The soul of the moving picture (1924)

Record Details:

Title:
The soul of the moving picture
Date:
1924
Publisher:
New York : E. P. Dutton & Company
Volume:
The soul of the moving picture
Leaf #:
000228
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
August 22, 2024
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160 The Soul of the Moving Picture the screen. The splendor of an Oriental temple, the half of a whole army, was conjured up and visualized — but there was no suspense. We smiled at the pomp of it, and remained perfectly cool and calm. If the people en masse cry for a gala scene in every other picture, well and good. Give it to them! It is your duty and your task. But do what lies in your power to animate even these scenes; try to make even these fit into the action, just as a powerful crescendo movement of the orchestra fits into the music that is being played. In the average film every group scene — parades, carnivals, mysteries — is a stop-gap of the action. Suspense has nothing to do with decoration or scenery. The gigantic raging of gigantic battle scenes is very rarely a source of dramatic suspense. As a matter of fact, strategy is quite rarely effective in a film. Suspense is almost always concentrated in or around just a few individuals. That suspense which is produced through external, unpsychic means is generally pretty cheap. One runs for his life; ten are after him. Will he escape? If he can run faster than the ten, yes. If he can shoot into the whole group of his pursuers and locate his shots with efficiency, yes. But when this sort of means is resorted to, the motion