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WRITING THE SCREEN PLAY 177
screen-play writer is given a cubbyhole office, a typewriter, and a I sheaf of clean white paper, and is told to get to work on his treatment and, eventually, his screen play.
Then, by a process that borders on osmosis, if the writer is experienced in research, he manages to garner a heap of information regarding the screen writer's craft from other screen writers, from assistant directors, from producers, even from secretaries who often know more about screen-play writing than many writers for whom they are working. Also, he will obtain a pile of old scripts and pore over them for clues. Then he will arrange for screening of finished pictures, often of those made from the scripts he has already read. Gradually, by an extensive series of trial and error attempts, some of the fundamentals of his newly chosen craft may begin to seep in.
He will try to buttress his findings by going onto a shooting stage to watch pictures being shot. If he is genuinely concerned with learning, he will ask questions of the director— provided he finds one who is sympathetic and co-operative— the cameraman, the assistant director, and even of the grips, whose knowledge of picture i making, though circumscribed by the limits of their own craft, often exceeds that of a great many who are supposedly more experienced in matters cinematic.
By observing the many rehearsals necessary before a take is made, and the many retakes before an OK take is shot, the learner should be able to get an idea of some of the dialogue faults to avoid. He should be able to learn a little about camera angles and, particularly, he should become aware of the patent advantage of showing a scene in action, rather than of telling it in dialogue.
If he is personable enough, and willing enough, and happens on a camera crew that is co-operative, he may even be permitted to squint through the camera "finder," which is a sort of square telescope with a ground glass viewer at one end, that will enable him to see just what the picture frame will contain, and thus discover the possibilities and limitations of the motion-picture frame, as it is affected by varying distances and lenses in order to make a close-up, a medium shot, or a long shot.
What, then, are the practical details of screen-play writing techniques? From now on, we shall explore and examine all aspects, define them, give examples, and try to fit them into a pattern which,