Palmer plan handbook : volume one : an elementary treatise on the theory and practice of photoplay scenario writing (1922)

CHAPTER I DRAMA If one intends writing photodrama he must first understand what drama is. The lack of this understanding is the reason for most of the failures. Building a photoplay without an understanding of drama is like building an automobile without an engine. The result is a thing dead and useless. Drama is a living art. Many are born with an instinctive dramatic appreciation. This cannot be denied. So also are many born with a natural talent for music. But the musician knows that to be a composer he must first learn the technique of his art — notation, rhythm, harmony. The artist — no matter how great his natural ability— must, before he can paint a picture of worth, study line, perspective, color and composition. The same holds true of a photodramatist. He must learn the technique of his art. But his position is somewhat different from either that of the musician or the artist. Before he learns his art's technique, he must know the soul of his art. He must learn the conditions of life which make for drama before he can build it into an art form. POWER OF OBSERVATION So the student is urged to re-read and study closely this chapter on fundamentals and return to it frequently as he proceeds with his work. He must apply his studies to his observations of life. For, from the beginning, we want to impress on him the great importance of the cultivation of all his powers of observation. Observe! Observe! Study closely your fellow men and women. Learn human nature. Learn what men do under the impelling force of their various impulses, passions and desires. Be like the artist who, taking his canvas out of doors, while he paints, studies the thing he is trying to reproduce. But pursue this study in a spirit of kindliness and sympathy rather than in a spirit of criticism. Such an attitude will help you to grow, and you will produce greater art. Your [17]