The art of sound pictures (1930)

122 THE ART OF SOUND PICTURES more monotonous dialogue. And, of course, the mere length of each woman’s remarks makes these impossible in sound pictures, which must move fast. Let us express this pattern in a diagram, thus : MMMMMMMMMMM — DDDDDDDDDDD — MMMMMMMMMM — DDDDDDDDD — MMMMMMMMM. Now let us change this by preserving all the remarks, but interpolating expressive action, thus: Mother. What a wonderful show window we have! It cost eight hundred dollars to fix it up, but it will repay us. [She tiptoes up to the show window, from the interior of the shop, peers through a curtain, oTtd gazes at the passers-by who pause to look at the display']. Daughter. People do stop and admire it. But — ^will they come in and buy? I wish I could be sure of that. [She clasps her hands nervously and stalks up and down the empty aisle of the shop, while her mother continues to eye the crowds outside]. Mother. Of course they’ll come in. Not at first, to be sure. But after a few days. They always shy away from new shops, until they feel they belong. [She turns toward her daughter, now at the rear of the shop, marches triumphantly down to the girl, takes her hand, and strokes it kindly while smiling at her]. And so on. How does this differ, as a rhythmic pattern, from the first? First of all, there is the relief effect that comes from two new foci of attention. The first focus is the incidental action, the second is the parallel silence. In diagram, this can be thus indicated: MMMMMMM!MMMM — Action-Silence — DDDDDDDDDDDDD — ActionSilence — MMMMMMMMMMMMM — ActionSilence — DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD — Action-Silence. Here again is a rhythm that is hopelessly bad for the