The art of sound pictures (1930)

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98 THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES When you have finished writing your story in its complete literary or dramatic form, go over it again and analyze it from the point of view of its picture form. Make what is called in motion picture parlance a list of sequences. A sequence is a series of scenes which are ^ naturally collected together usually in the same or adjacent locales or sets. A sequence in a motion picture drama corresponds roughly to the act of a legitimate stage play. Sometimes an act may be split up into three, or even more, scenes. But the action and general continuity of the drama are so closely connected in these different scenes that the whole thing forms one unit act, or, in the moving picture, a sequence. Go over your story, then, and split it up into sequences. The first sequence will, of course, introduce your char/ acters and plant the beginnings of the plot. Under this sequence, list carefully all the essential actions and dialogue which are necessary to put over effectively the portions of the story which you decide are necessary for this sequence. Remember that, in a motion picture , continuity, literary terms are useless except as they suggest visual or sound effects to the story editors and directors. Then go over your second sequence in the same way, listing carefully under that heading all of the essential parts of the story which you plan to cover in this section. And so on. You should not have more than five or six , sequences in an ordinary length picture story. Seven or eight sequences are found in some super-productions, such as Show Boat. But Show Boat was originally made in seventeen or eighteen reels. It was released, however, in thirteen reels, and even then the picture was probably too