Palmer plan handbook; photoplay writing, simplified and explained (1919)

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DOUBT MUST BE MAINTAINED. 17. In sustaining suspense, never allow the final outcome to become obvious or apparent, for the moment that the audience "sees through" a story, interest is lost and the entertaining qualities diminish. Suspense may be physical, or it may be more of a mental nature, involving the state of mind of a character. Under the head of mental suspense, we may find such themes as a man tempted to commit a theft, battling with the impulse, swayed between right and wrong; or a girl who hesitates between "the easiest way" and the straight and narrow path of virtue, but the two, physical and mental suspense, are so intermingled and necessary to each other that the dis- tinction is of too academic a nature to be of consequence to the elementary student. It is enough to realize fully that suspense is an indispensable element of photoplay construction and its skillful manipulation is one of the most valuable assets that a photoplaywright may hope to possess. 18. Careful judgment must be used in avoiding the possibility of carrying sus- pense too far. Henry Albert Phillips, in "The Photodrama," saj's pertinently: "The instant that the photoplaywright feels that suspense is being overstrained, he should bring it to a close. The minor incidents of suspense are not closed, however, until they have disposed of themselves by contributing an element of suspense to the main theme that will be felt in the climax itself, for, after all, suspense is merely a sus- pension of the climax; each suspension is marked by a crisis, or minor climax. We sustain interest by suspending the climax. 19. "In drama nothing should be left to motiveless chance, or raw coincident. Suspense is a promissorj' note to the audience that the culmination they have been waiting for is worth while, and not a hoax by the author or a termination by an 'act of God.' Suspense is much stronger than mere expectation. We m.ay say that expecta- tion is the hope that something will happen; suspense is the fear that something may or may not happen. Suspense is not always occasioned by the emotional strain of the character; that is only tension of action. If there is an emotional strain on the audience, then there is sheer suspense." *6