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DRAMATURGY 43
minor characters or subplots are introduced for suspense effects, a return must be made to the major story line at the end of the story and they too must be paid off.
The telegram fashioned into the shape of an airplane in Reed's The Fallen Idol flies lazily through space, lands at the detective's feet, and is then kicked about by him. But eventually he picks it up. After he creates a terrific amount of suspense by fingering it idly, unfolding it casually, and then glancing only at its contents, he pays off the gimmick by revealing to Baynes, the accused butler, that he has read the contents of the telegram, thus upsetting the butler's chief alibi.
This element of suspense must be introduced into the synopsis first. Later on, in the screen play, it can be developed further by the judicious use of angles and shots. Film editing can add tremendously to suspense. These methods will be dealt with in their respective sections. But here the fact must be stressed that the element of suspense is vital to the synopsis story— love story as well as mystery, comedy as well as tragedy.
Suspense tricks. There are innumerable little tricks that can be introduced later on, in the treatment and in the screen play, that can add a fillip of suspense.
1. The entrance through a door of someone other than the one expected.
2. The tire blowout, machine breakdown, or any minor accident.
3. The messenger or emissary delayed by a casual stop engendered by curiosity, arranged for or otherwise.
4. The ignoring of an important letter, package, or any other vital item, by a number of people who could profit were they to stop, recognize, and identify it.
These and many other similar devices— anything, in fact, that interrupts what appears to be the inevitable— are all legitimate tricks that can be adopted and adapted for suspense purposes.
Fight against time. One of the most effective and most often used of such devices for sustaining suspense in motion pictures is the so-called "fight against time." This is so because it contains all the virtues of movement, of violent action and reaction so essential to the forward flow of a good motion picture.