Picture Play Magazine (Oct-Nov 1915)

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30 PICTURE-PLAY WEEKLY 11. Camera masked to represent field glasses. — Show James struggling as abductors take him from car. Same setting as Scene g. 12. Back to Scene 10. Detective and Vera finish looking toward house. Jump in auto and drive off for the scene of the struggle at top speed. That about covers it, we believe. Of course, there are a dozen other ways of working it out. Ours is merely one style. If it is placed at a point where the excitement was supposed to run high, the arrangement we have worked out would probably be most effective, while if it was merely a means of bringing all the characters to the little house, and there working in the real excitement, it could be covered in four or five scenes, which merely sketched the action we have worked out in detail. We think it best to sound a note of warning to beginners not to copy any of the action in this example, for it was sent to us merely for use as an illustration of technic. There are many illogical things in those few scenes, and it would, indeed, be fatal for any new writer to think this was an example of a plot. TYPEWRITING. All newspaper reporters of the new school use the typewriter, but few and far between are those who use the touch system. The same applies to fiction and scenario writers in many cases, though it surely is an unfortunate condition. If more writers who do all their own typing with two fingers knew the time-saving value of the touch system, we think they would learn it. They may think they are fast enough as it is, but if they compete with a professional typist they will see the difference. We think every person who is in the writing game to stay should learn the touch system as a means of increasing his earning power later on. TEN COMMANDMENTS. The following article was sent in by J. G. Alexander, the Pennsylvania photo-playwright, and should prove very helpful to the many earnest students of the game that we have good reason to believe are among our readers : In the speaking drama, we have learned that there are ten fundamental commandments : plot, play, acts, logic, sequence, diction, unity, dialogue, action, and continuity. For the photo drama these would be changed thusly: Plot, play, acts, logic, sequence, business, unity, registration, action, and continuity. First, there must be plot, and many writers seem to be confused as to the real meaning of the word. We have attempted to define plot as a conflict of human wills, which at its culmination brings about some change in the relations, one to each other, of the characters involved in the conflict. For example : We may have a story of James going to college; he is from the country, and during his course passes through amusing adventures and trials until he becomes thoroughly acclimated to his new surroundings, and he emerges from the institution the shining light of his class. This may be very interesting, but there is no plot. Suppose, however, that James provokes the enmity of a classmate and that classmate is cheating in examinations and throws the blame on the innocent James. There we have the elements of plot, crudely speaking. Story is not plot just because it is story, and the smallest incident or happening around us in our daily contact with life is oftentimes the germ of a strong plot, not like the incident which suggested it, but with the underlying reason for the incident as the basic element. Writers should learn plotting, and practice it until the germ of plot is recognizable at a glance, and from .that germ a real plot affecting the moral issues between characters can be constructed. Second, a plot being obtained, it must be amplified into a play. The fact that we have a plot does not mean that we have a play. The plot must be strong enough to stand dramatic treatment and development and grow into a finished play through that treatment ; a play that will hold interest and will lead the audience, step by step, up to the denouement and climax. Learn to recognize plot material that will make a play and learn to know when you have a play. Third, having the play, we must divide it into scenes and acts. In the photo drama we are able to show all the action and use as many scenes as are necessary to show that action. Watch carefully the placement and development of scene construction ; on it depends the clarity of the play. Acts, in the photo drama, can be taken as parts or reels. The action at the end of each part should end with a crisis, leaving the audience in suspense for the beginning of the next part or reel, and always growing stronger as the climax of the play is approached. Fourth, be sure that the play and action is logical and follows out a logical path ; make the characters real, live human beings, and imagine yourself in their position in like circumstances ; then make their actions those that you yourself would display under the conditions, and remember that a moving-picture audience is composed of people with ordinary intelligence, and don't inject some absurd scenes and business just because a plot point seems necessary. Fifth, sequence of action in scene development is an important factor in proper construction. Give every scene a reason in sequence to the scene or action previous. One scene should follow the other naturally, and, if possible, leave the impression in the minds of the audience that it was the only possible scene for its place in the play. The cut back can be used for the purpose of suspense, but watch carefully that the sequence is not destroyed and the audience left at sea as to the reason for the action and its effect on the play action. Sequence can be best adhered to by visualizing the action with a strong imagination and keeping away from subplots, and, in the case of drama, that misused term "comedy relief." Use only action that has a direct bearing on the plot and play and which furthers the upward motion of the plot toward the ultimate climax, at which point stop. Sixth, the diction of the speaking drama is replaced in photo-play writing by business or the method used to put over the action to your audience. Just as proper words and speeches must be constructed to fit your characterizations in the drama of the stage, so in the photo drama proper business must be used, in keeping with the character and the play. Seventh; unity, that cohesive quality that holds the entire play together as one unit, is important from the fact that without it the play will not cling together and interest will be waning and the action jerky. A proper knowledge and use of sequence of action will make for unity. Of course, the Greek idea of unity of time and place does not enter into the photo drama, the idea for the silent drama being rather that