Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

April, 1911. MOTOGRAPHY tising, the scenario starting at the point where the mistress tells the maid to have macaroni for lunch, and ending with the departure of the satisfied guest after partaking. Besides the Herpicide and the Yours Truly ads just referred to, may be mentioned Schieffelin & Company, the Towle Maple Products Company, the New York Central and Santa Fe Railroads, and even an "antidrunk" advertiser. Of course, what Mr. King calls the cinematograph style of advertising is really one of the best of arguments for motographic advertising. That the parody is so successful should convince its users that the real thing is the acme of all advertising effort. Indeed, in explaining the peculiar attractiveness of the thing he describes, Mr. King himself argues very convincingly if perhaps unwittingly for the application of motography to publicity work. Read, for example, the following paragraphs : And right here lies the psychology behind the "cinematograph" ad. Who is there that isn't interested in a good narrative? The stage has its great appeal because it makes it possible for an audience to comfortably follow a narrative without taxing the eyes in reading or the brain mentally visualizing what the eyes read, as is the case when reading a book. But modern moving pictures have made it possible thus to visualize in quick succession many scenes and happenings which the best of stage carpenters and managers, property and wardrobe people, cannot visualize with their best art. Perfected moving pictures constitute the greatest and most successful innovation in stagedom since the coming of vaudeville. Their low cost, coupled with their great human interest appeal, has made them so absorbing that all classes have been attracted to them. And the same appeal which is behind the moving pictures in the theater is behind their counterpart on the printed page in the publication. From the standpoint of the advertising manager, the public is like nothing so much as a big aggregation of children. Each one is a Missourian, willing to be "shown," perhaps, but, for the most part, waiting to be forcibly persuaded and throwing the whole responsibility for producing the proof upon those behind the goods. Naturally, then, the less the mental effort demanded of the reader by the advertiser, while the latter is producing his proof, the greater the probability that more readers will be persuaded and that in an effectual manner. To draw a parallel, instead of using a Fifth Reader for vocabulary and the methods of trigonometry, the vocabulary of the Primer and the methods of simple arithmetic are in order. This, of course, is a fundamental of advertising, but it .xplains the "selling-kick" which is behind "cinematograph" advertising. Just as children are interested in pictures, particularly if they tell a continued narrative, as in the popular Sunday supplements, so too are grown-ups interested in them. And probably the "cinematograph" ad will enjoy a much greater popularity in the future than in the past. Let us hope that all those advertisers who have recognized the virtues of the motion picture idea to the extent of using a series of pictures showing consecutive action will in time become enthusiastic users of actual motographic advertising. The first thing we said in this editorial was that motographic advertising is expensive. We are going to take that back. It is not expensive for those who are accustomed to using space in the popular magazines of national circulation. The cost of one page in some of the papers with which our readers are familiar would cover the making of a reel of film and at least one positive print, with a projecting machine to throw it on the screen. You spenders of large and medium advertising appropriations, invest in a reel of film and be amazed at the results. LIFE BOILED DOWN. IN THE photoplay of today is to be seen the essence of the modern drama — concise, snappy, realistic, packed with significant action. It is quite different from the ancient classic drama which thrilled the Greeks and Romans of two thousand years ago. The Greek drama, in fact the drama of all races, developed out of religious ceremonies, and there was little or no attempt at scenic verisimilitude. Such a thing was impossible, for the art of scene painting, the "boxed" stage and artificial lighting of today, were impracticable and not even dreamed of. All these details were supplied by the imagination of the auditors who had no difficulty in assuming that the flat planes of the Greek stage-platform were mountains, forests, oceans, palaces, or anything at will. In that same day there was no action, as the word is understood in our times. Lacking means of realistic presentation all deeds of great moment were done off the stage. It was an added factor under those conditions that these events taking place away from the sight of the audience, had a greater effect on the imaginative faculties of the audience. To take the place of action, the various characters stood upon the stage and declaimed for many minutes concerning the deeds they were about to perform and the motives which were impelling them to those deeds. Then they went out and did them and the audience thrilled under actions that were invisible to their eyes. The modern stage has, with its intricate development, met the demands of real life; that is, that it be able to present artificially, and yet in such a manner as will create an illusion of reality, the better part of the happenings of the modern world. In our day we play up the action and minimize the talk. It remained for the motion picture to reduce the drama to its essence, which is action. Minus dialog, the photoplay had no other material than action, and this the photoplay has carried to a point of great effectiveness and refinement. Given a particular set of characters, under certain circumstances, which are stated at the outset, the photoplay shows us in the course of fifteen minutes the most, intricate workings of an impelling force and its results. There is no dead wood, no verbal lumber, no ten minute speech forthcoming from the character detailing poetic thoughts and flights of fancy, while Action holds her horses. It is not what people say but what they do, that counts in real life, and that is what the photoplay presents to our eyes. The result is that the photoplay shows us the essence of life. It js life intensified and rendered significant. The spectator is not doomed to sit through hours of moralizing or speechifying. He is in a position to grasp as much as he "can see, to interpret as much as he can comprehend, in his own particular way, and for his own particular uses, of what the playwright presents to him. A THE POWER OF ORGANIZATION. STRIKING demonstration of the power of organization was afforded a few weeks ago when the association of exhibitors of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia won a decisive fight against excessive licenses in Ohio municipalities. The association has its headquarters in the Mercantile Library building, Cincinnati. The case came up before Common Pleas Judge Follett of New Lexington, Ohio, who held that