The photoplay; a psychological study (1916)

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THE PHOTOPLAY But it is evident that with, the exception of the words, no means for drawing attention which is effective on the theater stage is lost in the photoplay. All the directing influences which the movements of the actors exert can be felt no less when they are pictured in the films. More than that, the absence of the words brings the movements which we see to still greater prominence in our mind. Our whole attention can now be focused on the play of the face and of the hands. Every gesture and every mimic excitement stirs us now much more than if it were only the ac- companiment of speech. Moreover, the tech- nical conditions of the kinematograph show favor the importance of the movement. First the play on the screen is acted more rapidly than that on the stage. By the absence of speech everything is condensed, the whole rhythm is quickened, a greater pressure of time is applied, and through that the accents become sharper and the emphasis more pow- erful for the attention. But secondly the form of the stage intensifies the impression made hy those who move toward the foreground. The theater stage is broadest near the foot- lights and becomes narrower toward the 80