How to Write Moving Picture Plays (1915)

20 •HOW TO WRITE MOVING PICTURE PLAYS You must also show your events in their natural order. We cannot show George forging his father’s name to a check and then go back, pick up the lost threads and show the cause of George’s downfall. This is often done in writing fiction, but never in the photoplay. We must begin at the beginning and keep going forward, never backward. It is also very important to parallel your scenes when the action of play is centered in two different places. For example, if the good brother and the wayward brother have gone two different ways, and you are depicting the nobility of the one and the folly of the other, take them step by step, a scene of one paralleled by a scene of the other, the one brother going a step higher, the wayward brother sinking a step lower, until the climax is reached. Your story would prove meaningless if you should take the adventures of the one to the end, then go back, take up the lost threads and follow the adventures of the other. Another example would be a sheriff’s posse running down the villain. If you should take your villain over “hill and dale” until he reached the deserted shanty where he hides, then go back and bring your sheriff’s posse over the same route, it would lose the excitement of first showing the villain in his effort to escape and then showing the posse in hot pursuit, paralleling your scenes back and forth. (Notice paralleling of scenes all through sample play.) In using this example of the sheriff’s posse, you would not use the words, “Same as,” in starting each scene, for the reason that each scene is supposed to take the posse and the villain a little farther along. Should the chase be through the woods, say, “Another wooded scene;” if it is in the city, say, “Another street scene.” Camera must be changed, with a new background for each scene. Each one of these parallel scenes must bear a new scene number. It is often a great convenience, and lends effect to story, to parallel scenes when we have some long scene to portray. Supposing our wedding guests sit down to dinner. We can first show the dinner scene, then the groom’s rival in his bedroom plotting revenge; then back and forth a few times, giving the guests a plausible length of time to satisfy their appetites. This is also done to avoid censorship when some crime is to be suggested. Section 21.— STAGE SETTINGS AND PROPERTIES. Only give the chief essentials in the way of stage settings or properties. If a fireplace in the room of your scene is to play a prominent part, write, “ Room with fireplace.” If the portrait of John’s father is to play an important part in your scene, write, “Portrait of John’s father on wall.” If you are going to have Frank peep through a transom, say, “Door with glass transom.” However, do not begin by saying: — 17. Dining-room. Table covered with dishes; chairs; handsome rugs on floor. Beautiful oil paintings. Plate rail with hand-painted china, etc. Merely use an adjective — elegant, palatial, elaborate, or beautiful dining-room— and you can rest assured that directors will know how to arrange the scene. Do not start: “Scene 1. Kitchen of humble home. Table, two chairs, stove in corner, dishes piled on table, etc.” The stage directors know better how to set a scene of “an humble kitchen” than you do. An adjective or two is often necessary to describe a scene, but that is sufficient. For example: — A palatial drawing-room. An abandoned shanty. A deserted street corner. A modest dining-room. A banker’s private office. A cheap restaurant. A rustic bridge. A dilapidated tenement house. Section 22.— ENTRANCE AND EXIT OF CHARACTERS. It is unnecessary to show C. (center), R. C. (right center), L. C. (left center), etc., for the entrance and exit of characters. Leave this to the stage directors. The words “Enter” and “Exit” always have reference to the stage setting or picture as seen on the screen. If “John enters,” he enters into the picture; if he “exits,” he goes out of picture. For example, our scene is the front porch of Jim’s home. Jim is on the porch; he goes into the house, but we say, “Jim exits into house,” meaning he goes OUT of the picture. If he then comes out of house, we say, “Jim ENTERS from house,” meaning he comes into the picture. “Exeunt” is the plural of “exit.” For example: “John exits,” “John and Mary exeunt.” (See scenes 1, 8, and 13 of sample play.) If a character enters or exits in any other manner than on foot, so state it in your scenario. For example: “John enters in automobile,” “John enters on horse,” etc. Section 23.— CLIMAX. The climax is the finish of your story, and should be full of intense interest; but remember that the climax does not alone make your story acceptable, the various situations preceding must be interesting as well. A good climax is essential, but does not alone make a good story. If the preceding scenes are dull and uninteresting, the audience will be indifferent whether John finally wins Mary’s hand or not. But if his rival locks John in the barn and forces Mary into a waiting taxicab, Mary feigns illness and is carried into a wayside inn, only to escape through the back door, while John takes a pitchfork, breaks open the barn door, borrows one of the horses in the barn and pursues his rival, arrives at the inn only to find Mary gone, chastises his rival, takes the taxicab from him and goes in search of Mary, while his rival forms evidence against John as a horse-thief, causing his arrest and imprisonment, there is certainly action enough to make your audience want to know the climax. As suggested before, try to give it a happy, satisfactory ending, with a moral. By a moral, I do not mean that we shall convert the theater into a church, but if we show that infidelity, dishonesty, waywardness, etc., brings its inevitable penalty, there is a moral. If we show that the man with faithfulness, honesty, and perseverance attains his desires, whether it be in business, war, or love, there is a moral. By giving our story a happy climax we run no chance of leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of our audience. I admit that the majority of companies often produce tragedies and plays with a