The art of sound pictures (1930)

1 6 THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES There is a physical peculiarity of movie audiences, as well as a mental one. Its importance is seldom realized. In a theater, spectators are prevented from expressing the attitudes which the picture story forces them to take toward the things and people in the picture, by means of overt bodily behavior. Your audience is seated in chairs in a darkened room. They cannot even talk during the showing of the picture. Yet, a good picture constantly compels them to take internal attitudes toward the people and situations which appear on the screen. The very fact that they take these internal attitudes carries with it the corresponding series of emotions. And these emotions are intensified by the fact that the people in the chairs cannot express their actions by shouting, brandishing their fists, walking up and down, or any other vehement activity. You have them, therefore, where you want them. They can be aroused, emotionally, to the maximum of their capacity for emotional experience. And you must remember that they come to the motion picture theater for the express purpose of being thus aroused. If you let them down, they will be disappointed, and the picture will not be a success. If you wish to arouse a feeling of pleasantness in a motion picture audience, you must give them characters and situations which they accept and want more of. You must make the character or situation such that the audience will take an active attitude of alliance with it. They must wish to prolong situations and to hold their characters. If, on the other hand, you wish to make a character or a situation in your story thoroughly disagreeable and unpleasant to your audience, you must depict the person