a circle and talking on grass field outside of the school building 01:13:13:00 - 01:13:28:00 Color 1991 Group of elementary school children running around and playing on grass field outside of school building 01:13:28:00 - 01:14:52:00 Color 1991 VS baseball card-collecting boy counts and organizes his collection by arranging them in piles on table 01:14:52:00 - 01:17:19:00 Color 1991 VS two numismatic boys overturn a shoe-box containing loose coin collection onto table and count the coins by arranging them into piles of ten 01:17:19:00 Color 1991 ZI to a green Interstate highway route indicator sign hanging from overpass over city street
}