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142 ACTION AND BY-PLAY In all of your scenes you can, if you can do so without making it evi- dent that you are dragging the facts in, allude to John's love for Mary, to Lucy's love for Henry, to Henry's desire for ^Slary or to Lucy's con- dition. All of these facts are more or less closely knit. You may have, for example, the leader and scene: Leader —John warns Henry to keep away from Mary, 54. Fence by road —John at gate—Henry comes along road—John calls him—Henry approaches—masks his fear by swagger—John speaks—Henry shows relief—he was afraid Lucy had told— manner becomes more truculent—he will do as he pleases—John grows angry—threatens to strike Henry—Lucy appears in back- ground—fearful—John raises his arm to strike—Lucy rushes between the two—John puts her aside gently—Henry snaps his fingers in John's face—swaggers off. with a careless nod to Lucy—John starts to follow—Lucy prevents—John explains— Lucy shows her relief. Here the scene fact is that John tells Henry to keep away from ]Mary. This is clearly and strongly told. At the same time we get dramatic value from our previous knowledge of the relations between Lucy and Henry and our fear that here the secret will be let out. This is not an- nounced as a part of the fact, but the previously announced facts are made use of to heighten interest in a scene that otherwise might mere- ly read: 54. Fence by road —John at gate—calls Henry, who is passing— tells him to keep away from Mary—Henry says he'll do as he pleases. Introducing Lucy and Henry's fear that John knows gives a stronger value to the scene without in the least confusing the mind. The fact is told in the leader. The scene as shown in the second version merely illustrates the leader. With the more ample action through the use of other facts we get a vital scene in place of a perfunctory one. 17. Knowing that Henry has wronged Lucy, we can understand his action when John calls him. Also we feel a greater contempt for him because he is content to hide behind her later on. Now if we carry this on by showing that Henry goes from John and Lucy to try and intercept ]Mary, we get him still more disliked and presently he will be so cordially hated that we feel the killing to be justified by the moral law if not the law of the land. 18. Action, by which is meant the action of the plot and not the acting of the players, tells the direct story. By-play is acted action that while not required in the direct recital of the plot gives the side lights which serve to bring out more clearly the character of the personages and adds value to the story as a whole. 19. Writing a photoplay in action is not merely the recording of such movements as will tell the story. It is the recording of the plot fac- tors in action plus a skillful handling of the by-play. It is seldom that the plain narrative is thoroughly interesting. It has the quality of being made interesting, but it can be given this interest only