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DRAMATURGY 41
a coincidental happenstance, but by his own devices. It must be his own strength and ingenuity that result in the solving of his problem. The long bow of coincidence twangs inharmoniously when the marines just happen to be around, or when the hero accidentally discovers a ladder in the manhole.
Someone to root for. It is necessary, first of all, to present the characters so that they will gain the sympathy and interest of the audience. Without an understandable and sympathetic character, there can be no audience interest. If there is no interest, then there can be no anxiety for that character's present and future. Few people can attend a horse race, for example, without placing a bet on a horse, even if it's one chosen at random. This gives the bettor a horse to root for in the race, a horse in whose immediate future the bettor becomes vitally interested.
The motion-picture onlookers must be vitally concerned with the character if they are to be expected to root for him and with him in his struggle to achieve his ends, or to overcome his difficulties, or to solve his problems. Once this interest is created— once this link of sympathy is welded— then it is a simple step for the audience to suffer the tenseness that accompanies temporary setbacks or moments of indecision and uncertainty.
These moments of indecision, however, can be created only when your hero is opposed by a force that is either more puissant than he, or is his mental or physical equal. Doubt as to the outcome of any conflict— which creates suspense— can result only when the opposing forces are equally aligned, or when the evil force appears certain to have the upper hand.
Story-line suspense can be achieved in many ways. With the combined factors of the visual and the verbal available to the screenplay writer, the possibilities are increased tremendously.
Write— don't telegraph. At no time, though, should the audience be given an inkling of exactly what is going to happen. They can be teased with vague presentiments, with indefinite suggestions, and at times even with misleading clues— a favorite dodge of the master, Hitchcock— but never with telegraphing, suspense-killing giveaways of the climactic action that is to come.
Anything the audience sees but which it is unable to understand