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36 A PRACTICAL MANUAL OF SCREEN PLAYWRITING
available makes it imperative that the writer know his minor characters thoroughly, so that though presented briefly, they are believable.
Subplots
Contrast is necessary in every art form. In painting, warm colors are contrasted with cool ones. In motion-picture writing, the good is contrasted with the bad, the slow with the speedy, and the rich with the poor. There must always be some means of comparison, some frame of reference, if any quality, good or bad, is to be presented truthfully and effectively.
That is why in all dramatic forms subplots are resorted to as foils for the main plot. Shakespeare was addicted to far too many of them, which accounts, at times, for the confusion in his plays, especially his comedies. When he hews to the story line, as in Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare's art is seen at its best.
Basically, a subplot is a divagation from the main story line, concerning minor characters whose doings are tied in with the main story line and with the actions of the major characters.
Integrate subplots. To be most effective, a subplot must be integrated into the main story line. It must contribute to its development, influence its crises, or affect its climax. In many screen plays this is accomplished by having the minor characters in the subplot involved as friends of the major characters. Thus, the girl in the story usually has a wisecracking girl friend who, while the heroine is involved with her own young man, is also having romantic complications, in a subplot. That is a basic formula.
Variations are unlimited, their freshness being in direct ratio to the creative ability of the screen-play writer. But the girl friend's subplot must be integrated with the heroine's main story line so that its developments are contributory, in some way, to the developments of the main story line. The wider the divergence between the two the less correlation there will be, and an element of confusion will be introduced that will destroy unity and coherence and make for utter confusion in the audience.