The technique of the photoplay ([c1913])

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142 TECHNIQUE OF THE PHOTOPLAY guests of the hotel. Ethel is in love with the son. Aunt Amanda objects. Peitro is first introduced because Peter Lang, who played the part, was the star of the production, otherwise the scene showing the kitchen might have been used as a break between the present two and four. About scene twelve we want to show a new side of Peitro. We will take him out of the kitchen whites and show him in street attire. To see him on the street might have been sufficient, but scene twelve performs two services. It shows the change in the man and it brings him into sixteen with the suggestion of the kitchen still fresh in mind. At first glance the novice might consider that scene unessential and put in merely to fill out the picture, but it will be seen that it really performs two important purposes. We note, too, that between twelve and sixteen there are two actions carried along; the ride of Harry and Ethel, advancing their love affair, and the walk of Aunt Amanda. In the time re- quired to show these brief scenes there is plenty of time for Peitro to have reached the park for his encounter with Aunt Amanda. To take him out of the kitchen and into the park would have been too abrupt, but by filling in with other and essential action we cover this lapse of time while holding the interest of the audience. We have under discussion a correctly planned play, one that was accorded an unusual amount of praise and which was selected on that account, but in examining your own script you will probably find that the addition or subtraction of a scene or the transposition of one or more scenes will make a decided improvement in your work if you take each scene by itself in relation to the other scenes and do not merely read the story as a whole. The story should lead from a simple incident to the crowning incident of the play by a gradual ascent. The outline of your story should suggest an inclined plane rather than the profile of a roller coaster track. If you find that you have too much sag, build it up, if an early scene stands out too strongly, tone it down or put it where it belongs. In dramatic construction it is sometimes planned to have a fall in the dramatic action just before the climax, but it is better in photoplay to plan the gradual advance. There is a third factor to be studied, the characters themselves. Do they belong in the story and do they fit each other? Is your heroine -worthy of the trouble you are taking in her behalf ? You cannot get your audiences interested in a silly little fool. Is your hero of the proper sort? No one cares for a spineless hero