Moving Picture World (Sep 1916)

1826 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD September 16, 1916 ^^^^y^^^sc^ The Photoplaywright li, ~:.'Vx 'I . Conducted by EPES WINTHROP SARGENT INQUIRIES. Questions concerning photoplay writing addressed to this department will be replied to by mail if a fully addressed and stamped envelope accompanies the letter, which should be addressed to this department. Questions should be stated clearly and should be typewritten or written with pen and ink. Under no circumstances will manuscripts or synopses be criticised, whether or not a fee is sent therefor. A list of companies will be sent if the request is made to the paper direct and not to this department, and a return stamped envelope is inclosed. Looking Ahead. PHIL LANG. oE the Kalem Company, offers a rather startling suggestion. He intimates that perhaps the star writers of tomorrow will be the rank outsiders. And ho has argument with him. He points out that the successful writer of today is the man who studies the wants of the directors and supplies them with scripts that permit them to mako a reputation. Much of this stuff is trick work. It is not good narrative told in sincere style, but tricky themes furbished up with camera devices and production stuff. He points out that ultimately the pictures will present proper plays and that the men of today will be unable to supply the demand because they have become too deeply ingrained with the methods of today. To those who have not studied the situation carefully this may seem fantastic and illogical, but it is none the less true that there is little really novel work being offered in the market today ; less than was shown two years ago. Directors will not make, and therefore editors will not purchase, stories that are too radically different from the story they made last week and will make again next week. They fear the story they cannot understand because they lack the ability to dig beneath the surface at the real meaning of the author. They get only the superficial action that shows in the script and fail utterly to sense the psychology of character. Men who have sought to write this style of stuff have been told that it is not wanted. The more independent have dropped out, the others have moulded their style to the demand. We get only the hackneyed stuff because the present-day authors know that this is the only stuff that stands a chance of a sale. The man who can think new ideas and new methods has given up in despair or disgust, according to his temperament. They are not now in the market and will not come into it because some ono advertises they want new and unusual ideas. They came in the first time and perhaps more than once because they saw these advertisements, and now they know that these advertisements are written for th9 exhibitor to read. They are not appeals to the authors, they are intended to fool the film renter into the belief that the advertiser is really trying to get stuff when all the time he may be standing over a staff of tame authors like Legree over Uncle Tom. As a result the market is left to the beginners and to the men who have caught the trick of helping the short-weight director fool the public into the belief that he is clever. Presently some man will come along with such a fine ignorance of the business that he will not only advertise for the unusual, but he will buy it and require his directors to make it. Then there will be a rush on the part of other makers for the material they have repeatedly turned down and the faithful ally of the director will be left out in the cold because he cannot quickly enough readjust his point of view. There is coming the day when it will be realized that the fifteen hundred dollar story will be better than the five thousand dollar a week star, when some business man will get into the film business and show that, after all, the play really is the thing. The star system cannot long endure. On the speaking stage a certain star may be seen once a season or perhaps twice in three seasons. Here the stars are Been monthly if not more frequently, reissues and return bookings may make it possible to see them weekly. They lose their freshness and appeal and generally about the end of the second season — l£ they last that long, they develop the big head and become utterly useless. Fine plays will always be welcomed and some day this wiil be proven, and perhaps it will be a new generation of authors who must bo looked to to supply the demand. The Inquest Club. There have been a tew requests lor a resumption of the Inquest Club. There were no meetings held this past season, for we were busy with tho new edition of Technique of the Photoplay from August of last year to March of the present year, but we can manage to make the time this year if there Is n sufficient response to make it worth While. If you want to belong to tho Inquest Circle drop a lino to this department. Thero will be no further invitation. For tho benefit of those who do not remember the old organization, it is explained that an Inquest Club sat for several seasons through tho winter months, attending Some photoplay performance and later gathering at. Keene's Chop Houso to hold an inquest on the films just witnessed and others seen by tho members. There is no formal list of members, no officers other than the Coroner, no initiation fees and no dues other than the payment for refreshment ordered at the meeting. The meetings are held alternate Mondays through the cool months. If you want to come in and give serious thought to the study of photoplays, drop a line and you will be notified of the first meeting if theso are resumed. Study the Screen. Lately we undertook to discuss some technique with a would-be student, but the only reply we received to numerous objections was that the author had seen the same thing done on the screen. Told that was no argument, the reply was that all authorities urge on the pupil the study of the screen. They do, and all good authorities add that the good and bad are both to be studied. That is where the value of screen study comes in. The productions must be studied both for things to be done and for things to be avoided. Were we always to accept as proper usage the stuff that is thrown on the screen, the errors of today would be perpetuated tomorrow and next year and the next. But in the present status of production pictures are worse, technically, than they were four or five years ago. To urge that •things are right because they are done is to argue no perception, to admit the lack of the selective faculty. Study the screen, but study it intelligently. See what is good and know why. See what is bad and know why. Avoid the bad and seek to improve upon the good. It is the only way in which advancement may be gained. That it is done every day is no excuse for your mistakes. Because it lias been done every day is the very reason why you should avoid the error you know to be so common. Study the screen, but draw your own conclusions. Close-ups. Close-ups are one of the most valuable devices of photoplay, and precisely because they are so valuable is the reason why the effect should not be overworked. Look at almost any feature and you will note how the director seeks to replace intelligence with trickery. He cannot make a good narrative production because it is beyond his intelligence, so he tries to fuss things up and make trick devices cover his lack of brains. He knows that close-ups are effective. He overworks them. He knows that irising is "pretty," so he overworks this and leaves it to the leader editor to print in the story after he gets through illustrating it. This is a poor example to follow. Instead, take scenes and practice writing close-ups. See when they are needed and when they are not. Then use them only when they will actually enhance the value of the scene and not merely as a device to cover paucity of idea. Take all your old scripts. Look them over. See if you have too few or too many close-ups. One is as bad as the other. Learn to employ just enough and no more. In time you will so thoroughly master the close-up that you will use them when you need them and at no other time, and when you do need them the want will automatically make itself felt. Close-ups are useful to isolate part of a scene, to break up a scene running too long in a set which cannot be left and to emphasize the importance of an action. L'se them for these purposes and for no other reason. That they are decorative to some extent is not an argument in favor of their overuse. Read Between the Lines. When a company advertises that it will pay fancy prices for scripts. do not utter wild shrieks of joy. Last spring a certain company advertised that it would pay as high as $75 for good comedies for a new star. The advertisement was well displayed and attracted much attention. The star lately wrote that of the material sent in becauso of this advertisement not a single story had been purchased. Many of them were good and others gave promise, but . always the man in charge had some objection to interpose and the story had to be sent back while a home-made story that cost nothing was put in work "until we find something good," and another seventy-five was saved to tho head of the company, who would rather lose his left leg than a tencent piece. Try out these advertisers if they seem to speak with sincerity, but do not place too much reliance upon the statements of an advertisement, that is not wholly intended for tho authors. Stupid. Several letters have been received from a woman correspondent who wants to make some money out of photoplays. She has discovered that she cannot steal tho ideas of other writers and offer them as her own. so now she announces that she is going to become a staff writer. She does not even know how to spell. She has a system all her own, and yet she has tho egotism to suppose that she can become a staff writer merely because she wants to. The THIRD Edition of Technique of the Photoplay IS NOW READY This is virtually a new book under the old title. More than double the text and with an arrangement especially adapting it for the student. The most complete book ever written on the subject of scenario or photoplay construction. By Mail, Postpaid Three Dollars Address all orders direct to nearest office. THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD Schiller Building, Chicago. III. 17 Madison Ave., New York City Haae Building, Loi Angelas. CaJ.