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

final climax is almost immediately resumed and heightened. In "For Husbands Only," considering the story from scene 183, where Toni telephones to Van, the main line of suspense starts. We see the newly-married girl flirting with a man that we know to be danger- ous and ruthless. We see them make an appointment and we begin to fear for Toni's loyalty and safety. This suspense continues until in scene 219 Toni's note to Samuel is revealed to us and then we realize that she is merely playing a game. Here the suspense "lets down" for a brief period, but when, a short time later, we see Toni invite Van to call at her home during Samuel's absence, our fears for her are re- sumed and the suspense begins to heighten again. So, from situation to situation throughout the story, the suspense rises and falls, and yet the central thought that Van may eventually succeed in winning Toni, car- ries along with it the main line of suspense that is not relieved until the apex of the final climax is reached and Samuel says, "I slept through the whole darn show!" 17. Throughout this middle portion of the photoplay we must continue to re- member that we are dealing with action and not dialogue or description. We must keep screen values constantly before us. We must visualize our story as it is to appear before our eyes upon the screen. 18. All novels, stage plays and photoplays have similar fundamentals of con- struction and yet the important differences must ever be in our thoughts. It is not at all unusual to become so absorbed in the movement of a story that its screen values may be overlooked and it may wander oflE into book or stage material. The constant use of visualization and the never-ceasing realization that a screen story must be told in action and not in words will assist the photoplaj'wright to avoid such pitfalls. At the same time throughout the building of the story attention must be given to all of the other fundamentals that have been mentioned in preceding chapters. 19. Our characters must be kept human and natural. There must be a legiti- mate motive for everything that occurs. Every event, every bit of action must be possible and plausible and yet these things need never be a burden if careful study is given to the various vita! points of construction before the student starts to create a story. The knowledge thus absorbed will become second nature and the work will proceed smoothly and without running into puzzling blind-alleys. THE END. 20. Having passed through the beginning and middle of the story we approach the end. This later portion of the photoplay involves the climax and the termina- tion with which the whole story "fades out." This climax should be dramatic and definite. It should be the natural result of all that has gone before. In "For Hus- bands Only," the situation in which Samuel, Toni and Van find themselves, after Samuel has returned from the presentation of Van's play, forms a highly final crisis and the climax that grows out of this is of an intense dramatic quality. Aside from this it is final. When Van leaves the house and Toni casts herself, sobbing, into Samuel's arms, we know that all the unpleasantness arising from Van's pursuit of Toni is over. 21. The difficulty of reaching a climax that is at the same time definite and dramatic is realized by William Archer, when he says, "But how few crises come to a definite or dramatic conclusion. Nine times out of ten they end in some petty com- promise or do not end at all, but simply subside like the waves of the sea when the storm has blown itself out. It is the playwright's chief difficulty to find a crisis with an ending that satisfies at once his artistic conscience and the requirements of dramatic effect." 83