Technique of the photoplay (1916)

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PART VI GENERAL INFORMATION UNDER this head are gathered those matters having a bearing on photoplay writing and selling, but not of themselves con- cerned with plot or form. An effort has been made to antici- pate and reply to questions the author is likely to ask, and it is be- lieved that the ground has been covered with reasonable thorough- ness. For matters not treated under chapter heads, the student is referred to the unasked questions in the appendix. CHAPTER LXII A COURSE OF STUDY THIS, then, is the technique of the photoplay, the technique of form, of construction, of creation. The rest remains with you. 2. The great teacher is experience. You would not purchase a text-.book on electricity and after a single reading expect to be able to build dynamos and motors, to wire buildings and install telephone systems. No more can you read this or any other book through and expect at once to write plays that will sell. First you must study the rule and then learn, through experience, to apply it. 3. Do not think that it is sufficient to read this volume through once or even many times. Study it. Absorb every fact and not the fact alone, but the reason for that fact. In the schoolroom you did not merely glance through your grammar. You studied the rules and then you practiced the application of those rules. You analyzed sentences, the relation of each word to the others, until, at the end, you acquired an instinctive application of the rules. You not only learned to speak the language correctly, but you knew why you were correct. It is the same way with photoplay. Having the rules, yom must learn to apply them; to pick apart plays and perceive the relation of the scenes to each other. 4. Do not believe the misleading statements contained in the adver- tisements of self-styled schools which declare that any ,boy or girl can learn to write photoplays. Give no heed to statements such as one that declared that one could begin to write photoplays within three hours after receipt of instructions. It cannot be done. A rea- 305