Picture Play Magazine (Oct-Nov 1915)

PICTURE-PLAY WEEKLY 31 of a finished statue, every element in its proper place, and the result a finished entirety, and every part being recognizable as a needed factor in the resultant product. Eighth, there being no dialogue in the photo drama, this factor is replaced by registration. In the stage drama the dialogue tells the story that the action makes compulsory. In the silent drama the action itself must tell the story, and it must be made to register the idea which you wish to convey to an ordinary audience with perfect clarity. Don't have your characters enter into lengthy conversations ; the audience does not know of what they are talking. Make the action tell your story, and make it register that which you wish to convey. Ninth, action, more action, and nothing but action, grind the fact into the brain until it is a part of you. It is the basis of the expression of the moving picture. Without it there is no play. But action must be construed in the right sense. The action must be compulsory and promote the plot toward its culmination. It does not mean that people dash madly in and out of the picture ; that is physical action. It means the play itself, and the only method available in the silent drama by which a play can be told to your audience. Make your action tell your story. Forget leaders. Use them when absolutely necessary, but remember the action is the medium between the screen and the audience. Tenth, continuity, that element which makes for a clear idea of the play and the movements of your characters, should be carefully studied and adhered, to. Don't lose your characters and keep them always before your audience's mind. Make the play one continuous action, working slowly but surely upward, step by step, toward the topmost peak of your plot action, the climax. Make it a finished whole, each part in its proper place, like a gigantic puzzle, and don't jump around to three or four subplots. Stick to one basic plot, and keep the entire play visualized before you as you build. We might add another commandment — that of character. Learn to draw shade lines between your characters. Try for a contrast. Try to make your characterizations clever and true to the character in the play and to the under lying psychological emotions that govern that character toward the destiny he or she is working out. We have only touched the so-called ten commandments, and really only scratched the surface. Photo-play writing is not an art ; it is not a pastime or a fad. It is a business. Learn your business just as you would learn any other, and don't expect to sit down for an hour, after having read a book on photo-play writing, and turn out a masterpiece. If you do, it will only be a lucky stroke. Work, study, practice, learn, and endeavor to master your business. Answers to Readers. M. E. Pankhurst. — Do not send two copies of the same script out at once. If both companies accepted the script what would you do? A writer of four months certainly does stand a chance to sell if he has ideas. That is what the companies want, and it makes no difference how long you have been in the game if you have them. J. F. Smith. — Leaders or subtitles do not have to be numbered as scenes are. It is true they have to be photographed, but this is done entirely apart from the actual filming of the scene action. When you wish to follow a moving object, such as you describe, viz., a fireman climbing the fire escape, it is far better to have a panorama scene than two separate views of him ; unless some action cuts in between the time he starts and the time he reaches the designated spot. Of course, the camera has limitations, and these must be studied on the screen and kept in mind when writing a screen of this kind. Live-wire Market Hints. The Eastern Universal Film Manufacturing Company's scenario department seems to be overstocked with scripts, judging from the rejection slips several of our readers have received. Two-reel society plays and one-reel animal stories will find a possible market with the Selig Polyscope Company, 58 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois. The animal pictures, however, must offer more than the mere presentation of animals walking through a scene, as all of this company's animal plays are noted for their unusual plots and thrilling action in which animals actively figure. FILM FLAMS. By Dean Bowman. DROPERTY at Glendale, Long Island, *■ has been purchased by Mirror Films, Incorporated, and arrangements are being made to turn it into studios for the use of that concern at once. Work is being rushed on the large additions under construction to the Popular Players' studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and it is hoped to have them completed soon. Triangle is constructing new studio plants at Culver City and Edendale, California, and it is in the minds of the executives to add a new plant somewhere near New York City. Five new automobiles have been added to the Lasky equipment on the coast, making a total of ten machines now available for picture-making purposes. Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle, of dancing fame, will be presented upon the screen at the Globe Theater in a photodrama romance, entitled "The Whirl of Life." THE "VULCAN" INK PENCIL Fully guaranteed. Made right to write right. Lasts a lifetime. Highly polished mbber and safety lock cap. Absolutely nor, %\ leasable. A useful gift. Red or black. Long or short M. J. K. ULLRICH & CO., 27 Thames Street, New York Typewriter prices smashed. Underwoods, RemingXone, Royals, _ L. C. Smiths, Fox, etc. — yonrl choice of any standard factory I rebuilt machine at a bargain. I Every one perfect and gtiaran I teed for 3 years — including all repairs.' 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