TH E V E NU S OF M IL O

Se e I n d e x.
 T H E A RT O F
PH O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

V I C T O R O S C A R FR E E B U R G , PH D . .

A u th o r of
“
D i sgu i se Pl ots i n E liz ab e th an D rama

Th e i
al t e ra t o ns o f s c en es , so

i t b e q u e t ly a n d wi th o u t n o is e .
i
a re t h i ng s of g r e a t b e a u ty a n d

p l e as u re ; f or th e y fe e d a nd

re l i ev e th e e ye .
”

FR A N CI S B Acoist

flurk New
TH E M A C M I L L A N CO M PAN Y
1918

All ri g h ts res erved

 CO PYR I G H T, 1918

BY THE MA CM I L L AN C O M PAN Y
Se t c
u p an d e le t roty pd
e .
 F O RE WO R D

Y ou 0
,
reader o f the divine average and I o ften , ,
”
disgusted by th e movies have sworn that we wo uld ,

never again go to see them But directly our solemn .

,

decision was made we discovered that we c ould not

,

keep our children or our grandparents away ; so we had

to break our vows and go again to see what our dear
ones were seeing .

N o w since we c annot stop going to the motion pi c

,

ture theatres let us find out as soon as possible which

,

photoplays are ugl y and whi ch are not so ugly ; or

, ,

put it th e other way which are fair and which are

, ,

more bea uti ful That mean s a little discussion The

. .

kiddi es and the old folks and you an d I will all j oin
in an d i f we make th e discus sio n loud enough and can
,

decide what we really like and want maybe the ex ,

hi b i to rs and the manu facturers an d the direc tors and

, , ,

the scenario writers will pay atten tion .

In ord er to make my end o f the discu ssion as loud

as possible I have se t it down in this book S ome o f .

these ideas I have in f act already expressed publicl y

, , ,

in a series o f lectures delivered at Columbia U niversit y

between the autumn o f 1 9 1 5 and the spring o f 1 9 1 7 ,

and in newspa p e r articles published during the same

period in S unday editions o f Th e N ew Y ork Ti m es ,

Th e N e wY ork S u n and Th e M orni ng Te legraph

, .

There are at least three other books which should be

at han d and open The first i s M r E p e s Winthrop
. .

4 3 6 06 0
 F O RE W O R D
S argent s Te ch ni q ue of th e Ph otop lay which dis c usses
’

the practi cal side o f pl ot building scenario writing , ,

and photoplay filming ; the second i s the late Hugo

M uen ste rb e rg s Th e Ph ot op lay which analyzes the
’

laws o f the hu man mind in connection with the motion

picture ; and the third is M r V achel L indsay s A rt of
.
’

th e M owi ng Pi c tu re which makes it perfectly clear that

,

a motion picture i f prope rly thought ou t and manu

,

f a ctured will contain the kind o f beauty which we

,

used to look for only in paintings and sculpture .

The prod ucers have hired publicity men who publish

little articles about the photoplays in the newspapers .

These little articles are camouflaged so as to look like

criticisms but they deceive no on e ; even the tiny chil
,

dren know th a t they are really advertisements They .

are no more true than the stupendous stulti fying ,

statements on the bill posters o f P T Barnum s three . .

’

ringed circus .

A fter all j ust why should these publicity men tell us

,
’
what they want us to want ? Why shouldn t we ou r
selves tell them what we really want ?
V O F . . .

U S N av a l Training C am p
. .

Pelh am Bay Park

January 2 8 1 9 1 8 ,
 CO N TEN TS
A
CH PTER
I TH E N E W AR T
II TH E P S YC H O L O G Y O F TH E C I N E M A AU D IE NC E
III PI C TO RIAL CO M P O SITI O N I N S TA TI C FO R M S
IV P I C T O RIAL CO M P O SITI O N I N FLU E N T FO R M S
V CA M ER A M A GI O
VI TH E A PPEAL To TH E I M AGI N ATI O N
VI I S Y M B O LIS M A ND A LLEGO R Y
VI II D RA M ATI Z I N G A N AT U RAL S ETTI N G
IX W O RD S O N T H E S C REE N
" S C REE N CO M EDY
XI TH E D E LI N EATI O N O F C H ARA CTER
XI I D RA M ATI C A PPEAL
XIII TH E C O N STR U C TI O N O F A P LO T
" IV C O M M ER C IAL N EED S

I LLU S TRATI O N S O F G OO D O R BAD

P I CT O RIAL C O MP O S ITI O N
V NU E S D I M ILO
TH D IS C U S T H O W
E R ER

A P O LLO A ND T H E M U SES
TH S C ARLET W O M A N
E

W H AT W ILL PEO PLE S A Y ?

AU D RE Y ”
 C O N TE N T S
A
P GE
D IPLO M A CY
TH E M AS K ED R I D ER
TH E A N GE L U S
”

CAR M E N
S WEET K ITT Y B E L L A I RS
CAR M E N
A U DREY
 I L L U STRA TI O N S

The Venus of M ilo Frontis pi e c e

P A OI N G
PAGE

The D iscus Thrower 3 0

Ap ollo an d the M uses

What Will Peop le Say ?

The S ca rlet Woman

Audrey

D i p lomacy

Th e M asked Rider

The Angelus

Carm en

S weet K itty B ellairs

Carmen 1 49

Audrey
 T H E A RT O F
PH O T O PL AY M A KIN G

CH APT E R I
TH E N EW A RT

IT is a c ommon error to j udge the photoplay by the

standards o f the stage drama and to condemn i t be
,

c ause i t c annot do exactl y what the stage drama can

do That the photoplay is Silent and practically word
.

less i s a fact but thi s fact is really no more to be de

,

p lo re d than that sculpture i s without colouring and that

music is invisible The man who deals with facts
.

instead o f prej udi c es must c onsider the limitations O f

the respective arts not as de fects b ut as di fferentiating
, ,

qualities .

When we examine the photoplay as an art medium

we discover that it inherits something from each O f
the elder art s and yet di ff ers essentially from them
,

all Thus although a cinematic composition is a play

.

O f Silent pi c tures and not O f spoken words it inherits

,

from stage drama the power O f delineating human

characters in a series o f actions interpreted by actors .

It inherits from the art O f acting and from stage pan

t om i m e some o f the methods O f this visual presenta
tion : yet the photoplay because O f its ubiquity o f set
,

ting and its hundreds o f screen devi c es has a flexibility

,
2 OF P HO T O P LA Y M A K I N G

which permits the representation O f stories that no

dramatist or director O f stage pantomime would ever
dream o f undertaking .

It inherits something too from masques and p a , ,

O f O f
’

g ea n t s G ri.ffith s mobilization large masses peo

ple f or dramatic e ff ect on the screen may recall to some
historian the visual appeal and dramatic power O f a
thousand trained mummers in a Roman triumph o r a
mediaeval masque N O doubt Gri ffith might have
.

much to learn from these splendid forms O f art i f they

c ould be conj ured Up f or him to se e B ut the d i fi e r
’

en c e between crowds in a masque or in real l i fe and

crowds on the screen may be in ferred from G ri ffi th s ’

own words ta ken from an interview with him c on

,

c erning h i s work at the western battle fronts He .

said N 0 single human being has ever actually seen

a battle in the present war What the general .

sees plus what his colonels s ee and what his maj ors
, ,

see and the captains lieutenants sergeants c orporals

, , , ,

and privates se e added up would give a fair idea o f

, ,

what great modern battles look like In other words .

,

it takes eyes to see such a battle and no l iving ,

creature has that many eyes O nl y the motion picture .

”
c amera has eyes .

The photoplay inherits much from the art o f paint

ing The essential feature O f the motion picture is
.
,

o f course that it actually records and transmits visible

,

motion And the photopla y as su c h i s a single compo

.

sitio u O f these pictorial motions The cinema com .

poser is the artist W h o conceives these motions orig

i n ally relates t h em mentally to each other in some
,

definite unity prescribes and directs their production

, ,

and finally unites the cinematographed re c ords into a

 THE N E W A RT .

film an d i f the principles O f pictorial composition have

,

been applied in the making this film will reveal pi c,

t ori al beauty when proj ected on the s c reen .

To this statement some painter ma y repl y N on ,

sense we painters have the monopoly O f pictorial

,

beauty . L e t him say what he pleases so long as he ,

does not hide his paintings under a bushel because ,

from those paintings or from the masterpie c es o f c en

,

t u ri es gone by the c inema c omposer may learn the

,

principles o f pictorial composition And even though .

,

these principles ma y not be altered by a new u se they ,

will in the hands o f the cinema composer produ c e pi c

to ri al beauty o f a new type .

Even sculpture may be sear ched for its se c ret o f

appeal and the secret told to the makers o f photoplays
, .

I s not s c ulptu re impressive mainl y for the reason

that the appreciator inspec ts it from many angles
and many distances un til c le am e ss and emphasi s t e
sult from the repetition o f e fl ect s o r meanings
’ ? Rep
e t i t i on is also the fundamental means o f emphasis in

music And as music i s a movement o f ever arising

.
,

ever vanishing sounds with c ertain recurring moti fs ,

SO a cinematic c om o s I t i o n ma y e ffe ctively be a move

p
ment O f ever arising ever vanishing vi sual v alues with
, ,

c ertain recurring picto rial moti fs .

The photoplay fu rther inherits or adapts the meth

’
ods o f the novelist It is the novelist s privilege to fol
.

low his characters wherever they go no matter how ,

o ften the scene ma y Shi ft This too i s the privilege

.
, ,

o f the cinema c omposer The camera may follow the

.

hero indoors and out into lonely places o r crowded

,

streets into peace ful privacy or public broil unti l the

, ,

audien c e virtually behind the camera are made inti

, ,
4 TH E ART OF P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

mately acquainted with him and become eagerl y inter

e st e d in his career .

The novelist resorts to words and the stage director

,

resorts to paint and canvas in order t o reproduce the

,

various settings which constitute the hero s environ ’

ment But the cinema composer may go directly to the

.

natural setting and bring it back to his audience m ys ,

t e ri o u sly real yet operative as an element in art

, And .
,

for the first time in the history o f narrative representa

tion nature hersel f may be made to play an important
,

rOle. Real settings may further be manipulated in the

photoplay so that architecture and landscape garden
ing are brought to j oin their artistic e ffect with the
main pi c torial and dramatic impression o f the pla y .

Hence a photoplay is not to be considered a novel

,

in celluloid A recent review in the N ew Y ork H erald

.

L es M is erab les a motion

“
contains the statement : ,

picture drama adapted from the epic novel o f Vi c tor

Hugo was presented at the L yric Theatre a fter several
,

months o f preparation The photoplay probably is as

.

close an approach to literature as has been aecom

”
p l i sh e d o n the screen D.oes this reviewer look upon
a photoplay as art or as commer c ial imitation ? I f
he were commenting on a piece of sculpture would he
praise it because it was probably as close an approach
to painting as had been accomplished in marble ?
Besides the more o r less obvious inheritances from
the elder arts the motion picture play h as o f course , ,

its own unique powers powers that are newly d i scov

,

ered and still being tested The mysterious appeal o f

.

visible motion in nature i s now for the first time being

adapted to the uses o f art The supernatural which
.
,

has been written about in poetry and fiction and talked

~ ,
 TH E N E W A RT 5

ab out in plays is now for the first time exhibited be

,

fore our eyes through the magic o f the cinematograph .

Thus we shall s ee that a photoplay i s a very compli

ca te d thing involving many elements o f expression
,

and many pri n ciples o f composition To select and .

control all these elem ents to learn and apply all these
,

principles requires a mind o f extraordinary patience

, ,

alert ness and ingenuity But i f the n umerous parts

, .

that go into a photoplay can be welded by the fire o f

genius into a harmonious whole the result may be a ,

piece o f art It may contain entertainment or beauty

.
, ,

or truth or inspiration or all o f these for the audience

, , , ,

an d it may in its peculiar composition reveal the taste

and temperament o f its composer .

N ow i f this piece o f a rt is neithe r literature nor ,

stage drama nor painting nor sculpture nor music

, , , ,

nor architecture but something else distinct from these

, ,

arts though a ffiliated with them it must be j udged and

, ,

appraised as a new art But there can be no fai r ap

.

rai se m e n t without knowledge There can be no help

p .

ful criticism o f a new art without sympathetic insight

into its special scope and its unique possibilities What .

the photoplay world needs at present i s more definite

canons o f criticism It needs critics o f taste and train
.

ing expressing themselves in the periodical s and news

papers ; i t needs care ful studies in book form ; it needs
photoplay leagues ; it needs to be protected against the
inartistic no less than against the immoral ; it needs
most o f all something which will in time result from
the c onstructive c riticis m o f specialists a general ,

knowledge and understanding on the part o f the pub

lic o f j ust what it is they would r a ther se e on the screen
than the inanity and hodgepodge that now so o ften
6 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

claim thei r attention There is no doubt that the pub

.

lic can be trusted to form good taste providing it i s

giv en something good to taste In the future it may
.

be that any given photoplay w ill be re film e d over and

-

over again until something like per fe c tion results It .

may be too that the motion pi c ture machine will take

, ,

its place in our homes along with the phonograph °

but this will not come until films be c ome worthy o f

repeated exhibition as favorite art treasures .

The photoplay as art is twenty five hundred years

-

y ounger than the stage play It is still in its in fanc y ;

.

and in fancy i s the age o f experimentation W hether.

this experimentation shall be intelligently dire c ted to

ward the end o f mature potentiality depends on the
united e ff orts o f authors c riti c s and casual ap p re ci at
, ,

o rs .
8 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

of the per formance and can never exist again once it

has been broken up a fter the particular per form ance
for which it came together The close contact is spirit .

u al as well as physical Y ou not only touch el b ows

.

with your neighbour and l ive in h i s atmosphere but you

are in fected by h i s emotions and Share his desires pur ,

poses reactions This close contact gives the crowd a

, .

peculiar psychology The individual in the crowd i s

.

not the same as when alone He is subc onsciously i n .

fl ue n ce d by h i s companions o r neighbours until h i s emo

tions are heightened and his desire o r ability to think
i s lowered H e laughs more easily and at less comic
.

things in a crowd than when he is alone In the crowd .

he is more responsive more demonstrative more kind

, , ,

more cruel more sentimental more religious more

, , ,

patriotic more unreasoning more gullible than when

, ,

alone A crowd there fore i s more emotional and less

.
, ,

intelle c tual than its members were before they c ame to

gether .

While the crowd i s Single minded the publi c is many -

minded The public may be looked upon as a vast

.

web like association o f unified groups families cliques

-
, , ,

coteries leagues clubs and crowds A crowd can

, , , .

never exist as Such for more than three o r four hours

at a time o r while the close contact is maintained and
,

the Single interest i s held But a public may have space .

between its units and time between i ts sessions Fur .

th e rm ore the public is permanent in its existence

,
I ts .

groups c ome in contact though not Simultaneously ; ,

views are exchanged discussions are carried on let

, ,

ters are written until as a result o f all this reflection a

,

deliberate expression is arrived at This deliberate .

expression i s called public opinion .

 P S YC H O L O GY O F TH E A U D IE NC E 9

But a crowd by i t s very nature never has time to re

flect It must decide and act on instinct or impulse or
.
,

at best on the first flash o f thought A fter that crowd

, .

has been broken up the individuals may upon re fl e c

,

tion reverse their decisions These second thoughts .

,

these mature j udgments may then become a part o f

public opinion I t happens there fore very o ften that
.

—
, ,

political orators we need mention no names — can

sway crowds but cannot sway the public It happens .

too that a play may be applauded by three or fi fteen or

fi fty crowds an d yet not finally make for itsel f a pub
lic This is so be cause the crowd grasps at the ob
.

v i o us an d immediate becaus e it is impressed b y

,

sur face values But a play cannot become a perma

.

nent possession o f civilizati on unless its values are

deep fundam ental vi tal subtle and pe rmanent ; unless
, , , , ,

in Short it will stand the test o f study and time

, .

Classic stage plays such as M ac be th or Th e S ch ool

f or S c a nd a l or L ad y W i nd e rm e re s Fa n have sto o d ’

this test and have thei r public who will attend a per ,

f o rm an c e whether done by college dramatic society ,

society amateurs or t h e best pro fessional talent And

, .
,

through thei r masterpieces dramatists like S hake ,

speare S heridan Wilde S haw M aeterlinck and

, , , , ,

Barrie have their public who will be interested in any

,

play no matter how obscure or in ferior attributed

, ,

to these authors But in the brie f history o f the

.

photoplay no scen a rio w riter has succeeded in w inning

a p ublic It is t rue that M r G ri ffith has a public ; but
. .

he is a director and producer as w ell as a writer At .

present not one photoplay out o f a hundred gets a

public The momentary nature o f exhibition prevents
.

it Photoplays are seen and j udged by single isolated

.
10 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

crowds in Boston and K alamazoo and Galveston but

, ,

rarely by a steady succession o f crowds in on e pl ace ,

a suc c ession that might fin a lly develop a public e riti

c i sm
. There are exceptions o f course such as , ,

Ca bi ri a Th e B i rth of a N a ti on and I n tole ran ce

, ,
.

But in the motion picture world it i s the star “

,

the actor or actress who gets the public M ary Pick

, .

ford has her public Francis Bushman h as his The . .

D rews and Chaplin have theirs Here again the con .

d i t i on s o f exhibition a l e responsible A pl a y i s fl a shed .

upon the screen fades a way and dies with that per
, ,

f o rm an ce It l ives aga i n somewhere perhaps i n

.
,

B ro oklyn o r Hoboken but not f o r u s We cannot , .

read it N o r can we find it or s e e it again at will

. .

It exists only for a crowd The pl ays go ; b ut the .

”
stars remain In the same theatre we may ap
.

plaud them again t omorrow o r next week They w ill .

exhibit thei r powers in a new story a new vehicle , ,

but we give the vehicle c a sual attention because we ,

kno w that it too w ill be whisked away M ean while

, , .

we become f a miliar with the per formers We know .

thei r n a mes and ages and favourite amusements We

, ,
.

c riticize them We tell our friends th at they are not

.

SO wonder ful as advertised t o be o r that every on e ,

must be sure to se e them Thus under present condi .

tions the interpreter rather than the play secures , ,

a firm grasp upon the public .

Y et these di fficult conditions in the motion picture

world need not discourage the cinema composer I f .

he can only capture enough crowds say a thous and o r ,

more he too will ultimately w in a public p roviding

, , , . ,

o f course that the sur face appe al which pleased the

,

crowd will when penetrated reveal a deeper appeal

, ,
 P S YC H O L O GY OF TH E A U D IE N C E I I

capable o f holding the public But how can he coax .

even on e crowd into ca p tivity ? I f the cinema com

poser studies the psychology o f the spectators in a
motion picture theatre he w ill dis c over th at for them
three classes o f appeal exist in every film that tells a
story They are : first the sense appeal to the eye ;
.
,

second th e emotional appeal ; and third the intellect

, , ,

ual appeal The sense appeal and emotional appeal

.

are primary elemental and strong while the intel

, , ,

lectual appeal is secondary and relatively slight .

The visual sense o f the Spectator reacts first to the

beauty o f the subj ect photographed Thus a moon .

l it lake a sur f swept beach Spru ce covered foothills

,
-
,
-
,

an Italian villa near a mountain pass the interior o f a ,

richly furnished mansion — all gi ve the eye a sensa

tion o f pleasure a pleasure which i s quite apa rt from
,

thei r meaning thei r relation to the plot o f the play

,
.

The Spe c t ator might be too stupid to understand the

story and yet might thoroughly enj oy the picture .

This delight o f the eye is a primitive sensation ; yet

it is experienced by every Spectator whether he be an
in fant or a mature man o f culture It i s more than .

an appreciation o f a picture ; it is a del ight in the

subj ect itsel f The spectator easily imagines that he
.

is in direct c ontact with the beauti ful reality itsel f and ,

forgets that the camera has intervened v .

‘

The eye is especially pleased by certain types o f

physical movement which the motion picture can t rans
mit and which cannot be transmitted through any
,

other art medium When a pebble is thrown into a.

pool a number o f circular ripples immediately take

form and expanding in concentric rings finally fl at
, ,

ten out and lose themselves in the still sur fa c e o f the

12 TH E ART O F P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

pool The eye i s pleased by these expanding ripples

.

and by the endless multiplication o f rings which rise

mysteriously from the point where the pebble went
down The eye does not discover an y particular
.

meaning in this subj ect ; it merely enj oys the abstract

motion I f motion were absent and the rings were
.
,

still as they would seem in an ordinary photograph

, ,

there would be no sense o f visual pleasure Other .

examples o f pu re motion p leasIn g to the eye are the

pouring rush o f a water fall the rhythmic undulations
,

o f the sea the fan like spre a ding o f a Sky rocket the
,
-
,

Slow curling o f smoke from a factory funnel the ,

varying balance o f a bird in flight the steady forward ,

thrust o f a yacht under full sail In all these subj ects

.

it is the continuous movement rather than the static

moment which pleases the eye And the motion pic
.

ture i s the new and unique medium through which

these movements may be reproduced with a rtistic
e ff ect .

There is a keen pleasure o f the eye also when ap

pealing motion identifies itsel f with the expression o f
the human body individually a s in the case o f a
,

dancer and e n m ass e as in the case o f a regiment on

,

parade This response o f ou r senses to human form

.

and physical movement is primary and elemental and ,

takes place be fore our brain has time to interpret the

dramatic Significance o f the visible stimulus Hence .

we see that a fundamental duty o f the photoplaywright

is to give the per formers full scope for the physical
appeal and t o s e t their action amid an environment
,

which Shall instantly impress the eye o f the spectator .

This first impression on the observer is tremendously

important And the sc e n ari o\wri te r must remember
.
 P S YC H O L O GY O F TH E A U D I E NC E 13

that it i s his business to furnish good subj ects for the

director and tha t both he and the director must c on
,

spire with the phot ographer to captivate the eye o f

the audience because whatever other appeals a photo
,

play is to make it must first appeal to the eye

,
.

While the spectator at a photoplay feels the visual

or purely physical sensation described above his Spirit ,

u al experience is en riched by the emotions which are

being kindled by the pla y We have already said that

.

the crowd is very highly susc eptible to emotional ap

peal that the individual in the crowd is more emo
,

t i on al than when alone H is emotional experience is

.

o f a two fold nature He feels what we may call

.

”
sel f emotion or emotion which h as no re ference to
-
,

any person in the play or to any other person in the

world and he feels a so c ial emotion a feeling o f
, ,

social relation with and a personal interest in the

, ,

characters o f the play The sel f emotion in the cinema

.
-

theatre when viewing a pictured scene i s like the sel f ,

emotion in real li fe face to fa c e wi th real nature We .

have all expe rienced it yet ca nnot easily descri b e it

, .

S ometimes it may be a vagu e se n se o f longing as we

look through the Slender bi rches across a wide bay at
the low maj esty o f the Spruce covered bank beyond -
.

But the longing does not formulate itsel f We do not .

know exactly what we want or feel It is a m yste ri .

ous mingling o f contentment and sadness In the .

same way the etern al whiteness o f an Alpine peak a ,

d im sail on the far horizon the luminous reflection o f

,

a summer cloud in a mounta in lake all stir in us an

emotion o f silent ma rvel or wonder or a vague long
ing for someth in g — something beyond our present
experien c e S ometimes the sel f emotion ma y b e more
.
-
14 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G
V
na i ve a thr i ll o r e x c1tem en t at some act i on or d I S
,

tu rb an c e at a street crowd rushing to a fight or a fire

, ,

even when we are not quite sure o r d o n ot really care

what it is all about The sense o f an incipient or i m
.

pending sti r outside u s stimul ates a corresponding agi

t at i on within u s and we are impressed before we really
,

know what it is th a t has impressed u s The sp e c ta .

tor i n the motion picture theatre easil y yields to these

si m ple emotional appeals H e surrenders t o the i l.

lu s i on o f art and easily imagi nes that he is in the

,

presence o f real nature o r of the actual original action .

But the spectator s emotional experience is still more

’

vivid in his dram atic sympathy his social interest i n ,

the characters on the screen The fact that soc ial .

emotions can be aroused by something which i s con

f e sse dly n ot real by mere pictures o f people who do
,

not exist except in imagination is o f fundamental i m ,

portance in dramati c or literary a rt This illusion .

makes drama a tremendous power It makes ou r .

world very large and ou r human acquaintance very

wide Fiction becomes real Fictitious characters be
. .

c ome m ore real ev en than their authors To u s S hy .

lock seems more re al than S hakespeare We could .

almost bel ieve that the Jew was a historical figure and
the Englishman only a myth D on "uixote S herloc k .
,

Holmes and Peter Pan surely are more real than

,

Cervantes Conan D oyle and Barrie

, We know the
, .

characters o f stor y so intimately be cause through the

medium o f art we have come in personal contact with
them have admired thei r powers or sym pathized with
, ,

thei r j oys and sorrows In the motion picture theatre

.

this illusion o f personal contact with the characters

i s especially strong We admire or dislike love or
.
,
16 TH E ART OF P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

come a train robber your Sister a vampire and I may

, , ,

become a millionaire Thus all o f u s may get vicari

.

o usly the experience which we c ould n ot get or would

not want in actual li fe .

An interesting representation o f this proj ecting o f

sel f into a chara cter may be found in the Blue Bird
photoplay Und i n e The film represents a man read
.

ing the story o f Un di n e to his little girl When they.

get t o the part about the fish e rm an s child the little

’

”
girl says to her father I want t o be their little girl
,
.

The father gives her permission and through the rest

,

o f the film we s ee the rOle o f the fi sh e rm an s child

’

’
played by the same girl who sat on her father s knee
and listened to the reading o f the story about that
child.

One o f the factors involved in our sympathies w ith

the characters on the stage o r on the screen is the fac
tor o i the per former who plays the part A fter hav .

ing seen S arah Bernhardt in Ca m i lle or D avid War

fie ld in Th e M ns i c M as te r o r j ohn Barrymore in f us
ti c e we can never think o f the chief characters i n those
plays respectively except in connection with the per
formers A reading o i the play in book form be fore
.

o r a fter it is acted does n ot make the stamp o f the

actor s personality any less indelible In the case o f

’
.

the photoplay where the film version is the only on e ,

the co alescence o f the actor with the part he plays is

even more complete In fact it would be impossible
.

for u s to come in contact with the photoplay character

at all except through the photographed pantomime o f
the per former There fore in the photoplay our social
.

emotions toward the characters are largel y c ondi ~

t ion e d by our like o r dislike o f the actor o r a c tress .

 P S YC H O L O GY OF TH E A U D I E NC E I7

In fact the movie fan is quite content to admire

,

acting apart from its sign ificance in the interpreta

tion o f character H is eagerly su rrendered dime is a
.

tribute to the physical Skill or daring o f a fellow being ,

some comedian who rolls humorously d own a flight o f

stai rs o r some actress who leaps from a racing auto
,

mobile to the cow catcher o f a t rain This is an

-
.

elemental and primitive emotion For thousands o f .

years gaping humanity has be en thrilled by the j uggler

and the acrobat And wh o o f us has not inherited
.

this savage appreciation ? Which o f u s does not some

time steal away from the press o f busines s the depth s ,

o f philosophy or the heights o f art t o thrill at the

,

gi fts o f the baseball pitcher the pri z e fighter o r the

, ,

cabaret dancer ? S uch admiration o f ph y sical Skill in

a fellow being i s basic in all the app re c iation we have
for theatrical per formance Julia M arlowe and Char.

lie Chapl in antipodal as they may seem have built

, ,

their success on the same foundati on this soc ial e m o ,

tion o f the crowd thi s admi ration o f physical ability

,

in a fellow The crowd by no means obj ec ts to well

.

developed characters in a play but it demands that ,

these characters shall be conceived or adj usted to re

veal the powers o i favourite actors or actresses Any .

theatre crowd except one composed o f dramatists

,

and critics w ould rather see a first class actor in a sec

,

ond class play than a second class a c tor in a first

class play Thi s emph asizes what we have already
.

said that the c rowd grasps at the obvious and imme

,

diate and i s impressed by surface values The actor

, .

is the sur face value o f the cha racter he interp rets .

In the case o f the good actor this sur face value is an

accurate inde x to the character which lies beneath .
18 TH E ART OF P H O T OP LA Y M A K I N G
'

In the case o f the bad actor the sur face value is like
a ga udy curtain which prevents o u r seeing the ch a r
acter created by the author In either case the eye
.

o f the crowd feeds eagerly upon the Sho w o f the

sur face .

Here then i s the moral I f the cinema compo ser

.

wishes to arouse the social emotions o f the crowd i f he ,

wishes to give every spectator a personal escape into

the fascinating region o f vicarious experience he must ,

conceive and delineate his ch a racters in the terms o f

the greatest acting values The emotions o f an audi
.

ence are the treasure trove o f the artist ; and f or the

time being the motion pi c ture star i s the onl y on e
who can unlock it .

The intellectual appeal o f a photoplay i s Slight com

pared with its emotional appeal The momentar y .
,

flashing nature o f exhibition and the psychology o f

the crowd g i ve the spectator l ittle opportunit y o r de
sire to exercise his intellectual faculties Y et he has.

certain intellectual experiences while seeing a photo

play The fundam ental on e is the satis faction o f curi
.

o s i ty . We constantly desire new material to add to

ou r store o f knowledge We crave novelty The
. .

average Americ an scans h i s newspaper w ith bated

breath B ut the r ecognition o f a thing as new is an
.

intellectual process Our j udgment declares a thing

.

new by comparing it with the old which w e already

possess Then the new itsel f becomes old and the
.

adventure o f the mind must begin again Only ye s .

t e rd ay the motion picture itsel f wa s a kind o f novelty .

With rapt attenti on we observed : The picture

”
moves " It doesn t hurt our eyes "
’
Things
”
look s o real " H ow clever the p hotographer i s "
 P S YC H O L O GY OF TH E A U D IE NC E 19

Today the mechanical devi c es o f story telling on the

screen are still new The devices o f leaders c ut ins
.
,
-
,

close ups fl ash backs visions dissolving views fade

-
,
-
, , ,

outs fade ins double exposu res dual rOle S

,
-
, have , ,

a strong appeal o f novelty ‘ In the light o f his e xp e ri

.

ence the spectator recognizes these processes as new ;

and he is eager to see the next pl a y released because
iIngenuity
t ma y contain some new eviden c e o f the m e c hanician s
’

N ovelty o f physical content appeal s to the spec tator

as well as novelty o f physical form He eagerly satis .

fies his curiosity with regard to other places and climes ,

other people and phases o f li fe than those w ith which

he i s familiar The S outh D akota c owboy finds
.

novelty in the story which is laid in a Cape Cod fish

’
ing village or on board a millionai re s yacht The .

c hild o f the Ghetto finds the same novelty The fi sh e r .

man the colonial dame and the heires s find novelty in

, ,

the bitter story o f the Ghetto or in the Spacious drama ,

o f the S outh D akota ranches It matters little that .

”
these scenes may be faked by the producer o f the
film The satis faction o f c u riosity still takes place
.

in the mind o f the spectator In fact the illusion o f .

,

the sc reen is so great that for the time the spectator

f eels that he i s in direct contact w ith the reality The .

impression will remain ; and in the con fused memory

o f old age this same spectator though he has never ,

traveled will say When I was in Y okohama

, ,
or

When I stood be fore the Sphinx only to be i n

t e rrup te d by some indulgen t grandchild who will ex
plain Y ou know granddaddy was never there at all ;
, ,

he only saw those things in the movies

C uriosit y concerning sur face structure o f a play
20 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

and i ts physical content can always be success fully

appealed to by the photoplaywright But he will never
.

find the crowd very much interest e d in the abstract

principles an d laws upon which a play is built It .

h as no critical appreciation o f cra ftsmanship

,
The .

trained cinema composer may Show commanding abil

ity i n his m obilization o f human materials f or the
play ; he may Show keen logic in the motivation o f his
action ; he may Show economic originality in d ram at i z
ing his pictorial setting ; he may show great de ftness
in his plot weaving and the crowd will Sit through it
,

all Without a Single aesthetic thrill ZE sth e t i c ap p re

.

c i at i on o f workma nship i s the result n ot o f impulse

but o f analy s is ; and the play must become established

as a public favourite before these values are discovered
and admired A fter a play h as reached the public
.

its chances o f becoming a classic are multipli e d by

good cra ftsmanship ; but good cra ftsmanship as such
is o f little value in helping the play to reach the pub
lic There fore it would be stupid f or a photoplay
.

’
wright to say It s S t range this pl ay didn t win the
,
’

”
c rowd ; I m sure it s per fectly constructed
’ ’
In other .

words cra ftsmanship i s a means and not an end as far

, ,

as the audience is concerned The author must de.

sign and contrive de ftly almost secretly t o please the

, ,

senses and capture the emotions and add to the i n

t e lle ctu al possession o f the audience The results are
.

paramount while the ingenuity and artistry o f the

,

methods will either be ignored o r unrecognized But .

,

to return t o ou r theme the primary intellectual ex

,

p e ri e n c e o f the spectator during a photo p lay i s the

satis fa c tion o f curiosity curiosity as to content and
, ,
 P S YC H O L O GY OF TH E A U D I E NC E 21

curiosity as to the photographic devices o f telling the

story .

Another intellectual process is the recognition o f

comic value We are amused when we are surprised
.

into observing an incongruity an example o f human

,

unfi tn ess ; we laugh because we know better In a .

flash we c ompare the un fitn e s s o f the th ing with what

we know Should be its fitness This comparison is a
.

momentary subconscious intellectual process To be

,
.

sure the tax on our subconscious j udgment is very

,

Slight It is almost absent in ou r appreciation of

.

slapstick bu ff oonery It is greatest in our app re c i a

.

tion o f comedy o f subtle or whimsical situation In .

making comparisons bet ween fitness and un fitn e ss we

naturally choose ourselves as exam p les o f the former
and the dramatic victims as examples o f the latter .

Thus we are more dign ified than the clown who makes
grimaces ; we are more com fortable than the teacher
who Sits down upon a tack ; we are more sel f con -

trolled than the talkative drunkard ; we are w iser

than the idiot who fears a stu ff ed bear ; we are more
Sophisti c ated than t h e country lout who tries to mail
letters in the fire ala rm box This sudden rec ogn i
.

tion o f personal superiority pleases u s to the point

o f laughter A sensation o f pleasure and a feeling
.

o f hilarity sets in which sweep the cobwebs o f care

,

from our brains The Slight almost n egli b le mental

.
, ,

e ff ort o f re c ognizing incongruity relieves the brain o f

all mental strain the seriousness o f real li fe is for
,

gotten and we abandon ourselves to the c aprice o f the

,

sportive unreality on the screen .

It must be remembered that the motion picture makes

22 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

its appeal primarily through the eye Hence it i s only

.

natura l that the individual o f the crowd w ith h i s low

,

ered intellectuality Should respond more easily t o caric

,

ature o f physical appearance and action than to the h u

mour o f Situation which must be in ferred from grasp
ing the dramatic significance o f the characters and thei r
activities in the plot In a f o llo w ing chapter w e
.

Shall take up a more care ful discussion o f comedy in

general and the possibilities o f screen comedy in par
t i c ular
. S u ffice it to say here th a t audiences are fond
o f comedy , and that they respond primarily to the
kind o f comedy which can be grasped visually i n ,

st an t an eo u sly and with the least mental effort

,
.

The process o f comparison and j udgment which we

have j ust said is present in comic appeal is a sub ,

c onscious process o f the mind The op p ortunity o f

.

deliberately j udging and reasoning would not be wel

comed by the audience The theatre crowd is neither
.

willing nor fitted to weigh evidence and come to con

e lusions concerning questions o f debate The crowd
.

is sentimental rather than philosophic The crowd .

wants to s e e the lovers reunited at the end o f the

play ; but it does not care t o apportion the reward s
o f these characters according to the principles o f ab

solute equity and j ustice The crowd thrills at the

.

proposition that n o man shall treat his wi fe as though

She were a mere chattel ; but it would not warm Up
t o a s c reen discussion o f property rights The crowd
.

cheers the S tars and S tripes or a picture o f the Presi

dent ; but it remains cold towards the tari ff The .

explanation o f all this i s th a t law soci al science and

, ,

statesmanship require close application o f thought and

are only mildly diverting : and the audience wants the
24 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

tures yet to be flashed on the screen H is attention .

is firmly fixed until the end o f the action comes when ,

a ment a l relaxation sets in which is as pleasant as

,

rest a fter bodily exertion Without suspense a pho

.

t O p lay i s merely a succession o f pictures and can no ,

more hold the unwavering attention o f the spectator

.

than a row o f pictures on a museum wall S uch a .

play displeases the individual o f the audience bec ause

it deprives him o f the intense mental joy o f being
kept in a state o f doubt anxiety an d expectation con
, ,

cerning the progress and outc ome o f a dramatic ac

tion .

S uspense is a qu ick cold process o f the mind but

, ,

it is also a warm state o f the heart ; i f it were not ,

the crowd being highly emotional would never de

, ,

sire i t S uspense a s w e have said above is de

.
, ,

pendent on social emotions on a definite pers onal,

s ympathy with the characters in the play and a warm ,

interest in their careers and fates .

The individual in the crowd is willing to think

providing he may think with his heart He i s also .

willing to think providing he may think as he pleases .

There is no intellectual activity easier an d more rest

ful than the play o f fancy It i s eas y becaus e it is
.

not constrained by law ; the individual may let his

mind rove where it pleases It is rest ful be c ause it
.

gives him a re freshing escape from the hard prosaic ,

facts o f everyday li f e S ince the spectator enj oys the

.

exercise o f his imagination the cinema composer

should spare no e ffort to provide him with an op
p o rt u n i t y for this mental exercise The f a sc i n a t .

ing thing about the motion picture is that although ,

to a certain extent it robs the i m agination by pre

 P S YC H O L O GY OF TH E A U D I E NC E 25

senting photographically to the body s eye things

’

’
which had hitherto been seen only by the mind s eye ,

yet it admits o f many entirely new means and meth

ods o f app ealing to the imagination It will be i n
.

t e re s t i ng to analyze and illustrate in fol lowing cha p

’
ters the possibilities o f appealing to the spectator s
sense o f wonder as well as to his imagination in new
ways through the medium o f the motion picture .

Thus we have studied and tried to understand the

nature and mood the a ff ections and aversions the
, ,

whims and reliabilities the emotional im p re ssion ab i l

,

ity and intellectual rec eptivit y o f the average crowd in

the motion picture theatres A fter the cinema c om
.

poser has some notion o f the psychology o f the c rowd ,

a fter he knows pretty clearly what his aim is to be ,

he ma y more intelligently decide Upon his meth ods

f o r a c complishing that aim .We are now facing our
prob lem ; let us t ry to dis c over the best methods o f
solving it L et u s learn how b est to please the eye
. .

how to stir the sel f emotion o f the individual in the

-

crowd how to arouse and maintain hi s so c ial sympa

,
‘

thies how to gi ve him intellectual entertainment with

,

o ut mental fatigu e ; and let u s constantly remem ber

that i f ou r photoplay is to become a classic it must

possess ben eath the attractive sur face which appeals
to the c rowd the permanent values o f illuminating
truth universal meaning and un fading bea uty
, , .
 C HA P TER I II
PI C T OR I A L C O M P O S I TI O N I N S T A T I C F OR M S

TH E appeal o f the photoplay i s p i ctorial as well as ,

dramatic It is an appeal directly to the eye as well

.
,

a
s to the heart and to the brain But the dramati c .

appeal o f the photoplay that i s the appeal t o the

, ,

heart and the brain is als o through the pictorial

,
.

There fore the m ain problem o f the photoplay maker

is to appeal Simultaneously to the eye and through the
eye He must learn the art o f producing pictures
.

that are in themselves beauti ful as pictures and at the

same time in themselves Sign ifi c ant and impressive as
elements o f a drama Both o f these laws must be
.

obeyed i f the product is to be called art We have .

all seen dozens o f photoplays which though strong ,

in plot le ft U S unsatisfied because they were pictorially

,

displeasing o r not pleasing And we have all seen

, .

photoplays which though pictorially beauti ful f a iled

, ,

to impress U S because they were dramatically mean

i n gle ss o r weak We realize there fore that here as
. , . ,

in any other art the appreciator demands adequate

,

and beauti ful treatment as much as adequate and beau

ti ful content In th e novel o r the stage play the
.

treatment i s literary and the writer must attend care

fully to his words and sentences In the photoplay the .

treatment is pictorial and the cinema comp oser must

attend care fully to his pictures and picture sequences ,

h i s pictorial moments and movements .

26
 C O M P O S ITI O N I N S TAT I C F O R M S 27

First o f all a picture must be beauti ful It can .

neither please us nor impress U S pictorially unless it i s

beauti ful A graphic representation whi ch is ugly o r
.
,

neither ugly nor beauti ful is n ot a picture It has no

, .

pictorial appeal It is merel y an illustration or a p rac

.

tical record I pick up a sales catalogue o f S ears

.
,

Roebuck and Company o f C hicago and as I glance

, ,

through the pages I see the following illustrations

a sewing machine a bed spring an alarm clo c k a
, , ,

monkey w rench a woman stripped to a conspi c uous

,

corset These representations are not beauti ful pic

.

t o ri ally because the subj ects are not in themselves

beauti ful I tu rn to an old kodak album and see a
.

photograph o f a young woman and a young man in a

ca noe The exposure was made at a moment when
.

a motor boat had j ust ba cked into the field o f vision ,

and a United S tates flag at its stern almost completel y

conceals the face and figu re o f the y oung woman .

And the c amera was so tilted that the c anoe seems to

b e Sliding backward down hill This photograph i s
.

not beauti ful pictorially because the composition i s

bad ; that is because the subj ect matter though sufli
, ,

c i en t l beauti ful in itsel f is badly treated The ex

y , .

amples given illustrate the two phases o f pictorial

ugliness namely ugliness o f subj e c t and ugliness o f
, ,

composition .

But what is be auty ? U pon what grounds do we de

cide that a subj ect or an arrangement is beauti ful ?

A completely analytic answer to these questions can

not be given here but we Should like to re fer the
,

reader to all the standard books on aesthetics that he

can find A recent little book by V iolet Paget
. Ve r
n on L e e entitled Th e B e au ti ful is espe c iall y to
28 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

be re c ommended M iss Paget defines the beauti ful

.

”
as implying an attitude o f contemplative satis faction .

In another form her definition i s

. Beauti ful means ,

satis factory f or contemplative i e f or re i te ra ted p er , . .

”
c ep ti on . In other words i f you have a sense o f s at
,

i s f act i on when you look Upon a picture and i f the ,

satis faction remains when you look Upon it long o r

again o r dwell Upon it in memory then that picture
, ,

to you i s beauti ful L et u s adopt that definition and

.

p roceed on t h e understanding that a cinema picture

i s beauti fu l when subj e c t and composition together
put the spe ctator in a state o f contemplative sat i s f ac
tion .

At this point some scenario writer ma y say Why ,

Should I worry about all this ? It i s the business o f

the photographer and the director t o produ c e pictures .

I only produce plot To him we must reply I f you

.
,

are a cinema composer at all i f y ou are endeavouring ,

to compose a p lay in pictures instead o f in words ,

then you must conceive see clearly and enable the

, ,

director actors and photographer to actualize ade

, ,

q u a t e ly the pictures that is the

,
materi als which con
, ,

st i t u te you r play . A cinema composer wh o is not i n

t e re st e d in seeing and shaping his own pictures would
be like a Singer who did n ot care to imagine his notes
be fore singing them o r a poet who did n ot c are to
,

think his words be fore writing them Words must .

be thought be fore they can be writt en notes must be ,

heard at least heard in imagination be fore they can

, ,

be sung and cinema pictures must be seen in imagina

,

tion be fore they can ever be seen in reality I f the .

cinema composer hop es to achieve art he must become

th e master o f hi s medium Furthermore he must b e
.
,
 C O M P O S ITI O N IN S TATI C F O R M S 29

come the master o f his servants his workmen He ,

.

must c ommand advise and Supervise the director the

, , ,

actors th e photogr apher the j oiner these workmen

, , ,

who are endeavouring to put into physical form the pic

ture play which he the cinema composer has conceived
-
, ,

and developed in imagin ation It is true that under the .

present methods o f production it seems commercially

desirable to misinterpret distort vulgarize o r stulti f y , , ,

the work o f the author be fore it reaches the author s ’

audienc e b ut it is more true that i f we all strive

,

together we will some day bring about the state o f

a ffairs where the author is the master o f all the forces
which he mobili z es in expressing himsel f to an audi
ence .

The s c enario writer must not only imagine his pi c

tures but he must learn to imagine them in term s o f
,

the screen The following passage ta ken from a

.
,

scenario i s a clear evidence that the person who wrote

,

it was not thinking in terms o f the screen I love .

’
her he soliloquizes as he Sits in the moonlight on the
,
'

broad piazza o f his great home S uddenly a low voice .

in song comes to him with the fragrance o f dew laden ,

-

”
flowers from the garden like a nightingale
, The ,
.

cinema composer must think o f visibilities not o f ,

fragrances or bird notes But even vi sibilities are .

not the same on the screen as in reality He must .

learn for example that on the screen a green meadow

, ,

has the same tone and textu re as a grey coat that a ,

red apple has the S ame tone and texture as a polished

black Shoe that on the screen golden hair looks white
, ,

and red lips black He must learn for example that

, .
, ,

a rapid movement squarely across the field o f vision

near the camera will photograph as a series o f j erks ,
3 2 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

case o f the runner s knee o rfoo t And this i s true in

’
.

the stage pl ay where the momentary pause i s o ften

,

deliberately produced and prolonged by the director in

”
order to give the audience what he calls a picture .

The essential point to remembe r is that the picture

or static moment is there whether the director tries t o

pr oduce it or n ot .

A further explanati on o f o u r tendency t o emphasize

a pictori a l moment i s undoubtedly that our eyes an d
brains have been tra ined from looking at paintings and,

sculpture or at graphic rep resentations o f painting and

,

sculpture to expec t an d observe the pictori a l pose and

,

attitude o f the subj ect in action The painter o r .

sculptor m ay suggest action b u t he can n ever represent ,

it He can never represent more than a Single instant

.

o f that action b u t he knows from thousand year old

,

traditions in art and from h i s own observation o f

aesthetic appeal to the eye what particular moment t o

seize upon to arrest and to fix in the permanen ce

, ,

which endures longer than canvas o r stone We are .

all familiar with The D iscus Thrower o f M yron a ,

s c ulptor who lived f our hundred an d fi fty years before

1
Christ The athlete i s repres ented at the m oment
.

when his arm i s swung farthest back and the discus i s ,

abo ut to be hurled forward with full for c e At the .

c ollege track meet o f today we observe an d appraise

’
the athlete s form at this same momen t o f his per
f o rm an ce The inst antaneous composition o f the col
.

’
lege man s body may not be as pleasing t o the eye as the
composition o f the sculptor s m asterpiece b ut whether ’
,

pleasing or n ot the pictorial moment i s th e re j ust the

same .

1 Se e p age 30 .
 C O M P O S I TI O N IN S T A TI C F O R M S 33

The famous painting o f Apollo and the M uses by

G iulio Romano is an example o f a p ictorial moment
1
during the action o f a grou p o f figu re s A p ollo and .

the nine muses are dancing in a circle I f we examine .

the figu res separately we see that each dancer is re p re

sented during the instantaneous pause between the
completion o f on e movement and the beginning o f the
next Without discu ssing the composition o f this pic
.

tu re for the presen t let u s merely remark that a similar

,

pictorial moment is presented to our eyes over and

over again when we watch a group o f dancers on the
modern st age .

I f we agree th en that there are important pictorial

, ,

moments during the moti ons proj ected on the screen it

is clear that the arran gement o f l ines shapes ton e s and, , ,

textures which impress ou r eyes at thos e moments are

compositions in static forms And for co mposition in
.

static form s we must study and apply the principles

which are forever valid in painting sculptu re and
’

, ,

architectu re .

In the production o f a painting there are three main

st e ps First the painter must select his subj e cts
.
,
.

Then he must bring these subj ects t o gether and arrange

them into a satis factory composition Finally he must .

trans fer hi s compos ed subj ect to canvas The same .

three steps must be taken in the prod uction o f a cinema

picture The scenario writer selects the subj ects and
.

in the main plans thei r composition The director .

’
completes and executes the scenario w riter s plans f or
the pictorial composition He also plans in general
.

the results which are to obtain a fter the trans fer has
been made to the film The photographer in Various
.
,

1 See p ag e se
34 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M AKI N G

departments o f h i s work makes the trans fer to the,

film .

It i s an obvious advant age to the painter that he can

take all three steps and go the whole distance himsel f ,

that his own personality may dominate the painting

from its inception to its completion It would be an .

obvious advantage to the cinema composer i f he were

author director and photographer all in on e But as
, ,
.

long as the steps must be taken by separate persons and

the distance must be covered in relays there is an ,

added responsibility f o r the scenario writer and each

o f the others wh o are concerned separately in the p ro

duction o f a cinema picture .

In the case o f painting the third step the actual , ,

trans fer i s the most important It makes the greatest

, .

demands Upon and o ffers the greatest opportunities

,

f o r the painter s art Any blemish o f subj ect or Short

’

, .

co m ing o f composition may be remedied in the process

o f putting paint on the canvas Even a fter the com .

p osition o f subj ect has been broken Up a fter the models ,

have gone home and the properties are scattered the

, ,

painter may steadily ply his brush in the third stage

o f production eliminating a detail here adding on e
, ,

there Su d ing on e e ffect emphasizing another

, , ,

straightening on e line bending another deepening a

, ,

Shadow intensi fying a high light blending the colours

, ,

better than they were in the originals which he studied ,

until at last he has finished a piece o f art which is

beauti ful because it will put the beholder into a state o f
contemplative satis faction .

But any on e c an tell without expert knowledge that

no such care can be taken no such art exercised in the
,

trans fer the photogr aphy o f a cinema picture It

, ,
.
 C O M P O S ITI O N I N S TAT I C F O R M S 35

follows there fore that much more care must be taken

, , ,

much more art exercised in the first two steps in the ,

selection and composition o f subj ects A painter can .

turn unpromising even u gly subj ects into beauty

, ,
.

The late William M Chase could trans fer a dead fish

.

or a dozen onions into a beauti ful painting But no .

such transmutation c an take place in a photographic

trans fer Bad subj ects are notoriously not camera
.

proo f ; and bad compostion cannot be made good by

the photographer a fter the film has been exposed or ,

even while the film i s being exposed .

The first step then the sele c tion o f a subj ect must
, , ,

be taken by the scenario writer with heavy responsi

b i li ty on his Shoulders and high purpose in this heart .

He must Supply his scenario with visually pleasant o r

picturesque people in groups o f three or four or in
, ,

groups o f a thousand Whether the human subj ect be

.

a hod carrier o r a mediaeval prin c e an Eskimo or a ,

Hottentot a young mill ionaire or a G reek galley Slave

, ,

a newsboy o r a cave man a su ffragette o r a Harem ,

girl a colonial dame or a Russian queen a sweat

, ,
“

”
shop girl or a Roman dancer a child at play o r an ,

old soldier in reminiscent repose a mob o f workmen ,

”
on strike a party o f hunters following the hounds
, ,

or a cavalcade o f knights led by Joan o f Ar c what

ever the subj ect be and whether it be in itsel f beauti ful
,

or not it must be either pleasant or picturesque to the

,

eye.

And since these people cannot exist in a vacuum the ,

scenario writer must supply them with settings more ,

subj e c ts f or pictures And whatever the setting be

.
,

whether palace o r hovel Shop o r club house church o r , ,

saloon pathway or street brook o r water fall field or

, , ,
3 6 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M AK I N G

forest mountain or se a it too must satis fy the de

, , , ,

mands o f beauty n ot only as a thing apart but in its

, ,

function as a setting that i s in its connection with

, ,

characters and actions .

And then there are accessories to be Supplied cos ,

t um e s , furniture vehicles utensils weapons such

, , , ,

things as canes and parasols tools toys and anim als , , , .

These too in their Ultimate position and u se must add

, ,

to the beauty o f the picture .

Thus for any on e photoplay the materials multiply

unti l the problem o f arranging them into a pictorial
composition i s by no means easy o f solution It can .

not be solved at all unless the subj ects chosen are suit
able f o r the composition desired Fo r ex a mple let u s .
,

conceive an extreme case ; a Roman centurion a Skat ,

ing rink and a lady s fan may be separately pleasant

’

o r picturesque to the eye b u t they do not lend them

,

themselves to composition because the moment we ,

think o f them as parts o f the same picture they become

mutually repellent N eed we argue the matter
.

further ? It certainly must be clear by now that the

primary credit and the primary blame for the pictorial
value o f a photoplay i s due to the scenario writer ; b e
cause i t is he who furnishes the persons places things , , ,

and actions which are the substance o f the picture .

Having taken the first step having selected his sub ,

j e c t
,
s the scenario writer can hardly pause Inerti a .

will carry him on to the second step In fact he would .

,

take the first step blindly were he not planning to take

,

the second step also Fo r he would be merely groping

.

in the dark i f he selected subj ects at all without know

ing whether he o r some on e else could make those sub
j e c t s pi c torially e ffective He must
. take the second
3 8 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

this : he mi ght borrow the principles o f the painter .

He might some time without imitating The A n ,

”
g e l u s
,
produce a pictorial moment in a photoplay
which was characterized by the same Simplicity and
reverent repose o f subj ect the same low key an d ,

gradation o f tone s the same appeal t o the auditory

,

imagination a pictorial moment which would give U S

,

contemplative satis faction and would impress U S as

original because it did not remind us o f an y other
piece o f art .

Be fore proceeding t o an analyti c dis c ussion o f p i e

t ori al composition f o r the screen let us first under
stand the special conditions under which such compo
s i t i on must be made In the first place the beholders
.

o f a motion picture no matter when looking or in h o w

, ,

large a company all have the same Single point o f

,

view They all see the picture with a single eye the
.
,

lens o f the camera S imilarly all o f the beholders o f a

.

painting have the same point o f view But no such .

condition prevails in vie wing any given grouping any ,

given picture in th e st age drama Take f o r exam p le .

, ,

the moment in the trial scene o f Th e M erc han t of

Ve ni c e when Portia h a s j ust cried out Tarry a little ,

thus arresting the gesture o f S hylock who was about ,

to bury his kni fe in the bosom o f Antonio The stage

. .

di rector h as arranged a d ozen people in a particul a r

grouping t o emphasize pictorially the tragic import
o f the action But the composition i s n ot the same to
.

any two people in the theatre The Spectator in the .

second balcony looks down Upon the heads o f the

actors and the spectat o r in the orchestra looks u p
,

bene ath their chins The spectator in the le ft hand

.

st a ge box sees S hylock standing between h im and A n

 C O M P O S IT IO N I N S TAT I C F OR M S 39

tonio and the s p ectator to the right o f the centre aisle

sees them standing side by Side The philosophic stage .

director there fore must always group any particular

, ,

stage pi c ture for sculpturesque e ff ec ts that is for , ,

e ffects that are equally expressive from the hundreds

o f angles within a very large ar c o f vision But the .

motion picture director like the painter can arrange

, ,

his subj ect for a Single e ff ect and record the compo ,

s i t i on permanently to b e seen by all with a single eye .

This means that he can work for the utmost subtlety o f

line and tonal gradation the utmost cohesion between
,

figures the utmost dramati c signifi c an c e o f the pi c torial

,

group .

Another c ondition o f the motion picture is that it

must practicall y alway s fill a rectan gular frame o f u n
vary ing Shape This is so because the film has been
.

standardized so that ever y separate exposure fills a

fr ame o f fixed proportio ns The painter has no such .

limitation ; nor have y ou when you carr y your kodak .

You may for example tu rn your kodak over on its

, ,

side thus making you r picture higher than it i s wide

, .

O r a fter the negative has been developed y ou may

, ,

print you r pi c ture and trim it down to any sha p e mak ,

ing it square round o r elliptical In exceptional cases

, , .

the motion picture may depart from the standard di

m e n s i on s a s when some masking device is used to Shut
,

out partially o r frame in the subj ect But in the vast .

maj ority o f cases the standard rectangular frame must

be used whether the subj ect be a kitten or a herd o f
,

bu ff aloes Either subj ect may fill the frame In the

. .

theatre o f the spoken drama a similar fixed frame con

d i t i on s the stage picture In recent years producers
.

have made attempts to es c ape the unvarying height and

4 0 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

breadth o f the proscenium arch by virtually building a

stage within the stage a device by the way which
, , ,

dates back to S hakespeare Thi s reduction o f the pic

.

ture frame i s accomplished by masking the theatre

stage down t o a desired size as i n G ran vi lle Barker s,
.
’

production o f Th e M on Wh o M arri e d a D urm b Wi fe ,

o r by throwing all except the desired portion o f the

stage into darkness a s in Barrie s A K i ss f or Ci n

,
’

d e re lla.Y et the limitation o f the fixed frame cannot

be entirely overcome by the stage director because the ,

visual range o f exhibition is also fixed H e cannot .

bring a locket o r a seal ring near enough to the audi

ence f o r inspection and he cannot put the departing
,

regiment far enough away for the best p ictorial and

emotional e ff ect But the photoplay director may
.

make his pictu re smal l enough for the smallest subj ect
and large enough for the largest He may compose a .

picture o f a woman s fingers plucking the petals from a

’

daisy or o f four thousand warriors storming the walls

,

o f Babyl o n He may even i f necessary photograph

.
, ,

microscopic li fe thus presenting obj ects that are too

,

small to be seen w ith the naked eye This t re m e n .

dous range in vision and flexibility o f frame are as ,

we Shall s e e invaluable resources to the cinema com

,

poser i n prod ucing pi ctorial value as well as dramatic ,

value o f his subj ect and c omposition

,
.

At present the u se o f colour is perhaps fortunately , ,

not practical in the motion pictures B ut there is a .

great resource o f ton al value in the blackest black the ,

whitest white and all the subtle gradations lying in

,

between There is also an infinite range o f intensit y

.
,

from the Shadowy ghost so thin and airy that it can

scarcely be seen to the Sharp reality o f the two edged
,
 C O M P O SI TI O N IN S TATI C F O R M S 4 1

sword o r the 4 2 c entimeter c annon This vary .

ing o f intensity i s o f course made possible by a

, ,

mechanical device o f photography that is the regula , ,

tion o f the light not upon the subj ect but within th e
, ,

camera But the artificial lighting o f the subj ect also

.

c onditions the composition o f the motion picture For .

example a good Silhouette picture c an be mu ch more

,

easily produced on the s c reen than on the stage o f the

spoken drama .

All o f these conditions o f pi c torial e ffec t on the

s c reen the Single viewpoint the constant frame the
, , ,

c hoi c e o f distance the range in tonal value the range

, ,

in intensit y the possibil ities o f artificial lighting and

,

camera magi c should be kept in mind by the s c enario

,

writer He should miss no oppo rtunity for a new

.

appeal to the eye ; and he w ill su rel y find as sculptors , ,

painters musicians have found that a limitation ma y

, ,

itsel f be an opportunit y .

U nder certain rules o f the game so to Speak the , ,

c inema c omposer pro c eeds to arrange his material his ,

persons places things and actions into a composition

, , , .

But how is he to kn ow that a c ertain arrangement is a

good composition and that a dozen other arrangements
o f the same subj ects are bad composition ? S hall he
merely shu ffle his materials thi rteen times and pick out
the b est arrangement that chan c e has produ c ed ? I f he
tries leaving the whole matter to the god o f chance he
will find that even a hundred sh uffl in gs might not pro
duce a single c omposition satis factor y to the eye N o .
,

he must arrange his materials deliberately purposel y , ,

care fully He must know be fore he begins his task

.

that certain principles intelligently applied will produce

the e ff ect he desires .
4 2 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

These principles o f pictorial composition are : unity ,

em phasis balance and rhythm And all o f these prin

, , .

c ip le s have re ference t o the lines or Shapes the to n es , , ,

the textures and o f course to the character o r s ig

, , , ,

n i fic a n c e o f the subj ects

, .

U nity o f Si gni ficance is the first essential when per

sons places and things are brought together We
, , .

cannot compose a picture o f the Roman centurion the ,

skating rink and the lady s fan because those three

,
’

subj ects have no common significance We cannot .

think o f them as mutually expressing a single idea .

C ommon sense will usually tell the scenario writer what

persons and things have a unity o f Si gnificance But .
,

j udging by the pictures we s ee on the screen the man ,

dates o f c ommon sense are distressingly weak when it

c omes to the question o f properly relating setting to
person s and actions The proper us e o f setting with
.

respect to dramatic sign ific a nce i s a question o f such

importance that we shall de fer i t s di scussion to a s ep
arate chapter .

But unity o f significance though necessary i s n ot , ,

enough The subj ects must a lso lend themselves to

.

unified treatment o f line and tone S uppose o u r .

scenari o calls f or an artist s studio containing the artist

’

’
himsel f in a painter s frock an easel palette an d , ,

b rushes a L ouis " IV chair a rusti c bench a Ch i

, , ,

nese pitcher and two or three canvase s turned to

,

the wall All o f these things have obvious unity o f

.

Significance ; and yet though we could represent such a

,

subj ect we could not tu rn it into a satis factory picture

, ,

because the various parts o f the picture would n ot

harmonize in Shape and tone .

A frequent violation o f unit y results when some

 Fro
ll
m W
im nw g h a t Wi ll Pe op le S a y : A n e xa
n c n
o rk i s so f a t a s t i i
mple o f ro
d e s ngn t h a t o u r e y e s fi n d
w ng e mn p h i
as s
t e re s t
.

In
Th e
the
r
u a b
fi u re s o f t h e ta le a u . Se e p
ag e 4 5 .
no i

Fro m
cp ng p i c n
c
Th e S a rle t Wo m a n
u ou s li e o f t h e p
. Th
o rt i e re s e
ip c mpo i in n wck d i ninc bp c
s o s t o la s u ty e au se the
o s ara t e s It i to t o st i t a rt s . See
a e 43
44 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

As s oon as we are sure that ou r subj ects when prop

erly composed w ill possess the quality o f unity we may ,

turn ou r a ttention to the question o f emph a sis There .

i s a double necessity f o r emphasis It is necessary to .

indicate to the beholder the central theme significance , ,

o r purpose o f the p icture And it i s necessary to focal

.

ize the attention o f the eye somewhere t o give it a ,

chance to rest somewhere in i ts inspection o f the pic

ture Emphasis is further necessary to produce unity
. .

There i s no real unity in a hand ful o f sand because ,

the grains o f sand are all alike N 0 on e grain i s more .

important than another There i s no interdependence

.

o r subordination and consequently no cohesion and

,

unity But there i s unity because there is emphasis in

.
, ,

a hand holding a hand ful o f sand ; because the sand is

obviously subordinate to the hand Thus there i s .

emphasis in Rodin s piece o f sculpture The Hand o f

’

,
”
G o d because everything the hand holds i s subordinate
,

t o the hand itsel f Pictorial emphasis m ay be pro

.

d uc e d by Significance by pos ition by Shape and by

, , ,

tonal value o r lighting .

A subj ect is emphasized by position when it is given

an isolated yet dominating place a place toward which
, ,
’
other lines o f interest converge In Raphael s paint .

”
ing The S istine M adonna the M adonna i s e mp h a
, ,

sized by her position at the ap ex o f a triangle In a .

photograph o f the Alps from Interlaken Di e Jungfrau ,

i s emphasized t o the eye because it is the highest point

on the horizon and because all the lines o f the land
,

scape lead up to i ts summit In a photograph o f the .

Y ale football team running out upon the gridiron the

captain is emphasized by h i s position at the head o f the
team To illustrate the lack o f emphasis let u s sele c t a
.
 C O M P OS ITI O N I N S TAT I C F O R M S 45

‘
still from the Famous Players photoplay A udrey ’

, .

The subj ect is a congregation o f about fi fty pe ople in a

country church The picture i s entitled While Others
.

”
Prayed and evidently means that while others were
,

praying some on e perhaps Audre y was n ot But it

, , , .

is necessary to inspect the picture for so me time be fore

we find Audrey Puzzle " Ah there she i s in the .
,

middle o f the fi fth pew on the right hand side N o .

wonder it was so hard to fin d her S he is in no wa y .

accented by position ; no lines help t o guide our eye

to her place I f in that whole congregation hers had
.

been the only head not bowed her position would have ,

been isolated and we could have found her in a flash .

An obj ect is emphasized by shape when the lines

which define o r characterize its Shape are more un
familiar interesting or striking than any other lines
, ,

in the picture H ere in a still from the M etro.

“

photoplay Wh a t Wi ll Pe op le S ay ? i s an example o f
.

emphasis mi spla c ed be cause o f shapes that strike the

2
eye . The subj ect i s two men and a woman in a pre
tentions room o f some kind There are t wo large .

windows with conspicuous gr ill work silhouetted darkl y

against the Sk y The grill work i s s o fantastic in de
.

si gn that our eyes find no interest in the human figu res

o f the tableau For a contrast to this let us look again
.

” 3
at M illet s The Angelus
’
Here although no lines .
,

are very conspicuous the most interesting ones are ,

those which bound the head and shoulders o f the young

woman The shape and pose o f her head silhouetted
.

against the sky emphasize her as a symbol o f reverent

peasantry .

1 Se e p age 4 5 .
2 Se e p ag e 42 .
3 See p ag e 49 .
4 6 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G -

Emphasis may fi nally b e secured by lighting o r tonal

'

value o f the subj ect It i s an optical law that the

.

eye when inspecting a picture seeks and rests U p on the

highest white the deepest black or the strongest c on
, ,

Thus N a p oleon is easily foun d i n M e i s

1
trast in tone .

’
son i e r s painting Friedland , because he i s cen
t rally placed on a white horse w ith no other white ,

”
o bj ect near him In the M etro still j ust re ferred
.
,

to our eyes clung t o the fantastic grill work partly

, ,

b ecause o f the striking design as we have j ust said ; b ut ,

partly als o because o f the tonal contrast between the

black metal work and bright sk y In the Famous .

”
Players still of A u d rey the heroine would have
’ “

been discovered immediately i f sh e had been the only

on e wearing a white dress and hat In M illet s The .
’

’
Angelus there is a strong light on the woman s dress ,

which helps t o make her more prominent than the other

figure in the p ainting The motion picture director as
.
,

we have said above has larger possibilities than the

,

stage director in controllin g the lighting o f h i s subj ect .

But he must be extremely care ful in trying to realize

these opportunities He must remember that black
.

may be as emphatic as white and that a sharp contrast ,

may lead the eye away from the foc al interest o f the
picture Furthermore he must remember that the best
.

emphasis o f all is secured when tonal value c o operates -

with position and Shape t o mark the dramatic Si gn i fi

c ance an d to produce pi c torial unity and repose It .

would be unpardonable stupidity to give a wrong em

phasis by all o f these p rinciples o f composition Y et .

that i s exactly what was done at on e o f the pictorial

moments o f the Famous Players photoplay D iplo ' ’
,

1 Se e p ag e 4 7 .
 F r om D i p lom a c y It is ar to el e ve th d '
b i ht an cc i d n t c ld p
e ve a e ou ro
d c c p i n n c m pl t ly w i t h y fi ng
.

s o b ad a om o s i t o C ov e r t h e l i o
n w h ich w
u e o e e ou r e rs
wi d ic p lly i n t nd d
.

an d y ou ll s e e t h e ram a t e x re s s i o as re a e e
pg
.

Se e a e 46 .

Fr o m Th e M as k e d R i d er Em ph as si p d cd b nl i
is ro u e y to a s olat o i n
whi ) n g
b y li e ( a r m ing d ii f c li p i c l n
.

( te a n d le a ze o t at t e
ti n)
s s e rv as ra to o a
by p i i n i n g p by i gn i fi c n c f g
.

t an d Th e s t u re c om
p i i n l h ni y b l nc
o
os t
,

o
os
a so as
o
u t ,
ro u

a a
,

e, an d hy h m
r
s
t S pg 6
.
a e
ee
o
a e 4 .
. e
4 8 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

ance with a mob o f a hundred men on the other side o f

the picture Another thing o f special interest to the
.

cinema composer i s that balance can be obtained

through the depth o f the picture that i s that something , ,

in the distance can b e placed in pictorial equilibrium

with something near the c amera Thus in The .

Angelus the chapel dimly seen in the distan c e bal

an ce s the two figures and three obj ects in th e fore

ground .

Another thing not so obvious as balance o f s ub

,

j c et i s what might be called optical balance or balance

, ,

o f line and tone The eye sweeps over a picture more

.

quickly than thought Up and d o wn backward an d f o r , ,

ward and around the whole composition The tour

, .

may be repeated over and over again during a second

o f time I f every Single line and tone seen in this tour
.

i s totally di fferent from every other line and tone then ,

the eye must constantly adj ust itsel f t o a new Optic a l

sensation an d natu rally grows weary in the proc ess
, , ,

however quick it may be But i f the eye finds on e line .

rep eating or echoing another line on e tone repe a ting or ,

echoing another then it finds occasional rest in its

,

tour and the pleasu re o f familiar acquaint ance s ome ,

what like ou r pleasure in travelling when we meet an

o ld friend even though he h as changed a bit Since last
,

we saw him .

L e t U S test some o f these theories o f balan c e by c on

s i d e ri n g the letters o f the alphabet as compo sitions in

line Testing f or balance o f subj ect o r substance we

.
, ,

se e that A H K M R W and X have better balance

, , , , , ,

than F P or V There is better unity in A o r X than

, , .

i n H which exhibits a tendency to fa ll int o halves

,

despite the cross bar N ow i f we look for balance o f.

 C O M P O SI TI O N IN S TATI C F O R M S 49

line we se e that S though its equilibrium is none too

, ,

sure i s satis factory to the eye because the lower hal f

, ,

o f the figure i s a repetition with variation o f the upper

hal f In the letters W and X we find a mathematically
.

per fect balance o f lines and angles but their balance i s ,

too per fect too Severe to be pictorially satis factory

,
.

Perhaps without arguing the matter further we may

, ,

lay down the principle that the eye is more pleased b y ,

repetition with variation than with absolute repetition .

We have said that the eye becomes wearied when it

m ust continuously experience new sensations ; we n ow
add that the eye also grows wearied by the monotony
o f continuous per fect repetition .

The principle o f repetition with variation operates

”
beauti full y in The Angelus There is parallelism .

o f verti c als and horizontals but the parallels are not ,

absolutely per fect and the an gles o f the crossing lines

,

are not absolutely equal angles N ote the verticals in .

the standing figu res th e po tato fork and the distant

,
*

spire N ote the horizontals in the horizon the potato

.
,

rows and the handles o f the wheelbarrow The l ines

, .

are balanced but not as formally per fect as i f arranged

,

by the aid o f a level and plumb line When we ex .

amine the circular lines o f the design we s e e that here

t oo there is balance though not absolute repetition ,
.

N ote the curved lines o f the woman s head the man s ’

,
’

head the basket the wheel o f the wheelbarrow and

, , ,

the fold o f the woman s skirt These lines are not ’

.

drawn with the aid o f a pair o f compasses I f we turn .

” 1
to another design Apollo and the M uses
,
“
men ,

t i on e d above we S e e that oblique lines are prominent

, .

S elect any line in the bodies or draperies o f the dan c ers ,

1 Se e p ag e 3 3 .
5 0 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

and it will be found roughly paralleled by some bal

an c i n g line in the composition .

One might think at first that balance o f line is no i m

mediate c oncern o f the scenario writer wh o cannot
dire c t his own play But the moment a scenario writer
.

specifies a particular person in a particular place he

concerns himsel f with the question o f pictorial compo
s i t i on in lines I f the lines o f the place cannot be made
.

to harmonize with that figure or costume the scenario ,

writer is at fault The moment he introduces ad

.

d i ti on al figures and an obj ect o r two he has still further ,

complicated the problem o f composition and he must ,

bear the blame i f the subj ects he has specified cannot

be composed into a pictorial harmony .

In addition to balance o f subj ect and balance o f lines

a pictorial composition must also have balan c e o f tones .

In a painting such balance is usually perceived in terms

o f colour .Thus a bit o f red in a costume may be
echoed by another bit o f red in the room in a rug in a , ,

piece o f bric a brac o r in a picture on the wall Or

- -
,
.

the sam e red may be balanced in another wa y by its

complementary colour green When such a pa inting .

is photographed the colour or what we cal l colour d i s

, ,

app ears but the tonal value remains and in a good

, ,

painting remains in balance In this connection let U S

.

quote a paragraph from Vachel L indsay s Th e A r t ’

of th e M ovi ng P i c tu re S ome peopl e do n ot con

sider that photographic black white and grey are , ,

colour But here f or instance a re seven colours which

.

the Imagists might u se ( )

I The whiteness o f swans
in the light ( 2 ) The whiteness o f swans in a gentle
.

Shadow ( 3 ) The colour o f a sunburned man in the

.

light ( 4 ) His colour in a gentle Shadow ( 5 ) H is

. .
 C O M P O S IT IO N IN S TATI C F OR M S 5 1

colour in a deeper shadow ( 6 ) The blackness o f .

black velvet in the light ( 7 ) The bl ackness o f black .

velvet in a deep shadow And to use these colours .

with de finite steps from on e to the other does not mili

tate against an artistic mystery o f edge and so ftness in
the flow o f line There is a list o f p o ssible Imagist
.

textu res which is only limited by the number o f things

”
to be seen in the world .

It i s easy to imagine the di ff eren c es in tonal value o f

the subj ects named by M r L indsay ; and it i s j ust as .

easy to perceive the diff eren c es in tonal value in a pho

t ograp h or print o f a painting In the print o f The .

Angelus we observe th at the whitest light is in the

’
woman s skirt j ust beneath her a rm This tone is bal .

an c e d on the right hand side o f the picture by the light

on the potato sacks the glint o f light on the lower edge

,

o f the wheel and the light c augh t by the lower corn er

,

o f her apron It is balanced on the le ft hand side b y

.

’
the white o f the man s shirt the tip o f light on the han ,

dle o f the potato fork and the rim o f light o n the edge
,

o f the basket A fu rther analysis o f the picture re

.

veals the fact that the bla ck s and greys are distributed
and balanced in the same way .

The tonal value o f the motion pi c ture is determined

by two factors : the material sur face or texture o f the
b ody c ostume obj ect or setting and the kind and
, , , ,

amount o f light falling Upon such sur face o r texture .

D oes the scenario w riter see where his c hie f responsi

b i li ty lies ? D oes the director realize that even in out
doo r subj ects i t might be worth while to wait until the
s u n is in the right quarter to erect artificial shades o r ,

reflectors i f neces sary and to seek until he finds the

, ,

best position o f the camera ?

5 2 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

The fourth qual ity which may be produced or ,

lo oked f or in a picture is the quality o f rhythm

, ,

rhythm in line and in tone Rhythm is primaril y .

thought o f in connection with fluent forms but it ma y ,

also be thought o f as operating in static forms For .

a lthough the movement i s n ot in the picture it i s in the ,

eye which observes the picture The eye a s we have .

,

said makes a tour o f inspection I f in this tour o f

,
.

inspection it has consecutive sensations which repeat

themselves with variation the e ffect on the eye is ,

rhythmical We have already used much the same

.

terms in defining balance but it must be remembered,

th at balance implies the equilibrium o f only two units ,

that i s only on e repetition while in rhythm we usually

, ,

think o f more than on e repetition An important .

condition o f rhythm i s that the repetition must n ot be

mathematical When f o r example your clock strikes
.
, ,

twelve you hear a series o f sounds o f equal duration ,

and equally far a p art ; but the e ffect i s n ot rhythmical .

B ut a proper alteration o f the duration pitch o r , ,

quality o f some o f these sounds would produce rhythm .

I f by the aid o f a ruler and a square you draw a zig

zag line across the page making every angle a right
,
”
angle and every leg o f the l ine exactly on e inch
“

long the e ff ect on the eye would not be rhythmical O r

, .

i f with the aid o f compasses you draw a meandering

line in which all the curves repeat the arc o f the same
c ircle the result is n ot rhythmical B u t turn to a .

” 1
photograph or print o f the V enus o f M ilo p re f ,

e rab ly the view from a poi n t directly in front o f

the statue ; in inspecting this composition your eye

w ill travel over many rhythmical lines Begin f o r .
,

1
See Front i s p i e c e .
54 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

dresses and the girls at either end o f the row wear

,

ing black dresses We h ave then the tonal pattern .

,

bla c k white black white black This i s m ath e m at

, , , , .

ical balance but not rhythm S uppose now that we

, .

change the c ostumes and get this order o f values : dark

grey white dark grey light grey black Whether
, , , , .

that result is the best rhythm o r n ot it certainly is ,

more rhythmi cal than the result o f the first arrange

ment We se e now that tonal rh y thm also involves
.

so ft hal f tones and subtle gradations The contrast .

between bla c k and white placed Sharply together is

like the a c ute angle o f t wo lines ; the difference b e
tween light grey meeting dark gre y i s more l ike an
obtuse angle ; and the grading o f two neighbouring
tones until they blend so ftly is l ike wearing down an
angle until it becomes an easy curve .

For the sake o f clearness we have dis c ussed four

principles o f pictorial compo sition in separate se c tions
o f this chapter ; but this does not mean that the

s c enario w riter o r director Should apply them sepa

rately at di fferent hours o r o n di fferent days o f his

work or that they operate separately Upon the eye

,

o f the beholder There must be a single harmon y o f

.

unity emphasis balance and rhy thm There must

, , ,
.

be a totality o f result and a simultaneity o f appeal

t o the eye Are we n ot discussing a pictorial mo
.

ment a flash rather than a pictorial permanen c e on

, ,

canvas o r paper ? Perhaps at this point some sceptic ,

’
a man o f action and n ot o f theories may say That s ,

j ust it The grou p ing at that moment is only a flash

.

anyway Why should I worry my head about such

.

high falutin ideas as balance or rhythm

- ? I f a pic
ture isn t per fect we c an get away w ith it all right
’
.
 C O M P O S IT I O N IN S TAT I C FOR M S 55

The c rowd won t have time to noti c e the de fect

’
.

O u r reply is simply th is : The dire c tor who is satis

fi e d to get away with it is not going forward he ,

is not developing he w ill never help to elevate the

,

c inema pla y from movies to art But to get back .

,

to the main question the brie fer the pictorial moment

,

is the more import ant it is that its unity and emphasis

,

shall help us to gras p the central significance imme

d iate ly and that our eyes Shall not be distracted by
,

ugly lines or la c k o f balance There fore the man who

.

believes that ph y si cal laws o f Sight and vi sual per c ep

tion govern pictorial composition as the laws o f sound ,

govern musical composition and believes that action ,

should be controlled by thought and not by a cc ident ,

will wel c ome and test any theory which aims to make
the photopla y most eff e c tive S uch a seeker for e ffi
.

c i e n c y in art should Supplement our brie f discussion

by reading for e xample Henr y R Poore s Pi c tori al

, , .
’

Co mp os i ti on ( E leve n th E d i ti on R evis e d) or C W
, , . .

Valentine s E xp e ri m e n tal Ps ych ology of B ea uty

’

should stud y the design s o f painting and s c ulpture

in every art gallery he can visit Should study N ature ,

hersel f and should watch the screen for the failures

,

as well as the triumphs o f those who are at present

producing photopla y s I f the seeker can dis c over new
.

laws o f nature he will go down in his history as a

scientist ; i f he c an a p ply old laws to new problems ,

and can make new combinations o f beaut y he will

forever be remembered as an artist We have been .

enthusiastic about the application o f the principles

o f pictorial composition to the photoplay because
we realize that as M r Poore puts it
, . In whatsoever ,

degree more o f the ma n and less o f the m e ch an i cs

5 6 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

appear i n th a t d egree is the result a work o f art

, .

We insist that although the man h a s little opportunit y

,

f o r expressi on o f his own individuality in the e x e c u

tion that i s in the filming and p roj ection o f a photo
, ,

play he h as most alluring opportunity f or expressing

,

himsel f in the selection and composition o f subj ects

to be filmed and proj ected .

But in o ur enthusiasm we must n ot forget that

pictorial appeals are a fter all only the language o f
the cinema composer as words are the language o f ,

the novelist All euphony o f word and cadence o f

.

sentence i s in vain unless they help the writer to con

vey and emphasize the thought he has t o express .

And all pictorial a p peal is in vain unless it in some

way contributes to the dramatic Significance in the
photoplay We must remember that the pictorial mo
.

ment i s not isolated in i ts function It is dependent .

and c o operative It i s a small but organic part in a

-
.

large whole S uppose we are representing a rough

.

and tumble fight lasting four o r five minutes The

-
.

dominating note is str uggle and chaos It would be .

bad art to pr oduce in the midst o f this fight a pictorial

moment o f rhythmical repose Tragedy may some .

time demand ugliness and comedy may sometime de ,

mand unstable equilibrium Furthermore it is n ot .

,

possible that all exposures o f the camera sh ould record

be a uti ful pictures In literature even in a beauti ful
.
,
” ” ”
poem there may be such words as or
,
if the ,
“
, ,
”
as , etc which though n ot in themselves beauti ful
.
, , ,

contribute to the total beauty o f the literary work .

S o in the p hotoplay some o f the items may be close

u p s o i unpictorial things such as a bunch o f keys a , ,

pocket kni fe o r a newspaper clipping ; yet these mere

,
 C O M P O S IT I O N IN S TAT I C F O R M S 57

representations not pictures are necessary for the

, ,

total value o f the photoplay .

The pure pictures o f a photoplay may be classified

as merely decorative pictures portraits and dramatic , ,

tableaux The merely decorative picture is a strong

.

temptation to the inartistic producer The di rector .

o n his way to a location demanded in the scenario

“

happens to see a flock o f sheep N ow the scenario .

does not c all for any fl oc k o f sheep nor would a flock ,

o f sheep help to interpret o r en force any message

o f that scenario But this is such a good looking flock
.
-

o f sheep " It would be a pity not to film it for the

“
delectation o f five hundred thousand movie fans .

S o out comes the camera and in goes the inn oc ent,

flock o f sheep N ot very long ago a produ c er spent

.

a million dollars or said that he did in producing an

, ,

enormous collection a veritable museum o f pictorial

, ,

e ff e cts o f which easily eighty percent were detachable

,

decorations o f the plot That photoplay included

.

many sure fire pictures from the dashing waves

“
,

to the c oiling smoke over a bu rning village from kit ,

tens to swans from flowers to p a lm trees from cun

, ,

ning babies to cruel witches from naked diving girls ,

to heroic warriors in fantastic panoply yet the total ,

result was in no way memorable except as a disgust ,

ing misdirection o f artistic resources and as a de ,

se rv ed ly bad investment o f money N ow i f only five .

percent o f these pictures had been merely decorative ,

and the other ninety fi ve percent had been dramati c

-

tableaux or portrait delineations o f character the film ,

would certainly have had more value as a piece o f

art The preceding statement is an admission that
.

an o cc as i onal merely decorative picture may have a

5 8 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

place in a photop lay S hakespeare o ften introduced

.

comic relie f during a dramatic pause in some grim

tr a gedy In the same way the cinema composer may
.

s ometime introduce pictorial relie f something to rest ,

the eye and quiet the emotions a fter a dramatic crisis .

We may even go so far as to say that pictorial beauty

might well be used to compensate those portions o f
a plot where dramatic suspense and acting value i s
lo w .In other words when you cannot appeal to
,

the mind o f the spectator by all means appeal t o his,

eye .

But the highest achievement o f a s c reen portrait i s

the delineation o f human character Pose grouping .
, ,

setting composition o f l ine and colour are all in vain

,

i f they do not reveal to U S the interesting personality

o f the subj ect All those pictorial values are but the
.

language o f the artist with which he describes his

character In the photoplay human personality i s de
.

lineated partly by the actor and partly by the art o f

the director who composes persons places and things , ,

into po rtrait pictures We sh all discuss the delinea

.

tion o f character and the dramatization o f setting in

later chapters o f this book .

The photoplay must n ot only portray human char

a c t e rs but it must portray human characters in a c
,

tion that i s in dramatic action Frequently in this

, ,
“

action comes a crisis and Ultimately comes a climax

, .

These intense moments must in the highest cinema ,

art be rep resented pictorially by dramatic tableaux

, ,

and not by printed words thrown Upon the screen .

V achel L indsay puts the matter well The climax .

o f a motion picture scene cannot be on e word or fi fty

words A S h as been dis c ussed in connection with

.
 C O M P O S ITI O N IN S TATI C F O R M S 59

Cabiria the crisis must be an a c tion sharper than any

,

that has gone be fore in organi c union with a tableau

more beauti ful than any that h as preceded : the break
L e t U S de
”
ing o f the tenth wave upon the sand .

fine a dramatic tableau as the picture in which the

greatest number o f dramatic values can be visually
grasped in a singl e moment It i s most intense in .

the visible representation o f a conflict a struggle , ,

physical or mental o r both The director in com

,
.

posing this tableau must remember that the dramatic

meaning should be read in every part o f the picture ,

in the setting the furniture the things the group

, , ,

ing the lines the tones as well as in the face o f the

, , ,

chie f per former Breadth completeness pictorial

.
, ,

totality must never be sacrificed to the ambition or

”
vanity o f a star .

I f the spectator Sitting in a motion picture theatre

can be placed in intimate conta c t with an interesting
personality can be placed in sympathetic sus p ense con
,

c erning a human struggle and can be given e m o ,

t i on al satis faction b y the out c ome o f that struggle ,

then the pictorial delineation and narration which

produ c ed th ose results may be considered good art .

But it is b y no means necessary that the spe c tator shall

be aware o f the pictorial methods responsible f or the
result He need not be c onscious o f the fact that
.

the part icular picture was be auti ful because it had

no j arring note no disagreeable subj ect no bad bal
, ,

an c e no ugly lines o r that the meaning o f the par

, ,

t i c u lar picture was made clear and impressive through

unity and emphasis He need not even be sub c on
.

scious o f the principles o f pictorial composition But .

the cinema composer will have to understand obey , ,

60 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

and apply those principles consciousl y until he c an

understand obey and apply them su bc onsciousl y until
, , ,

in fact they become second nature to him .

Thus we have made a systemati c analysis o f the

principles o f pictorial composition in static form s ,

because such forms are present even in the motion

picture But the pictorial moments are a fter all only
.

incidents in the pi c torial movement The y must em

.

p h a s i z e without retarding
,
they must stress without
stopping the c inematic movement And sin c e this
.

movement also must be e ffectively com p osed we turn

,

next to a c hapter on p i ctorial composition in fluent

forms .
62 TH E A RT OF P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

ment by a medium in repose and he will feel his full

,

responsibility and glimpse h i s large reward when he

realizes that n ow for the first time in history it has
become possible to capture and mobilize in art an y
movement which the human eye can perceive and ,

movements even which the unaided eye cannot per

c e i ve .

It may be edi fying to s ee in what cases the move

ment o f a subj ect is more beauti ful o r ap p ealing than
the repose o f th e same subj ect Take for example .
, ,

the Simple figu re o f a circle Which is more ap .

pealing to the eye the child s hoop rolling over the

,
’

’
tur f or the same hoop held still in the child s
,

hand or lying on the grass ? The whirling circle

which a child describes with a glowing brand o r any ,

fixed circle say a gol d ring

,
? The moving circle has
a fundamental appeal in the child s game a s well as
’

in the art o f the dancer For this reason Giulio

.

Romano wa s not content to let his Apollo and the

'

M uses stand in a circle ; they must seem to move in

a circle N ow let U S consider a pattern of static
.

ci rcles having a common centre a s for exampl e , , ,

the design on a button N O such fixed arrangement

.

o f circles can ever be so mysteriously fascinating

as the moving pattern on the su r face o f a pool Where
a pebble h as j ust gone down Whatever the explana
.

tion may be it i s true that the baby and the grand

,

mother alike gaze with pleased expression at the rings

rising from a fixed centre chasing each other in all
,

directions until they vanish in the vain pursuit N o .

such pleasure to the eye could ever come from an i n

s t an t an e o u s photograph o f the same pattern An .

allied e ffect may be produ c ed by circles c ontra c ting

 C O M P O S I T I O N I N FL U E N T F O R M S 63

about a common centre a phenomenon which may b e ,

observed by a passenger on the rear plat form o f a

tube train as he gazes into the receding tunnel S uch .

a phenomenon too is the vortex o f water where the

, ,

l ines rush spirally downward toward a vanishing

point I f it is true that these e ffects are more beauti
.

ful in movement than in repose the cinema c omposer ,

i s happy in being able to represent them cinematically .

But he should go fu rther H e Should trans f e r .

these fundamental principles o f visual appeal to any

photoplay subj e c t where they may possibly apply .

The moving ci r cle for exam ple may be applied to

, ,

games dan c ing m ilitary man oeuvres groups o f ani

, , ,

mals et c always produ c ing a result which i s pic

, .
,

f o ri al to the eye The cu rving lines o f the rushing

.

N iagara may be trans ferred to a crowd pouring out

o f a building The leaping flaring lines o f the sur f
.
,

breaking on a rock may be utili z ed by a group o f dan c

ing gi rls waving thei r s c arves ; and the radiating lines
o f a Sky roc ket may reappea r in a troop o f soldiers
deploying up a g ently sloping hill The undulating .

lines o f a ribbon rippling in the breeze may in retarded ,

tempo c haracterize a herd o f sheep filing down a moun

,

tain path o r the battle front o f an army swaying b e

,

neath the atta ck o f the enemy The photoplay di rector .

may represent these optical eff e c ts as he finds them i n

nature or familiar l i fe or he may trans fer them as has
, ,

been suggested o r he may utiliz e the same e ffe c t in

,

two di fferent subj ects simultaneously thu s h arm on i z ,

ing his values The girls may dance in the presen c e

.

o f the sur f ; the troops may deploy beneath Sk y

rockets .

There are man y c ases where the instantaneous pho

64 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

t ograp h i s n ot nearly s o e ffective as the picture in

motion One o f the earliest subj ects o f the cinema
.

t ograp h was t h e railway train first appearing as a

,

tiny speck in the distance then gradually expanding

,

in Size until it bore down upon the beholder with a

rushing reality that made him almost feel the suction
o f the a i r wash Whether the tr a in was going o r
.

coming the moving pattern o f converging or diverging

perspective made an impression on the eye which could
never be suggested in painting or adequ ately described
in words S uch a moving p attern i s a unique element
.

in the hands o f the cinema composer which he should

fit into artistic union with the rest o f his composition
in fluent forms He should d o more ; he should
.

harmonize his pictured motion with the meaning o f

the play Thus the approa ching train might some
.

how create the impression O f climax o f culmination , ,

and the train vanishing into the horizon might sym

b oli z e the s a dness o f farewell .

Turning from the consideration o f lines curved ,

o r straight in motion we may find equally beauti ful

,

phenomena in the plane in motion The undul ating .

sur fa ce o f the se a and the billowy plane o f a wheat

,

fi e ld in a June breeze suggest Optical e ff ects which

might be utilized in a group o f d ancers o r in a less ,

formal way in the mob o f the market place M oving

, .

textures t oo should be studied f o r their cinematic

, ,

e ff ect ; because the cinematograph alone c a n transmit

the charm o f the changing pattern o f falling snow the ,

calm maj esty o f ice fl oe s dri fting down the river the ,

dark Sheen o f coiling smoke o r the image weaving

,
-

magic o f summer clouds S uch phenomena should

.

appear when appropriate in the photoplay as well a s

 C O M P O S ITI O N I N F L U E N T F O R M S 65

in the travel picture and the principles o f their ap

,

peal to the eye Should be kept in mind by the director

when costuming and handling his dramatic crowds .

The movement o f tone that is the gradual changing

, ,

from dark to bright from dim to distinct and vice

, ,

versa has already been much exploited by the photo

,
”
play director The typical
. fade i n and“
fade -

”
out when properly done is undoubtedly pleasing to
the eye But this changing o f tone would be much
.

more subtle in its e ff e c t i f it could be accompanied

by a changing o f pattern One o f the natural beau
.

ti es eternally unattainable by painters is the colour

play o f the sun setting behind a fl e e c y web o f clouds .

Why is it that the colourists o f the brush are never

able to represent a sunset with beauty and c on vi c
tion ? S imply because the optical values consist in
the gradual subtle changing o f tint and pattern rather
,

than in the static arrangement at any given moment .

To take another example what painter could ever

,

convey the delicate impression our eyes get from the

sudden fading o f the glow in the wake o f a meteor ?

Pictorial values o f motion such as these admittedl y

de fy the cinematograph t oo a defiance however , , ,

which only emphasizes ou r general contention that

there is a whole realm o f beauty which exists in
fluent though not in static form and can be trans
, , ,

m i t te d by art only when the fluent form is repro

d uc e d .

To transmit this fluent beauty i s the mission o f

the cinema com p oser H is task though inviting is
.
, ,

di ff icult f o r he is the pioneer in this new field o f art

, .

First he must have an eye to the proper composition

o f the movements which lie betwee n the beginning and
66 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

end o f any on e scene M r Cecil de M ille o f the L asky

. .
,

studios h a s done good work in the composition within

,

s c enes . In l oan th e W om an f or example the

, , ,

g rouping and transition within a given scene was so

direct e d that successive rearrangements o f figures with
re ference to the setting made a succession o f group
ings which individually satisfied the demands o f rhythm
and balance in pictorial com p osition .

But the composition o f motion values within a

scene is merely the first and easy part o f the general
problem o f composition o f fluent forms The crux .

o f the problem i s the organization o f Separate and

seemingly unrelated motions into a totality character

i z e d by unity emphasis balance and rhythm
, , Could ,
.

y o u
, f o r example arrange
,
the rolling h O O p the whirling ,

brand the vortex the water fall the sur f the Sky
, , , ,

rocket the ribbon the train the sea the wheat field
, , , , ,

the falling snow the dri fting ice floes the coiling
, ,

smoke the cloud s the meteor and the sunset into

, , ,

a single satis factory composition ? Which eleme nt

would you put first which thi rd or seventh which ,

last ? Which e l ements would you rej ect wh i ch em ,

p h a s i ze ? I f you were asked to p roj ect five given

colou rs upon a screen in succession in what order ,

would you proj ect them to produce the most pleasing

e ffect Upon the eye ? A five reel photoplay contains
hundreds o f di ff erent exposures o f action laid in fi fty
or a hundred di ff erent settings N ow i f the photoplay.

is to be l oo ked Upon as art it follows that all i t s vario u s

parts must be assem bled and j oined in such a fashion
that the complete com p osition will give continuous
pleasure t o the eye from b eginning to the end o f the
exhibition And this fluent pictorial value must o f
.
,
 CO M POS ITI O N I N F L U E N T F O R M S 67

course be c o ordinated w ith the dramatic meaning

,
-

O f the pl a y .

It i s clearly evident that composition o f motion pi c

tures is an entirely di ff erent thing from composition
in painting o r photography in sculpture o r archite c t ,

u re
. The visible stimuli in those arts do not vanish
while you look at them They are there as long a s .

you look w ill be there tomorrow and will remain con

, ,

s t an t ly present to the eye as long as the art obj ect

endures But the motion picture i s an ever originating

.

series o f ever vanishing aspects And the composi .

tion o f the photoplay is a combination o f no longer -

seen pictu res w ith being seen pictures with not yet - -

seen pictures In other words the c inematic composi

.
,

tion appeals simultaneously to the memory the per ,

c e p t i on and the expectation o f the beholder Hen c e

, .

it is analogou s to musical c omposition the arrange ,

ment o f ever originating ever vanishing sounds In , .

l istening to music the ea r so to speak remembers , , ,

hears and expects j ust as in seeing a photoplay the

, ,

eye so to speak remembers sees and expects I t

, , , , .

i s to music there fore that the cinema composer ma y

turn for his principles o f composition in fluent forms .

The analogy between sounds in a series and sights

o r visibles in a series is per fect Either has duration .
,

rate and tone quality A picture may have intensity

, .

or sharpness as a note has stress and its tones o r ,

colours may be arranged in a high o r low key j ust as

notes may be arranged in a high or low key A num .

ber o f notes struck Simultaneously may constitute a

chord j ust as a number o f colours or graphic values
represented simultaneously may constitute a static pic
ture A succession o f notes is not beauti fu l unless it
.
68 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

possesses rhythm o r melody ; SO a succession o f visible

stimuli is n Ot beauti ful to the eye unless it t oo , ,

possesses some kind o f rhythm o r harmony When .

we listen to music the notes which have j ust died

away into silenc e are still vividly present in memory
and hav e an organi c c onnection with the notes which
are yet to come So the p ictorial values which have
.

j ust faded o ut o f sight are still present in memory and

a ffect o ur appreciation o f the pictorial values that
follow them It could even be shown by practical
.

tests in a psychological laboratory that the eye having ,

seen part o f a given sequence o f pictorial values is in

suspense o r so to speak experiences expectation f o r
, , ,

the rest o f the sequence and would be shoc ked i f

what followed were inharmonious in desi gn tone o r , ,

colour ; j ust as any on e can prove t o himsel f by listen

ing to music that when part o f a sequence o r phrase
has been played the car s o to speak expects o r
, , ,

i s attuned t o the complementary notes which will

round out the rhythm o r melody .

Hence it must be clear that any photoplay director

who looks Upon himsel f as an artist rather than a
drill master who desires some day to produce a photo
,

play which shall be known as a classic must learn ,

to compose his fluent forms must learn to apply the ,

principles o f unity emphasis balance and rhythm

, , ,

t o the ever vanishing ever originating V i s i ble values

,

which he proj ect s Upon the screen He will find this .

a di ffi cult ideal to realize because unlike the musician

, , ,

he h as to adj ust his composition in fluent form s to the

ne eds o f a fairly definite dramatic story ; but the di lfi
c ulty does not release an artist from the responsi b ility
o f aiming at the ideal .
7 0 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

s en c e s pictures to correspond to th e silences b e

of

tween musical notes On the screen the edges o f pic

.

t o ri al values cannot well be separated ; they must

touch as closely as the negatives in the film This .

makes it all the more important to be c areful o f the

j oining I f pictures are n ot properly j oined they w ill
.

break in the aestheti c test j ust as surel y as in the

p roj e c ting machine .

To begin with a composition in fluent forms must

,

have unity otherwise it cannot be c alled a single

,

composition i f a composition at all We have all

, .

seen photoplays that possessed about as much unit y

as a bead string made o f diamonds rubies shoe but , ,

tons pearls per forated pennies bits o f glass wampum

, , , ,

beads and gold nuggets o r as a succession o f the

, ,

following sounds in the order named : a whistle a ,

pi ano note a voice a drum a flute note an organ

, , , ,

note the bark o f a d og the tolling o f a bell and the

, , ,

note o f a fi fe The memory o f any on e O f these

.

sounds clashes with o ur perception o f the next And .

no given sound leads U S to expect the next on e S uch .

arrangement o f part s do n ot comprise a totality and

cannot leave a Single great impression on the mind .

The Fox photoplay Th e D augh te r of th e G ods is a

conspicuous violation o f the principle o f unity The .

good fairies and bad witches o f N orthern lore roam

familiarly in Oriental h a rems o r along A frican coasts ;
mermaids dwell with S anta Clauses or dwarfs ; these
dwar fs are in turn trans formed into M e n o f V alour ,

o r Hosts o f the Cross which are obviously reminiscent

,

o f Joan o f A re ; the poetic theme o f the transmigra

tion o f souls clashes with a veritable N oah s Ark or ’

menagerie o f the following animals : cats toads , ,

 C O M P O S IT I O N I N F L U E N T F O R M S 7 1

donkeys oxen camels pigs sheep dogs horses and

, , , , , , ,

crocodiles fraternizing with blue birds song birds

, , ,

pigeons peacocks gulls and swans A beauti ful Arab

, , , .

encampment is forgotten when we come to the wild

sur f o f a se a which i s supposed to be notoriously
calm and this in tu rn is obliterated by the spectacular
,

scenes o f a bu rning city S uch a j umble besides be .

,

ing incoherent and meaningless to the mind has no ,

unity o f visual impression for the eye .

In a melody the notes must be in the same key and

even o f the same instrument ; in a cinematic composi
tion the pi c tures though o f various subj ects Should
, ,

be in the same visual key N ow swans and pigeons .

may be in the same key but crocodiles and sheep are ,

not M ermaids and harem beauties may be in the

.

same key but mermaids and camels are not The

, .

lines tones and textures o f pigeons and swans o r o f

, ,

harem beauties and mermaids harmonize with

each other ; but the lines tones and textures o f croco , ,

diles and sheep or o f mermaids and camel s do not

harmonize with each other And the lack o f harmony .

i s apparent even when these subj ects are exhibited sev

eral minutes apart on the screen .

Th e D a ugh te r of th e G ods lacks both unity o f stor y

and unity o f visual appeals ; b u t it would be almost as
bad artistically even i f it had the former and did not
’
have the latter Imagine how D vo rak s . Humor “

esque would sound i f the first few notes were played

on a violin the next few on a slide trombone the
, ,

next on a piano the next on an ukelele the next on

, ,

a pipe organ the next on a co m et the next on a

, ,

V iolon c ello et c to the end o f the pie c e

, .
, S uch a per .

f o rm an ce might present proper continuit y might pre ,

7 2 TH E ART O F P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

sent the notes o f the music in their original tempo an d

pitch might t here fore, be said to have a certain unity
, ,

o f content and yet it would b e an utter farce because

,

it lacked all unit y o f expression But miscellaneous .

and chaotic appe als to the c ar are n o worse t h an m i sc el

lan e ous and chaotic appeals t o the eye A photoplay .

cannot make a single abiding impression on the b e

holder unless it h as its entire su c cession o f subj ects o f ,

lines shape s tones colours organized into a unity

, , , ,
.

But a fluent unity like a static unity must have

, ,

emphasis somewhere Just as in a story some char

.

a c te rs and some events must have greater significance

than others so in a su cc ession o f pictures some must

,

have greater eye appeal than others And the need .

Of emphasis is by no means incompatible with the need

o f unity In fact unity implies emphasis because it
.
,

involves subordination as well as co ordi nation o f its -

parts One method o f securing emphasis in a photo

.

play is to increase the tempo o f the pi c tures as the

story approaches a climax This is admirably illus .

t rate d in Gri ffith s I n toleran ce He has managed

’
.

to bring the climaxes o f his four interwoven stories

close together And as the ph oto p lay approa ches this
.

group o f climaxes the action within the scenes is ac .

c e le rat e d and the scenes themselves are gradually short

ened until they become mere flashes all this producing ,

a staccato e ff ect which almost overwhelms the ey e w ith

its power .

Another type o f dramatic emphasis ma y be secured

on occasion by decreasing the tempo that is by re , ,

tarding the action within the scenes and lengthening ,

the scenes themselves thus gradually producing the ,

eff ect o f solemnity and maj esty o f action .

 CO M P OS ITI O N I N F L U E N T F O R M S 73

The pitch o f pictures that is the sharpness o f

, ,

values may also be altered to produce emphasis A .

scene beginning in the low pitch o f light greys and

,

d a rk greys may gradually heighten into the strong

sharpness o f steel whites and ebony blacks ; and then ,

a fter the moment o f emphasis has passed ma y again ,

subside into a low pitch .

Emphasis may also be produced by arrangement o f

tonal values wherever the subj ect permits For ex .

ample the eye gives particular attention to and the

, ,

spectator is sure to remember a single moonlight scene

i n b lue i f it appears isolated among a succession o f
-

scenes representing the yellowish light o f day .

The composer o f fluent forms must c onstantly be

ware lest his composition become merely a succession
o f vanishing aspects Painters who deal with stati c
.
,

form s o ften manage to suggest motion ; yet in every

,

case a painting is really an arrested moment o f re

pose and its impressiveness to the beholder is due
,

partly to the fact that he ma y devote an y length o f

time to the contemplation o f the chosen moment o f
repose B ut in a photoplay the values vanish while
.

we look upon them A similar vanishing o f values

.

occurs in music Y et they may not vanish forever b e

.
,

cause the composer has arranged a rhythmic recur

rence o f certain fundamental notes or moti fs In a .

Wagn er O pera fo r example the re c urring note or

, ,

moti f gradually impresses itsel f upon our minds until

we remember it exactly and feel its full significance .

Th e musi c ian there fore with all his fluent ever vanish
,

ing forms succeeds in creating a static e ff ect a base ,

o f rest to which the hearer s attention may return

’

again and again for c ontemplation Thus in the photo

.
74 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

play a beauti ful subj ect a beauti ful static composition

,

which h as appeared on the screen f o r onl y a few min

utes may be recalled again and again at rhythmic i n
t e rva ls during the play until its full beauty i s i m
pressed upon the eye and mind o f the beholder .

This emphasis by repetition i s to be recommended

only o f course when the picture or pictorial value
, ,

repeated is really worthy o f emphasis The figure .

,

grouping obj ect landscape or whatever pictorial value

, , ,

repeated must have something more than mere sur face

value something that cannot be fully appreciated by
,

hasty inspection a visual beauty and dramatic s i gn ifi

,

cance that grows by repetition Just as a moti f in.

music or a re frain in poetry takes on a new beauty

with each new context in which it is presented so a ,

repeated picture in a photoplay Should ga in new mean

ing and beauty each time it i s rec alled in a succession
o f new pictures .An interesting case o f the recurring
note i s furnished by I n toleran ce The scene o f a .

young woman rocking a baby in a crude cradle ac ,

companied by a sub title from Walt Whitman

-
Out ,

o f th e cradle endlessly rocking wa s repeated scores

,

( it seemed hundreds ) o f times Just what the

. pic
ture symbolized wa s not clear to all o f the beholders
o f the photoplay b u t those to whom it did symbolize
,

something were greatly impressed by the cogency o f

this constantly recurring note In I n toleran ce it .

might have been o r in some other photoplay it may

,

be artistically e ffective t o repeat with variation In

, .

I n t oleran c e f o r example the general moti f might

, ,

h a ve been the mother putting her child to sleep but ,

the aspect o f the cradle and the domestic su r

roundings might have varied with the c ountries and
 C O M P O S ITI O N IN F LU E N T F O R M S 75

pe riods o f history represented in the play In an y .

c a se emphasis m ay result from the recurring picture ,

which once familiar t o the e y e gradually becomes

, ,

fixed in the mind .

Further emphasis may be se c ured by the c ontrast o f

,

fluent forms We all know the e ffect o f c ontrast

.

when values are shown simultaneously I f a tall m an .

and a Short m an appear on the stage together the tall

man looks taller than he re ally i s and the short m an
looks shorter than he really is The same e ff ect may .

be obtained when values are Shown successively A .

flood o f red on the screen will seem all the more red
i f it is preceded by a flood o f gree n These things are .

due to optical laws and not to the sentiments tastes , ,

or experien c e o f the individual beholder The ver .

tical lines o f tall Slender spruce tree s will gain in

emphasis when contrasted with the long horizontal
lines o f the sea The e ff ects o f contrast need not o f
.
,

course be confined to the realm o f colours and lines

, .

A palace ma y be contrasted with a hovel or a lad y with ,

a strumpet Whatever the contrast is it must be a

.

contrast in kind that is a di fference between Similar

, ,

values For example a cat may be in contrast with

.
,

a tiger b ut could not be said to be in contrast with an

,

iceberg The latter i s a clash not a contrast

.
, .

N ow i f the whole succession o f ever originating ,

ever vanishing values in a photopla y has unity and

emphasis it will be still more pleasing i f it also em
,

bodies the principle o f balance In the previous chap .

ter we have explained what i s meant by balance o f

subj ect line and tone in a painting that i s in a com
, , , ,

position i n static forms It i s obvious that fluent .

forms too must be in balance It is not enough that

, , .
7 6 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

the end o f a cinema plot as such be in balance with

the beginning o f that pl ot ; it is important that the
visual values at the end o f a motion picture be in
b alance with the values at the beginning o f that pic
ture Again we find an analogy in mus i c The last
. .

note returns to the first an equilibrium is struck and

, ,

the ear is pleased B ut b al ance applies even further

.

th an beginnings and ends C ontinuous balance at all .

times is desirable So in a succession o f a dozen o r

.

more pictures some o f those pictures should balance

others in line or tone or general pattern At some .

movie theatre you s e e a run o f pictures something

like this : a pea sant girl herding sheep ; a close Up o f -

her face emphasizing her eyebrows ; a close up o f her

,
-

dog attack e d by a rattlesnake ; a c ompany o f archers

and lancers storming an old grey tower ; and a young
fisherman at se a hauling in his nets This does not .

look especially promising an d yet i f we omit the eye

, ,

bro ws and rattlesnake as unnecessary interpolations ,

we may find considerable visual b alance be twee n the

so ft grey tones o f the sheep and the tower between ,

the sharp lines o f the ship s riggi ng and the bows and ’

lan c es even between the bright gleam o f the fi sh and

,

the lance heads N ow providing the fisherman the

.
, ,

pea sant girl and on e o f the archers are w oven into a

,

story this may turn out to be a fairly artistic p rogre s

,

sion o f pictures a fter all .

Balan c e may b e appli e d t o the tempo as well as to ,

the subj ect matter tones and lines o f a cinematic

, ,

composition Just as in music quarter notes hal f

.
,

notes and whol e notes are proportionally distributed

, ,

s o in a photoplay there should be a general balance o f

pict o rial durations There would certainly be a feel

.
7 8 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I NG

certainly not be rhythmi cal But these three notes .

arranged in various pitches and lengths constitute th e

hundred or more bugle calls used by the United S tates
Army and N avy N ow there is o f course n ot on e
.
, ,

chance in a million that a photoplay director should

arr a nge his pictures i n mathematically accurate rep
e ti ti on s B ut there are several hundred thousand
.

chances in a million that h i s su cc ession o f pictures

will be without any semblance o f system whatsoever .

He certainly cannot trust to accident for an orderly

arrangement an y more than the musician can write
,

the names o f h i s notes on Slips o f paper shake them ,

up in a hat and trust to accident f or his melody

, .

Pictures we have said like musical notes possess

, , ,

tone pitch stress duration and rate o f repetition

, , , ,
.

The interweaving o f these values in a beauti ful rhythm

must be the product o f genius and not o f calculation .

And when this subtle thing rhythm has been produced, , ,

its e ff ect on the spectator will be inevitable even ,

though he may never understand or be able to explain

j ust what it was that made the run o f p ictures so
pleasing to the eye .

The cinema composer must remember that in try

ing to achieve unity emphasis balan ce and rhythm
, , ,

in the composition o f fluent visible forms he will meet

with all o f the hardships and discouragements o f the
pioneer The hard headed money maker will tell
.
-

him to leave all such fin i cal tinkerings t o old maids or

people who write books a b out the art o f the motion
picture The star will insist that he or sh e be gi ven
.

at least three close Up s in every reel as though the

-
,

pictorial value o f a photoplay were guaranteed onl y

when the spectator could distinguish the eyelashes
 C O M P O S IT IO N I N F L U E N T F O R M S 79

or count the molars o f the star The publicit y man

.

wil l demand that the villain be lashed to a torpedo and

fired into a dynamite ship o r be disposed o f in some
,

other picturesque way B ut the pioneer w ill run

.

the ga untlet o f inj unctions j eers and threats will

, , ,

stead fastly follow the gleam o f art for he may be ,

confident th a t the world which has appreciated and

paid for the best in sculpture architecture painting
, , ,

poetry drama and music will some day appreciate and

, ,

pay for the best in the new art o f cinema compo sition .

Each o f the elder arts has some unique characteristi c ,

some function which it alone among the arts can

per form The distinctive rOle o f the motion pi c ture
.

play i s to give refined pleasure to a cultured world by

mobilizing the ever ori ginating ever vanishing visible
,

forms which nature c an produce or imagination c an

trans form into the material o f art .

B ut the c inema c omposer ma y not su cc eed in per

f ect i n g the c omposition o f fluent visual values in a
given play or i f he does suc c eed he may find that
, , ,

the play is still not a wholly satis factory piece o f work .

W e must there fore proceed to the consideration o f

other ways and means o f making a photopla y impres
sive to an audien c e .
 C HA PTE R V
C A M ER A M A GI C
FO R thousands o f years the public old and young ,

alike have gazed spell bound at exhibitions o f the

,
-

marvellous things which were remote from ordinary

,

human experience or by the illusion of magic com

p le t e ly transcended natural powers Thi s primitive
. e n

j oym en t o f the wonder ful i s perennial Today the fast .

e st runner the most agi le j umper

,
the man with the
,

highest batting average the most spectacular aviator

, ,

h a s a s many open mouthed ej aculating admirers a s

-

did the gladiator in the days o f imperial Rome And .

the Hindoo magician who disappears Up a rope lad

der into the sk y evokes as much astonishment as the
sorcerers o f Pharaoh wh o turned rods into serpents .

The ancient world craved something even more amaz

ing than the exhibitions o f athletes acrobats and , ,

magicians ; it desired to be thrilled by things which

surpassed even the powers o f these excep tional per
formers There fore men o f inventive genius fabri
.

c at e d stories o f the Supernatural o f gods an d devils o f

, ,

giants and elves o f witches and trolls with their

, ,

astounding catalog o f powers an d achievements O f .

course neither these remarkable beings n or thei r gi fts

,

c ould be perceived by human eyes for they existed ,

only in the imaginations o f those who told the stories

and those who heard them .

Be fore going farther in this discussion let U S di f

80
82 TH E ART OF P HO T O P LA Y M A K I N G

place weeks months o r y ears ago S uppose it were

, , .

possible this very evening to go and se e authentic

films o f events that took place hundreds o f years ago ,

o f Columbus setting sail in his three ships o f S hake ,

speare acting in his own plays o f N apoleon going into ,

battle How we would marvel at such a visual

.

restorati on o f the past " But we c annot See the actual

cinema records o f these motions ; we c an only imagine
them Y ou imagined them more o r less vividly j ust
.

n ow a s you read these words Who knows ? Pe r .

haps it is pleasanter to imagine the dee ds o f the past

than to s e e them in their actuality At any rate in .
,

thi s and the following chapter we must distinguish

betwee n the appeal to the sense o f wonder and the
appeal to the imagination And whether in any par.
,

t i c u la r case it i s an advantage or a disadvantage it is ,

certain that the cinematograph may present to ou r

eyes to our sense o f wonder many things which f or
, ,

merly were presented only to ou r im agination .

One o f the most common examples o f camera magic

is the metamorphosis o r trans formation a phenom
, ,

enon which myths and fairy tales have long led us

to imagine but which w e may n ow actually se e on
,

the screen Trans formations o f statues into human

.

beings flowers into fairies water falls into giants and

, , ,

o ld hags into trees are familiar t o every devotee o f

the motion pictures These things are mysterious but

.
,

the y are no longer imaginary ; you se e them and I ,

s e e them on the screen ; they are real i f we are to ,

believe the testimony o f ou r own eyes Perhaps even .

the child at the the atre does not really believe that the
statue i s a real statue o r that it really turns into a
human be ing ; nevertheless that child marvels at the
 C A M ERA M A G I C 83

magi cal thing he sees j ust as surely as any adult ,

marvels at the inexplic a ble trick o f the magician o n

the stage This new appeal the appeal to the sense
.
,

o f wonder i s a thing which the scenario writer and the

,

photopla y director may conj ure w ith I f they turn .

the trick badly they will only disgust or at best amuse , ,

the spectators with their awk wardness ; but i f they

have genius f o r plot making and mechanical e xecu
tion they may f o r a few moments a t least cast a
, , ,

spell o f wonder over those who come to se e the mo

tion pictures .

Thus the camera may materialize the startling

metamorphoses o f myt h makers It may also actual .

i ze such hallucinations as ghosts and visions illusions ,

o f rea l li fe illusions however which many people

, , ,

even t oday look upon as realities Ghosts have o f .

,

course be en presented in stage pla y s from the begin

,

ning o f drama but never w ith the convincingness now

,

possible in the photopla y Banquo s ghost in the orig

’

inal per formance o f M ac be th was undoubtedly acted

by the same actor who had a few minutes be fore acted .

the part o f the living Banquo The ghost was j ust .

as real j ust as heavy and perspired j ust as much as

, ,

Banquo and di ff ered from him only in having gory

,
”
locks . M odern developments in stage mechani c s and
stage cra ft have enabled producers o f M ac b e th H am ,

le t and R i ch ard I I I t o represent the ghosts with more

,

spiritisti c more supernatura l e ffect But no stage

,
.

production has ever yet succeeded in presenting the

airiness the marvellous elusiveness the delicate fading
, ,

from invisibility into visibility and back again whi c h

i s possible in the m oti on p i c tu re s Further these e f , .
,

fee ts o f double exposu re permit many subtle renderings

84 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

which are denied to the stage per formance For ex .

ample M acbeth may s e e the ghost in h i s own chair ;

,

he cries out and turns away in horror but when the ,

astonished lords look at the designated place the ghost

has faded out into nothingness S uch literal inter .

re tat i on o f what S hakespeare s text leads u s to i m

’

p
agine is possible only on the motion picture screen .

There i s a gain in verisimilitude and convincingness ,

too in the fact that the photoplay ghost m ay be pre

,

sented in broad d aylight The spectator cannot say to

.

himsel f that the ghost is only an illusion o f the night

and will vanish when light comes f or there on the ,

screen he sees the ghost faintly but surely and any

, ,

other spectator will corroborate the testimony o f his

eyes .

Closely allied to the illusion o f ghosts i s the illusion

o f visions In history and in story books we read o f
.

the visions seen by re a l and imaginary ch a racters and ,

we merely imagine the visions seen B ut in the photo .

play we t oo may se e the visions and may feel more

, , ,

clearly the emotions experienced by the characters

a ffected Thus in the photoplay J oan th e Wom an we
.
,

may feel with the heroine a thrilling inspiration as sh e

sees a mounted knight in full armour and panoply rid
ing in the air above the assembled multitude S he i s .

transfixed by the vision but when the people about

,

her look upward at the O bj ect o f her gaze they se e

nothing but empty air We in the audience marvel
.

as we se e the mysterious knight very faintly but ,

definitely enough to be sure that he is there and i n ,

a moment quicker than words we grasp the thoughts

, ,

o f Joan and the comments o f the crowd Upon her

,

supposed madness This i s camera magic a dramati c

.
,
86 TH E ART O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

mous that sh e climbed from on e to another wi th

great di fficulty All these contrasts produced the de
.

sired e ffect because i t i s somehow eas ier and more

natural for the audien ce to think o f a baby girl than
o f gigantic doors chairs and steps A still more
, , .

shrewd method was used in the D augh ter of th e Gods .

It was based on the psychological law that whenever we

are sh o wn the picture o f any isolated thing with n o ,

other relative thing to establish its Size we think o f ,

that thing as normal in size Thus when we were .

Shown the picture o f a tree we subc onsciously j udged

it to be a tree o f normal size perhaps two feet or possi
,

bly three feet in diameter With that norm estab.

li sh e d in our minds we would naturally in fer the rela

tive size o f anything new that c ame into the picture .

N ow the tree was as a matter o f fact some twelve

feet i n diameter ; there fore when Anitia ( Annette K el
le rm an n ) appeared beside the tree o ur illu sion as to ,

Size made her seem diminutive by comparison Then .

the illusion as to her size being kept Up we j udged the ,

dwar fs ( played by children ) to be extremely d i m in u

tive In other words Anitia a full grown woman
.
, , ,

seemed a mere child which made the dwar fs really

, ,

children seem like mere dolls

, .

The cinema composer who undertakes to cinematize

fairyland must always remember that he is robbing i m
agi n at i on by supplying something real instead o f the

imagined and that he cannot be success ful in the sub

,

st i t u t i on unless he presents something n ot only real ,

b ut really amazing something that appeals to the

,

sense o f wonder To be thus success ful he must b e

.

a wizard himsel f ; his tricks must be based o n the

psychology o f illusion as firmly as the tricks o f the
 C A M ERA M A G I C

stage magician The conj uror cannot please his au

.

d i e n c e unless he success fully deceives them ; so the

cinema c onj uror must catch the spectators minds off ’

guard and lead them c aptive into the realm o f won

der .

In c inema land even the laws o f nature may be re

versed o r set aside A brook may be shown flowing
.

merrily u p hill ; people may be shown Sitting down to

dinner with thei r feet on the ceilings partaking o f ,

thei r soup quite unaware o f the fa c t that they are liv

ing Upside down ; a man ma y j ump to the top o f a
high tower o r he may be flattened thin as paper by a
,

steam roller only to rise again into ere c t plumpness

and saunter a way ; an apple blossom may mature into
a ripe apple within a few minutes and while y ou are
,

rubbing your eyes the apple ma y diminish into a

blossom and the blossom into a b ud ; castles may stand
,

maj estically in mid air ; the squirrel may carry a forest

on his back ; the mountain may c ra c k a n ut and the ,

tail may wag the dog It would be possible by ex

.

posing a film Slowl y through a period o f twenty years

to Show a man growing in five minutes from babyhood
to manhood In cinema land fai ry stories may come
.

tru e because not even the laws o f nature hersel f c an

,

c onfine the rare sorcery o f the camera .

The c inema c omposer may even breathe the spirit

o f li fe and person ality into inanimate obj ects A .

familiar example o f such conj uring is the animated

letters and words that assemble into thei r places in
some advertisemen t on the screen They run j ump .
, ,

fly and roll into thei r appointed pla c es some late

, ,
”
comer c rowding the others apart the i almost los
,
“

ing her dot in the Shuffle and the " gett ing his tail
,
88 TH E ART O F P HO T O P LA Y M A K I N G
.

stepp e d on by the broad f ooted A It o ften hap .

pens in everyday li fe that an obj ect acts as though

it had a cantankerous personality Any gol f player .
,

any owner o f a cheap motor car any on e who has ,

ever handled tools any boy wh o has ever made a kite

,

can testi fy that dead obj ects may act as i f they were
alive and possessed o f devils On the screen such
.

strange Suspicions can be verified For example in .

,

Th e B ottle I m p the bottle itsel f is certainly a live Speci

men o f tantalizing mischie f It j umps away from the
'

owner when he grasps a fter it ; it bounces against his

head when he i s not looking all this be cause the imp is
,

reall y in it Animated O bj ects o f pleasanter personal

.

ities ma y be seen in other plays Perhaps a brave .

,

noble pai r o f b oots goes c alling o n a coy little pair

o f slippers,
takes them out walking and bids them ,

—
lovingly good by ; o r perhaps a se t o f A B C blocks
build themselves into a magnificent house all without ,

help o f visible hands while their pretty little owner

,

lies sound asleep .

Enough has been said to illustrate the wonder

working magic o f the camera Any writer wh o h as a
.

genius f or the whimsical would d o well to c onsider

the e ffectiveness o f telling h i s story in motion pictures
instead o f in words And any cinema composer who
.

wishes to master all the means o f p leasing the eyes and

impressing the minds o f his audience must learn to
wield the wand o f camera magic This appeal to the .

sense o f wonder is on e o f the unique possibilities o f

the motion picture play And it must be remembered
.

that any art reaches its highest achievement through

those functions in which it surpasses the other arts .

N either painting n or sculpture neither dan c e n or

,
 CHA PTE R V I

TH E A PPE A L TO TH E I M A G I N A TI O N

TH E ideal photoplay pleases the ey e o f the spe c tator ,

it appeals to h i s sense o f wonder it stirs and quiets ,

his emotions and mildly taxes his j ud gm ent ; but it

,

would cease t o be ideal i f it did not also pleasantly

stimulate his imagination N o art i s per fect unless
.

it makes such an appe a l When we stand be fore a

.

beauti ful painting an impressive piece o f sculpture

, ,

o r a magnificent cathedral ou r fancy soars far beyond

,

the physical things Upon which ou r e y es are resting .

When we listen to good musi c ou r imagination i s

constantly at work painting Shadowy and fleeting pic
tures Wh en w e read an appealing book o u r mind
.

leaps from the printed words into a dream realm o f -

o u r o wn making I f the photoplay is to develop the

.

power o f a genuine art it too must be full o f sug

, ,

gestion it must appeal t o the mind s e y e as well as to ’

’
the body s eye .

But the pride o f the photographers o f the directors , ,

and even o f many theorists who have written books

about the photoplay is that the cinema leaves nothing
,

to the imagination That these men should develop

.

such a mistaken enthusiasm i s but natural because ,

the motion picture has the amazing power o f cap tu r

ing physically and p roj ecting on the screen a vas t
number o f things which in the stage play had t o be
le ft entirely to the imagination The mere me chan .

90
 TH E A P P EA L T O TH E I M A G I N AT IO N 9 1

i c ian is tempted to photograph or fake everything ,

from tiny animals on the bottom o f the sea to the

molten struggles in the crater o f V esuvius from the ,

burial o f a fairy on a rose petal to the departing soul

o f a man It would impress all o f u s deeply to dis
.

cover that a man s soul could actually be photographed

’

but we would be impressed by a scientific achievement

and not by an art istic expression It must be remem .

bered that while science and ma c hinery starve the i m

,

agi n at io n art sets it free

,
.

The sec ret o f human enj oyment in imagining things

is that every individual can imagine what he pleases ,

independent o f everybody else in the world Every .

one from the toddling in fant to the venerable grand

,

father thus c reates his own kingdom which no war

, , ,

or tempest or fire or flood can harm N obody wants

, ,
.

to be deprived o f this individuality this very ownness ,

o f his fancy world L et u s contrast the uni formity

.

o f a c tual fa c t with the million deviations o f fan cy .

Thi s capital letter A appears exactl y the same to

every one who looks upon it and to every one who ,

sees other impressions from the same font o f type and

on the same stock o f paper Y ou cannot i m agi ne .

”
this A because y ou s e e it N or can you i m agi ne
, .

the letter whi c h was upon your childhood bloc ks be ,

c ause you re m e m b e r that ; and every one who paid

any close attention to those blocks remembers the
same lett er But you c an and must imagine the scar
.

let letter A which the un fortunate Hester Pry nne

embroidered upon her dress because you have never ,

seen that letter and you never can see it in exa c t and
c oncrete form N o two people who have read o r
.

hea rd o f Ha wthorne s novel c ould ever agree in i m

’
9 2 TH E A RT OF P H O T O PLA Y M A K I N G

agi n i n gexactly the same size shape materials and , , ,

position o f that letter .

This appeal to the individual s own imaginati on is ’

on e o f the qualities o f every literar y masterpiece Al .

most any line taken at random from S hakespeare will

illustrate In the t ragedy o f H am le t Horatio and
.

M arcellus watching through the night have seen the

, ,

ghost and are still talking about the fear ful apparition ,

when Horatio perceives the dawn and alludes t o it in

the following lines :
B ut l ook " Th e m orn i n ru sse t m ant l e c l ad
W al k s ’
o er t h e d e w o f y on h i g h e a st e rn h i l l .

What a mani fold appeal these lines contain " W e

may imagine the appearance o f the two actors on the
S hakespearean st age more than three hundred years
,

ago O r we imagine the dawn which they pretended

.

to see O r we try to realize the figu re o f speech

.
,

morn like a human being or a god perhaps robed in a , ,

russet mantle stately and solemn walking toward U S

, ,

over a dewy hilltop O r we wonder what the actors

.

i mag i ned as they spoke those lines or what S hakes ,

peare imagined as he wrote them There i s no end to .

the play o f ou r fan c ie s Y ou and I read the same .

seventeen words But the pictures we imagine though

.
,

similar are as di ff erent as the clouds o f an autumn

,

sk y .

N O W let us suppose that the poeti c figure o f the dawn

had been presented to U S n ot in ver se but through the , ,

medium o f a painting o r o f a photograph Then we ,

.

should all have seen the same figure the same shape , ,

bearing and stride the same mantle the same hill and
, ,

sk y ; and forever we would remember not imagine , ,

94 .
TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

c an represent these specta c ular actions so well is a

d anger to the photoplaywright He must constantly .

beware lest he crowd his canvas with bulky facts that

overburden memor y and clog the imagination L e t .

him rather Suggest part o f his picture by leaving it out

side o f the frame .

O r let the scenari o writer utilize the vague and

subtle e ffect O f distance the far away backgrounds o f
,

nature hersel f This e ff ect o f natural perspective the

.

playwright o f the stage cannot produce be cause the ,

d istance from the foreground to the background on

the ordinary theatre stage is never more than fi fty
o r sixty feet But the cinema photographer i s limited
.

only by the horizon o f the great o ut o f doors And .

he must remember that moving figures indistinct in ,

the distance always stimul ate the observer s fancy

,
’
.

It is a law o f the cultivated mind that it resents things

that are made too obvious too clear Thus we say , .

that a j oke is spoiled when it is explained We take .

pride in being able t o get the point without any ex

planation So too in a representation to the eye we
.
, ,

e nj oy completing the picture for ourselves even though ,

some o f the details are dim or missing This law is .

observed in drawing and painting Glance at any line

‘

drawing a cartoon f or example and y ou will see that

, , ,

the lines are broken and incomplete ; yet y our eye un

consciously bridges these gaps L ook at M onet s .
’

Cathedral at Rouen and you s ee the front o f the

cathedral heavily veiled in a greyish blue atmosphere .

The painting has no detail no sharpness ; yet behind

,

that atmosphere your imagination follows the deli

cate traceries in carven stone S tand be fore the ruins
.

o f a m e diaeval castle and soon you will imagine that

 TH E A P P EA L TO TH E I M A G I N ATI O N 95

castle in splendid per fection surrounded by knights

,

in armour and rin ging with the revelry o f the banquet

hall .

“
The motion picture can b orrow and can even
heighten some o f these e ff ec ts because to the dim fig
,

ures in the distance it e a add movement movement o f ,

a mysterious slowness An d by the way this slow

.
, ,

movement o f figu res in the background o ften comes

as a pleasant relie f t o the hysterically rapid movements
in the foreground S uch quiet and mysterious i n
.

t e rva ls we occasionally see in some raw and violent

western melodrama which is still being c ranked out
to the five cent public In the foreground the ranch
.

men and cowboys are busily branding cattle ; while on

the brow o f the distant hill five or S i x Indian s c outs are
prowling about rising from the rocks one moment and
,

the next disappearing into the shadows In D A n nun

’

z i o s Ca b i ri a comes a peculiarly satis fying scene where

’

we look off to a caravan moving slowly distant and ,

indistinct over the desert the dark figures o f men

, ,

and camels standing out against the so ft yellow o f the

sands A di fferent b ut allied e ff ect is produced in the
.

film version o f S ervice s Th e S h ooti ng of D a n M c

’

Grew where a slender dog train fights its way over the
sharp whiteness o f a snowy waste in Alaska In the .

Blue Bi rd photoplay Un d i n e we get the right atmos

p h e re o f mytholog y and fai ry lore when we s e e the
grace ful white forms o f se a nymphs disporting in the
sur f and on the sloping banks across the bay In all .

these pictures the magi c o f distance throws the sp ecta

tor into a momentary reveri e when his imagination ,

weaves b eauties which would depreciate or disappear

i f brought close to the searching lens o f the c amera .
9 6 TH E ART O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

Another pleasing eff ect which the motion pi c ture

n
camera can easily achieve i s th e rep resen tati on o f
~
figures in silhouette The eye i s rested an d pleased by
.

the uni form dark tone o f the figure and the fancy is ,

se t to work because despite Sharpness o f outline the

, ,

content and texture o f the figu re i s neutr a l and unin

.

forming One may experience apeculiarly poetic feel

.

ing from seeing a humble c ountry church dark against

the a fterglow o f a K ansas sunset ; on e may feel the
same mood when seeing the history haunted cathedral -

o f N otre D ame de Pari s standing ins c rutable and

primitive as a mountain against the silver sk y o f a full

moon Even more appealing i s the Silhouette o f a
.

human figure in motion Hiawatha at the close o f

.

his last da y steps into his birch c anoe and paddles

Slowly up the fiery path o f the setting sun h i s gaunt , ,

dark body growing smaller with the distan c e until it

mingles with the radiance o f eternity Even when .

the movement is Slight the e ff ect i s appealing Our .

melancholy heroine leaves her sleepless bed and sits

at the window looking off into the moonlight her noble ,

profile sombre against the luminou s sk y 1

In Undi n e .

on e o f the silhouette pictures is a per fect three tone

pictorial composition S ome girls c ome down o f a

.

late a fternoon to bathe in the sun washed sea B e -

.

fore disrobing they pause f or a moment in gra c e ful

pose ; their b odies are i n deep shadow and a soft hal f ,

tone is in the sunlight inter c epted by their transparent

drape ries all c ontrasting with the high light in the
,

steel whiteness o f the sea " The absen c e o f detail in

.

all these pictures stimulates p ur fancies an d li fts U S ,

into the realm o f the ideal C rude realities c annot

’

1 Se e p age 96 .
 TH E A PP EA L T O TH E I M A G I N ATI O N 97

o ff end because they are not there and our imagination

,

a wayS paints things more beauti ful than they are

L .

A pictorial e ff ect allied to that o f the silhouette is

the Shadow o f a figure or o f an O bj e c t which we c an
not se e There is something poetic and m y sterious
.

in this unsubstantial evidence o f things not seen In .

the last chapter o f Anatole France s L e L i vre d e M on

’

Am i the narrator tells o f an extraordinary incident

which oc curred on e night while he was stopping at
a c ountry inn He was sitting be fore the firepla c e
.

waiting for the supper which his hostess a hag like ,

-

creature was preparing when he suddenl y observed

, ,

o n the opposite wall the immobile Shadow o f a beauti

f ul young gi rl He was charmed by the lovel y profil e

.

and figure but when he tu rned to look for the girl her
,

sel f he was astonished to fin d no other person in the

room except the bus y hostess When he had assured
.

himsel f that no girl was in the house o r had been there

that evening he was in formed by the hostess th at ye a rs
,

ago other men o f his family had seen the same shadow
on the same wall and that the haunting apparition must
be a punishment o f God The young man was mys
.

t i fied and was le ft to wonder during the rest o f his

li fe whether he had seen a hereditary ghost or had
inherited the gi ft o f dreams .

The modern theatre i s well equipped for the f an c i

ful suggestion o f physi c al c auses by the representa
,

tion o f physical e ffects alone An excellent example

.

i s the c harming fai ry Tinker Bell in Barrie s Pe ter

’

Pa n a sprite whom the audien c e c an never real i z e

,

in the flesh for she exists only as a patch o f light

,

flitting about the stage fading into pathetic dimness

,

when death is near and glowing into j oy ful radian c e

9 8 TH E A RT O F P H O T O P LAY M A K I N G

only when the audience saves her li fe by declaring

their belie f in fairies.

S uch imaginative e ff ects in the theatre can be rivalled

o r surpassed through the magic o f the camera o r the

wizardry o f the motion picture studio i f the director is

himsel f endowed with i m agi n at i on W h en we look
.
"

about f o r examples in the photoplays produced up to

date we discover that shadow e ffects though o ften oc
,

curring with certain pictorial values are usually n ot

,

remote from their substantial cause and there fore lose

their appeal o f mystery The Shadow o f a pretty
.

bathing girl parading over the beach has no very

strong appeal i f the girl hersel f is be fore our e y es .

In the Blue Bird photoplay Th e S e cre t of th e S wamp

the old maj or believes that he has Shot his neighbour ,

the deacon and fears that the deacon has crawled o ff

,

to the swamp to die On the next day the re

.

m o rse f u l maj or is peering O ff towards the swamp

and is horrified t o se e some buzzards circling over
head as i f they had discover ed carrion He sickens .

at the thought and is crossing his lawn for the re fuge

o f h i s own chamber when he i s intensely shocked by

a buzzard s Shadow crossing his path Here the c i

’
.

fe et o f distance at first and Shadow a fterwards might

have had some appeal i f the director had not fettered
o u r fanc y by interpolating realistic close Ups o f the -

buzzards a lighting o n a fence In I n c e s consistently

.
’

crude Spectacle Ci vi lis ati on there is on e little poetical

and re freshing touch in the pictures o f the mobiliza
tion When the masses o f troops are marching beav
.

ily across the city plaza we suddenly see the shadows

o f three aerop lanes sliding silently and with trackless
course over the street and houses and troops and ,
1 00 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

the village playing her guitar and singing a song with

the re frain
Go d s i n H i s H e ave n
’

A l s r g h t w th t h e wo rl d
l i i
’
.

The words and musical score have been thrown on

the screen and as we watch the girl we hear in fancy
,

her voice and the accompaniment o f the guitar Her .

singing has a salutary e ffect on the inmates o f more

than on e house where crime is being hatched The .

criminals suddenly pause in their plotting and assume

the attitude o f listening Their expressions change
.

to rapt attention We in the audience can easily i m

.

agine the song they hear and the figure o f the singer
passing by To u s the very Silence is strangely musi
.

cal I f some stupid exhibitor wishes t o rob the play

.

o f this subtle appeal let him hire some soprano o f

village fame t o step be fore the screen and warble

’
out the notes o f Pippa s magic song .

The auditory imagination which mute figures have

the power o f stimulating seems to be most active when
the figures are in motion — a t least that has bee n a

psychological fa c t in my own experien c e In m y .

own collection o f photographs I have a number

o f marines instantaneous pictures o f giganti c waves
,

b reaking on the rocky shelves on the coast o f M aine

y et when I look at those pictures I do n ot vividly as
sociate the sound with the phenomenon which I photo
graphed But when I s ee a motion picture o f waves
.

racing in from the o ffing b rea k ing wildl y and rushing

,

b ack beneath themselves I always hear in fan cy the

mighty roar o f the sea In my own case at least
.
,

m ovement suggests the unheard melody whether the ,

 TH E A P P EA L TO TH E

subj ect o f the motion picture be a storm swept forest -

,

a church choir or a burdy gurdy in a city street In

,
-
.

the Vatican is a famous group o f statuary called The

”
L ao coOn ,
which depicts the su ffering o f a f ather and
his two sons who are attacked by serpents The cries
, .

o f pain and despair we may imagine from the atti

tudes and facial expressions o f the figu res At the .

Arch o f Triumph in Pari s is a sculptured group b y

”
Rude called L a M arseillaise which represents the
,

armoured figure o f L ibe rty summoning a group o f

citizens to arms We imagine from her dramati c
.

gesture and specifi ca lly from the position o f her lips

that sh e is j ust sounding the vowel in the second word
of Aux armes citoyens , The suggestive silence o f
arrested motion in these two groups o f sculpture might
have made a still stronger appeal to the imagination
o f sound i f the figures could have been shown in
progressive movement At any rate the c inemati c
.

a ppeal to the auditory imagination i s a new s i b il

p o s

i ty o f poe tic expression which no serious photopla y

w right can a ff ord to neglect High brow critics
-

and apologists for the spoken drama have been known

to sneer at the s i le n t drama L et the cinema composer
.

attune thei r ears to the sounding be auties o f that s i

lence L et him c reate ou t o f this nothingness a new
.

form o f expression until s ti l e ss becomes el oquent and

the unheard melodies sweet
lp
,

In the menta l play o f imagining the sounds which

must have accompanied the actions recorded on the
screen perhaps nothing i s more fascinating than to
,

shape the unheard b ut palpably significant words o f

the people in the pictures S imple greetings and
.

familiar formulas o f speech we o ften grasp by lip

559 ? A RT O F PH O T O P LA Y M A K I N G
?

reading but around these easily recognized though

,

unheard expressions i s a penumbra o f conversation,

which we may vaguely reproduce in fancy We O ften

do it in real li fe Y O U look out through y our w
.

. in
dow and see two gentlemen on the street The y .

meet shake hands speak a few words and pass on

, , , .

Y ou do not hear a word ; yet you c an almost imagine

what they sa y Y ou gu ess at it from the circum
.

stan c es and from their general demeanour Thus t oo .

, ,

on the screen the occasion o f the action the ju xt ap o si ,

tion o f the characters and the context o f the succes ,

sive pictures enable us to in fer the c ontent o f the

conversation Our intelligence is appealed to and we
.

become as it were coll aborators with the author

, , .

And each o f u s may have the j oy o f attributing his

o wn phrases and formulas t o the characters o f the

Silent play S uppose that we se e an Itali a n garden

.

as the dramatic setting in which a romantic lover is

eloquent be fore h i s fai r lady H is declarations are .

your words to you and my words to me ; what mat ,

ters the di ff erence in detail as long a s he speaks the

rapturous words o f true love ? I f this trysting were
to be se t down in a book the words would be i m m ut
ably there be fore o ur eyes while our individual im ,

agi n at i on would contribute the pictures On the .

screen the magic play o f ictures is the constant com

p
m od i ty while toward these pictures the dramatic words
,
“
leap silently from every spectator s fanc y The near ’
.

est approach to cinematographed action is the dumb

“
action o f conventional stage pantomime But in the .

case o f the pure pantomime it should be observed that

there i s practically n o appeal to auditory imagination
because the actors deliberately act as though the y
1 04 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

s on ali ti e s which lie beneath the sur face o f words

.
.

It would c ertainly b e a dramatic error a surrender ,

to dull matter o f fact minds t o represent these vari

,

o u s p ersonalities bodily or in respective speeches .

That i s it would be an error i f you r aim were to

,

stimulate the imagination o f the spectator Here .

again machinery is de feating art In the motion pic .

tures o f today on e o f the ingenious and familiar de

vices is the double exposure which represents a single
per former simultaneously in t wo di fferent r oles or bet ,

ter in two personalities o f the same character By this

, .

means D r Jekyll can appear physically at on e end o f

.

the room while M r Hyde appears during the same

.

moment at the other The e ffect is startling it must

.
,

be admitted ; b ut the misleading implication is that

there are t wo separate bodies as well as separate spirit
u al entities On the stage t oo attempts h ave been
.
, ,

made to en a ct literally the double personalities o f a

character In Ali c e Ge rste nbe rg s on e act play O ver
.
’

ton es we s e e two women formerly more ,

chummy
than now exchange polite or saccharine speeches a c ross
,

a tea table while their Suppress ed personalities rep

, ,

—
resented by two other women up stage contradict ,

these speeches with the pungent words o f truth This .

little play had a temporary stage success due to its

novelty and humour but as a work o f art it is de
,

f e c t i ve be cause it leaves nothing to the speculation

o r penetrative imagination o f the spectator It i s a .

mistake t o call Up on language t o express with math

e m at i cal precision the vague subtleties which should

lie elusively between the lines .

Even these lines may be dispensed with in the new

art o f the picture play The cinema composer i g
.
 TH E A PP EA L TO TH E I M A G I N AT I O N 19 5

nores word language and uses instead the language of

countenance and mien the language o f aspect and
,

bearing and demeanour o f gesture and movement, ,

the langu age o f inanimate obj ects o f fu rniture and ,

setting o f position and grouping and physical cir

,

c um st an c e the language o f lights and shadows and

, ,

the magic o f mechanical devices This new language .

has syllables an d phrases o f a new texture And the .

artist writer who would rise above mediocrity must

combine these syllables and phrases so de ftly that
among and beneath them may be found a treasure
trove o f subtle suggestion o f things un formulated and
,

unexpressed which shall quicken and vivi fy the i m

agi n a t i o n s o f the multitudes o f grate ful spectators .

In the language o f poetry we o ften find that the

words mean much more than they actually denote that ,

the y are en veloped as it were in a ri c h atmosphere

, ,

”
o f suggestion Thus the words
. Roman chariot
denote a vehicle for the conveyan c e o f passengers but ,

no cultured mind would be content to pause on that

limited meaning The imagination even o f a school
.
,

c hild starting with these words could reconst ruct

,
’
the glamour and pomp o f one o f Cae sar s tri umphs
o n a gala day in Rome This qual ity o f suggestion
.

is known as the connotation o f words Cannot the .

cinema composer the new poet o f pictures and not

, ,

o f w ords develop a similar power o f connotation ?

,

C annot he t oo lash his steeds from a Roman chariot ,

o r must he eternally crank a Ford car ? The answer

’
is plain ; th e cinema poet s power needs but to be
exercised The physical elements o f a film picture
.

may mean more t o the imagination than they actually

denote t o the understanding For example a m an .
,
 1 06 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

in a dress suit c onnotes more than a man in an ordi

nary business suit ; and a man in an eighteenth cen
tury costume c onnotes more than a man in a dress '

suit So also a Turkish mosque o r a Chinese pagoda

.

c onnote more than a N e w Jersey church And a king .

o f Babylon connotes more than a negro p rize fighter .

There is a rich opportunity f or the new poet o f pic

tures t o develop an imaginative style which shall dis
t i n gu i sh him from the commonplace c ontinuity writ
e rs j ust a s the styles o f B y ron and K eats distinguish
,

them fro m Baedeker .

When we turn our attention from the elements o f

a photoplay t o the composition as a whole we find
’
that the various episodes and actions can be so ar
ranged that much o f the story is omitted or merely
suggested and must there fo re be constructed by the
,

”
imagination o f the spectator For example o ur fanc y .

o ften leads U S on b eyond the end o f a play The .

impetus o f our interest carries us into an imaginary

sequel We have b ecome so familiar with our char
.

acte rs and s o wrapped up in their lives that we are quite

capable o f continuing the tale even a fter the pictures

have faded from the s c reen and even though the solu
,

tion o f the particular dramatic problem b e fore u s has

been c omplete There are three other types o f off
.

scree n action which the spectator may imagine : the

’

action wh i ch in te rve n e s between su cc essive episodes o f

the play the action which is parallel t o that shown on
,

the screen and the a c tion whi c h i s antece dent to the

, ,

beginning o f the play .

A good example o f intervening action may b e found

in M i les ton es the stage play by Arnold Bennett and
,

Edward Knoblauch In the first act laid in 1 8 60 the

.
, ,
1 08 TH E ART OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

lel action may be taking place miles away and y et be

in ferentially kept in mind by the spectator S uch .

familiar devices as telegra ms and letters keep U S in

touch with action which we cannot se e yet may visual ,

ize in o ur imaginations This may be done in photo

.

play and stage play alike But the photoplay has .

another i nteresting means o f suggesting action n ot

Shown on the screen I This means which the modern
‘ .
,

stage play cannot employ i s the paralleling o f plots ”

,
.

L e t U S say for example that scenes 2 3 2 5 2 7 and 2 9

, , , , ,

o f a play depict a G erman statesman in the Reichstag

pleading f o r peace while the alternate scenes 2 4 2 6

, , ,

and 2 8 depict his son the captain o f a submarine

, , ,

attacking and sinking an English ocean liner It i s .

O bvious that during scene 2 5 we would be remember

ing and visualizing the submarine and during scene ,

28,
the Reichstag That is the submarine action
.
,

would have certain omitted intervening sections which

,

our imagination would supply subconsciously while ,

we were viewing the Reichstag action on the screen ,

and vice versa This bridging o f gaps is a pleasan t

.

exercise o f the mind which the spectat or Should be

allowed to indulge in .

“
The suggestion o f antecedent action is n ot so easy in
~
the photoplay as in the stage p lay An y on e who is .

familiar with the structure o f a Greek play knows that

the action begins in the midst o f a crisis and that the
climax is n ot far o ff A S the play progresses we are
.

given certain retrospective in formation until we are

abl e to piece together perhaps years o f action which
leads up to the beginning o f the play Ibsen and most .

modern dramatists suggest antecedent action in a si m

i lar way . The e ffect i s produced through the remi
 TH E A PP EA L T O TH E I M A G I N ATI O N 1 09

n i sce n t narrative dialog o f the characters In so far .

as the photoplay p ossesses di alog it too can a llude to , ,

the past The earlier history o f ch a ract e rs ma y be

.
‘

hinted at b y close Ups o f photographs kodak prints

-
, ,

etc Other means o f retrospection can surely be de

.

vised i n the course o f experimentation with the motion

picture as a medium o f story telling At any rate w e .

may b e sure that as p h otop laywri gh t s gain facilit y in

handling their medium and raise higher standards o f
sel f criticism they will discover that it is bad art to
proj ect all the action o f thei r plots upon the screen that ,

a part o f every plot whether a ntecedent intervening

, , ,

parallel o r subsequent action should be le ft to the i m

,

a gin at i on o f those in the audience .

With complete mastery o f cinema technique it woul d

be possible even to constru ct a play in which one o r
more characters are entirely absent from the screen .

This sounds like a severe strain upon the imagination ,

but such omissions have served a real artistic purpose

in many classic examples o f the stage drama I n .

I bsen s Gh os ts to mention only on e example the c har

’

, ,

acter o f Captain A lvi n g a happy go lucky rake domi

,
- -
,

nates the action and determines the traged y o f the

entire play Y et Captain A lvi n g never appears on the
.

scene ; in fact he is dead be fore the play opens As a

,
.

dramatic character however he i s more potent dead

, ,

than alive There can be few in the audience who do

.

not attempt to visualize his physical appearance The .

photoplay can accomplish similar feats o f technique

when it masters its new language o f signs and symbols
and visible e ff ects S uch obvious e ff ects as a footprint
.

in the sand an arrow fired by an unseen enemy a bomb

, ,

thrown into a room from the darkness the ray s o f a ,

1 10 TH E A RT O F PH O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

s earchlight Shooting in through a window the Shadow ,

o f a passerby who never enters all can start our ,

fancies seeking the causes and shaping these causes into

human beings Expectation the fundamental element
.
,

o f dramatic interest arises in o u r minds ; and be fore

,

we know whether the suggested persons W i ll ever

a ppear o r n ot o u r imagination i s at work creating their
,

bodies and endowing them w ith souls .

This law o f anticipative imagination is further

recognized in stage plays when prominent characters
are held O ff the stage until the second or third act in
order to incre a se expectancy in the audience In .

S heridan s S ch ool f or S ca n d al the hero does not appear

’

until the third scene o f act three In M oli ere s Tartufe .

’

the hero does not appear until the third act In a .

photoplay to a less degree though with a similar ap

, ,

peal to the imagination characters m ay be kept o ff the

,

screen until they live in expectati on be fore they actually

materi a lize to the eye S etting and environment may
.

be anticipated in a similar way S uppose we have a .

photoplay Showing a few scenes o f political and social

li fe at Washington Then a S panish diplomat an
.

n oun c es that he i s going back home to spend the s um

mer in h i s castle in S pain Immediately everybody in

.

the audience begins to imagine the castle grounds , ,

se rv a nts furniture and all In fact the imagined

, ,
.
,

castle is always more romantic an d o ften more real

than the on e which is eventu ally thrown on the screen .

Thus we h ave suggested and analysed a dozen di f

f e re n t ways o f divesting the photoplay o f th at heavy
materialism which weighs it down to the level o f
artifice and machinery I f a photoplay i s only a chain
.

o f motion photographs it can never for all i t s striking

, ,
 C HA PTE R VI I
SY M B OL I S M A N D A L L E GORY

WH E N we sear c h around for wa y s and means o f en

largi n g
,
enr iching and intensi fying the expressive
,

power o f the motion pi c ture we soon discover the lan

guage o f symbol ism and allegory We observe the .

u se o f this fascinating language in painting sculpture , ,

architecture literature and music But it i s n ot in art

, ,
.

alone that the symboli c obj ect o r a c t has been found

necessary for complete human expression Every day .
,

o f ou r lives when other means fail we fall b ack upon

symbols to express ourselves to e a ch other When I .

meet a friend who has been absent for some time I

am glad to se e him M y words tell him so The
. .

tone o f my voice and the smile on my f a ce emphasize

the words And yet those three means o f expression
.

do not sufli c i e n tly convey my meaning There fore I .

clasp h i s hand The shaking o f hands is on e o f the

.

most familiar o f symbolic actions so familiar in fact , , ,

that we have long since forgotten that it i s symbo l ic .

It symbolize s a degree o f unity and concord between

two human beings which we feel coiild not otherwise
, ,

be expressed with similar emph a sis When the social .

rel a tion i s still closer it may be symbolized by a kiss .

Thus our social li fe is full o f symbol s from the tipping ,

o f a hat to the wedding ring fro mthe gi ft o f b aby s

’

spoon to the flor al tribute at a grave In political li fe .

,

too our expression resorts to sym bols The S tars

, .

I IZ
 S YM B O L I S M AN D ALLE G O RY 1 13

and S tripes signi fy o ur count ry We mark our votes .

beneath some such emblem a s the pictu re o f an ele

phant or a donkey And we rise to the first strains o f
.

the N ational Anthem In religious expression the .

symbol whether cross or crescent is everywhere pres

, ,

ent and clearly understood In fact all religious wor .

,

ship is symbolic from the pagan sacrifice to baptism

,

and the holy communion And the crucifix i s as much .

a sym bol as the Egyptian idol Thus we se e th at in .

the social political and reli gious phases o f o u r every

, ,

day lives symbolism is a practical means o f expression .

S ymbolism in art i s as old as art itsel f The kev .

o f li fe in the Egyptian monument the halo in the re ,

li gi o u s painting the U ncle S am or the John Bull in

,

the newspaper cartoon all express something which ,

the arti st could not conveniently or success fully ex

press i n other term s M any o f the subj ects o f sculp
.

ture are in themselves symbol s and were s ym bols in ,

l iterature that is in folk story be fore the art o f sculp

, ,

ture wa s developed Thus Venus symbolized love .

,

Apollo the sun and N eptune the sea long be fore they
, , , ,

were embodied in marble M usic too is full o f sym .

, ,

holism all the way from the oldest melodies kn own

, ,

with thei r sexual Si gnificance to the conventional sym ,

bo li sm o f W a gneri a n opera wherein certain arrange ,

ments o f notes a re recognized by the initiate listener as

s y mbolizing the sword the magic flames or Wotan , , .

I f sym bolism then is so widespread and use ful in

, ,

everyday li fe and is so firmly establi shed in the tradi

,

tions o f the elder arts it follows that it should be ,

mastered as a means o f expression in the new art o f

the photoplay We have already said that the photo
.

play cannot achieve great triumph as art until i t can

1 14 THE ART O F P H O T O PL AY M A K I N G

make un forgettable impressions Upon the spectator .

There fore the photoplay i s especially in need o f auxil

i ary forces that will help to deepen the main impression
intended .

L e t US define a symbol as a visi b le thing o r a c t an ,

obj ect animal person device o r other visible sti m u

, , , ,

lus which represents something else by reason o f natu ,

ral aptness o f associ a tion o r o f convention Exam

, , .

ples included under the various provisions o f this d efi

n i ti on are the hand clasp the lily the serpent Venus
, , , , ,

the halo the cross and the colour red Allegor y might
, , .

be defined as symbols in narrative action .

We have neither time nor spa c e to make an analytic

classification and enumeration o f all the s ymbols that
might possibly be used in the photoplay And it i s .

much more profitable f o r u s to discuss the various

functions and methods o f applying symbolism in the
photoplay It must o f course be remembered at the
.
, ,

o utset that while we insist that many photoplays could

,

b e strengthened in dramatic and pictorial appeal by

the u se o f symbolism we do not insist that all photo
,

play s c an be thus strengthened We merely rec om .

me nd symbolism as we have re c ommended pi c torial

,

composition and cam era magic as on e o f the elements ,

o f the cinema c omposer s medium to be used at his

’
,

o wn discretion as an artist .

S ymbol s o r symbolic acts ma y be used to identi f y

persons in a play to indicate or emphasize the charac
,

ter o f persons to express meanings which could not

,

otherwise be expressed to emphasize meanings simul ,

t an e ou sly expressed in other terms and to emphasize ,

the plot as such by rein forcing its Significance Fur .

th e rm ore a c haracter may sometimes himsel f b e a

,
1 16 TH E A RT O F P HO T O P L A Y MAKI N G

a hand rea ching down o ut o f a cloud a tradition which ,

may have inspired Rodin to a variant u s e in his piece

”
o f sculpture The Hand o f Go d in which a mighty ,

hand reaching Up fro m a solid base holds w ithin its

grasp a human pair j ust emerging from a shapeless
lump o f earth One dramatic u se o f a symbol i s for
.

the identification o f a person who is not yet aware o f

his o wn identit y Thus f o r example in the Famous
.
, ,

Play ers film adaptation o f Th e Gi rl P hi lipp a Phil ,

i pp a a foundling is O f unidentified parentage until w e

, ,

see a package o f things found with her This pa c k .

age contains a b eauti ful cloak with the fl eur de lis o f - -

Fra nce emb roidered in on e c orner W hen w e s ee this .

emblem we re alize that Philippa i s o f prin c el y origin .

O f sy mbolic identification in humorous design the

newspaper cartoonists furnish innumerabl e examples .

In all the c ases o f s y mbolism which we have j ust de

scribed o r alluded to i t should be noticed that the sym
bol i s decorative as well as use ful that its value i s pic ,

t ori al as well as descriptive .

" The del ineation o f ch a racter in the photopl a y is e s

i ally d ifli c ult as w e shall s e e in a later chapter b e

p ec , ,

cause o f the su b stantial absence o f words and because ,

"'
o f other limitations o f the motion picture B ut the .

art o f symbolism may b e called in to emphasi z e the

character o f a person wh o is otherwise des c ribed by
his acts or by his pantomimic expression The sym .

boli e c ostume i s on e o f the oldest o f pictorial a n d dra

matic conventions An angel or an innocent girl i s
.

draped in white while the devil o r a vill a in wears

,

bl ack N ow as a matter o f fa c t we may h a ve seen

'

.
, ,

vill a ins in white flannel suits and we may have known ,

angeli c girl s who o ften wore black yet the symbolic ,

 S YM B O L I S M A N D A LLE G O RY

value s o f white and black in pi cture and sto ry have

been so deeply rooted in our minds that we would
surely be shocked i f we saw a play in which th e villain ,

dressed in imma c ulate white exercised his evil i n fl u

,

ence upon a pure maiden armoured with vi rtue and

deep bla c k robes C hara cter may further be e m p h a
.

sized by the a cc omp an iment o i some obj ect Thus in .

Italian paintings an arm ful o f lilies held by the white

robed M adonna at the Annunciation emphasize her
purity and virgi ni ty Perhaps the lily i s no purer
.

chemically than say a hollyhock yet in the pi c ture

, , ,

described not even an in fant would be satisfied by the

hollyho c k as a substitute In a similar way such a
.

symbol as a c ru cifix or a rosary would emphasize the

character o f the person c onnected with it A cinematic .

expedient for stressing the natu re o f a person is the

s ymboli c setting For example in the photopla y
.
,

P uri ty a man who i s to be thought o f as the devil

personi fied i s shown in on e pl a ce quite at home beside
a growth o f c a c tu s and a nest o f writhing serpents .

Another more arbitrary device i s to be found in the

,

photoplay adaptation o f Tr i lby where at one mo ,

ment we se e a huge spider s web stretching across the

’

screen and presentl y per c eive at its centre the face o f

S vengali his wicked eyes searching eagerly for pre y
, .

S till another fanci ful device i s the symbolic shadow ,

used for exampl e when a fic kle he a rted woman c omes

, ,
-

Upon the s c ene holding her dr aperies in such a way that

th e shadow thrown b e fore her is in the form o f a but

t e rfl y o r when some saintly man stands w ith o ut
,

stretched arms so that hi s shado w makes the Sign o f

the c ross All these auxiliaries in the delineation o f
.

character are valuab le fa c tors in the motion pi c ture be

1 18 TH E A RT OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

cause they operate S i multaneously with other terms o f

expression They throw light on char a cter at the very
.

same moment whe n it i s being revealed by deed or pan

tom i m i c expression Furthermore the symbols named
.
,

operate instantly The spectator o f average i n telli

.

gence can interpret them immediately without di c tion

ary o r teacher This i s due partly to the natural apt
.

ness o f the symbol or its familiar association and ,

partly to the fact that the language we speak i s full o f

symbolism W e constantly hear such expressions as
.

” ” ”
pure as a lily black as sin
, vile as a serpent , ,

a so c ial b utterfly et c A final resource o f sym

, .

holism for emphasizing character is the title o f a play ,

which may present to our imagination a symbol no

where used i n the play There is obvious descriptive
.

symbolism in such titles as Th e S erp en t Th e Vamp i re , ,

Th e B lack B u tterfly and D am ag ed Goods

, .
"

A third use o f symbolism is the expression o f ideas ,

meanings propositions which would otherwise have to

,

be conveyed in words or for which not even words

,

would b e adequate The American Indians o ften re

.

sorted to symbolic a c tions when they had no other

'

means o f c ommunicating with the white settlers One .

o f ou r school histories tells o f an Indian chie f who sent

an Ultimatum to a settler in the form o f a bundle o f ar

rows wrapped i n a snake skin The white man an .

swe re d sy m bo lically by returning the snake skin filled

with powder and shot S uch an action is su fficiently

.

expressive and is far more pleasing to the eye and to

,

the imagination than an exchange o f documents thrown

on the screen and held there while the children beside

U S carefully spell o ut the wor d s A search o f Indian .

history and lore will reveal many a symbolic a c t such ,

1 20 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

sound especially an im a ginary on e h as o f c ourse no

, , , ,

c inem a tic value However some inventive cinema

.
,

c omposer may find a cinematic e ffect which will be as

expressive in pictures as Poe s conception i s in words ’
.

Th e S e cre t of th e S wam p a photopl ay already alluded

,

to was a step in the right direction A planter shoot

, .

ing at a neighbour s cow believes that he h as shot

’

the neighbour by accident and that the man has crawled

,

o ff to the swamp t o die The next day the planter

.

sees turkey buzzards soaring above the swamp as i f

o n the scent o f a dead body These bla c k buzzards .

become as it were the symbols o f remorse

, ,
Their .

shadows fall across h i s path as he crosses his own

yard and thei r forms are seen dimly in the room where
,

he tries to sleep He i s driven to con fess murd e r only

.
,

to find at the end o f the story that the neighbour is still

alive and was n ot even grazed b y the bullet All thi s .

loses in v alue when described in words but has c on si d

c rable symb oli c expression when seen in motion pic

tures .

What on e character think s o f another can sometimes

be expressed in symbolism as eloquently as in words .

A good example o f this m ay be found in the screen

adaptation o f Tri lby Trilby is an artist s model
.
’
,

a picturesque wom a n o f unquestionably questionabl e

past L ittle Billee i s sho cked when he finds her posing
.

in th e nude for a fellow artist yet he is madly in love ,

with her and wants to ma rry her H is attitude to .

ward her i s beauti fully shown in the scene where he is

shown lovingly p a inting a picture o f the M adonn a .

His model i s Trilby white robed with lilies in her

,
-
,

arms The significance was undoubtedly c lear to the

.
 S YM B O L I S M AND ALL E G O RY 1 21

audience yet no psychological analysis in words c ould

,

have been more subtle .

S ometimes a symbolic action may be so devised that

it is reall y a plot in miniature It c an then be used to
.

emphasize a dramatic plot by paralleling i ts action or

expressing i ts meaning in other terms This sym boli c .

plot in miniature has long been used in stage drama .

L e t u s give an example o f the dumb Show a s it was ,

called which pre c eded the first act o f G orb od u c

,

printed in 1 5 6 5 We give it in its o ri ginal quaint

.

form . Fi rst the m u sic k e o f violenze began to play ,

during which came vp on the stage S ixe wilde men ,

clothed in le aues ; o f whom the first bare in his necke a

fagot o f small st ick e s which they all both se ue rally
, ,

and together assayed with al l thei r strengthes to

,

b re ak e but it c ould not be b roken by them

,
At the .

length on e o f them plucked out one O f the s tick e s and

b rake i t and the rest plucking out all the other st ick e s
,

o n e a fter an other did e as e ly b re a k e them

-
the same ,

be ing se ue re d which being con ioyn e d they had be fore

, , ,

attempted in vaine A fter they had this done they de

, ,

parted the stage ; and the m us ick e ceased Hereb y .

was signified that a state kn it in vn i ti e doth c ontinue

strong against all force but being d iu i de d is e ase ly
,

this nai ve bit o f pantomime

has no great value but it was undoubtedly expressive
,

to the specta tors and help ful in emphasizing to them

the dramatic sign ificance o f the plot which was pres
ently un folded to them in the long blank verse speeches
”
,

o f the tragi c ac to rs To day the dumb Show or s ym

.
,

bolie pantomime survives with greatly expanded and

,

c onstantly expanding powers o f expression Sy m .

 1 22 TH E A RT OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

b oli sm onthe s c reen has greater s c ope than sy mbolism

in painting be c ause it includes symbols in action and
”h as greater scope than symbolism in the stage drama
,

because it c an bring together symbols o f greater num

ber and variety and c an rely on c amera magi c for
,
"
man y startling e ff ects A recent photoplay entitled
.

E n li gh te n Thy D augh ter emphasized its plot by a

symboli c pantomime which would have been impossi b le
in stage drama and could not have been suggested in
a single p a inting The photoplay began w ith the pi c
.

ture o f an idyllic clearing which extended to the edge

o f a high c li ff. Upon this scene was faded in the c ap
”
tion The Heights o f Purity Then the s c ene shi fts
.

downward to a chaotic mass o f broken rocks at the

foot o f the cl i ff and the c aption The D epths o f
,
“

S hame is faded in We now return to the clearing

.

and se e t wo young girls dressed in white and blind

folded walking toward the edge o i the cli ff Just as .

they reach the brink an arm reaches out and removes

the bandage from the eyes o f on e o f the girls The .

other walks innocently to her ruin We se e her take .

the fatal step and fall to destru c tion at the foot o f the
cliff The symb ol ism was instantl y understood by the
.

audien c e and will b e remembered b y them long after

the stirring plot o f the play itsel f has been forgotten .

The pantomime j ust described was o f course pur , ,

p o s e ly conceived and del iberately executed by those

who produced the p la y I t s dramatic function was ob
.

vi o u s and c ould have been no more so i f it had be en

,
”
preceded by the c aption S ymbo lic Prologue Its .

value lay in this very obviousness and in i ts detached,

parallelism with the play Another more s ubtle use

.
,

o f a symbolic parallel o c curs when a b it o f natura l

1 24 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

is another means o f emphasizing a plot S etting i s .

made highly symbolic by Poe in Th e F a ll of th e

H ous e of Us h e r The story tells o f the tragic end o f
.

the last two members o f the family o f U sher The .

narrator o f the story b egins by describing the melan

c h o ly impression m a de upon him by his first view o f

the house in which the U shers lived It was a de .

c ay e d o ld building with ble a k walls and vacant eye

,

like windows st anding o n the edge o f a dark tarn

,
.

That it was doomed to fall was evident from the w ide

fissure which had sprung open from top to bottom o f
the front w a ll The de a th o f the demented Roderick
.

U sher t akes place during a violent storm and the nar ,

rator riding away from the scene o f the tragedy looks ,

back in time to se e the house crumble and f a ll and dis

appear completely beneath the waters o f the tarn ;
which closed sullenly and silently over the fragments
o f the House o f U sher This story should be read
.
’

and studied carefully for it i s a good illustration o f the

,

art o f making on e e ffect rein force another until a s i n

gle deep abiding impression results And it i s j ust
, , .

this art the art o f m aking many things work together

,

toward on e end which the c inema c omposers must

,

m aster.

In another depart ment o f l iterature the drama I h

'
, ,

s e n c an t e a ch u s many a lesson in the method o f deep

e n i n g an impression by the u s e o f symbolism In .

Gh os ts f or example the orphanage called

, ,
C ap ,

tain A lvi n g s Foundation i s built in memory o f the

’

rake from whom a terrible disease was inherited by

Oswald Thus the orphanage and Oswald are both
.

founded on evi l The orphanage is not insured ;

.

neither i s Oswald The vill age pastor blesses the o r

.
 S YM B O LI S M AN D A LL E G O RY 1 25

p h an age as he had years be fore blessed the union o f

,

Oswald s father and mother The orphanage burns

’

. .

Os wald commenting Upon it says

, Everything ,

wi ll burn All that recalls father s memory is doomed

.
’

”
Here am I too burning down
, , And when the fin al .

curtain falls the poor boy is a maniac his li fe slowly ,

burning out Thus the story o f the building paral

.

le ls the story o f the hero ; the symbolic setting in a c tion

emphasi z es the plot o f the drama .

The plot o f a pl a y may further be emphasi z ed b y a

sym bolic title particul a rly a title which contains an
,

im p lied allegory paralleling the main import o f the

plot One o f Bern ard S haw s plays represents the
’

sto ry o f a L ondon pro fessor o f phonetics who believes

that an y girl o f low b i rt h and breeding could pass in
societ y as a duchess provided she were taught to speak
,

the English language a cc ording to the standards o f

c ultivated society He tries the experiment on a
.

flower gi rl whom he picks Up on the streets and i s so ,

su cc ess ful in the trans form ation that he himsel f falls

in love with the gi rl S u ch a development in the a c tion
.

was suggested by the play s title Pygma li on to an y ’

, ,

o n e at all familiar wi th Greek mythology be c ause ,

Pygmalion was the mythi cal character who fell in love

with an ivory statue he had made Thus to a fairl y .

large percentage o f people who se e S haw s c omedy o f ’

real L ondoners the plot i s anticipated emphasi z ed and , , ,

a fter a time recalled by a single word b y a sym bol that

, ,

reminds them o f a parallel plot devised thousands o f

years ago by the myth makers o f G ree c e L ess fan .

ta st i c symbols are employed and have perhaps greater

expressiveness in the titles o f such plays as Z an gwill s ’

Th e M e lti ng P ot Pinero s Th e Th u nd erb olt Benn et

’

, ,
1 26 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

and K noblauch s M i les ton es and B rieux

’

,
’
Th e Cog
wh e e ls .

A unique opportunity f or symbo lism in the photo

pla y i s to be found in the decoration o f subtitles or ,

captions which are to be re a d by the audien c e For

, .

example in I n c e s c inema spe cta cle o f war and pea c e

,
’

Ci vi li z a ti on the reading matter thrown Upon the

s c reen was decorated with simple drawings o f cannon ,

swords the crown o f thorns the dove o f peace et c

, , ,
.
,

according to the significance o f the story at that par

t i c ula r point . We approve o f such symbolism thor
oughly providing these graphic designs do not distra c t
,

from the legend o r providing they really are de c ora

,

tive and really emphasize the meaning o f the words .

In the photoplay Th e D um b Girl of P orti ci the sym

bols were very distra c ting because they were mo
,

tion pictures o f obj ects such as veils gloves etc in

, , ,
.
,

motion and it was very di fficult to tell j ust what the

,

obj ects were and j ust what their motions signified .

In the photoplay Th e P oor L i ttle R i ch Gi rl we find

symbolic drawings which were totally unnecessary ,

thereb y demanding our attention in vain When a .

pl umber comes in to fix a kitchen sink it surely is not ,

necessar y to surround his remarks proj e c ted on the

s c reen w ith drawings o f plumber s tools This sort o f
’
.

art reminds u s o f other photopla y s where the s c reened

dialog o f telephone conversations was surrounded
by drawings o f telephone fixtures telephone poles and
, ,

w ires Y et these inanities may do some good i f they

.

serve to fix our minds on what might be done i f the

cinema composer had enough sense o f art to designate
the proper symbo ls to accomp any his c aptions and could
find some on e in the studio with enough skill and tast e
1 28 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

as the moon But a character who has only on e single

.

trait only a singl e string to his harp becomes i n suff e r

, ,

ably dull as a comp anion and impossible as an obj ect ,

o f c ontemplation I f the myth makers o f Greece had

.

stopped with the attribution o f a single trait to each

character those figures would not have lived so long in
,

the stories o f the race But they did not stop In . .

the course o f time any given symbolic character was

invested with new attributes until he o r Sh e became as
c omplex and interesting a s any human being in history
o r fiction D iana f o r exa mple was first c onceived
.
, ,

a s the goddess o f the moon then because o f various , ,

su p erstitions connected with the moon sh e was thought ,

O f as the goddess o f fertility o f huntsmen o f wild , ,

animals o f fish ermen o f virginity o f musi c and the

, , ,

dance and o f death In these various rOle s all coal

, .
,

e sc i n g sh e developed various traits and mental capa c i

,

ties and became the central figure in many symbolic

legends And while sh e grew up into an interesting
.

personality sh e also enriched her symbol ic connotation .

There fore to the Greeks sh e was neither too obvious

and Simple as a symbol n or too colourless as a charac ,

te
N ow the c inema c omposer who c reates a symb oli c
chara c ter should endeavour t o make it a genuine char
acter as well as a symbol o r he should devise a plot ,

which will b e interesting despite the fact that it contains

lay figures instead o f real characters One single tra it .

i s not enough to mak e a character Purity Envy or .

, ,

Jealousy do not suddenly become characters by ac q ui r

ing arms legs and the power o f locomotion As
, ,
.

soon as the spectator finds out that Purity i s on e hun

dred per c ent pure and will f or ever remain so he ceases
, ,
 S YM B O L I S M AND ALL E G O RY 1 29

to be fascinated by Purity hersel f But i f he d i scov .

ers that sh e is o nly ninety nine per c ent pure and one -
,

p ercent proud o
,
r j ealous o r mischievous he will
, look ,

upon her as a person and will be alert to the p ossib il

,

ity o f seeing her involved in interesting a c tion I f .

there i s a chance for the unexpe c ted there ma y be

suspense ; and suspense is the fundamental element in
a plot But i f th e symbol in human form is Foll y
.
,

Abstinence M ercy Revenge J ustice Falseh ood o r

, , , , ,

some su c h abstraction the spectator is not allowed to

,

spe c ulate c on c erning the future a c tions o f these fi gu res .

H e knows that M erc y will not be revenge ful and that ,

J ustice will not be false H owever as we shall show .

,
”
in the chapter on D ramatic Appeal there are vari ,

o u s kinds o f suspense and it is possible for a spe c tator

,

to be held by plot interest even when he knows what

the h arac te rs really are and what they must inevitabl y
a
do The spec tator knowing wh a t will happen ma y
.
, ,

still be kept in suspense as to wh en i t will happen and ,

h ow it will happen .

With these c onsiderations in mind let u s ex amine a

few allegorical plays to see wherein their plot value
,

resides One o f the most suc c ess ful o f the English

.

morality play s produ c ed during the fi fteenth and s i x

t e e n th c e nturies i s E veryma n printed in 1 5 29 The , .

plot i s briefly as follows : God sends his messenger

D eath to tell Eve ry man that he must prepare for his
last pilgrimage Everyman tries in vain to have the
.

pilgrimage postponed but gets no c on c ession except

,

that he may take along with him any companions who

care to follow But he does not have much luck i n
.

getting up a party Fellowship K indred and Cousin

.
, ,

are not interested in the trip Riches onl y mo c ks th e .

1 30 TH E ART OF P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

idea In despai r he turns to his long neglected friend

.
-

Go od D eeds who promises to help him

, S he secures .

him a guide in her sister K nowledge the dis c reet

and learned advi c e which religion has at her servi c e
Everyman now goes t o Con fession where he receives ,

the j ewel Penan c e ( the sa c rament ) He then sets .

forth clad in the garment C ontrition and accompani e d ,

by Beauty S trength D iscretion and Five S enses But

, , , .

at the Sight o f the grave these companions forsake him .

O nly Good D eeds and K nowledge are stead fast to the

end when Everyma n si nk s into the grave and c om
,

mends his Spirit to God .

When we test this allegory f or plot value we see

that ever y a c tion planned b y an y on e in the play has an
outcome o r consequence whi c h the spectator can pre
dict w ith certainty However though the spe c tator
.
,

knows what the dramati c figures will do he does not ,

know what they will sa y what ex c uses they will invent

,

f o r thei r pre estab lished actions o r how they will look

-
,

when the moment o f action c omes A further element.

o f suspense f o r us today c onsists in o ur b eing alertl y

expe c tant o f the grim poeti c tou c hes and the quaint
language o f the pla y .

W hen a Skilled c onte mporar y dramatist w rites an

allegori c al play he does not like t o use label names -
,

b ecause he realizes that the y tend to dehumanize the

chara c ters and reveal the plot too soon There fore .

M aeterlin c k c alls death The Intruder in the play o f

that name and Jerome alludes t o his hero who sym ,

b oli z e s C hrist simply by the nickname

,
The Third
”
Floor Back in the play Th e Pas s i ng of th e Th i rd
Floor B ac k .K ennedy in his Th e S erva n t i n th e
1 32 TH E A RT OF P HO T O P LA Y M A K I N G

t a i n m en tthat the audien c e either w ill get the lesson

wi thout knowing it o r will endure the lesson f or the
sake o f the entertainment .

Thus although M aeterlin ck s Th e B lu e B i rd sym ’

boli z e s the familiar S unday S chool moral that true

happiness c onsists in being unsel fish yet it furnishes ,

delight ful entertainment to any o n e young o r old b e , ,

cause o f the charm whimsicality and re freshing orig

, ,

i n ali ty which envelop the moral The play tells the .

story o f two children M i tyl and Tyltyl who dream

, ,

that they are on a romantic search for the Blue B ird ,

sym bol o f happiness U nder the gui dance o f L ight

.

they search in the land o f M emory i n the region o f ,

N ight in the forest in the graveyard and in the

, , ,

kingdom o f the Future but everywhere in vain Pi

,
.

nally when they wake up in their humble cottage the y

are addressed b y a woman a neighbour who comes , ,

to borrow thei r caged turtle dove for which her ,

sick child h as been asking A s they give up their bird

.

they discover that it has turned a deep blue This i s .

the main story and the m a in symbolism But there .

is much entertainment and sym bol ic meaning in sub

s i d i ary things such a s the delight ful nonsense in the
,

personified Bread S ugar M ilk Cat and D og ; the pic

, , , ,

t o ri al phenomena in the graveyard w ith the message

There are no dead " and the wist ful poetry o f the
souls o f the unbo rn children The symbolism is ever y.

where evident yet i t is s o artistically presented that no

,

Spect ator could ever yawn and say D ear dear what , , ,
”
a dull text and what an old old story
, ,
.

We know that M aeterl inck wrote Th e B lu e B i rd

f o r per formance as spoken drama but it is easy to s ee ,

that fundamentally the play i s a cinematographic con

 S YM B O L I S M AND A LL E G O R Y 1 33

ce p t i on Its dream and visions its many settings and

.
,

fanci ful wandering its trans formation o f things into

,

human beings its dramatization o f animals and natural

,

settings its symbols in action all co n stitute the ver y

, ,

e ff ects which can be produced more success full y on the

screen than anywhere else in art We fi rmly bel ieve .

that new opportunities will discover new genius I f .

M aeterl inck still pre fers to express himsel f in words ,

some new M aeterlinck will arise and express hims el f

masterfully in the motion pi c ture .

Up to the present writing no reall y artisti c allegor y

has appeared on the screen B ut an interesting at .

tempt was made in H yp ocri tes a five reel photoplay ,

written and directed by L oi s Weber In the first part .

o f the sto ry Friar Gabriel makes a statue o f a nude

woman to represent T ru th This he presents to the .

c ity But at the unveiling o f the statue the populace

. ,

Sho ck ed at the nakedness o f Truth destroy the statue ,

and sla y the sculptor Hundreds o f years later Ga

.

briel is re inca rnated as a modern minister o f the gos

-

pel In a sermon on hypo c risy he o ff ends his c ongre

.

g a t i o n so that t hey turn against him for his c andour .

In his despair he i s inspired by the visionary figure o f

Truth a nude woman S he leads him through the
, .

Gates o f Truth and takes him through the world re

vealing hypocrisy everywhere Politics and law are .

corrupt society is degenerate family li fe i s unwhole

, ,

some love is sensual and religion is a Sham One se c

, ,
.

tion o f the film symbolizes the di ffi culty o f following

truth We see Truth c limbing a steep hill beckoning
.

all to follow The rich man cannot follow b e c ause his

.

money bags are too heavy ; the society woman c annot

follow f o r fear o f ruining her elegant c lothes ; other
1 34 TH E A RT O F PH O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

people in various walks o f l i fe do not even try to fol

low ; the only ones who are ab le to follow Truth to the
heights are Gabriel and a modest young woman on e ,

o f his parishioners P resently we are ba c k in the

.

c hurch which is empty except f or t wo people Gabriel

, , ,

who has evidently dreamed the modern allegory and ,

the young woman in the pew She alone remaining when

,

all the rest had fled at the minister s words o f truth

’
.

H yp ocri tes has many faults and many merits .

It has many beauti ful pictures and many charming

bits o f s y mbolism But it is crude in constru c tion and
.

lacks c onsistenc y I t is neither consistentl y improba

.

b le nor c onsistently probable It does not have the

.

organized system o f improbabilities which we se e in

Th e B lue B i rd n or the rationalized allegory which
,

w e se e in Th e S ervan t i n th e H ous e where real and

,

natural a c tions and things have been inv e sted with a

symb oli c meaning For example it i s not probable
.
,

that a W all S treet man would carry his money in bags

over his shoulder but it is extremely probable that his
,

wi fe would hesitate to climb a rough hill path for fear

o f tearing her dress and scratching her shoes Fur .

th e rm o re althou gh the nude in this photop la y was

,

treated in a delicate and thoroughly ino ffensive way ,

and can always be so treated in the motion pictures ,

The S ociety o f the D aughters o f Concealment to the

contrary notwithstanding y et the idea o f a frock
,

coated minister pursuing a nude woman through the

Jersey woods does n ot in itsel f appropriatel y s ymb ol
ize the quest for truth .

Thus we have shown throughout this chapter the

di fficulty as well as the e ffectiveness o f applying sym
b oli sm as a means o f expression in the photoplay We .
1 36 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

L ee s b oo k is proo f that I b sen s sym bolism is not sel f

’ ’

e xplanatory and not instantly a c tive to the appreciator .

I n I bsen s case the obscure and su b merged sym b olism

’

is no great drawba c k be c ause his plays are t re m e n

,

dously impressive even to th e on e who does not s ee the

parallel meanings In fact the reserved meanings are
.
,

a gain b ecause as on e reads an Ibsen pla y over and

,

over again he learns the Ibsen language which reveal s ,

an ever in c reasing store o f riches But under present

.

c onditions o f photoplay exhibition it would be unsa fe

for the cinema composer to withhol d or c on c eal an y
substantial part o f his treasure ; perhaps he ma y do so
under the conditions o f possible permanen c e and stud y
o f the photoplay which ma y c ome about in the future .

W e opened o ur discussion o f symbol ism by pointing

to its use in the elder arts we have Shown how much
,

o f this s y m b olism c an be use d and even given new

values in the motion picture We shall end b y hoping

.

to se e new symbolism in the new medium o f the photo

play I ngeniou s cinema c omposers wil l invent new
.

s y mbols especiall y expressive in the motion picture and

possible only on the s c reen S ym b olism in painting
.

and sculpture and archite c ture and literature was old

when Wagner came along and created a new s y mbol ism
in his arrange m ent o f conse cutive musical notes W h y .

should n ot the next innovation b e in the medium o f

c onse c utive motion pi c tures ?
 C HA PTE R V I I I
D RA M A T I Z I N G A N A T U RA L SE TT I N G

“
A T R E M E N DO U S
resour c e which distinguishes the pho
t op lay from all other narrative and dramati c arts i s
the possibility o f representing an a c tion in its natural
“
setting For the first time in the history o f the arts
.

whi c h mimic human happenings it has become possi b le

for the spe c tator to go to the very spot where the a c tion
takes place This privilege c ould n e ve r fiem
.
,

i e nt ly a ff orded the audience o f the spoken drama The .

appreciator o f the stage play must sit in hi s c hai r while

the dramatist c alls in the a c tion f rom its natural en vi
ron m e n t c onfin es it under the roo f o f the theatre and
, ,

represents it amid imitated settings o f ca nvas an d

p pa i e r The appre c iator o f the photoplay may
s i t no less c om fortably in his chair and yet through , ,

the magi c power o f the c amera may follow the a c tion ,

wherever it goes into the remotest heights and depths

, ,

and into the smallest nook s and c rannies o f the worl d .

I f it i s natural that a fai ry story should take pla c e in

a forest we may go there to witness the a c tion K eep .

ing j ust behind the camera we ma y sk ip with the elves

,

over brooks in whi ch real water tri c kles over real

stones and s c ampe r away with them among real trees
,

swaying in a real wind Thus too i f o ur hero i s a

.
, ,

mediaeval knight we may ride with him over the draw

bridge and beneath the port c ullis into the c astle I f .

he is an aviator we Soar with hi m am ong th e c l ou ds ;

I 37
1 38 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

i f he is a diver we sink with him to submarine depths .

W herever the hero goes we go ; whatever he sees we, ,

see. This possibility o f following the story in i ts nat

ural environment i s a new resource o f the cinema c om
poser H e may conj ure with a new appeal to the
.

spectator ; he may give the story a unique realit y which

the stage never could give it ; he may utili z e the artistic
value which the real setting may have in itsel f ; and he
may even harness the natural setting and make it tell
a part o f his story .

It is obvious that by the term natural setting we

include something more than that part o f nature whi ch
has been untouched o r unmodified by man The man .

made pyramids an Italian garden o r a Western ran c h

, ,

may be as natural a setting for on e story as the ocean

o r a glacier for a nother The term is meant to be sel f
.

d e fin i n g The place where a fictitious a c tion would

.

naturally happen i f it were real li fe is the natural set

ting o f that action In discus sing the psychology o f
.

the spe c tators we have already spoken o f the new ap

peal which the s c reen play a ffords by bringing u s into
the presence o f real nature We Spoke then o f the .

pleasure o f the eye in beholding the beauty o f a natural

subj ect and o f the sel f emotion which the spectator
,

experien c es in the illusion o f photographic contact with

real nature We spoke also o f the in formational value
.
,

the satis fa c tion o f c uriosit y which the spectator gets

,

from viewing s c enes which he m ight never be allowed

to visit in reality All o f these appeals ma y be called
.

absolute appeals because they exist for the spectator

,

quite regardless o f whether the setting is related to

a story or not They may be present in the scenics
.

or edu c ational films which do not endeavour to rep

1 49 TH E A RT O F PH O T O PL A Y M A K I N G
and hundreds o f other permanent aspe ct s o f nature
c an easily be found by the photographer and c an be
wove n like ri c h threads into the fabri c o f the photo
pla y .

T he pheno m ena o f nature are more rare and are not

so easil y c aptured by the camera But when the y are .

c aught and proj ected on the s c reen the results are im

pressive M illions o f us may see accuratel y through
.

the lens o f the camera something which we would

never in ou r lives see i n any other way Perhaps the .

most picturesque natu ral phenomenon is a volcanic

eruption When we se e it on the s c reen we dis c over
.

that th e Sides o f the mountain are n ot as steep as in the

pictures o f ou r geographies that the dark column ris
,

ing from the vol cano s mouth i s more flattened and

’

Slow moving than we had expected ; and y et we are

-

spellbound by the cinema record because we know that

we are seeing somet hing real And o ur imagination .

begins all over again weaving the destinies o f the real

people who actually live w ithin the shadow o f thi s
furious giant L ess picturesque though no less tragic
.
,

in their beari n g on human happiness are the floods ,

which so frequently rise in the rivers o f th e M iddle

W est To se e a river turn into an ocean during a
.

wee k end to see c orn fields and farm steads and vi "
,

lages disappear beneath its sur face is an experience

which no sp ec tator ever forgets It is a pi cture which .

can never b e utilized dramatically anywhere except in

the photoplay An other phenomenon o f nature com
.
,

mon in the M iddle West which might b e di fficult to

,

manage in a photoplay but would make an un forget

,

table picture is the torn a do The black funnel shap ed

, .
,
-

c loud rea c hing down from the heavens to mark a path

 D RA M AT I Z I N G N AT U RA L S ETTI N G 14 1

o f destruction over the earth though de fying rehearsal

, ,

might some day be filmed by a patient camera man ,

and would undoubtedly produce a dramatic e ff ect dear

to the hearts o f producers and movie fans The .

live i n th e Alps a de cade be fore he could photograph an

avalan ch e but i magi ne what a strong pi c torial climax
,

he might be ab le to fu rnish to some c inema traged y o f

avenging fate .

An interesting c ondition o f photoplay production i s

th e fact that even i f a dramati c effe c t c an be produced
only once that i s enough for the photoplay “ I he e f
.
“

f e c t does not have to be so c onceived and c ontrived

that i t can be reproduced on c e or twi c e a da y as in the
stage play i n an opera o r in a hippodrome spe cta c le
, ,
.

In the photopla y there fore even an accident can b e

dramatized And the produ c er who wants to reali z e
.

the remotest possibility o f cinema production ma y c ap

ture and subdue and dramati z e the phenomen a or
seeming a c cidents o f nature hersel f B ut whether .

the phenomenon o f nature is dramatized well or b adl y

o r not at all the absolute appeal to the eyes and emo
,

tions o f the spectator is still there and c onstitutes a n e w

dramatic or narrative medium whi ch onl y the c ine m a
c omposer can manipulate .

The motion picture o f animals alwa y s eli c it the

spe ct ator s applause O ne o f the produ c ers in N ew
’
.

Y ork C ity i s so dependent on this appeal that he never

fails to drag in two or three diff erent kinds o f animals
whether they have any c on c eivab le c onne c tion w ith the
photoplay or not W hen c riti c ized for his haphazard
.

way o f c onstructing photoplays he replies that he ,

1 42 TH E ART O F P HO T O PL A Y M A KI N G

doesn t care about logic o r art so long as people find

’

something they like in h i s pictures We Shall point .

o ut a little l a ter in this chapter h o w animals ma y b e

dramatized in a photoplay but f or the p resent let us

,

s e e why peopl e are s o fond o f animals o n the screen .

First o f all the picture carries with it some o f the ap

peal which the subj e c t has i n real li fe We feel aff e c .

tion for our pets dogs kittens and squirrels We feel

, , , .

a c ertain perhaps subc ons c ious yet real gratitude to

, , ,

ward the brute beings c ows horses and Sheep that

, , , ,

help support o ur l ives We experien c e a feeling o f

.

wonder at such un familiar specimens a s the tiger the ,

elephant the gira ffe o r the moose And we feel a

, ,
.

spellbound aversion f o r the hippopotamus the croco ,

dile o r the boa constri c tor To this our natural atti

, .

tude toward animal s a further appreciation i s added

when we see them acting in a photoplay Animal s .

are such spontaneous and natural actors especially ,

when contrasted with the more or less artificial human

actors beside them that part o f ou r enj oyment in s ee
,

ing them on the screen is a tribute to their reality and

convincingness as ingredients in a photoplay Fur .

th e rm o re animals give U S the impression o f b eing bet

,

ter actors in motion pictures than in real li fe ; and in ,

fa c t they may be so for the e ffect on the screen m ay

, ,

be an accident o r unique per formance not likel y to be

soon repeated b y the same animal Fo r example a .
,

director might have to waste several hundred feet o f

film be fore he could get the poli c eman s horse to w ink ’

at the exact moment when his master had dismounted

to fl irt with a nursemaid but the humorous e ff ect once
,

registered would be irresistible to the audien c e Fi .

1 44 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

on e -
sided c anvas c astle o r gaze rapturousl y o ff over a
,

landscap e so near that the y can smell the paint o f the

remotest tree .

The endeavour to e sc ap e arti fici ali ty o f setting i s

evident in the attempts o f dramatic companies ama ,

te ur and pro fessional to per form plays ou t o f doors

, ,

unconfine d by the limits o f a s tage M ost o f U S have .

seen R obi n H ood o r A s Y ou L ik e I t per formed in

some public park or on the l awn o f some gentlem a n s ’

estate and hav e felt that there was a certain delightful

,

appropriateness i n presenting such plays b eneat h the

—
blue sk y and in the shadows o f lea f laden trees There .

was undoubtedly a gain in charm reality and convine ,

i n gn ess An d yet the reality wa s far fro m complete

.
,

because the element o f locomotio n plays a large part in

both o f those plays and th a t element is lacking when
,

all o f the action fro m the begi n ning to the end o f the
,

play is per formed beneath a single clump o f trees

,
.

Eve n when the actor s in these plays are allowed to

spread o ut to the outlying portions o f thei r setting the
envi ronment hardly seems large enough for the diver
s ifie d activiti es o f wanderi n g hunting fighting a d ve n , , ,

turing wooing wedding working counselling dining

, , , , , ,

playing and resting Y ou may remark that the intel

, .

li gen t sp e c tator c an imagine that the s c ene has changed

as o ften as the action ne eds it But the reply is that .

i f the spectator is to imagine th at the setting has

changed he can do it more easily i f the setting from
,

which hi s attention changes i s al so an imaginary se t

ting instead o f a real one .

I t i s obvious that the need o f keeping the audience

seated in a singl e spot with their attention almost con
,

t i n uou sly fixed o n the play during a single session is ,

 D RA M ATI Z I N G N AT U RA L S ETTI N G 145

the condition which necessitates the localizing o f a c

tion within the boundaries o f a very small place and ,

precludes the representation o f dramatic movement

which occurs in going from on e scene to another I f .

the drama were real l i fe instead o f fiction the sp e cta

tor woul d have to follow the protagonist wherever he
went abroad and at home indoors and o u t upstairs
, , .

and down S ome years ago M adame M aeterlinck

.

tried the experiment o f staging the vari ous scenes o f

M a c b e th in and about her abbey in France Her l it .

tle audience a group o f friends wandered out a few

, ,

hundred yards from the abbey to a clearing where on ,

o n e Side they saw the witches in conclave and on the ,

other side they heard K ing D uncan con fer a titl e on

M acbeth Presently t he y w itnessed M acbeth s c on
’
.

ste rn at i o n at the wit c hes p rophe c y Then the audi

’
.

ence wandered back into the abbey in time to hear L ad y

M acbeth read the letter from her husband who pres ,

ently arrives and i s en c ouraged to crime by the mettle

o f his wi fe .Thus the audience wandered about as the
action was trans ferred from on e portion o f the e n vi
ron m e n t to another And the per formance acquired
.

a certain convincingn ess despite the fact that a French

,

abbey and the greensward o f a p rivate estate di ff ers

considerably from a S cotch castle and heath This .

gain was counterbalanced however by the loss o f

, ,

emphasis ( the audience in every case seeing too much

o f the setting ) th e loss o f time and the in convenien c e
, ,

o f the audience .

The c onvincingness o f setting and movemen t whi c h

the outdoor per formers o f stage plays have sought
can be achieved by the cinem atogr aph which permits ,

the sp e c tators to s i t in com fo rt and yet leap as quick

1 46 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

as thought from on e scene to the next though they be ,

hundreds o f m iles apart And although the sp ecta

.
,

tors are in conta c t with the real environment o f the

action yet the distractio n o f their attention i s p re
,

vented because the angle and scope o f the camera

,

limits thei r vision to those features o f the setting which

are dramatically most signi ficant in that particular p o r
tion o f the story The cinem a composer must o f
.
,

course select certain parts o f the environment That

, .

i s his duty and privilege a s an artist B ut h is sele c .

tions will suggest to u s dimly o r subc onsciously the

omitted sections o f his settings until in o ur ima gination
their edges touch each other and we get the feeling o f a
total environment In the photoplay the physical
.

scope o f the action may be as wide a s the stor y itsel f .

I ts a c tion nee d no longer confine itsel f to a spot ; it

may spring from o r fit itsel f into a complex envi ron
, ,

ment Thus f o r the first time in dramatic representa

.

tion the spectator i s permitted to remember that a Sin

gle room is usually only a part o f the home that a ,

single store front does not make a street nor a Single

-
,

street a c ity that a mountain road is not a road unless

,

y o u c an drive over it and that a forest

, is not a forest
unless it is deep enough to get lost in .

In the photoplay the spectator may follow the

characters and share their experien ces wherever they
go S uppose that a given dramatic action consists o f
.

the siege and surrender o f a mediaeval castle We are .

not satisfied to b e spectators from a far o r from a single

point o f view We wish to m ingle unobserved with
.

the fu rious besiegers f o r awhile onl y to desert them

,

for the frightened de fender s within We climb from .

the courtyard to the walls where the lances are flying

, ,
1 48 TH E ART OF P HO T O P LA Y M A K I N G

to character or story ; but the stupid u se o f the chase

was o f course a fault n ot o f the motion picture as a
, , ,

medium b ut o f th e cinema c omposer who had not as

,

yet dev eloped a sense o f d ramati c value s i n the photo

play .

Earlier in this chapter we have spo k e n o f the ab so

lute appeal which pure nature has for the spectator
even though n ot Used as the setting o f a story A .

simil a r absolute appe al may exist in the man made -

natural setting which i s in itsel f a wor k o f art The .

photoplay i s unique among narrative arts in its c a

paci f y for utilizing an d dramatizing the arts o f archi
tecture and landscape gardenin g The motion picture .

not only b rings architectu re to the spectator but it

gives him an appreciation o f it by the method which
he would employ i n reality The scene painter in .

th e theatre can give u s onl y on e Side o r aspect o f a

c athed ral But seeing a cathedral from a singl e re
.

mote poin t o f view i s only on e o f the steps in the

appre ciation o f the building as architecture H aving .

seen the cathedral from a far a man must approach it ,

an d wal k around it he must pass beneath i t s portals

, ,

and wander through its aisle s and transepts and chap

els he mu st climb its towers an d peer out through its
,

pinnacles and over its surroundings b e fore he has come

into full artistic possession o f th e work o f the archi
t ect . The cathedral can then be appre c iated not ,

merely as a decorative rug like arran gement o f lines

,
-

and textures but as a handling o f spaces o f dist ances

, , ,

and heights and depths The m an may measure it

, .

with h i s own statur e a s the measuring rod He ma y .

feel it abov e an d beneath and around himsel f .

L e t it not be supposed that we consider it a f unctio n

1 50 THE A RT OF P HO T O PLA Y M A K I N G

wastes o f C al i fornia may take on all the reality o f the

cara v a n in the D esert o f S ahara S a nd is sand and .
,

camels are camels an d actors who act well lose their

,

given names thei r surnames their identities and be

, ,

come the characters o f the play In interiors espe .

c i a lly the imitation i f at all well done may be as good

, , ,

as the genuine article I f the avera ge spectator can

.

not tel l the di ff erence between the scene act ually photo
graphed in The L ittle Church Around the Corner
and the imitated scene photographed in the m otion pic
tu re studio there is certainly no point in disillusioning
,

him C onvincingness no matter how acquired is the

.
, ,

desi red qual ity in any art And it i s only because in

.

many c ases the natural setting and real nature are so

much more convincing than the imitated setting that
we grow enthusiastic over their u se in the photoplay .

Up to this point we h a ve been discussing nature and

natural setting as rich n e w material for the cine m a
,

c omposer We have emphasized the irresistible ap

.

peal to the eye o f the spectator which exists in every

phase o f nature as unmodified by man W e have al .

lud e d to th e p h ot op laywri gh t s opportunity o f u ti li z

’

ing the natural setting which is itsel f an art produ c t

o f man . We have shown that deep reality and c on
vi n c i n gn e s s results when a setting i s used as an e n

vi ro n m e n t instead o f a mere background f or the action .

N ow that we have examined the nature o f these new

materials let U S se e how the cinema composer may
,

u se them in a photopla y .

The proper use o f the setting i s a great responsi

bili f y which no photopl aywright can Shirk The nov .

c list may ignore h i s settings for page after page and ,

the reader o f c ourse forgets all abo ut them But

, ,
.
 D RA M ATI Z I N G N AT U RA L S ETTI N G 1 5 1

in the photopl ay the setting is always there be fore the

eye o f the spectator whether it concerns the action or
,

not H e cannot escape it ; he must look at it There

. .

fore i t is o f vital importance that the setting not only ,

does not distract the attention o f the spectator but ,

that it actu ally rein force the dramatic value o f the

action The intensi fying o f a situation by placing it
.

in an appropriate setting can be done much more viv

idly in the photoplay than in the novel because in the ,

photoplay the setting can b e presented s im ultan e ou slv

with the action while in th e novel since no two words
, ,

or sentences can oc c upy the same place at the same

time the de scription o f the setting must either pre c ede
,

or follow the description o f the action .

The cinema composer may handle his setting in five

di ff erent ways He may have a n e u tral setting one
.
,

which neither hinders nor helps the action H e ma y .

make the setting i nform a ti ve ; that is he may l et the ,

setting convey some element o f the story which is not

c onveyed in any other way The setting may be s ym
.

p a t h e ti c , o r harmonizing with the general mood or

impression o f the action The setting may be par
.

ti ci p a ti n g ; that i s it m a y enter integrally into the action

,

o f the story And the setting may be form a ti ve ;

.

that is it may actually exercise some power in mould

,

ing the characters in the play .

The neutral setting i s much desired by the producer

because it enables him to stage the play cheaply and
haphazardly in the sets which are most easily built in
his studio and in th e locations where his company
,

happens to be working at the time There can be no .

obj ection to the neutral setting i f it really is neutral ,

i f it really gets no attention whatsoever from the spe c

1 52 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

tator It i s all very well to have a duel take pla c e

.

somewhere out among the trees providing the trees ,

a re n ot evergreens trimmed into fantastic sh apes

~
for ,

in such case the spectator would contemplate the trees

rather than the duelists It is n ot obj ectionable f or a
.

diplomat and a sp y to be shown meeting in a re stau

rant providing the other diners are not more interest
,

ing to ou r eyes than the diplomat an d the sp y I f a .

given story can be staged as e ffectively in the moun

tains as at the se a shore there is obviously no vital
,

connection between the story and the setting I t i s .

merely the duty o f the director to see to it that neither

the rocks n or the sur f get more attention than the
a c tion o f the story B ut j udging b y the films which
.

we se e in most o f the motion picture theatres it i s

evident that the m aj ority o f directors are notoriousl y
blind to the actual significance o f a setting While .

the scenario writer i s waiting for these busy men to

mature into artists he must guard his scenario care
,

fully I f he chooses an arbitrary setting in order to

.

make hi s story more saleable let him choose on e which

,

i s n o t likely to become unneutral in c areless hands .

M any o f the directors are already trying to vital

ize the setting to give it a definite share in producing
,

the total artistic e ff ect o f the photoplay W hen the .

scenario writer can hope to impress i f n ot to edu c ate, ,

such men and can look forward confidentl y to thei r

,

intelligent interpretation o f his c omposition h e i s ,

bound as an artist to dramatize his setting The least .

that he can demand o f his setting is that it be i n

formative th at is either descriptive or narrative Fo r
, ,
.

example a char a cter m ay be described by the environ

,

ment which he h as himsel f created A single glan c e .

1 54 TH E ART OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

describe the environment o f on e character the photo ,

play could present the environments o f twenty and in ,

less time than it takes to change from on e stage s e t to

another Or it could present twenty di fferent aspects
.

o f the environment o f a single character o r o f a cl a ss ,

o f people in a certain social level Thus while Haupt .

,

ma nn in his stage dr a ma o f the rebellious weavers must

limit himsel f to three o r four settings all o f them i n ,

t e ri o rs the photoplay could present the s ame group

,

indoors and out at their looms and at their humble

, ,

amusements gossiping in their tiny doory a rds d ri v

, ,

ing bargains in the village market pl a ce o r in narrow

shops drinking in dark taverns trying in vain to make
, ,

happy homes o ut o f dingy hovels and organizing mobs ,

in front o f their employers palaces I n Hauptmann s ’

.
’

pla y it is the crowd o r community as a whole rather ,

than any individual which i s dramatized But dialog

, .

alone cannot give U S a complete insight into the p sy

ch ology o f the community o f we a vers We must se e .

for ourselves the physical conditions under which they

live and work We too must come in contact with
.
, ,

thei r surroundings i f we would completely understand

their feelings Their environment must reveal to o ur
.

eyes the facts which we could never grasp in words .

S uch in formation and such impressions the photoplay

can give by dramatizing the setting itsel f and giving
it a descriptive power in the play .

It would even be possible to let a setting tell part

o f the story to stimul ate o u r imagination by in forming
,

us o f happenings in the immediate past A good ex .

ample o f narrative setting was seen in Winchell

S mith s stage play Th e F ortun e H u n ter in which
’

John Barrymore appeared 1a few seasons ago The .

 D RA M ATI Z I N G N AT U RA L S ETTI N G 1 55

play relates the story o f D uncan a city youth out o f ,

funds who is advised to seek his fortune in some

,

country village D uncan gets a position in a drug store

. .

We see him behind a sh abby counter be fore poverty ,

stricken shelves bearing only a few dust covered b ot

tles and amidst equipment that i s mutel y complaining
,

o f failing business we have j ust begun to wonder

.

what fortune D uncan c an find here when the curtain ,

drops When it rises on the next act on e swi ft glance

.

o f the eye reveals a new soda fountain o f finest marble

and plate glass mirrors lavishly equipped with up to

,
-

the minute devices for mixing so ft drinks a p h a rm i s

-
,

try with trim shelves and endless rows o f neatl y o r

dered bottles and c ounters and Show cases that seem
,

animate with prosperity N o characters need tell u s

.

in words what has happened The whole setting i s .

itsel f narrative In a flash it relates the story o f pros

.

p e ri t y This
. singl e example o f a des c riptive setting
becoming narrative should help the cinema c omposer
to recall or invent other situations where physical
envi ronment is dramatized and forced into active serv
ice i n the story
”We cannot emphasize too strongly the principle that
.

in an art where the appe al i s entirely through the eye

alone it i s important that everything the eye sees should
rein force or harmonize w ith the impression which the
, ,

”
story endeavours to mak e N o piece o f art whether .
,

it be a cathedral a s ymphony a painting a poem a

, , , ,

statue a prose fiction o r a photoplay can ever be

, ,

looked upon as per fect unless i t has the unity which

results from a complete harmon y o f all its parts I n .

the photopl a y the setting an ever present ever visible

, ,

part can sometimes be made interpretative o f o r sym

, ,
1 59 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

pathetic with the characters o r action o f the pla y

, ,

thus harmonizing with the matter and mea ning o f the

whol e In the handling o f sympathetic setting the
.

cinema composer has much to learn from the masters

o f literature Observe Poe in Th e Fall of th e H ous e
.

of Us h e r fusing setting and action together w ith c on

summate art until the y conve y a Single irresistibl e i m

pression H is first sentence sets the ke y
. D uring
“

the whol e o f a dull dark and soundless da y in the , ,

autumn o f the y ear when the clouds hung op p re s ,

s i ve ly low in the heavens I had b een passing alone o n , ,

horseback through a singularl y dreary tract o f coun

,

try ; and at length found mysel f as the shades o f the ,

evening drew o n within view o f the melanchol y House

,

o f U sher I looked Upon the scene b e fore me

.

Upon the mere house and the simple lands c ape fea ,

tures o f the domain Upon the bleak walls

Upon the vacant eye like windows upo n a f ew
-

rank sedges and Upon a few whit e trunks o f de

caye d trees with an utter depression o f soul
The author then goes on to describe the house itsel f ,

ending with these lines : Bey ond this indication o f

extensive decay however the fabri c gave little token
, ,

o f instability Perhaps the eye o f a scrutinizing oh

.

server might have discovered a barel y perceptible fi s

sure which extending from the roo f o f the building in
, ,

front made i t s way down the wal l in a zigzag direction

, ,
”
until it became lost in the sullen waters o f the f a rm .

Every detail o f the setting helps to create the mood o f

gloom and impending doom which i s maintained ,

throughout the tale until the gruesome agonizing death ,

o f Roderick U sher .

Another example o f sympathetic setting is to be

 D RA M ATI Z I N G N A T U RA L S ETTI N G 1 57

found in Hugo s N otre D am e d e Paris In this novel

’
.

the mysterious and magnificent Gothic cathedral har

monizes with the mood o f the stor y The hunchback .

" uasimodo i s like a gargoyle come to l i fe and the ,

white robed Esmeralda is like a reincarnation o f a

-

figure from an a lt a rpiece Around the c a thedral surge

.

the superstitious fickle motley minded crowds o f

, ,
-

Paris glimpsing an ideal here and there and destined

, ,

to rise into noble nationalit y j ust as the cathedral ,

itsel f rises from the ch a os o f rough materials through

the app a rent disorder o f b uilding into a th ing o f a sp i r
i stability a n d be a uty
fi
.

11 stage drama too the sympathetic setting i s o ften

,
I'
eff ectivel y used I b se n s Gh os ts begins amid the
.
’

gloom o f a grey day and the damp bleakness o f a N or

we gi an fj ord continues through the hectic glow o f th e
,

b urning o rphanage and ends with tragi c iron y in the

,

b right dawn o f a fai r d ay Throughout the play the

.

setting helps to interpret the philosophic progress o f

a communi ty which through tragic experience frees
itsel f from dead ideals and outworn conventions and
marches into the bright day o f soci a l happiness .

To make th e setting rein force the impression o f the

story is even more important in the cinema play than
in fiction or spoken drama And it can easily be .

done i f the director i s provided w ith an artisticall y

composed scenario and is disposed to translate it faith
fully to the screen H e must exercise extreme care
.

in supervising the designing and building o f arti ficial

sets and must have a keen eye for the interpreting
,

power o f na ture and n a tural setting I f an additional .

outl a y o f money i s necessary f o r the success ful har

m on i z i n g o f action with setting it will surel y be forth
1 5 8 T H E A RT OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

coming when the producer discovers that a piece o f

a rt , like a m a chine in which every p a rt functions is
,

mo re economic a l an d h a s more enduring value th an

o n e in which h al f o f the materi a l is de a d weight .

B ut the v a lue o f a photopl ay m ay o ften be increased

without increasing its cost The world i s full o f ex
.

pressive settings waiting to be harmonized with some

a ction and the director should not neglect any o
, pp o r

f u mi f y for improving even a single scene in a pl ay .

Thus two men o f brute instincts fighting in a primi

t ive way would be composed into a better picture i f
shown beneath the scraggly branch o f a gnarled old
o ak than i f shown on the front porch o f a house
,
.

For the society girl o f a certain type the sparkling

fountain would be a suitable complement The poet .

dreamer should walk beneath the aspiring popl a rs and ,

not bene ath the apple trees The lonely recluse Should
.

build his b ut o n the edge o f the desert The inventor

.

should work amidst a maze o f machinery The gam .

bler Should revel in the atmosphere o f M onte Ca rlo .

The lovers should plight their troth beneath blossom

ing trees The veteran soldier Should be seated in the
.

p a rk ne a r an a ntiquated cannon The grandmother

.

should be shown gazing off over harvested fields We .

do not mean that the a ction o f a pl a y should ever be

distorted in order to produce such e ffects but we do ,

insist that the Significance o f many a scene o r charac

ter could o ften be emphasized in some such manner as
w e have indicated .

Tot al impression and meaning o f a play as a whole

m ay o ften be deepened by dramatizing nature hersel f .

A good example is the Blue Bird photop l a y Un d i n e ,

an adaptation o f F ouq ué s fairy story U ndine child

’
.
,
1 60 TH E A RT OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

audiences liked to se e them on the screen But it is .

not enough for the cinema composer that anim als a re

merely interesting to the audience H e Should en .

d e avo ur to m a ke the dumb brutes communicative as

well as interesting Even whe n they are introduced
.

as part o f the environment rather than as actors in a

,

story they m ay be given a symbolic value and may

,

become part o f th e sympathetic setting For example .

,

the dog may be made something more than a pet H e .

may be on the screen what he has been for thousands

o f years in l iterature and art the animate symbol o f
,

faith fulness M any an abstract idea can thus be con

.

c re t e ly e xpressed in the form o f an animal The i n .

nocent kitten o r lamb the hen mothering her brood

, , ,

the blustering cock the v a i n peacock the cooing tur

, ,

t le d o ve the awkward cal f the wise o wl the rega l lion

, , , ,

the fleet deer the graceful ga zelle the clever fox the
, , ,

humorous monkey the sat anic serpent

,
— all can be
s o dram a tized that they harmonize with and rein force

the mood o r meaning in any particular scene in a

cinema pl a y .

As t o the method o f handling sympathetic setting

we may say what we have alre a dy s a id about symbol
i sm .
The expressiveness o f mere things should be
subordin ated t o the expressiveness o f human beings .

The emphasis Should always be on character and the ,

environment should b e an echo rather than a note .

It is not even necessary that the spectator be aw a re

o f the interpretative value o f the setting The s ub .

c on sc 10u s i nfluence i s sometimes more potent th a n the

conscious And it i s in this subconscious appe al the

. ,

appeal which the spect a tor c annot understand that ,

he feels the ma gic and divinit y o f art .

 D RA M AT I Z I NG N AT URA L S ETT I N G 161

S ometimes a natural sett ing may be given a par

t i c i p at i n g fun c tion an a c ting part in the drama
,
In .

Bulwer L ytton s L as t D ays of P ompe i i for example

’
-
, ,

the plot is resolved b y the eruption o f Vesuvi us .

A fter many murmurs an d threats the vol cano comes

like an angry god to lower the curtain o f death upon
th e human drama I n B ret Harte s Th e L uck of
.
’

R oa ri ng Cam p another natural phenomenon ends the

humorously patheti c story o f the miner and the o r
p h a n
,
e d illegitimate bab y A mountain . flood blots
o u t the camp . The miner attempts to rescue the i n
fant and the strong man clinging to the frail babe ,

as a drowning man i s said to cling to a straw dri fted ,

away into the shadowy river that flows for ever to

”
the unknown sea Here we note a touch o f symbol
.

ism in the natural phenomenon which participates with

such climactic for c e in the action In another o f the .

same author s stories Th e O utcas ts of Pok e r Flat

’

, ,

na ture participates i n the c l imax o f the action again .

wi th symboli c eff ect The snow sto rm ends the career

.

o f the outcasts who are too bad to dwell even in the

,

liberal c ommunity o f Poker Flat A drunkard a .

,

gambler a prostitute and a keeper o f a disorderl y

, ,

resort are driven out o f the village They travel .

into the foot hills and when they make camp for the
,

night they are accidentally j oined by a pair o f inno

c ent and pure minded lovers D uring the night a
-
.

snow storm arises The party i s snow bound and

.
,

with in the next few days all except on e die from

sta rvation and c old O ur attention is espe c ially fixed
.

on the prostitute and the innocent girl F eath e ry .

dri fts o f snow shaken from the long pine boughs

,
-
,

fl ew lik e white winged b irds and settled about them

-
,
1 62 TH E A RT OF P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

as they slept The moon through the ri fted c louds

.

looked down Upon what had been the camp But al l .

human stain all trace o f e a rthly travail was hidden

, ,

beneath the spotless mantle merci fully flung from

above . And when pi tying fingers brushed the snow
from their wan faces yo u could s c arcely have told
,

from the equal peace that dwelt Upon them which ,

”
was sh e that had sinned .

S uch organization o f natural phenomena into lots

has hitherto been permitted to l iterature alone The .

stage pl ay has never been able to utilize floods rapids , ,

typhoons avalanches icebergs and volcanic eruptions

, , ,

except with the most artificial and unconvincing re

s ult s.
” The representation o f avenging thunderbolts ,

snow storms and sand storms has been attempted on

,

the stage but the e ff ects have too o ften been e n

,

ve lop e d in melodrama This points U S to the danger

.

facing the cinema c omposer who wishes to make na

ture a particip ating factor in his story He must b e .

ware lest the phen menon b ecome merely a crude

”
spectacle a flagrant ‘ punch
,
entirely out o f key
“
,

with the rest o f the action .

There i s still another way o f dramatizing nature

and natural setting It is to reveal the slow but cer
.

tain work o f physical environment in altering and

moulding human character While character is the .

cause o f action the setting may sometimes be drama

,

t i z e d as the cause o f character Formative setting .

has been described in fiction and i t can be represented

in the motion pictures because the camera c an go an y
,

where and can bring t o the att ention o f the spectators

everything which the dramatic character would s ee ,

and be influenced by in real li fe It can range from

,
.
1 94 TH E A RT O F P HO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

until he becomes an able seaman And alw a ys be .

,

neath the sun o f the equ ator the starlight o f the

,

S outhern cross and through the storms o ff Cape

,

Horn he ga zes steadily upon his comp a nions Upon

, ,

the ship Upon wave and horizon and cloud until he

, ,

penetrates the mysterious truths o f the sailor s soul ’

and the sailor s s e a But he i s himsel f a product o f

’
.

all that he h as looked Upo n And as we read the

.

sounding c aden ces o f M a se fie ld s verse we se e in

’

imagination the power ful processes b y which nature

p roduces a character .

We have given these literary masterpieces as illus

t rati on s o f method r a ther than o f m a teri a l Perhaps.

the formative settings o f H a rdy and M a se fie ld could

not adequately be represented in motion pictures .

Then let the photopl a y beat a new path by applying

old methods t o new material S cenario editors com
.

plain that the most hackneyed and o f t recurring plot

is the story o f the innocent girl o r boy who c omes
from the c ountry to the city and b ecomes the victim
o f new surroundings Why should these scenarios
.

alw a ys be rej ected ? Perhaps because the writers who

have looked Upon the city as a formative setting have
undertaken to energize it in words instead o f in pic
tures I f we in the audience are to understand the
.

e ff ect o f the city Upon the unsophisticated girl we

must se e what She sees we must go where She goes
,
.

Her f ace i s n ot expressive to U S unless we also se e the

physic a l things upon which her gaze is directed We .

must se e with her the l abyrinthine streets and byways ,

the busy m a ze o f haggling customers and Shop keep

e rs skyscr apers towering into the clouds and casting
,

th ei r shadows Upon hovels the apparent chaos o f

,
 D R A M AT I Z I N G N AT U RA L S ETT I NG 1 65

streets and bridges the endless weaving o f water

,

traffi c art museums and gambling dens cathedrals

, ,

and night c ou rts excursion steamers and dan c e halls

, ,

the c urb market and the mi dnight cabaret the flood ,

o f limousines on Fi fth Avenue and the h om e go in g

subwa y throngs more tightly packed than war pris
oners All these things an d more must be shown to
.

u s in the special aspects which the story demands

,

until we begin to feel what the dramati c c hara c ter

feels and can sympathize with her i f she i s over
,

whelmed o r c on fused o r misled or crushed a victim ,

o f her surroundings .

W hoever c an cinemati z e this theme su c cess fully or ,

c an find other better themes and treat them freshly

,

and for c e fully by making the setting itsel f formative

in the manner we have suggested w ill mak e a dis
tin c t c ontribution to the progress o f the art o f the
cinema play Whoever will c ome with c ourage phi
. ,

losop h y and imagination to the problems o f drama

, .

t i z i n g the setting o f appl y ing in screen pra c tice these

,

theories o f neutral in fo rmative sympathetic partici

, , ,

pating and formative settings may do for the photo

,

play as mu c h service as Gordon C raig M ax Rein ,

hardt and Granville Barker have done for the stage

,

pla y I f it was necessary for the spoken drama that

.

the setting Should be made an important part rather

than an ac c essory then i t i s much more important for
,

the drama o f silent pictures that the silence shall be

vocalized and mute inanimate things be endowed
, ,

w ith a living language .

 C HA P TE R IX
W O RD S ON TH E S CR EE N
N A T U RE a b hors a mixture o f species and there fore
does not allow hybrid animals to perpetuate them
selves by reproduction The history o f the develop
.

ment o f aesthetic taste shows the same abhorrence for

hybrid art Hybrid art i s not pure and there fore can
.

not endure as art S ome o f the Greeks f or example

.
, ,

tried the cross breeding o f arts by painting c omplex

-

ions on their statues but the resulting hybrid hal f

, ,

painting and hal f sculpture could not endure as art

,

and is remembered in history only as an interesting

mistake The great masterpieces o f sculpture as o f
.
,
’

any other art rep re se n t th e development o f that art

,
"
in its purest f o rm Th e photopl ay as an art form
.

1 7
consists o f a composition o f pictured motion 3: And "

since words are neither pictures nor motions they

would seem to have no place in the photopla y Y et .

no cinema c omposer has ever had the c ourage o r the

geniu s to p roduce a photoplay o f any length which
accomplished its artistic purpose entirely without the
aid o f words on the screen In fact the photoplays .
,

we se e are so full of words that we must spend one

third o r even hal f o f our time reading words and the
, , ,

remainder o f the time appreciating pictures And .

o u r interests are so divided th a t we are impressed

neither by the liter ature nor by the p ictures .

Y et we would not be so radical as to say that words

1 66
1 68 TH E A RT O F P H O T O PL A Y M A K I N G
’

L ost S trayed Signs epitaphs on tombstones

or , ,

and Rewards f or Capture to M ayor s Proclama ’

tions two o r three hundred words in length until he

i s actually presenting h i s story in words accompanied
by pictures as comments on the words H ow far then .

Shall the composer be allowed to go i n h i s reliance o n '

words as first aids to the silent play o f peopl e things , ,

and places in motion ? We should say that as a gen

eral principle words should be admitted to the photo
pla y only when they intensi fy the dramatic value o f
the particular picture o f which they are a part or when ,

they express indispensable things which coul d n ot pos

s i b ly be expressed in any other cinematic way .

It i s o f course obvious that no combination o f

, ,

trees houses o r facial expressions coul d ever tell an

, ,

audience that a man s name was Jack Ro b inson A

’
.

name i s a word and as a word i t must appear in the

,

photoplay This m ay be on a visiting card shown in

.
,

a close Up o r on an addressed envelope o r as a Si gna

-
, ,

ture at the bottom o f a letter or a document o r it ma y ,

appear in dozens o f other ways all o f which ma y ,

be loo k ed upon as necessar y and permissible devices

for identi fying characters B ut the true artist can
.

make a virtue o f necessity can dramatize a device

,
.

On ce the word h as been introdu c ed i t may reappear

at the psychological moment with dramatic eff ect .

’
Thus the w i fe may be con fronted with her husband s
S i gnature to a treasonable document or the husband ,

may be shocked to find his wi fe s name at the end o f

’

an incriminating letter to some notorious man The .

word h as be come a dramatized organic part o f the

picture .

L etters documents telegrams newspaper clippings

, , , ,
 W O RD S O N TH E S C REE N 1 69

b ook pages etc may all be looked upon as organi c

,
.
,

words In fact letters and telegrams produce some

.
,

o f the most dramati c moments in o u r lives S uch de .

vi c es have been effectively u se d throughout the whole

pe riod o f stage d ram a And they may b e used still
.

more eff ectively on the s c reen Written c om m un i ca .

tions are meant to be read w ith the eyes and not with
the lips L ady M a c beth though all alone on the
.
,

stage must read aloud the letter which she has j ust
,

re c eived from her husband Bo b A c res struggling .

,

with th e composition o f his famous challenge must ,

repeat aloud the sentences wh ich he s c ratches down

o n pa p er I f these letters were not read aloud th e
.

audien c e would o f c ourse never dis c over their c on

, ,

tents But in the case o f the photoplay the l et ters

.
,

being presented to the spe c ta tors eyes and not to ’

their ears make the e xpe rien c e o f the specta tors co

,

incide more e xa c tl y with the e xperience o f the char

ac te rs In fact an a c tor may extend hi s interpreta
.
,

tion o f a part even to th e handwriting o f the c hara c

ter and thi s vi sual interpretation may appear in th e
,

letter which is shown on the s c reen .

While the true artist may d ramati z e an expedient ,

the bungling ha c k will surely abuse it He w ill resort .

frequently to the lett er or other comm uni cation o n the

s c reen until the entire plot o f his play is proj e c ted i n
words and would be equally c lear and equally impres
sive with or without the a cc ompan y ing pi c tures S u c h .

a composition i s no photoplay ; it i s simply an illus

t ra te d novel which the spectators are for c ed to read
Simultaneousl y all turning pages at the same instant
, .

I n order to trans form such a c omposition into a proper

photopla y on e woul d first o f all have to make the p i c
1 70 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K IN G

tures paramount i n expressiveness Then on e would .

have to apply the principles o f probability and veri

similitude to the literary devices L etters and tele .

grams should be sent only under the circumstances

when they would normally be sent in real l i fe And .

they should o f course contain only the in formation

, ,

and expression which a p erson would ordinarily com

m un i ca te in such a way L ikewise newspaper head
.

” ”
lines , want ads and personals and all simil a r
,

reading matter should appear in the photoplay f o r the

e d ifi ca t i on o f the audience only when they are prob

able organic dramatic parts o f the li fe portrayed

, ,

o n the screen .

Anot er class o f reading matter f or the cinema au

ih
d i e n c e i s formed by the extr a neous words o f the
photoplay words which are entirely outside the pic
,

tures words ( f whose existence no character in the

,

k
plot i s aware The cinematic e ffectiveness o f such
.

interpolations which may be generally termed s ub

,
”
titles ,
depends on thei r content l en gth and f re , ,

quen ey .

First o f all we must observe that the s ub title not -

,

being an organi c part o f the story interrupts and ar ,

rests the story " This interruption is excus able i f it

.

carries the plot over some omitted period o f time o r

’
directs the spectator s attention to some necessary
action which could not properly be c inematized and ,

i t is desirable i f it increases the pictorial o r dr a m atic

beauty o f the p i c ture sI l But in any case it i s an i n
‘

t e rru p t i on .The author stops h i s tale f o r a wh ile ,

and communicates directly with his audience explain ,

ing o r commenting upon h i s plot To be sure i n .

,

s tead o f actually saying N ow ladies and gentle , ,

1
7 2 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M AKI N G

a two hour stage pl a y uses two l apses o f time how ,

many should a o n e hour photoplay use ? Certainly

not one every ten minutes .

The sub title must sometimes be used to a llude to

-

dr amatic action which cannot be presented on the

screen either because it i s mechanically impossible to
do s o o r because propriety forbids S imilar omitted .

a ctions in the case o f the stage play m a o f course

y , ,

be alluded to in the c onversation o f the ch a racters .

And the conversation itsel f may be so minimized and

manipulated that a vast amount o f in formation reaches
the audience through the pauses inton a tions and facial
, ,

expression o f the actor But no such allusiveness is

.

possible on the screen W hatever the word o r phrase

.

i s it stands o ut uncompromising and unsubdued

, ,

sharply isolated be tween t wo pictures The s c enario .

writer must there fore exercise the greatest care whe n

, ,

he i s forced to resort to words as aids to his true

medium o f motion pictures .

“
The most desirable o f all aux ili a ry words in the
photoplay are those which re l y intensi fy the beauty
o f the picture they accompany
a l O ften a picture gains
.

in valu e i f it i s interpreted o r i f the audience i s put

in the right psychological mood f o r it Even painters .

sometimes u se words to convey something which is not

conveyed b y paint Fo r ex ample Breton has a paint
.
,

ing o f a peasant girl with a sickle in her hand S he .

i s gazing upward with rapt attention Behind her .

o n the horizon i s the hal f o rb o f the s un But the .

picture does n ot take on i ts full meaning until we

”
read the title The S ong o f the L ark
,
“
Then o u r .

auditory imagination i s appea led to ; we hear the um

seen l a rk and feel the emotions o f the peasant girl .
 W O R D S O N TH E SC REE N 1 73

S imilarl y M illet s The Angelus

,
’

( V esper Bells )
w ould not convey its full meaning without the words
h
in t title The photopl y may u se the sub title with
e . a —
similar e ff ect The sub title may further enrich a
.
-

pict ure by interpreting it o r by putting the audience

in suspense for it In this function the s ub title o f
.
-

a photoplay bears a strong resemblance to the chapter

heading o f a novel Walter S cott for ex ample al
.
, ,

most invariably struck the key o f a ch apter by p re f ac

ing it with a quotation from poetry Thus in I vanh oe .

the chapters dealing chiefly with Isaac o r Rebecca are

p re faced with a few lines from Th e M e rch an t of
Ven i ce or from Th e f e w of M a lta and the chapters ,

describing battles are introduced with appropriate

lines fr om S hakespeare s histori c al plays George
’
.

Eliot in R om ola arouses the reader s suspense by the ’

”
chapter headings A Face in the Crowd “
Tito s ,
“ ’

” ”
D ilemma , and The Garment o f Fear
“
S uspense .

i s aroused more obviously in Bulwer L ytton s Th e -

’

“
L as t D ays of P o mp e ii by such headings as The
S trea m o f L ove Runs on Whither ? and A Wasp
V entures into the S pider s Web In all these cases
’
.

the chapters are read more eagerly and remembered

’
more vividly because o f the author s interruptions
which p recede them But the analo gy between sub
.

ti tles and chapter headings mu st not be pushed too

far The chapters o f a novel are logi cal divisions
.

which have no corresponding parts in the photoplay .

Besides the number o f words in chapter headings is

,

very small when compared with the number in the e n

ti re novel Even in the most exaggerated cases as
.
,

f o r example in I van h oe the verses wh ich head the

,

c hapters c onstitute onl y on e per c ent o f the total num .

1 74 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

ber o f words At th a t rate a on e hour photoplay

.

would be allowed only thirty s i x words for sub titles

- -
,

and according to the proportion in Th e L as t D ays

of P om p e i i the same photoplay would be allowed onl y

twelve words this on the assumption that on e word

,

be allowed per second o f proj ection

”In the case o f comedy the author may o ften very
.

e ff ectively interrupt his dramatic a ctio n f o ; the sake

g
o f making a humorous comment upon it For ex .

ample a devout faced husband bids his disappointed

,

w i fe good night immediately a fter dinner on the plea

that he must visit a sick friend We s e e him go o ut ; .

”
then comes a sub title His S ick Friend ; and the
-

following picture shows o u r kindhearted p h ilan th ro

pist with four o r five husky men pl aying poker around
a bottle laden table The spectator would o f course
-
.
, ,

h a ve been amused at the husband s lie even without ’

’
the sub title ; but the author s ironical comment sharp
-

e n s the humour o f the situation .

These interpolated comments o f the composer him

sel f though opposite in tone are somewh a t in the
, ,

manner o f the chorus in Greek tragedy which makes ,

a running com m ent on the pla y Contemporary play .

wrights have in man y instances substituted for the

spoken comments o f the chorus a type o f humorous
stage direction within parentheses These p a re n th e t .

ic a l remarks o f course play n o part in a stage per

, ,

f o rm an c e sin c e there i s n o on e to speak them b ut a re

, ,

much relished by readers o f the printed plays Thus .

B a rrie interpolates the following comment on h i s

hero in R os ali n d : young man modest and clear
eyed and would ring for h i s tub in Paradise
To him the proper way to look upon ability is as
 1 76 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K IN G

di ff ers from the sub title because it is dramatically in

-

’
the play and not i n the author s comments on the play .

“
S creen dialog can never be a s e ff ective as st age dia
log which ga ins its forc e by being spoken " Be .
,

sides scr een dialog never really accompanies the ac

tion It does not even synchronize wit h the ch arac
.
.

’
ter s dialog coming as it does either a few seconds
, ,

t O O soon or too late for his lip movement and facial

expression Y et scenario writers under the wild illu
.
,

sion that they are competing with playwrights insist ,

on cutting in or fading in di a log which their charac

ters are supposed to speak They m ay retort that .

stage plays are sometimes printed and th a t dramatic

dialog may be very impressive to a reader ; but the
reply to that i s that the reader O f a printed play i s not
interrupted at the end o f every seven o r eight words
and forced to look at a picture on the opposite page
be fore he can continue with the rest o f the speech .

D ramatic dialog to be impressive must either be read

continuously o r he a rd continuously otherw ise the spell ,

will be broken S ince neither on e o f these conditions

.

can be satisfi ed in the motion pictures we recommend ,

t hat photopl a y dialog be le ft entirely to in ference o r

to the imagination Just h ow thi s may be done w e
.

”
have already shown in the ch apter on Imagination .

The cinema composer who strives to present dialog

by in ference an d through the imagination o f the a u
d i e n c e is a true a rtist because he i s endeavouring to
,

energize on e O f the supposed limitations O f his me

d i um .

Taking advantage o f a limitation is no less i m

portant than discovering and exploiting new possibil i
ties o f a medium And the motion pictures present
.
 W O RD S O N TH E S C REE N 1 77

a number o f interesting possibilities in the manipula

tion o f words For example by a strange e ffect o f
.
,

camera magi c words may be represented as literall y

,
’
darting through the air In the Famous Players ver
.

sion O f Th e P oor L i ttle R i ch Gi rl i s a scene in which

the governess locks the little heroine in a room The .

“
girl gets revenge by hissing through the key hole I -

hate you I hate you " the seething words a c tually

,

shooting through the key hole in the direction O f the

-

outraged gove rness That words are physical things

.

palpable to the eye i s a pleasing fancy and the W him

s i ca l proo f on the s c reen constitutes a new pictorial

appeal Another unique treatment o f words i s e f

.

f ec ted by the c amera device O f di ssolving o n e word

or line O f words into another word or l ine For ex .

ample a letter in some foreign langu age may be shown

,

on the screen and the moment the audien c e starts

,

pu z zling over it the writing dissolves into words o f

our own langu age the letter so to speak translating
, , ,

i tsel f be fore our eyes O r a secret c ommuni cation

.

may be shown in cipher c ode and the decoding ma y

take pla c e in the same eas y manner W e may even in .

time develop a cinema p unster a wit who presents ,

o n e O f his double meanings in a sub title and the other -

a n om e n t later n dt in a word but in a picture

‘From all that has been said it must be clear that we
.

look upon words as subordinate rather t an as c o ,

ordinate part s O f a cinemati c composition But even

, .

when introduced as mere auxiliaries s c reen words ma y

accomplish a vast amount o f harm in a photopla y .

An interpolated sub title or a s c reened letter may vio

late all the principles O f pictorial compos ition whi c h
the cinematic artist is trying to apply C omposition .
1 78 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K IN G

in static and fluent forms involves O f course the com , ,

position O f all the visible values which appear on the

screen Hence the so called title editor O f a studio
.
-

should be no less a composer O f pictures than the man

who designs the setting o r directs the action Com .

mendable attempts are already being made to preserve

pictorial harmony by decorating sub titles with char -

coal o r wash dra wings or by interweaving the words

with photographic pictures In discussing symbolism
.

we showed h ow decora ted sub titles might be used for

-

symbolic e ff ect but here we are c oncerned with the

,

preservation O f pictorial unity emphas i s balance and

, , ,

rhythm For example in a picture play laid in a

.
,

western setting marginal etchings O f saddles lariats , ,

pistols cactus s a ge brush etc may preserve the con

, , , .
,

t i n u i ty O f the tonal and line v a lues O f the pictorial

composition a s well as keep the audience in the mood
o f the story . B ut even when no such auxiliary decora
tion is resorted to much can be accomplished by keep
,

ing the style O f the lettering and the background O f

the words in artistic harmony with the p ictorial series .

But however and whenever words are used in the

a
photoplay i t must be remembered that a photoplay I S
f
first and last a p icture p lay an d that whenever non
pictorial devices are introduced they must be intro
d u ce d f o r the betterment O f that picture play A S on e .

j arring note may spoil a piece O f music SO on e un

sightly moment m ay vitiate the fluent be auty o f a
cinematic composition .
1 80 TH E A RT O F PHOT O PL A Y M A KI N G

c e ss f uleven though a c ted by the veriest amateurs .

N O W i f a screen comedy were distinctively comic in its

essen c e quite apart from its interpretation b y actors
, ,

it would be produced at various times and by various

c ompanies and might i n the course o f time be called
,

a classi c L e t u s dis abuse ourselves O f the notion th a t

.

an y motion picture that m a kes us laugh is a screen

comed y A D achshund o r a mule colt pictured in a c
.

tion might make u s laugh and yet it would hardly be ,

correct to say that a D achshund o r a mule colt was a

screen comedy C omic actors comic anim als comic
.
, ,

costumes comic settings comi c incidents comic situa

, , ,

tions comi c characters

, all these things are merel y
,

the materials out O f which comedy may be built .

The comedy itsel f is an arrangement o f screen comics

s o composed that the presentation makes an audience

laugh And in so far as the laughter is due to the

.

work and art O f the composer in so far m ay the pl a y ,

itsel f be called a good comedy L e t u s say that laugh .

ter is caused by the perception O f a spontaneously di

erting incongruity Then a comedy i s a unified com
.

bination O f sp ontan e ou sly d i ve rt i n g incongruities

‘

The cinema c omposer who W ishes to succeed as a

maker O f comedy must le a rn the conditions under
which comedy makes a success ful appeal to an audience .

In the first place the pl ay i f it i s pure comedy must, ,

not arouse the emotions o f the audience Further .

more i t must divert them from themselves from their

, ,

o wn emotions It must make them forget th at they

.

are sa d angry discouraged in love o r re ady to s a cri

, , , ,

fi c e themselves f o r their country S econd it must not .

,

appeal to their reason ; it must not start their brains

puzzling over any problem Third it must make the .
,
 S CREE N CO M E D Y

laughter worth while ; that is i t must not leave the ,

audience sorry o r ashamed that they have laughed .

C aprice sportiveness lack o f seriousness is funda

, ,

mentally necessary in a c omedy as in any c omi c e f ,

feet I f you felt sorry for C harlie Chaplin y ou would

.

not laugh at th e thing that made you sorry for him .

We laugh at the ludi c rous distresses in c omed y be

cause we know that they are unattended by fatal c on
sequen c es W e are diverted b y the incongruities at
.

tac h e d to c haracters onl y when we have no seri ous

,

emotional interest in those chara c ters I n real li fe .

no devoted lover would be amused by something that

m ade hi s sweetheart seem ridi c ulous and no devout ,

C hristian would be amused by a j ocular remark about

God . S o in l iterature w e should not for example b e , ,

amused b y Th e L ege nd of S le epy H ollow i f we reall y

worried over the fate o f Ichabod Crane or by Fal ,

staff s lies i f we really resented his generous devia

’

tions from the stri c t tru th Here i s the sharp d i stinc

.

tion between c omed y on the ne hand and tragedy or

e
serious drama on the other I n serious drama as w e . ,
”
shall Show in the chapter o n D ramatic Appeal the ,

writer should make every eff ort to get the audien c e

emotionally interested in one o r more o f the c hara c
ters o f the play ; but in comedy the writer must c are
fully forestall an y possibility O f the spectator s emo ’

t i on al c oncern The spe c tator wants to be diverted

.

from not converted to any emotional experien c e

, , .

The scenario writer there fore must weave his comed y

, ,

o ut o f the li gl pla y ful whimsi cal tissues o f har mless

i ncongruities
“ .
, ,

A ver y diffi c ult thing in dramatic c omposition is the

interweaving o f the comic w ith the tragi c S hake .
1 82 T H E A RT OF PH O T O PL A Y M AKING
’
speare s method was to amuse the audience by the
antic s O f clowns servants and underlings while he
, , ,

kept them seriously interested in the characters and

fates O f kings princes general s lords and women O f
, , , ,

their social order This method may be used by the

.

cinema composer p roviding he does n ot let the comic

,

episodes fall enti rely out O f key with the serious part
O f the drama D i sj ointed eff ects and absurd c lashes
.

will always be seen on the screen so long as one scenario

writer attempts to write the serious part o f the play ,

and another on e the c omic o r so long as studios pur

,

c hase serious plays and attempt to improve them by

putting in a dash O f pseudo comic relie f here and there
-
.

L i fe itsel f makes a subtle mingling o f the serious and

c omic o f tears and laughter ; and a personality in which
,

seriousness and humour are properl y balan c ed can al

ways make a strong appeal to o ur hearts B ut in l i fe .

and in the theatre we are not both amused and made

serious at the very same moment by the very same stim
ulus We are amused only when the comic has di
.

verted us snatched us away from our seriousness

,
.

The cinema composer will do well to study the tech

nique O f D ickens novels o r O f such a play as Charles
’

K lein s Th e M usi c M as ter This play won its long

’
.

popularit y through the heart appeal o f its hero Her ,

m a n von E ar wig the musi c master ,

Thousands O f .

audiences have wept at the pathetic Situation O f this

O ld man Y et at every per formance the pathos was
.

merrily punctuated by laughter at the many funn y

things in the play Audiences laughed at the way sp a
.

ghetti was eaten at the way w a ter went into the wine
, ,

at the way von B a rwi g s button hole must have healed

’

up ,
at the way he lost his coat through the attic win
1 84 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

argumentative at the m oment when they should lose

themselves to W hole he a rted laughter He may deal-
.

with extravagances to be sure but they must be su r

, ,

rounded by an atmosphere that puts the audience into

a receptive mood The stage play P e ter Pan contains
.

many extravagances yet n o audience ever stops to ,

reason about them B arrie made his c rocodile swal

.

low an alarm clock ; the writer O f cheap photoplays

woul d make his crocodile swallow an eight day clo c k
’
from grand father s hallway ; one i s amusing the other ,

is absurd .

Thirdly comedy to be suc c ess ful should evoke laugh

,

ter worth while the laughter on e does not regret It

,
.

may be said O f course that all laughter in SO far as it

, , ,

i s physically re freshing and tonic is worth W hil e Y et , .

,

the comedy that is endearing the c omedy we send ou r ,

friends to se e and will gladl y see again ourselves i s ,

the comedy that contains not onl y the j o y O f l i fe but , ,

the truth O f li fe as well We ma y even say that the .

best comedies c ontain the simple working day ideals ,

-

O f li fe W e are amused by M oli e re s Th e I m agi nary

.
’

I n vali d be c aus e so man y O f u s have ou r little imaginar y

ailments and as soon as we are through laughing at
,

the comedy w e make up our minds that we will never

allow ourselves to become as ridi c ulous as the imagi
nary invalid We are amused at the blustering br a g
.
,

gart Bob Acres in S heridan s Th e R i vals be c ause we ’

know from the beginning that he is an arrant coward ,

and because the incongruity contains a true picture o f

some o f u s ; n ot you or me O f course because rather , , ,

than be laughed at we are always determined to make

good our every boast Thus at all the u n fitn e ss O f .

things in c omedy we laugh be c ause we know better ;

 S C R EE N C O M E DY 1 85

that k nowing better is our ideal George M ere .

dith in a very interesting essay entitled O n th e Us es

of th e Com i c S p i ri t says The use o f true c omedy i s
,
”
to awaken thought ful laughter We will a cc ept that
.

do c trine providing we may add that the thoughtful

ness should come a f ter the laughter and not during it .

Thus comedy may satirize the amusing foibles the ,

silly shortcomings the ludicrous uglinesses o f human

,

ity providing the satire be so light that we do not start

,

philosophizing when we should be laughing and SO ,

poignant that from our laughing at others we may

, ,

sober down into less ridicul ous selves .

But let us pass from these general conditions to the

more spe c ifi c conditions O f success ful scr e en c omedy .

The c omedy composer for the s c reen must be aware o f

his limi tions A great l imitation is the ab sence o f
.

(
sound M uch o f the c omi c e ff e c t in a stage pla y is
.

due to the tone intonations accent and peculiar tri c ks

”
, , ,

O f the comedian s voice Another great limitation is

’
.

the almost total absence O f words What fun is M i .

c a wb e r or M rs M alaprop or Bob A c res o r Falsta ff

, .
. ,

w ithout words ? What can th e screen substitute for

the brilliant dialog O f S heridan and Wilde for the ,

caustic wit o f S haw ? We can only repeat what we

have said in the previous ch apter that the composition
o f pictures in motion is an entirel y di ff erent art from

the composition O f words and that from the very na,

ture o f the two arts many O f the c omi c e ff ects O f lite ra

ture c annot be reproduced in screen comedy .

B ut as a c ompensation for these limitations the cin

ema composer has at his disposal many comic e ff ects
which are unique in screen comedy and cannot be p ro
d uce d in any other art In the first place a c omi c e f
.
1 86 TH E A RT OF PH OTO PL A Y M A K I N G

feet f or the s c reen needs to be per formed only on c e ,

and that Single per formance caught by the camera can

be repeated to audiences indefinitely b y constant re
p rinting from the original negative The dire c tor .

may have to experiment a great many times with his

actors animals and O bj e c ts be fore he arrives at that
, ,

Single satis factory per forman c e ; but on c e the amusing

result i s O btained it need never be O btained again .

o m are this with the comic e ff ects o f the stage play

p
which must be so conceived that they may be repeated
every a fternoon and evening during the entire run o f
"
the pla y The possibilit y o f selecting and making per
.

manent one c omic per fo rmance the most c omic on e out

,

o f many is a tremendous advantage to such an actor

,

as C harlie C haplin He may undertake the most ri

.

”
d i c ulou s posture o r acrobatic stunt I f it fails
“
.

o r results disastrously the negative may b e destroyed

and he may tr y again ; no audience need ever know o f

h i s failures .

Another unique p ossibility O f the screen is the em

ployment O f animals for humorous e ff ect An y sub .

j c e t ma y be presented from a c ockroach to a c ro c odile

, ,

from a turtle to an elephant from a monkey to a mule

, .

N othing i s so small that it cannot be shown in a c lose

up ; nothing is SO slow that the director cannot wait

for its part in the comedy Who has not seen the
.

mirth ful laughter O f c hildren at the frisky pranks o r

droll behaviour o f dogs and kittens o f pigs and calves ,

and colts ? N one O f these comic values may be repro

d uce d on the stage ; all o f them may be reproduced o n
the screen .

The employment o f animals for comic e ffect would

n o t be possible without the cinema selection spoken o f
1 88 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

Here i s a comic e ffect original and O f the cinema cine

matic It diverts the audience in a new way an d
.
,

relieves the strain during a tense dramatic situation .

The composer o f screen comedy may even draw his

material from the realm O f the inanimate In a Chap .

’
lin comedy for example the hero s hat o r coat o r
, , , ,

cane a tiger Skin rug a swinging door o r a folding

, , ,

bed all may play the rOle s o f comedians In a stage

, .

play on e c ould not always be sure that these mere

things would per form the comic feats assigned to
them ; b ut i f they can be made to do the trick on c e in the
motion picture studio that is enough for the screen
comedy And by means O f camera magic as we have
.
,

shown in a previous chapter almost any action ri d i cu , ,

lous or otherwise c an be per formed b y inanimate O b

,

j e c t s
.

Even the setting itsel f may assume the chara c ter O f

j ester For example in o n e O f M ax L inder s screen
.
,
’

comedies entitled M ax Com es A cross the pit ching and

, ,

rolling O f an ocean liner is re a listically represented as

it is experienced by those on board At on e time we .

s e e a fat woman j olted o ut O f the upper berth in her

c abin at another time the passengers are seen at din

,

ner struggling with clownishly active dishes a n d agile

viands keeping their seats with di ffi culty as the deck
,

wabbles beneath them and later when M a x undertakes

,

to play at the ship s concert we behold the grand piano

’

dart back and forth dan c ing idioticall y to the motions

,

O f the sea .

C omic e ffects may further be produ c ed by giving

humorous exaggeratio n to the powers O f man o r beast .

Thus some drunken ruffian standing in the middle o f

the road may swear that he can halt the speeding auto
'
 SC R EE N C O M E DY 1 89

mobile by simply seizing it with his good right hand .

He not only makes good h i s boast b y stopping the car

but he hurls it backward so hard that i t doesn t stop f o r’

s i x blo c ks
. O r Reyn ard the cunning fox pounces upon
Ch an t i cle r the vain cock and with one power ful shake
o f his j aws completely strips poor Ch a n t i c le r o f hi s

feathers and s c atters them to the fou r winds o f heaven .

Or our Fido starts barking savagely at a decrepit rail

road train standing unsuspecting at the station and
frightens it so that it scampers down the track at full
speed to some sa fer place .

“ The possibility o f accelerating or re ta rd i normal

speed i s a whole region o f comedy in i tsel In fact
much unintended comedy results from the failure to
represent rate o f movement truth fully on the screen .

A familiar fiasco i s the picture o f troops marching o ff

to the front The dignity solemnity and sadness i s
.
, ,

too o ften turned into farce by a rapid film which makes

the men hop along like j umping j acks On the other
-
.

hand retardation o f normal speed may also have amus

ing results Who has not heard titters at some soul
.

stirring gran d Opera when a beauti ful property bird

fl ies heavily and much too slowly over the singers .

S imilar unmeant comedy may O ften be seen in che ap

photoplays B ut the observant c omposer may profit
.

by such fiasc os The thing which fail s in a serious

.

play may be a huge success in a comedy In fact se v .

eral film c orporations are now reissuing as burlesques

the very same pictures which a few years ago were
solemnly presented as serious plays By cutting in a
.

few farcical sub titles here and there and Speeding up

-

the proj ection a bit one can easily turn these early
melodramas into burlesques In pla y s originally c on
.
 1 90 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K IN G

ce i ve d as comedies the deviation from normal speed

may o ften produce laughable incongruity An ele .

phant may trip along as lightly as a spaniel and a ,

spaniel may lumber along a s bulkily as an elephant .

The greatest function o f c omedy i s O f course the , ,

delineation O f comic characters in c omi c situations .

“ An d in this respect screen comedy though it must dis ,

pense with voi ce and speech can d o many things i m ,

possible i n the stage play " N on e o f the visual values

.

o f a c ting need ever be lost The a c tor s posture and ’

"
.

movement ma y be photographed from any ridiculous

angle and his slyest W ink and tiniest grimace may be
caught in a close up Furthermore a comi c character
-
.

an almost unlimited scope o f action in a photoplay

“ has
.

An absent minded man c an be absent minded more

-

o ften and about more di ff erent things than in a stage

‘
play A vulgar woman W ith polite pretensions can
.

make her faux pas in more places a n d under more

varying circumstan c es ; the pain fully prim old maid
can b e shocked by more situations ; the pompous b rag
gart can be exposed to more tests and the gawking ,

country cousin c an b e c on fronted with more amazing

things in the photoplay than in the stage play With .

few exceptions the clowns bu ff oons M erry Andre ws, ,

-
,

and mirth provoking idiots known in li fe o r literature

-

can be marshalled b e fore us on the screen in side

splitting arra y and put through thei r paces in an up
ro a ri o u s procession And it i s not too much to expect
.

that the c inema c omposer with so many unique powers

,

in his command will present novel aspects O f the ri d ic

,

n lou s in li fe will present people who are fools in a

,

new way or c reate characters who are witt y in a ne w

,

language .
 C HA PTER XI
TH E D E L I N E ATI O N OF C H A RA CTE R
T H U S we have studied the nature o f the photoplay
from many angles and have seen that the cinema com
poser has many op p ortt i ti e s and responsibilities as an
fl
artist in a new med i um But the sum o f all his re sp on
.

s i b ili t i es f o r W hich all his means are an end i s the 1m

pressive revelation o f human char a cter I n action ”And

, ,

before he can reveal he must create dramatic char a c

, ,

ter ; f o r the rOle o f the artist i s never properly filled

by mere sl a vish copying o f people in real li fe A d ra .

matic character i s a person with a personality which

dominates a plot o r i s itsel f domin a ted by a plot o r i s
, ,

in i utual reaction with the plot The two essentials

g ”
.

are personality and action .

Personality individu a lity is that something which

,

diff erentiates N apoleon from Wellington Goethe from ,

S chiller Hamlet from Othello Juliet from Ophelia

, ,

and any on e O f us from the others That something .

results from a peculi a r combination o f physi c al aspects

or attributes with intellectual o r spiritual qu a lities .

This particular make up o f characteristics di ff ering

-

from all other make up s constitutes individuality

-
,
.

U n fortunately most photoplays contain mere persons

instead o f characters persons who have not yet ma
,

t u re d into personalities A broad shouldered man

.
-

W ithout any other distinguishing quality reveals no

’
more personality than a clothier s advertisement o f a
1 92
 D E L I N EATI O N OF C HARA C TER 1 93

mannikin in a suit A pretty girl in a poster .

may have prettiness a smile and a regular curve from ,

temple to chin but like a doll usu ally lacks personality

, , ,
.

An art critic looking at such a picture would i m m e d i

ately say that it lacks character ” A single physical .

aspect is not enough to give individual ity S trength .

,

skill weakness gra ce slenderness bowleggedness a

, , , , ,

h unched back a big jaw a fi f ty inch belt arched eye

, ,
-
,

brows a quivering mouth a flashing eye a wabbl y , ,

—
,

step a cigarette flicking hand

,
none o f these alone
constitutes a combination and there fore none o f these ,

alone is su fficient to distinguish a character .

The proper method o f producing unique c ombina

tions o f aspects attributes and traits may be learned
, ,

by studying success ful writers o f fiction Here as an .

,

illustration is a paragraph from Bret Harte s Th e L a c k

,
’

of R oari n C m The assemblage numbered about

g a p :

a hundred men On e or two o f these were actual f ug

.

i t i ve s from j ustice some were criminal and all were

, ,

reckless Physically they exhibited no indi cation o f

.
,

their past live S an d character The greatest scamp

‘

had a Raphael face with a pro fusion o f blonde hair ; ,

Oakhurst a gambler had the mel ancholy ai r and intel

, ,

lectual abstraction o f a Hamlet ; the coolest and most

courageous man was scarcely over five feet in height ,

w ith a so ft voice and an e mbarrassed timid manner , .

’
The term roughs applied to them was a distinction
rather than a definition Perhaps in the minor details .

o f fingers toes ears etc the camp may have been

, , ,
.
,

defi cient b ut these slight omissions did not detract

,

from the aggregate force The strongest man had but .

three fingers on his right hand ; the best shot had but
on e e y e . This concise description o f novel c ombina
1 94 TH E ART OF PHOT O PL A Y M A KI N G

tions o f appearan c e and attributes make it eas y for the

reader to visualize Harte s inhabitants o f Roaring ’

Camp as individuals and not as general types Of .

course the author s delineation o f chara c ter does not

,
’

stop with the paragraph quoted ; i f it did the chara c ter

i z ati on would n o t be complete A three fin ge re d ex .
-

pert marksman is not by virtue o f that distinction alone

a definite character Ph o top laywri gh ts and directors
.

too O ften assume that the physical distinctio n O f the ac

tor o r actress may be substituted for individuality o f
character in the plot The physical appearance may
.

indeed symbolize the inner man ; but thi s inner man i s

a bundle o f invisible though perceptible things H is .

temperament is phlegmatic o r enthusiasti c melancholy ,

o r irritable . H e possesses some definite trait o f dispo

s i t i on : kindness o r rudenes s genialit y o r snobbishness,
.

He has some definite habit O f mind : suspicion j ealousy , ,

impulsiveness gullibilit y imaginativeness vacillation

, , , ,

o r delibe rateness In moral fibre he may be upright

.

or unscrupulous selfish untruth ful o r envious

, , Thus ,
.

we might go on until we had exhausted all the appro

p r i a t e nouns adj
,
ectives and adverbs in,
the unabridged
dictionary A character needs n ot o f course man y
.
, ,

di fferent characteristics He need not be complex .

,

but he must represent an individual combination oth ,

e rwi s e he is not a c haracter at all .

The searching out and assembling o f materials for

the creation o f character is a pro found j oy to the genu
ine author His sources are everywhere about him
. .

I n some drama he discovers a minor ch a racter whose

story possibility has n ot been exploited ; in some a rt
gallery he glimpses a subtle trait in an old portr a it ;
in his newspaper he reads O f an interesting though ob
1 96 TH E A RT OF PH OTO PL A Y M A K I N G

en c e And when this character i s shadowed forth on

.

the screen he should be recognized at once by the audi

ence as a faith ful delineation o f an interesting and
highly pro b able real human being .

The relation be tween character and a c tion will be

discussed at some length in the chapter on D ramatic
”
Appeal where it will be shown that the audience may
,

be kept in suspense wondering wh a t the character will

turn out to be whether he will remain what he is o r
, ,

will change under the influence o f the action in which

he is involved And the fu rther relation between
.

character and plot will be a lluded to in the chapter on

”
The C onstruction O f a Plot In fact it i s not really
.

possible to speak o f character and plot as though they

existed separately in the play Incident a c tion i s o f
.
,

no interest except with relation to character and dra ,

matic character c annot be finally revealed ex c ept

through action .

The main pro b lem in the photoplay i s to give the

audience su fficient knowledge o f the character to b e
c ome personally interested in him Without this inti.

macy t ere can be no social emotion no dra mati c sym ,

‘
pathy But the means for bringing about this ac
.

quaintance i s l imited in the motion pictures There is .

no such latitude a s in the stage play where the audience

may know the character through his dialog comments , ,

promises threats declarations ; through h i s expressed

, ,

attitude toward other characters and thei r expressed

attitude toward him ; through his antecedent acts as
described in the dialog o f himsel f or others ; through
the physical environment which he h as created o r to
which he reacts ; a n d first last a n d al ways through his
, ,

physical appearance physical expression and a c tion

, ,
.
 D E L I N EATIO N O F C H A RA C TE R 1 97

N or IS there the scope o f the novel where the ever i n -

creasing riches o f language are drawn upon to express

the most curious eccentricities the pro foundest depths
, ,

the noblest heights and the most delicate Shadings o f

,

human character .

The cinema composer in delineating character must

almost enti rely dispense w ith words ; y et i f he draws
,

upon the pe c uliar and mani fold powers o f his medium ,

he may make photopl ay c haracters as vivid and i m

pressive in their way a s any other characters in art .

In the first pla c e the author o f a photoplay like the ,

author o f a stage play should conceive the t ype o f

,

character who reveals himsel f by the things he does ,

by his action and who will be furt her revealed by the

,

actor s interpretation o f the part “ Visible a c tion and

’

visible a c ting may be more fully des c riptive on the

screen than on the stage be cause the photopla y can pre
,

sent more a c tion in more pla c es than the stage pla y ,

and the c inematograph can record the droop o f an eye

lash so slight that it would be unseen on the stage In ” .

this respect the photopl a y director c an surely better

the instru c tion o f his immediate an c estor the stage,

director .

In addition the c inema c omposer may play the rOle

O f portrait painter L e t him O bey the principles o f
.

pictorial composition in stati c forms repeating a phase

,

o f expression until it impresses the spectators organ ,

izing all the powers o f tone and texture and line relat ,

ing the central character to his dra matic group dram a ,

ti z i n g his setting until it is more expressive than any

setting ever copied on c a nvas always investing beauty
,

for the e y e w ith meaning f o r the mind o f the sp ec ta

tor.
1 98 TH E A RT OF PH O T O PL A Y M A KI N G

The cinema author director painter may be sculptor

- -

too While a painting can be viewed only from a

.

single fixed point o f vision a piece o f sculpture can and ,

must be viewed from many distances and many angles .

An O bserver can walk completely around a statue and

thus se e hundreds o f slightly di ff erent aspects o f the
same subj ect Apply this test to Rodin s L e Pe ns eur
.
’
,

f o r example and yo u will discover th a t this silent man

, ,

The Thinker i s thought ful with every part o f his body ;

,

the eyebrows the fists the toes the back

,
all reveal
, ,

him as deeply thought ful Pa inters sometimes imi .

tate the method o f the sculptor by placing their subj ect

beside a mirror thus revealing to the beholder an addi
,

t i on al aspect in the reflected image And this trick .

o f the painter has in turn been imitated thousands o f

times on the screen But the photoplay may go even

.

farther than this ; it may in a sense Show sculpture in

motion It may present the subj ect at many distances
.

and from m any angles physically and dramatically as

,

well emphasizing again and again the fundament a l

,

di ff erentiating traits o f the character until the audi

ence is un f o rge tab ly impressed with the dramatic per
son a li ty Furthermore the author director painter
.
,
- -

sculptor ma y turn s ymbolist devising new symbols for ,

cinemati c expression or investing O ld symbols with

,

new meaning in the delineation O f character And .

,

fin ally in addition to all his expression in visible forms

, ,

he may in a unique way de ftly lead the spectator to

imagine the unexpressed traits and nature o f the dra
matic character .

All these means o f cinematic expression have b een

elucidated in preceding ch apters and mere allusion to ,

them i s suffic ient now But it may prove interesting

.
2 00 TH E A RT OF PHOT O PLA Y M A KI N G

as O fli c i al bouncer In the course O f a few days he

.

has acquired the rowdye st kind o f dress and physical

appear a nce He has lost his identity and the bride
.
,

w ill have to wait in vain until he finds it N ow the .

author wants to Show the audience that on a certain

morning the hero gradually remembers who he is .

This is the way it is done The hero fully dressed in .

,

rough shirt and trousers i s standing be fore a mirror ,

looking at h i s image G radually and dimly the image

.

o f the bouncer changes to that o f a man in a dress

suit the hero as he appeared on the night when he was
,

assaulted The lost bridegroom has now recovered

.

his memor y and the author has onl y to depict the

,

series o f incidents in which he escapes from his menial

p‘ qs i t i on and recovers his bride .

Other invisible activities o f a character s mind such ’

as hope ambition desire planning f o r revenge may be

, , , ,

depicted b t e same screen device o f fading in and

fading out A servant girl standing in front O f a
.

modiste s window desires to wear that b eauti ful dress ;

’

fade in the girl s own image instead O f the mannikin

’

o f the window A man wants to kill his rival in a

.

duel ; show h i m fencing wildly against the empty air

in his back y ard and fade in the poor enemy where the
,

lunges are the fiercest A so c iety cra cksman fears that

.

the law will get him ; fade in the hand cuffs on his -

wrists A lord desires to be c ome king ; fade in the

.

crown upon hi s head .

All these are simple and perhaps rather obvious de , ,

vices for expressing visually what is in the mind o f the

dramatic char a cter They are merely the beginnings
.
,

the A B C book words in a new language the language ,

o f t h e motion picture pla y an in fant among the arts ,

.
 D E L I N EATIO N OF CHARA C TE R 2 01

And even i f the cinema composer either through i n ,

ve n ti ve n ess or assimilation commanded a large vo

,

cab u lary in this new langu age o f visual values it would

be unwise f o r him to use it f or the audiences are still

,

as mere beginners learning to read a new language .

Beginners must familiarize themselves with the ordi

nary words and the short sentences be fore they c an un
d e rs ta n d the more di fficult though more completely
,

expressive passages N o w the psychology o f a per

, .
,

son learning a new language i s peculiar L e t u s say .

that an Englishman is learning French He will men .

tally formulate his thoughts i n English first and then

c onvert them into the c orresponding French terms or ,

when hearing French will convert the words separatel y

,

into English A similar roundabout mental process

.

is gone through b y the average spe c tator at a photo

play He i s accustomed to the terms o f the stage pla y
.
,

o f painting o f s c ulpture o f all the elder arts and into

, , ,

these terms he first translates the cinematic expression

whether it be c rude or subtle be fore he grasps the ,

meaning intended by the cinema composer Hence it .

may take a generation perhaps even hal f a c entury o f

,

training on the part both o f authors and appreciators

be fore the photoplay can develop unique descriptive
power o f a flavour and richness comparable with that
o f the elder arts .

Returning to the problem o f delineating the invisi

b i li ti e s o f human character we may O bserve that there
really is no great di ffi culty providing what the chara c
,

ter i s thinking about is concretely imaged B ut what .

c an the camera do with vagu e emotions fl eeting no ,

tions and inarticulate ideas ? For such things the

,

dramatist or poet in their wizardry wo ul d somehow ln

2 02 TH E A RT O F PHOT O PL A Y M A KI N G

vent words but words are not proper to the screen

,
.

The language o f the screen should be in proper terms

o f the s c reen ; and these terms may be found i f we look

long enough There i s a photoplay entitled Th e

.

P ai n te d S ou l which depicts clearl y to the audien c e a

,

psychological change in the heroine so subtle that sh e

hersel f i s hardly aware o f it An artist goes to a night .

court to select from the prisoners a suitable model f or a

” “
picture which is to be called The Fallen Woman .

A prostitute is chosen S he comes to his studio and i s

.

posed at a table supposed to be in a disreputab le res

,

t au ran t with a whiskey glass b eside her and a cigarette

, ,

in her hand In the midst o f the first sitting the artist

.

is called o ut o f the studio The girl rummages around .

and finds his watch and chain which sh e hides in her ,

dress Her curiosity further l eads her to pull aside

.

the draperies from a large painting S he gazes at it .

and is graduall y spellbound b y the arti st s c on c eption ’

o f a pure woman the M adonna This painting i s

, .

so placed that it is directl y a c ross the room from the

model stand and the girl rests her eyes on it when sh e

-
,

resumes her sitting The first e ffect i s that sh e sur

.

re p t i t i o u sly restores the wat c h B ut a more subtle .

eff ect comes during subsequent sittings when it i s evi

dent to the audience that the prostitute is graduall y
approximating the pose and assuming the expression
o f the painted M adonna This o f course totally un
.
, ,

fi ts the model for the painting o f The Fallen

”
W om a n and the artist gives i t up blaming himsel f
, ,

f or lack O f skill and never perceives the true cause o f

,

his failure Here is a simple b ut truly cinematic de

.

l ineation o f a spiritual invisibility which distinguishes

a c hara c ter in a genuine dramatic situation .
 C HA PTE R X I I
D RA M A T I C A PP E A L

A FTE R the photopla ywright gets a ge n e ral k nowle dge

and command O f his medium understands the princi
,

ples o f composition in stati c and fluent forms can ,

p ractise camera magic c an wield photographic real i

,

ties so that they suggest the 1m agi n ary can invent or ,

energize symbols c an dramatize setting can fuse

, ,

words with pi c tures can produce c omedy c an deline

, ,

ate c haracter O n the screen he faces the problem o f

,

utili z ing all o r most o f these means in order to make

a d ramati c appeal to his audience T 0 make this dra .

mati c appeal he will have to construct his pla y as de

li b e rate ly as i f he were the architect o f a house An .

architect has to re c ognize and O bey c ertain unchanging

laws o f gravitation equilibrium tension and stress
, , ,
.

H e has no choice in the matter He c annot alter .

,

ignore o r repeal these laws In the same way the

, .

author m ust recognize and O bey the laws o f the h u

man mind laws whi c h have not changed since the
,

world began Peopl e become interested pa y atten

.
,

tion get excited and calm down remember and for

, ,

get i n exactl y the same way toda y as when the first

savage told a story o r s c ratched the rude picture o f
a b east on the wall o f a cave Hence it is that the .

’
artist yet unborn may go to school to the artist long
since dead Hence it i s also that two di fferent arts
.
, ,

utili z e the same principle o f mental appeal and still

 D RA M AT I C A PP E A L 29 5

rem ain disti nct as arts We have already c ontended

'

that the cinema play i s a new art distinct from all the
other arts whi c h were invented and have been de
ve lop e d be fore it . W e have further maintained the
proposition that the cinema c omposer can learn his les
sons and adopt his methods from the masters in other
arts L et him finish his training by studying the
.

principles o f spoken drama and the laws o f dramati c

appea l
D ramati c appeal i s based on plot ; without plot there
could be no dramati c appeal Without plot the photo
.

play i s merel y a succession o f pictures the stage pla y ,

i s merely a parade o f unrelated a c tions What i s .

”
plot and when may the te rm be applied to a series
,

o f happenings ? A plot can not be const ru c ted by

merely arranging hap p enings in a progressive order .

The events recounted in a biography are usuall y in a

progressive order ; yet no biography however inte r ,

esting ca n be said to have plot Progression in time

,
.

alone has o f course no plot value N obody i s i n

, , .

t e re ste d in observing that Tuesday follows M onda y ,

and that Wednesday follows Tuesda y o r that y outh ,

follows ba byhood and maturit y y outh N or i s the

, , .

fulfilment o f expe c tation in itsel f a plot W e are not .

held by plot interest when we watch the budding and

blossoming o f a rose or the ripening o f an apple I f .

we did not know whether the bud would become an

apple or an acorn or whether the bo y would become
,

a priest or a policeman we should be more interested

,

in the development We should then experien c e some

.

u
thing like plot interest Plot interest i s a blending o f
.

"
th e expected with the unexpected From a given
.

c ause we are led to expe ct c e rtain e ff e c ts b ut the e ffe c ts ,

2 06 TH E A RT OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

come in an unexpected way which pleases us O r we .

O bserve a given unexpected e ffect and remark that with

a little more shrewdness we might have expe c ted that
e ffect from the given cause In a plot the p rogres sion
.

o f happenings must be in a logi c al sequence o f cause

and e ffect Y et the logic must n o t be so mathematical

.

that the conclusion i s foregone that there is no chan c e

,

f o r the unexpected The happenings must put us in

.

a state o f suspense in a questioning frame o f mind ;

,

yet it must be almost possible to relieve that suspense

by reasoning concern ing the facts be fore us Fo r ex .

ample i n R om e o an d Ju li e t we learn fi rst that two

,

Italian families are in a feud then that the son o f o n e

,

family is in love with the daughter o f the other fam

ily As soon as we are i n possession o f these initial
.

fa c ts we can foresee a numbe r o f possible complica

tions but we cannot be sure which ones will follow ;
,

w e cannot prophesy with certainty Presently we see .

what the lovers are planning to do and o ur suspense ,

increases Their secret marriage relieves part o f ou r

.

suspense by answering some O f ou r questions but it ,

also gives rise to new questions and new suspense .

Thus ou r interest leaps forward to the possible o ut

c ome and o u r attention remains intent on the a c tion
,
‘

lest some detail may escape us D uring all this prog .

ress O f happenings on e general question is present in

o u r minds I t might be phrased as follow 5 How °

c an Romeo and Juliet be permanently and peacefully

united while their parents are enemies ? This is the
main dramatic problem The only solution is death
. .

'

The last s c ene o f the play relieves all suspense and , ,

c u riously enough satisfies ou r emotions

,
.

Perhaps this brie f dis c ussion o f what c onstitutes

 2 08 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

sentence must be proj ected on the screen in ord er to

clari fy the sto ry such a cinemat ic device must be looked
,

upon as merely an ex c eptional auxiliary used only ,

when the power o f pantomime i s exhausted .

But the sc enario writer must n ot make the mistake

”
o f confusing acting with physical action Acting i s .

’
merely the per former s interpretation o f any given
’
action Whether this interpretation i s crude o r ar
.

f istic,
finished o r amateurish the action remains ,

basically the same action I t is independent o f the

.

actor and exists be fore he begins to interpret th e pl ay .

The writer h a s conceived these actions and given them

d ramatic significance I f the play contains a kiss o r
.

a prize fight the plucking o f a daisy o r the charge o f

,

an in fantry brigade it i s because the write r

,
.
has de
cided that t his action is essential to the plot E ven in .

the stage play where pantomime i s n o t s o important

as in the photo lay it i s O ften deliberately put in by
p
the playwright L ook through the stage direc tions
.

O f any play by Bernard S haw f o r instance Ca s ar and ,

’

Cle op a tra and you will obse rve h o w care fully the
,

author has specified actions and bits O f stage busi

ness which advance pl ot and reveal character .

”
S tudy the usage o f S hakespeare in presenting such
characters as Richard II I Falsta ff o r the shrewish , ,

K atherine and you will se e that he c onsidered panto

mime almost as impo rtant as words In Galsworthy s .
’

Jus ti ce the most dramatic scene o f the whole play the ,

prison scene showing Fald e r alon e i n his cell is all ,

n
pantomime no word being spoken It i s obvious t h at
,
.

in all these cases the physical dramatic a c tion i s i n

herent in the play and i s not c ontrib ted by the actor ,
,

though it may be int erpreted by him All the re sp on .

 D RA M AT I C A P P EA L 29 9

s i b i li ty ,there fore o f c omposing a series o f panto

,

mimed a c tions into a dramatic plot should rest upon

th e s c enario writer H is three fold problem stated
.
-
,

c on c isely i s to c onceive pantomimed actions that are

, ,

sel f explanatory and progressive in meaning ; that ade

-

q u a t e ly po rtray the pe rsonalities o f the chara c ters ; and

that keep the spectators in a state O f suspense as to the
tc om e o f the plot
o p .

To produ c e suspense must be the primary aim o f the

"
plot maker I f he c an not keep the audien c e in sus
.

pense during the un folding o f hi s a c tion he c annot

hol d thei r attenti on at all This tension o f the mind
.

i s not so necessa ry in othe r forms o f art A painting .

requires no suspense be c ause it is not nec essary that

the beholder look up o n it for an y given lengt h o f time .

I t i s entirel y optional with him whether he shall spend

an hour or a minute in receiving the message o f the
a rti st The same option obtains in the c ase o f the
.

novel The reader ma y take it portion by portion

.
,

three pages or three chapters and at any time But , .

no such option i s possible when a story i s represented

o n the sta ge or on the s c reen Every individual in
.

th e theatre must so to speak surrender hi s watch to

,

the author who times the period o f the spectator s at

,

tention Th e problem o f making all the individuals o f

.

the audience fix thei r attention o n the same subj ect for

the same lengt h o f time can be solved b y the secret o f
d ramati c suspense .

“
S uspense may be defined as a mental state o f ale rt
expe c ta n cy and doubt We are alert to every turn and
.

twist and forward movement o f the plot because we

expec t interesting developments but we are kept in a ,

state o f uncertainty and doubt as to what they will be

2 10 TH E ART OF PHOT O PL AY M A KI N G

and when the y will come There 15 always a race .

between o u r attention and the movement o f a sto ry ,

whether the story i s un folding on the s c reen on the ,

stage or in a book S uppose that we are reading a

, .

novel at the rate o f a page a minute The plot then .

, ,

is moving forward at the rate o f a page a minute .

But i f o u r mind i s c on fused perplexed o r bored o ur , , ,

attention lags behind the plot We are still back per .

haps on page 9 0 while the plot is passing beneath our

eyes on page 1 00 In some other novel the plot is too
.

O bvious and our mind anticipating the outcome wins

, , ,

the race It easily guesses the action O f the last chap

.

ter while o ur eyes are still on the chapter next to th e

last B ut when ou r mind tries in vain to outstrip the
.

plot tries in vain to get to the end o f the story be fore

,

the a c tion i tsel f gets there the result i s a state o f per ,

f ec t suspense .

S uspense always takes the form o f a question w ith

an answer always more o r less remotely out O f reach .

L e t u s examine the M e rch a n t of Ve ni c e to se e what

questions the pla y wright plants in the mind o f the
audience The list i s somewhat as follows
. 1 Why .

i s Antonio sad ? 2 How w ill Bassanio get funds .

?

3. W ill the love lotter y be fortunate for P ortia ?

4. Will S hylock get revenge ? 5 What w ill happen .

i f S hylo c k s daughter marries a C hristian

’
? 6 NO 3 . .

again 7 N O 4 again 8 N O 3 again 9 N O 4

. . . . . . . . .

again 1 0 Will Bassanio choose the right casket ?

. .

1 1 . W ill S hylock accept Portia s money ? 1 2 What

’
.

adventures will Portia and N erissa have in disguise ?

13 . Will S hylock insist on his revenge ? 14 H ow .

will the presence o f the disguised Portia a ffe c t the

trial ? 1 5 I f Antonio dies how will his fate a ff e ct
.
 212 TH E A RT O F PH O TO PL AY M A KI N G

p e a t e dquestion What will happen next ? There i s

another type o f suspense a backward interest th e
, ,

retrospective question What has alread y happened ?

To a slight degree this interest i s present when we

s e e the M e rc h a n t of Ve ni ce What has happened to
.

make Antonio s ad ? How has he o ff ended S hylock ?

When did the romance O f Portia and Bassanio begin ?
This double interest can b e made a very subtle thing
in drama It is as though the audience travelling the
.
,

road to tomorrow turned o cc asionally for a glance

,

down the road to y esterda y S ome plays are so c on

.

structed that the road to tomorro w leads uphill As .

we ascend this road we may look back upon the road

,

to yesterday which opens and lengthens as it stretches

back through the plain o f the past Thus we traverse.

with our eyes a road which our feet do not tread

”
.

"
This t ype o f retrospective suspense can easily be
aroused and maintained 1n the drama o f words b ut not ,
”
in the drama o f pictures It I S only b y the most skil
.

f ul use o f devices that the cinema composer can make

h i s story go backwards as well a s forwards A s long.

as the pictures Shown on the screen represent actions

in thei r chronologi cal order the spectator may easily
,

follow the story But when the succession o f pictures

.

d o n ot p resent the actions in the order in which they

are sup posed to have happened in li fe the spe c tator
immediately becomes con fused .

The secre t o f the di fficulty i s that an a ction re p re

sented in a picture has only the present tense while ,

an action represented in a verb has a past and a future

tense as w ell as the present An action in a picture
.

on the screen i s always taking place while we are look

ing at it It has neither past tense nor future tens e

. .
 D RA M AT I C A P PEA L 213

I f we see a picture o f a wedding we in fer that the man

and woman are being married now not that they were ,

married ten years ago or that they will be married next

,
"
June B ut in the drama o f words the verb s un m i s
.

t a k ab ly tell us whether the a c tion i s in the present ,

in the past or in the future ”

, .

We do not en c ourage the c inema c omposer to under

take the development O f retrospe c tive suspense in the
photopla y ; b ut for the sake o f completeness in this
chapter we shall illustrate how that d ramatic eff ect is
produ c ed in the spoken drama In Ibsen s Gh os ts the
.
’

most dramatic part o f the action has taken pla c e be fore

the cu rtain rises and the pla y i s reall y the climax o f
,

these actions whi c h we hear about and there fore ,

imagine but never see be fore u s on the stage While

,
.

we be hold a suc c ession o f a ctions on the stage the ,

dialog o f the c hara c ters carry our minds back some

times ten years sometimes twenty seven sometimes
,
-
,

twenty And the play gains in d ramatic impressive

.

ness because cert ain facts are held back from the audi
ence until the psychologi c al moment for dis c overy .

The following i s a li st o f the antecedent happenings

set down in the order in whi ch t h e audience learns o f
’

them N ote that the numbe rs in parentheses indicate

.

the c hronological positions o f the happenings as they

actually took place ( 3 ) Within a year a fter the
.

marriage M rs A lvi ng le ft her husband but was urged

.
,

b y Pastor M anders to go back ( 1 ) C aptain Alvi ng .

was a libertine even as a b ridegroom ( 7 ) O swald .

A lvi n g was sent O ff in early childhood to b e reared

away from home ( 8 ) A fter a married li fe o f about
.

eighteen years Capta in Alvin g died unregenerate ; but

his wi fe had white washed his name a fter his death
2 14 TH E A RT O F P H O T O P LA Y M A K IN G

as well as during the latter years o f his li fe ( 5 ) .

Captain A lvi n g has had a union with M rs A lvi n g s

’
.

maid The illegitimate child O f this union was Re

.

gina M rs A lvi ng s present maid ( 6 ) Jacob Eng

, .
’
.

strand had be en bribed to marry Regina s mother and ’

pose as the father o f the child ( 2 ) M rs Engstrand

. .

had O ff ered hersel f to Pastor M anders at the tim e when

sh e le ft her husband (9 ) Oswald. had dissipated in
Paris (4)
. Oswald had inherited a disease from his
father .

The audience is held in breathless suspense during

this gradual discovery o f the past And this suspense .

i s developed by the playwright s selective revelation ’

and care ful withholding o f certain facts until the mo

ment o f greatest e ffectiveness Interest gains in i n
.

tensity b ecause the audience i s t ry ing to look two ways

at once They are wondering what th e dramatic char
.

ac te rs will do in the future when they discover what

has happened in the past Yet despite this c omplexit y

.
,

O f attention the audience is n o t con fused It classi

,
.

fies events in their proper places no matter in what ,

order they are p resented ; and the accuracy o f the

c lassification is assured by the a cc ura cy o f the lan
guage in the play .

But imagine the con fusion o f the audience i f the

events above described in words were to be photo
graphed and presen ted in the order in which Ibsen pre
sents them The easiest way to avoid con fusion in the
.

cinema play when a ction s are interpolated ou t o f thei r

chronological orde r i s to p ut a sub title be fore the -

picture stating j ust how long ago the action i s s up

,

posed to have taken place But such a device is itsel f

.

a tribute to a certain superiority o f words over pi c

216 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

His wi fe and daughter are called in as witnesses and ,

their testimony instead o f being recited in words i s

re enacted
-
every thing being restored a s i n the past
,
.

The stru ct ure o f Re i z e n ste i n s pla y may be represented ’

graphically as follows : let D E and F represent the , ,

progress o f the trial in the three acts o f the play ; and

let a b and c represent the actions which took place
, ,

be fore the trial begins The play is constructed thus .

D ( c ) D ; E ( b ) E ; F ( a) F c is like a cut back re

- -
.

enacting the events on the evening o f the fat a l day i n ,

cluding the shooting b is the action o f the a fternoon

.

a few hours b e f oret th e Shooting And a is the acti on .

which took place thirteen years be fore the shooting .

The second F is the en d O f th e trial and the acquittal

of the de fend ant Thus the pl aywright started us at
.

D and asked u s to walk in two directions at once f o r ,

ward to F and back to a The experience was a n ov .

e lty to the audience and was not con fusing because the
,

inte rpolated action o f the past was in each case clearly

introd uced by words Fo r example in the first act the
.
,

attorney says to the wi fe Will you tell the j u ry what ,

you were doing on the evening o f June 2 4 th about

9 3 0 p m ? .The woman
. start s t o speak and i mm e di
ately the trial scene be comes dark the huge revolving , ,

stage swings around to the setting O f the woman s ’

home and the lights go up on the act ion o f June 2 4 th

, ,

where the witness hersel f having made a quick change ,

O f costume n ow participates O n Tri al was a novelty

, .

to the audience and as such was a commercial success

, ,

but the novelty did n ot become an innovation in the

(
technique o f the spoken drama Audiences on the l
.
,

whole seem to pre fer the physical action which moves

,

forward continuously ”They may delight in imagining .

 D RA M ATI C A PPEAL 217

or re calling vaguely the dead past b ut they do not want

,

to relive it actually while they are living the present .

They may glance back wistfully over th e road to yes

te rd ay but the y want to feel the road to to m orrow un
,

“
der their feet The photoplay i s es p ecially adapted to
.

present the plot which urges ever forward .

There are numerous ways o f putting a spectator into

the state O f suspense It i s not necessary always to
.

make him wonder wh at will happen o r wh a t ha s hap

“
pened He may know what is going to happen and
.

yet be alertl waiting for the exa ct moment wh e n it

y
will happen The suspense i s most intense when th e
.

moment i s known to be very near In real li fe there is

.

alwa y s a terrible suspense in the presence o f a dying

person And even in the case o f t rivial happenings
.

which are about to take place we may be held in sus

pense There i s a spell o f alert attention in the N e w
.

Y ear s Eve crowd on B roadway wat ching the ball o f

’

fire on the Ti m es flag pole waiting for it to fall to

, ,

mark the exact moment o f the passing o f the old year .

Expec tancy is strong but i s tempered with j ust a bit

o f doubt Ou r watches may not agree exactly with
.

the Ti m es clock and the ball may fall sooner o r later

,

than we expe ct ed .

S o in the photoplay we may for a few moments be

kept keenly on the lookout even when we know what
i s going to happen In I n tole ran c e we know that res
.

cue will come for The Boy even after he has ascended
th e sca ff old We should be willing to bet our whole
.

fortune that the automobile will arri ve with the pardon

in time And yet until the automo b ile actually does
.

a rrive we are tense with excitement We almost for .

get that this is a play and that in a play the pardon

2 18 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K IN G

must arrive in time There is not a chance in a thou

.

sand that the pardon will be too late and yet we are ,

at palpitating attention until The B oy is safe Photo .

plays are full o f e ffects suc h as this where the sp e cta

,

tors are in momentary suspense because o f something

which they know i s about to happen In some farce .

a gentleman places his silk hat in a chair A fat lady .

comes in We know that sh e is going to si t down on

.

th at hat We rivet our eyes on her S he does

. . .

They always do in farces In some melodrama o f war

.

—
time we see a trans Atlantic l iner attempting to run the
block ade A submarine emerges The torpedo i s
. .

fired It will surely Sink the ship W e watch the

'

. .

white wake o f the torpedo It does sink the Ship

. .

They always do in melodra ma .

"
M omenta ry tensi ons o f interest can easily be p ro
d uce d by The hack writer O f photoplays can
c rank them o ut by the thou sands But the pity o f .

it all is that so o ften these momentary thrills violate

the principle o f unity because they have no relation
to each other o r to any main theme o f the play They .

are mountain peaks isolated and with no forward

,

reach when they should be merely cu rves and un d ula

,

tions in the road which actually leads somewhere .

There fore the scenario writer must be care ful to sus

tain o ur interest in the main obj e c t o f our j ourne y
through the p lot and not to get u s so interested in
,

things along the way that we forget where we are

going I f we are going t o find out whether S hylock
.

i s to have his revenge or not it would be bad art to

,

fix ou r attention on the terrified faces O f the sailors

on Antonio s storm tossed Ships SO in the photo
’
-
.

play it is bad art to put u s in momen tary suspense a bout

220 TH E AR T OF PH O T O PL A Y M A KI N G

lies I s it because sh e i s hersel f mistaken ? N o I s

. .

it because sh e seeks j ustifi able revenge ? N O Retri .

b ut i on whether j ustifiable o r n ot ? N O Then what .

f
i s the secret o her character ? At the end o f the play
o u r suspense i s relieved The sec ret o f her character
.

i s that sh e has a mania f o r mendacity There i s no .

purpose in her lies S he j ust c an t help telling them

.
’
.

That is the kin k in her character .

Telling lies wou ld o f c ourse have no camera value

, , ,

b ut acting lies would A man may smile and smile and

.

be a villain B ut i f we are sure that he is a villain we

.

are not in suspense a b out his character We are only .

in s u spense when the pla y challenges u s t o interpret his

character by his smiles to tel l what they really mean
, .

It i s O bviou s there fore that here the subtle means o f

, ,

suspense depends almost wholly on the actor I f the .

cinema composer aspires t o create a character whose

real nature is not to b e revealed until the audience h as
been held in suspense f o r a considerable length of time ,

he must write f or a particular per former keeping in ,

mind all the time the actor s powers o f partl y reveal

’

ing and partly concealing the truth until the dramatic

rr om e n t o f complete unveiling
la
.

The gradual development o f c hara c ter i s feasible in

th e photoplay though n o t as easily achieved there as in
,

the stage play o r in the novel ") U nder given conditions

human character i s capable o f change o f growth o r ,

deca y The process o f this change i f revealed visu

.
,

ally can make a strong emotional appeal to the sp e cta

,

to r
. I f we perceive that there i s going to be a change ,

but cannot tell j ust what that change is to be o r ,

whether it is to be permanent o r not ou r susp ense i s ,

i m mediately aroused And this tension is not relieved

.
 D RA M ATI C A PPEAL 22 1

until the personal development has reached a c ertain

finality .

The prime condition o f an a b sorb ed interest in dra

matic c hara c ter is o f c ourse the presen c e o f char
, ,

a c ter in the play M an y photoplays contain no char

.

ac te rs at all ; they have merely people who have not

had a chance to develop personalities that is to be , ,

come characters I f the photoplay really exhibits

.

characters in action this action be c omes more inter

,

esting for W hat it signifies than for what it is The .

deed b ecomes a finger post interesting not in itsel f , , ,

but be cause o f what it points to For example in .

,

S tevenson s short story M ark h e i m the hero com

’

, ,

mits a murder at the beginning o f the sto ry Then .

,

without leaving the scene o f the c rime he goes through ,

a long mental struggle try ing to decide wheth er to

esca pe o r to surrender himsel f to the pol i c e W e are .

interested in the decision he is to make because his

a c t will determine his character While he is still de .

bating the question the maid o f the house comes in .

He tells her to go and c all the police Here S tevenson .

ends the sto ry and it i s quite proper th at he Should

,

do so ; be cause a fter the c hara c ter has been revealed we

do not care about the consequent arrest and trial no ,

matter how exciting this action might be The devel .

0p m e n t O f character here may be contrasted with

G eorge Eliot s excellent study o f moral d ec ay in
'

R om ola The hero a b right eyed lovab le youn g

.
,
-
, ,

G reek begins with the nobl e intention o f sell ing some

,

j e wel s in order to raise money for the ra nsom o f his

foster father who has been enslaved by the Turk s
-
, .

H e comes to Florence where having persuaded himsel f

, ,

that his father i s probably dead o r could not b e easil y ,

2 22 TH E ART O F PHO T O PL A Y M A K I N G

ransomed he yields to the temptations o f pleasure and

,

the opportunity o f making a career for himsel f This .

decision marks the beginning o f a long series o f ac

tions which fu rnish us the specta cle o f the hero s de ’

generation We are alertly interested in his deeds

.

because o f what they will indicate concerning the de

ve lop m e n t o f his characte r Perhaps he will yet
.

change f o r the better Perhaps the love o f a pure

.

woman o r the power o f religion o r some other great

, ,

influence will yet save him from complete moral d i s

solution NO These influences work in vain
. . .

N othing avails He Sink s into the depths and ends

.
,

h i s career when his foster father strangles him to -

death .

W hile it i s true that the growth o f character can be

more convincingly represented in the novel than in any
othe r narrative art yet it must be admitted that fo r
,

certain plots the stage play and even the screen play
can furnis h a equate and vivid portrayal O f personal
d e ve lo ment
d Actions sometimes s p eak louder th an
.

words Recal l the happenings in M a c b e th and you

.

see how vividly they portray the development o f the

hero from the man who is too full o f the milk o f

human kindness to the man who c an slay a ba be o r a
comrade without a quiver o f misgiving and the de ,

ve lop m e n t o f h i s w i fe from the unscrupulous woman

o f criminal mettle to the sleep walking victim o f re -

morse In su c h a photoplay as Th e Pai n te d S oul

.
,

analysed in the p revious chapter the susp ense o f the ,

audien c e is aroused as they watch the stead y su btle ,

change in the character o f the heroine .

S till another kind o f dramatic sus pe nse with regard

to c haracter i s the interest in the stability o f the c har
2 24 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

interest holds the reader o f S udermann s novel Th e ’

,

S on g of S ongs In this book a woman O f O bviously

.

weak moral fibre indulges in a picturesque career o f

social wrongdo ing S he aspires rather feebly to lead
.

a purer and nobler li fe and imagines that some da y

,

and in some way her f ather s musical composition ’

,
”
The S ong o f S ongs will redeem her By the time
, .

we have read to the middle O f the book we feel re a

son ab ly certain that no such redemption will ever come .

S till o n e can never tell what a novelist might do with

his characters He might tu rn sentimental There
. .

fore we read on with alert attention to the temptations ,

opportunities words t houghts and deeds O f the hero

, , ,

ine S he keeps on aspiring but never redeems her

.
,

sel f We lay down the book satisfied with the out

.

come . S he d i d not ch ange We did n ot think Sh e

.

would .

T h e avera ge hack writer o f photoplay continuity

will not take kindly to the suggestion that spectators
can be kept in a state o f suspe nse concerning the o ut
come O f character development He would think you .

totally demented i f you talked to him about the spir

i tual significance o f physical deeds o r the use o f ex ,

ternal action to indi c ate inner p rogress A n d while .

he pities you he will write again this time in his seven ,

hundredth scenario that thrilling bit o f action almost

, ,

t oo tense f o r human endurance ,where the hero s moto r

’

c ar wins a heart breaking race against the Twentieth

Century L imited But the scenario w riter who wishes
.

to expand h i s powers until he commands all the possi

b i li ti e s o f the screen must learn that many plots can
be doubled in impressiveness i f the emphasis i s shi fted
from the happenings to the person alities an d i f the ,
 D R A M ATI C A PPEA L 225

separate acts be looked upon as separate brush strokes

in the process o f painting a character .

But there are still other means of keeping an audi

ence in suspense I f it were not so it would be i m
.

possible to enj oy a photoplay more than once o r to be

thrilled by a pho toplay with a familiar plot We may .

be as familiar with the action o f a plot as we are w i th

the routine o f our daily l ives and may know the char
,
.

a c te rs as well as th e members o f o u r own families and ,

yet be kept intensely alert during a per formance won ,

dering h o w the action will look when it comes or how ,

the play is to be inte rpreted this time N ot wha t but

.

h ow is the question whi ch occupies ou r attention Y ou .

may have re a d th e story o f Carm e n may have seen it

,

as a st a ge play may have attended the opera and yet

, ,

may be kept in suspense from beginning to end o f the

Lasky Carm e n because you wonder how your favour
ite scenes will look on the screen And then you may
.

go eagerly to see the Fox Carm e n because you wonder

how Theda Bara is going to inte rpret the rOle in which
Geraldine Farrar has j ust been fascinating you In .

the case O f original pl ays which we have not yet seen it

hap p ens o ften that some talkative initiate tells us in
general what the a c tion i s and how the plot ends S till .

we may attend that play with a feeling o f suspense as

to how the kn own action will be treated The maj or .

it y o f us who saw the first per formance o f L ord D un

sa my s l ittle pl a y Th e G ods of th e M oun tai n knew al
’

ready from reading the pl ay that at the end the tru e

gods would tu rn the imposters seven beggars into
, ,

stone Y et we followed the play w ith steady interest

.
,

especially toward the end because we wondered j ust

,

how that trans formation was to be done This kind .

2 26 TH E ART OF PHOT O PL A Y M A KI N G
t I

O f suspense might be term ed treatment suspense to dis ll "

t i n gu i sh it from action suspense and char acter sus

pense .

The photoplay may even have author suspense i f ,

we may coin another expression When the art o f .

the photoplay has become a little O lder when the ,

cinema composer s have come into their full exp res

sion so that their various individualities and styles
,

can be recognized by the public we may have a new

,

kind o f suspe n se in the motion p icture theatre W e .

may find ourselves in an alert expectancy looking f o r ,

mani festations o f the author s sel f expression in style

’
-

as the story proceeds from point to p oint “ Individu .

”
a li t i e s O f style have long been present in stage drama .

When we se e o r read a play by S hakespeare we are

alert f o r evidences O f the author s characteristic touch
’

as well as f o r developments in action o r character .

One o f these touches i s the poetic p a ssage We know .

that at any moment and on the slightest provocation

S h akespeare i s likely to burst into a flight o f poetry ,

and we look forward to it as we would to a character

i st i c phrase in music. When we se e o r read a play by
S haw we ex p erience a somewhat similar suspense with
regard to the auth o r s sel f expression We know that
’
-
.

at any moment S haw is likely t o say something para

d ox i cal o r shocking o r wittily stimulating and we
, , ,

are ale rtly a ttentive lest we miss the point What i s .

true o f words will be t rue o f motion pictures ; the me

d i u m reveals the p ersonality o f the artist U nder .

more ideal conditions in the future the cinema com

poser will direct o r supervise his own production and ,

his composition will then reach the Spectators inta c t

and bearing the st amp o f the author s personalit y ’
.
228 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

have in no wa y stirred ou r emotions or attracted o ur

attention .

The social emotion must be establi shed early in the

play because unless suspense starts early the play
, , ,

will not capture the audience This means that the .

cinema composer will have to establish a friendship

o r an enmity within a f e w mi n u tes O f action There .

must be love or hate at first sight I f the people on .

the screen per fect strangers to us could come down

, ,

into the audience to meet us personally it would not be

di fficult for us to become acquainted But they can .

not come in c ontact with u s ; they d o not even know

o f o u r existence They are more remote than the
.

passers b y o f a busy street whom we idly watch from

-

o u r window .

But th e re i s a dramati c device a device which ,

dramatists have known f o r three thousand years by ,

which almost instantane o usly ou r sympathies can be

enlisted and our sus p ens e aroused It is the human .

struggle L e t any two strangers in the street start a

.

fight and we soon cease to be idle watchers We soon .

sympathize with on e as aga inst the other We may .

perhaps maintain neutral ity o f the hand but we can ,

not possibly maintain a neutrality o f the heart Y ou .

never yet saw a fight o r struggle or conflict o r game

in which you did not take sides in the contention And .

as soon as yo u had taken a side in the i ssue you were

in suspense until the struggle ended The dramatist .
,

there fore a fter f ocalizing h i s interest on some on e

,

character i n the play places that character in conflict

,

with some on e else a revenge ful enemy an un sc rup u

, ,

l ous rival a narrow minded parent a scorn ful lady or

,
-
, ,

any on e O f the thousand antagonists that may cross

 D RA M ATI C A PPEA L 229

our pursuit o f happiness in li fe The antagonist need

.

not always be a person I t may be poverty o r hunger

.

o r cold It may be appetite or temptation o r disea se

. .

It may be j ealousy o r suspicion or superstition It .

may be inj ustice o r iniqu ity o r adverse opin i on The .

chie f character may struggle with himsel f with his ,

past with ci rcumstan c e o r with fate But as surel y

, ,
.

as there is a dramatic struggle and the stakes are ,

worth fighting for the s p ectators will remain in the

,

theatre until they know who wins the fight .

S ome O f the technical principles in handling a dra

matic conflict are O ften i gnored o r violated by the un
trained writer He does not balance the struggle well
.
,

thereby making the outcome too easily foreseen Or .

he attracts our sympathy to the wrong combatant O r .

,

s o frequently in the photoplay he makes the conflict a

,

mere epi sode in the action instead o f making it the pla y

itsel f I f the duel or the fist fight or the assault or
.

the hai r pulling contest or the automobile train race i s -

merely an incident o f the larger sustained struggle ,

which i s fundamental in the play well and good But , .

i f this conflict is a thrilling episode which attracts atten

tion to itsel f without adding to the play as a whole the ,

dramatic emphasis i s bad ; and furthermore the sus , ,

pen se o f the spectator i s not mainta ined except during

the episode Besides even in the motion picture play
.
,

it is not always necessary that a dramatic conflict lead

to a personal combat between the strugglers Break .

ing a man s j aw i s only on e o f th e many visible acts

’

which reveal you r hatred o f him The photoplay .

w right who i s aspiring to improve his art will learn

a v a luable lesson in the pictori a l presentation o f drama
i f he makes a list o f all th e photoplays in whi c h the
2 30 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

struggle i s clearly se t forth without the resort to a

physical combat .

Another obj ection to the brie f fight or the ra c e is

that the suspense i s relieved too soon N O spectator .

would want a prize fight to last only on e round o r a ,

foot ball game only five minutes o r a presidential cam ,

i n only n w k " S in the t l suspense

p g
a o e e e O . o o p y
a

sh ould come early and last lon A big question

should be asked early in the play and the answer should
be withheld from the audience until the end o f the play .

This wait between the question and the answer i s what

the spectator i s paying for I f there is no wait there
.

is no dramatic appeal What would have happened to

.

the dramatic values i f Antonio had discovered the flaw

in S hylock s bond d u ring the second act o r i f Romeo
’

and Juliet had committed suicide in the ba lcony scene ,

o r i f Oswald had learned th e truth abo ut his father

be fore the end o f the first act ? S uch actions would

be probable enough would in fact bear a strong re
, , ,

semblance to real li fe but would O bviously tend to

,

frustrate the steady dramatic appeal which the present

arrangement o f the action produces .

One O f the trade marks O f the photoplay plot which

has been concocted over night i s the presence o f the
a t ri ca l e ff ects which have n o t been led u p to by any

suspense whatsoever o f emphatic answers to ques

,

tions that no on e h as ever asked Even in the hands .

O f the skilled playwright the dramatic surprise proves

unsatis factory to the audience We mean the c om .

p le t e su rp rise . The audience does not resent partial

surprises un foreseen details in the development O f the
,

action but it looks upon the complete surprise as a

,

shock The cinema composer should n ot shoot his

.
2 32 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

sa d , but somehow we feel that it is right Our mood

.

i s in the same high key as the play .It seems to u s

that Carmen deserved to die ; and that without her li fe ,

was ri ot worth while to Do n Jose As f or E scamillo

.
,

the toreador well perhaps he will find some other

, ,

se fi o ri ta no less sweet than C armen .

I f the progression o f pictu red actions has succeeded

in arousing the spectator s suspense and has relieved
’

that suspense in an em otionally satis fa ct ory way we

may say o f such a c inematic composition tha t it has
great d ramatic appeal The test o f this plot quality i s
.

an emotional test An intelle ctual test must also be

.

applied to a plot be fore we can say wheth er its con

struction approac hes the per fection demanded o f high
art L e t us se e in the next chapter j ust how this
.

c ri ti c al test ma y b e satisfied in a well c onstru c ted play

-
.
 C HA PT ER X I I I
TH E C O N STR U CTI O N OF A PL O T

IN the chapters on pictorial composition we have shown

that pictures whether static or in motion are most
, ,

satis facto ry to the spectator when they are constru cted

according to the p rinciples o f unity balance emphasis
, , ,

and rhythm The same p ri n c ip le o f construction

pc
.

must obtain in the plot as a whole The plot as such .

must contain a single organi z ed movement from a

,

”
start ing point to a stopping point It must have a .

satis fa c tory balance between cause and effect between ,

action and c onsequence between compli c ation and so

,

lu t i o n
. It must emphasize suspense at c ertain times ,

accelerating the a c tion toward a crisi s or the climax

and retarding it away from such a period And it .

must carry the attention o f the spec tator in a rh yth

mical line from the mental and emotional repose at the
beginning o f the play through the intense mental alert
,

ness and emotional stir at the c limax down to the ,

mental and emotional repose at the end o f the play .

These are the tests which the spectator applies con

sc i o u sly o r unconsciously to t h e finished play ; and these

are the tests which the cinema composer must apply

delibe rately to his play while it i s still in the making .

In order to possess unity a play must have all its

ingredients no matter how diverse they seem to be
,

organized into a single totality It must be not a

.
,

part b ut a who l e a c omplete thing I t must start

, ,
.

233
2 34 TH E A R T O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

somewhere try to get somewhere and get there ; o r

, , ,

as Aristotle said more th an two thousand years ago ,

it must have a beginning a middle and an end

, , .

The problem O f so constructing a play that it shall

have definite totality complete unity involves but does
, , ,

not depend upon the numbe r o f units in that play A

,
.

stage pl ay o f five separate acts may have per fect unity ,

while a play O f a single act may Show a tendency

-

to fall apart into incoherent elements It must be re .

membered here th a t by a unit in a play w e mean that

part O f the action which the spectator i s allowed to p e r
c e i ve with uninterrupted attention In spoken drama a
.

unit i s that part o f the pla y which c omes between the

rise and fall o f the curtain Du ring that unit the at
.

tention is held and between such units it i s given a

,

recess and may turn to other things In the photoplay .

the unit i s any continuous proj ection on the screen .

It ends when the proj e c tion stops f or any length o f

time su fficient for u s to rest our eyes and talk with our
m p an i on s abo u t the play o r about other things
qqThis di ffere n ce between the nits f attention in a
.

u o

photoplay and in a stage drama has not always been

grasped by scenario w riters wh o have looked on the
,

9 ’
reel ( a thousand feet o f film ) as the unit o f attention .

A reel would o f course be a unit o f attention only

, ,

when the sho w ing o f that reel was followed by a fairly

long intermission be fore the showing o f the next reel ,

thus permitting the spectato r to take h i s attention O ff

the screen and turn it to something else But it must .

be O bse rved that under present c onditions o f exhibition

in most theatres several reels are shown continuously
without any intermission The favourite length for
.

serious photoplays i s five reels whi c h requires the um

,
2 36 TH E A RT O F PH O T O PL A Y M A KI N G

The bead string plot i s O ften u sed for farces and

-

sometimes for serious plays An ex ample o f the use .

in farce i s O n e A M a vehicle f o r Charlie

. .
“

Chaplin The d runke n Charlie has been given a key

.

to a friend s house and told that he may spend the

’

night there He enters via the window stepping into

.
,

a bowl o f gold fi sh Then he finds the key goes out ,

through the window and enters properly through the

,

door Because o f unstable equilibrium h e skates about

.

over the waxed floor finally landing between a tiger ,

rug and a wild cat ru g which alternately scare him out,

O f his wits He gets up and leans on a table on ly t o

.

find that it mysteriously swings around He attempts .

to u se a selzer bottle with the usual e ff ect H e at

, .

tempts to go ups tairs but is s o frightened by a stu ffed

,

ostrich that he rolls down the b alustrade incidentall y ,

landing right in front O f a whiskey bottle He trie s .

t h e stairs vagu ely again and losing his balance at the , ,

top grasps the runner which pulls loose and wraps

,

itsel f around him a s he rolls down He tries the pai r .

O f stairs at the other side o f the room but is str uck ,

by the huge swinging pendulum o f a clock and again

, ,

rolls down embracing a stu ff ed bear as he makes the

,

descent He finall y ascends to the upper landing via

.

a coat tree and a fter much trouble with a p a tent

, ,

door lies down in a folding bed which o f course c ol

, , , ,

lapses upon him A fter much more farcical business

.

with the bed he goes to the bath room and a ccidentally

turns on the shower beneath which he is standing ,
.

He finally lies down in the b ath tub to sleep protected ,

from the cold by the ba th mat A plot like this needs .

no further c omment in a chapter on dramatic con

struction .
 TH E CO N S T RU C TI ON OF A PL OT 2 37

And yet even a bead string plot may have a kind o f -

unity o ther than un ity o f time or pla c e The beads .

may be graduated in size so that each bead is followed ,

by a larger one which co ul d not be omitted or mis

,

placed without spoiling the organized p rogression .

This may be il lustrated in M aeterlinck s Th e B lue ’

B i rd which has been discussed in the chapter on sym

,

boli sm Two children search for the blue bird o f

.

happiness in five di ff erent places arranged in the fol ,

lowing order : The Land o f M emory The Palace o f ,

N ight The Forest The G raveyard and the K ing

, , ,

dom o f the Future There i s a kind o f logical order.

here which be c omes more evident as one studies the

pla y Yet even here the sec tions might be separated
.
,

as was shown by the fa c t that M aeterlinck himsel f

wrote an additional act which he called The Pala c e ,
”
o f Happiness and placed between The Forest and
,

The G raveyard Perhaps the best that can be said

.

a bout the bead string plot a fter all is that it is not d iffi
-

c ult to c onstruct .

In the cable plot the various motives and forces

exist not consecutivel y but side b y side touch and are , ,

twi sted fi rmly about each other S uch a plot i s Th e , .

M erch an t of Ve n i c e Let us name the dramatic ele .

ments in the order in which we are in formed o f them

in the play Bassanio s friendship with Antonio his
.
’

,
’
love for Po rtia his need o f money Portia s wealth
, , ,

Antonio s ships at sea his generosity the love lottery

’

, ,
-

o f the caskets Portia s wit S hylock s hatred o f An

,
’
,
’

tonio the pound o f fl esh bond the two clowns Jes

,
- -
, ,

s i c a s elopement the wedding rings the disguise o f

’
, ,

Portia an d N erissa These are the essential i n gre d i

.

ents o f the pla y B ut it will be o b served that ea ch i n

.
2 38 TH E A RT OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

g re di e n tappears n ot merely once like a bead on a

, ,

string but more continuously parallel ing itsel f with

, ,

other ingredients touching them now above now

, ,

below winding about them stretching forward

, ,

through the plo t like strands in a cable The love .

lottery ( though not the love making ) and the clowns

are lost sight o f early ; they are short strands But the .

other strands reach to the very end o f the play It i s .

more di ffi c ult to construct a cable plot than a bead

string plot be cause it i s more di fficult to manage se v
,

e ral motives and forces simulta neously than to manage

them on e at a time B ut the cable plot when finished
.

has m ore organic unity more firmness and strength ,

than the bead string plot -

.

But the whole o f any plot no matter o f W hat pat ,

tern W hether long o r Short whether exhibited with out

, ,

intermission or with two three o r more intermissions , , ,

c onsists naturally o f three parts The action reaches .

a point even thou gh the spectator may not be aware

,

o f it where the beginning ends and another point

, ,

where the end begins ; between these two points extends

what Aristotle called the middle Instead o f the terms .

b eginning middle and end we pre fer to substitute the

, ,

terms premise compli c ation and solution Any plot

, ,
.
,

W hether simple or involved direct o r devious bare o r , ,

decorated long or short old o r new must be built on

, , ,

the frame work p remise compli c ation solution And - -

.

no plot maker can say that he h as a plot until he has

arranged hi s characters and actions firmly into that
framework thus organizing all his parts into a com
,

p le t e unity .

The premise i s the point o f departure which contains

the initial causes the basic conditions o f compli cation
, .
249 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

daughter E llean has decided to Come home to be hi s

, ,

companion .

In every on e of the cases cited the premise is prom

1 s 1n g pointing forward and there fore truly a part o f
, ,

an organized progression It cont a ins immediate .

suggestion o f possible cp m p li cati on It grips the at .

tentio n o f the spectator and induces him to speculate

o n the entanglements which are likely to follow This .

i s the functi on o f the premise to arouse the suspense ,

o f the spectator an d at the same time to serve as the

,

foundation upon which the structure o f the play proper

is to be reared First the plot builder must make sure
.

that his premise will arouse suspense It is n ot enough .

merely to introduce the characters o f his play in on e

o r more interesting settings It i s not enough merely .

to show these characters t a lking Signing papers eating , ,

dinner o r kissing Whatever the characters are and

,
.

whatever they do they must p roduce a situation

, .

S ituation " What is a dramatic situation ? We

have looked in books but have n o t yet found a satis
factory definition o f the term There fore we will have .

to make on e o f our own A Situation i s an action or .

state o f a ff airs which arouses suspense i n the mind o f ,

the participant or o f the spectator S uspense is the .

key word And suspense as we have shown in the

.
,

preceding chapter always takes the form o f some ques

,

tion for which the answer is always more or less re

motely out o f reach Antonio s borrowing money o f.
’

S hylock i s an action but it does not become a situa ,

tion until the pound o f fl e sh clause has been p ut into

- -

the contract This situation arous e s some suspense in

.

the mind O f S hylock and a great deal more in the mind

o f the spectator The existence o f a family feud is
.
 TH E C O NS TR U CTI O N OF A PL OT 24 1

a state o f affairs but it does not arouse any particular

,

suspense until it is involved with the love a ff air o f

Romeo and Juliet Then comes to hero heroine and
.
, ,

all o f the spectators the question N ow what is to be

”
done ? The premise there fore should include an , ,

initial situation which starts the main suspense o f the

play the suspense whi c h is not to be relieved until the
,

solution o f the play .

The beginning o f a play should grip the attention ,

the mental interest o f the spec tator but it should not

, ,

be allo wed to appeal too strongly to his emotions .

The spectator enj oys a play most when he is allowed

to approach and enter it with unprej udiced emotion ,

ally neutral mind and then i s allowed to deepen his

, ,

sympathies for the central characters in their dramatic

di fficulties He does not want to feel utter contempt
.

and hatred for S hylock from the very beginning for ,

then the remainder o f the play will lack emotional

progress and will seem weak and anticlimactic by con
trast with the beginning The law o f emphasis o r .
,

accelerating progression applies to the emotions o f the

spectator as well as to his ment a l interest in the devel
0p m e n t o f the action S hakespeare recognizing this
.
,

law has introduced S hylock in such a way that the au

,

d i e n c e cannot at fi rst tell whether he i s a victim o r a

villain The Jew recounts a long list o f inj uries re
.

c e i ve d at the hands o f Antonio and finishes w ith the

statement that despite these inj uries he will l end A n

tonio the money i f he will set his seal to the unusual
bond But this bond i s suggested only in a merry
.

s p ort he says and the exaction o f the for feiture would

, ,

bring him no gain It is only the Christians he says

.
, ,

whose own hard dealings makes them suspect the m o

24 2 TH E A RT O F PH O T O PL A Y M A K I N G

t i ve s others All thi s comes in the premise o f the

of .

play B ut a s the acti o n progresses the spectator

.
,

learns that S hyl ock really expects to cut the heart out
O f Antonio a resolution from which he cannot be
,

swerved by pleadings f o r mercy o r by O ffers o f many

times the amount o f money involved in the bond And .

the spectator s emotions are gradually heightened by

’

this discovery o f the real nature o f the villain What .

i s true o f Th e M erch an t of Ve ni c e should be true o f

all plays The premise should rouse the suspense o f
.
‘

the spectator without inducing his prej udi c e f or o r

against any character in the play " "

Besides arousing suspense the premise should serve

as an adequate foundation f o r the ensuing complica
tion o f the plot The law o f balance demands that the
.

p remise must be logically su fli c i e n t for the complica

‘

tion The premise must contain the main causes o f

.

which th e complication contains the main e ff ec ts I f .

the initial causes are too slight o r too great in propor

tion to the e ffe c ts the result will be an unbalanced n u
, ,

c onvincing plot unconvincing to the spectator even

,

be fore he h a s had time to analyse the lack o f logical

ba lance Thus i f Antonio had never o ffended S hy
.

lock and i f S h y lock had n ot insisted on the fatal clause

,

in the bond it would have been dramatically un con vin c

,

ing to represent the Jew as ready to kill the Christian on

the day o f the trial Thus also i f M a cbeth had not
.

been Shown as ins anely desirous o f kingship and his ,

wi fe had not urged him to re gi cide the murder O f D un

,

can would have come as a shock to the audience a vio ,

lent improbability in no way dramatically convincing .

The plot maker must satis fy himsel f that his premise i s

a good preparation f or the rest o f the play that it will ,
2 44 TH E A RT O F PH OTO PL A Y M A K I N G

masters will each mistake the other s slave for his o wn ’

,

and the two slaves will ca rry messages each to the

wrong master ; the villagers will con fuse the two nobles
in so c ial o r business matters until the play becomes a ,

mystic maze o f errors O f course the solution i s pos

.
,

sible at any moment o f the play by simply letting on e

twin meet his brother o r by letting some o n e else s e e
the twins simultaneously But are the initial condi .

tions o f this play probable ? Certainly not .

Y et the plot maker will find upon experimen tation

that more or less imp robability in the assumpt i ons o f
the premise will ins u re great probability o f complica
tion In the case o f Th e Com e dy of E rrors the
.

amount o f mistaken identity would have be en greatl y

reduced i f the twin slaves had been omitted from the
story and would have Shrunk to a minimum i f on e o f
,

the nobles had known o f his brother s existence in the ’

same village S uch tameness o f action the spe c tators

.

would not like ; they pre fer to accept the given premise ,

improbable as it i s for the sake O f the resulting com

,

edy It is as though an agreement had been struck

.

b etween the audience and the playwright to the e ff ect

that they will n ot question hi s causes providing he will ,

give them su fficiently amusing o r intere sting e ff ects .

The play maker o f today o r tomorrow will find his

audience equally generous equally willing to play the ,

game o f make believe They w ill p retend that the

-
.

premises are true providing the sequel s are c onsisten tly

,

interesting In fact i f the complication is su fficiently

.
,

enthralling they will soon forget that the premise was

not true The question o f j ust how much i m p rob ab i l
.

ity the audience will accept at the beginning must be

answered by each writer for himsel f It depe nds .
 TH E CO N S T R U C TIO N OF A PL OT 24 5

partly on the type o f plot he i s constructi n g In farce

.

or melodrama considerable improbability is permitted

and even desired In a serious dramati c interpreta
.

tion o f cont e mporary conditions it is better to keep as

c lose as possi b le to li fe as it really is
f f The fact that a photopla y i s a play 1n p i ctures and
not in words involves a spec ial problem o f arrange
ment The cinema composer must select and arrange
.

hi s pictures so that he ma y satis fy th e psychological

deman d for ac c elerating progression toward some
po int o f emphasis Thi s means that the pictures which
.

are most appealing and impressive either in subj ect

o r pictorial c omposition may not appear during the

premise o f the play To pla c e the pictorial climax at

.

the begi nning would be as fatal to the play as to place

the plot climax there Throughout the remainder o f
.

the play the eye would be displeased because the pi c

t o ri al beauty was not up to the standard set at the be
ginning We do not mean to imply that th e poorest
.

picture o f a set should be selected for the beginning

o f a play It i s always well to make a good impres
.

“
sion at the beginning But we do mean that however
.

beauti ful the pictures are at the beginning they should

”
become still more beauti ful as the play p rogresses .

The responsibility for the pictu re arrangement in a

photoplay i s bo rne partl y by the scenario writer who ,

specifies and describe s the pictures he wants but more ,

largely by the director who directs the actual taking o f

,

the pictures It surely i s no di fficult task to arrange

.

beauti ful pictures in a climactic order o r at least in an

,

order which shall not be anticlimactic S uppose for ,

example a numbe r o f scenes are to be taken on the

,

pictu resque lawn in front o f some colonial mansion .

24 9 TH E A RT O F PHOT O PL A Y M A K I N G

N ow it i s a familiar fact th at a country estate is not

equally beauti ful from all angles There fore it seems
.

O bvious that the best view o f the setting should be re

served for the scene which is to come last in the play ,

providing o f course that such arrangement in no way

, ,

inter fered with the dramatic emph a sis o f the plot .

Thi s principle o f cinemati c composition should be ap

plied throughout the play so that the Sp e c tatof might
perceive ever increasing beauty o f picture at the same
time that he experiences heightening suspense concern
"
ing the dramatic action I t 1s advisable there fore to
°

.
, ,

make the premise o f the photoplay pictorially calm o r

neutral neither noti c eably good nor noticeably bad
, .

”
The length o f the premise i n proportion to the other
two se c tions o f the plot must be greater in the photo
pla y than i n the stage play because it takes longer for
,

the devices o f pantomime and screen to present the i n

i t i al situation so clearly that it may be easily grasped
by the s p ectator and remembered by him throughout
the play On the stage characters may be introduced
.

and identified l n groups o f five o r s i x at a time On .

the screen they must be introdu c ed singly o r in groups

o f two o r three lest the spectator be con fused and a t

tach the names to the wrong characters Also with .

,

o ut dialog i t takes longer for the character to reveal

,

enough o f his nature to give the spectator s uffi cient

basis for j udging the subsequent action this o f course
, , ,

providing the ch a racter has any nature to reveal And .

while the spectat or i s becoming acquainted with the

characters he must be clearly in formed as to their dra
matic relations to each other Fo r example i f a man
.
,

and a woman are pictured together it should be made

clear as soon as possible whether they are brother and
24 8 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

m 1s s 1on may in some cases serve to increase suspe nse .

It ma y be the dramati c pause which makes the spec

tator only the more eager for the continuation o f the
story A similar u se o f the dramatic pause is seen in
.

the serial fiction o f magazines where the story bre a ks ,

o ff at some strategic point to be continued in the next ,

number But in the usual five reel photoplay as in

.
,

the on e act stage play there can be no intermission at

,

th e end o f the premise ; at least there can b e no sus ,

pension o f the show .

Y e t the photoplay has already developed a devi c e to

which all o f the functions o f the stage intermission
”
may be trans ferred That device known in the stu
.
,

dios as the cut bac k i s the instantaneous Shi fting

“
-
,

from on e plot or se t o f actions to another parallel plot

or s e t O f actions . The c ut back may be seen Skil -

fully used in the plays directed by M r Gri ffith espe .

,

c i ally in I n tole ra n c e The striking originality o f I n

.

t ole ran c e consists i n the fact that it tells four parallel

stories from fo u r di ff erent periods o f history The y .

are a story o f a n cient Babylon the story o f Christ a , ,

story o f the Huguenots and a story o f contemporary ,

American li fe S hakespeare o ften paralleled several

.

plots in on e play b ut they were never laid in di ff erent

,

periods o f history The characters in the sub plot

.
-

could always meet o r communicate with the charac

, ,

ters in the main plot M r Gri ffith uses the cut . .

“

”
back to allow f o r the change o f scene o r lapse o f
time in any on e story and to heighten the suspense o f
,

the spectator He may also u se it in the future i f he

.
,

has not done so in the past to rest the eye O f the spec ,

tator ; because in the p hotoplay as in real li fe the , ,

change o f scene and activity may serve the purpose o f

 TH E CO NS T R U CTIO N OF A PL OT 2 49

a rest Thus when he h a s told us enough o f the Baby

.
,

lonian sto ry to rouse ou r interest in it he flashes to ,

the story o f American li fe ; and when he h as presented

the premise o f that story he flashes back to Babylon
, ,

o r to the beginning o f the story o f the Huguenots .

M any o f those who saw I n tole ra n c e declare that the

cut back was used too much and that the Show was
-
,

very exhausting to the attention S uch criticisms con

.

tain valuable lessons for the cinema composer He .

may learn from the abuse o f a device as well as from

its success ful use It i s certain that no one should at
.

tempt to tell four stories in a short photoplay But it .

would be possible to tell two stories in a five reel phot o

play providing they were di fferent enough and one
,

were clearly subsidiary to the other A tragi c story .

o f c riminals in contemporary li fe might for example , ,

be contrasted with a fairy story or a whimsical charm

, ,

ing story o f innocent childhood so that a change from

,

o n e to the other would serve all the pur oses o f the

p
stage intermission But whether the end o f the prem
.

i se i s marked by an interm ission o r a cut back it -

comes at the point where the main suspense has been

“
aroused And where the premise ends the compli ca
.

tion begins .

The complication as we use the term in this chapter

, ,

c omprises the main development o f the plot from the

premise to the point where the solution begins It i n .

c lu d e s the crises and the climax o f the plot Progress .

ing through the crises to the climax it raises suspense

t o i t s highest pitch and stirs the emotions to their pro
foundest depths Be fore we go any farther in this
.

discussion we must define the terms crisis and climax .

H ere again we pre fer o u r o wn definition to any that

2 50 TH E A RT OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

have been found in previous treatise s o f dramatic tech

nique Crisis i s that point o r portio n o f the plot
.

where conflicting interests or desires meet and dem and

immediate adj ustment There must be a conflict and
.
,

there must be a demand f or immediate adj ustment .

The time which interven e s between the demand and

the adj ustment contains intense suspense I f there is .

only a struggle with no necessity for immediate deci

sion the state o f a ffai rs may be called a situation but ,

not a crisis I t would come under the definition o f

.

situation which we have already given Climax is the .

most intense crisi s o f which any given plot is capable .

Th us L ady W i n de rm e re s discovery that her husband

’

has be en p aying large sums o f money to M rs Erlynne .

,

and i s determined to invite her to the party is a situa

tion It becomes a stronger sit uation when L ady Win
.

d e rm e re says sh e will strike the woman across the face

“

w ith her fan But the Situation does not reach a crisis
.
’

until the next act during the party at the moment ,

when M rs Erlyn ne has j ust been announced U p

. .

to that point the conflicting interests o f husband and

wi fe have remained unsettled B ut n ow immediate .

adj ustment i s demanded the matter must t h e settled

,

without a moment s delay Will the hostess carry

’
.

out her threat o ff end her husband and make a

, ,

scene at the party or will sh e swallow her pride

, ,

forget her grievance and greet the woman gra ,

c i ou sly ? M rs Erlynne stands in the doorway s o

.
,

magnificent ap pe aling and hyp notic that the hostess

, ,

d rops her fan to the floor That crisis i s over Thus

. .
,

too in the M e rch an t of Ve n i ce the situation produced

,

by Antonio s signing o f the bond does not develop into

’

a crisis until the moment when the audience hears B a s

252 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

an organic element in the i rresistible march o f cause

and e ffect o f conditions incidents situations crises
, , , , ,

and climax .

This insistent urge toward the dramatic goal must

satis fy the demand o f unity by furnishing e ffects from
all the causes and causes f or all the e ffects And it
, .

must satis fy the demand o f convincingness by estab

li sh i n g a natural b alance be tween the causes and e f
fe cts. As the dramatic premise must be su fficient f o r
the complication so the complication must be su fficient
,

for the premise It must not be in ferior t o what the

.

audience h as been led to expect In Th e M erch an t of .

Ve n i c e it would be ridiculous for S hylock to say at the

trial scene G ive me the money I have punished the
, .

poor fellow enough Besides I would n ot soil my.

”
hands with hi s filthy blood And whether it were .
,

ridiculous or not it would not be satis factory to the

,

audience N or would the audience at an exhibition

.

o f M a c b e th be satisfied i f a fter the dramatic prepara

tion for the murder M acbeth came smilingly t o his

wi fe with th e words D earest comrade Go d has
, ,

blessed our desires We will n ot have to slay D uncan

.
,

a fter all I have j ust been in formed by his physician

.

”
that he has tuberculosis H i s days are numbered . .

S uch anti climactic or s ub dramatic e ffe c ts are f re

- -

quently seen on the screen ; and th ey cannot be j ustified

by the explanation that they are li fe like and full o f -

optimism because they depict the happy turns that the

u
involved a ffairs o f men may take D ram a 1s not li fe
'

. .

It is a unified well balanced re a rrangement o f li fe

,
"
for the purpose o f satis fying an audience I f the au .

d i e n c e has been keyed up by the announcement that it

will probably see a tiger it will n ot be pleased to see
,
 TH E C O NS T RU CTIO N O F A PL OT 253

only a cat even though a cat i s more li fe like and re

,
-

assuring than a tiger .

On the other hand we do not want a tiger to saun

,
a

ter in toward the bowl o f milk we have j ust se t o ut

for the cat He i s a n unmotivated e ffect at that time
.
,

and would undoubtedly interru p t evening prayers SO .

in drama an e ffect so l a rge an d violent that it is entirely

out o f proportion to the cause established as a prepara
tion for it wo uld undoubtedly terminate the play
,
"

goers devotion to that play as a serious piece o f a rt

’
.

The lack o f balance between cause and e ff ect c on s ti a

”
t ut e s the melodrama o f the movies where men are ,

shot without being suffi ciently hated and come ,

back to li fe though they have been su fficiently shot ;

where villains are struck by lightning while on t heir
way to the post Offi ce and heroes go through years
-
,

o f military hell by l and and sea and sky w ithout los

ing a button or a swagger ; where houses are bu rned
w ithout being set fire to and heroines are set fire ,

to without even being burned ; and where tragic b e

ginnings turn out to be only dreams while happy end ,

in gs come to those who had not even dreamed o f such

things .

O f all melodramatic e ffects the coincidence i s the

worst because it has no cause whateve r It is as un .

natural as the thunderbolt o ut o f the clear sk y Fu r .

t h e rm o re the audience dislikes a coinciden c e not only

,

because it is improbable but also because c oming as ,

a shock it robs them o f the j oy o f dramatic expecta

,

tion S uspense is the blending o f the expected w ith

.

the unexpected and it is best relieved when the ex

,

p e c t e d c omes in the unexpected way It was to be ex

.

p ec t e d ,
for example that the second M ,r s T an q ue ray .
,
2 54 TH E A R T O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

who h a s been much to many men would have friction ,

with the neighbours and with her pure m m d e d step -

daughter E llean but it was n o t foreseen t h a t E lle an

,

would come home with the news that sh e was engaged

to a youn g man who turns out to be a former lover
o f th e ste p mother -
Th e audience i s impressed but
.

n ot sh ocked by this dramatic climax because they re ,

member fr o m th e p remise o f the play the germ s o f this

bitter fruitage .

i
But s there not such a thing as goo d melodrama ?
”
There i s i f by good melodrama you me an drama
,

in a high key drama in br o a d strokes an d bright col

,

ou rs But such drama i s not u nco n vincing because the

.
,

tremendous complications are b alanced by tremendous

causes V alues are hi gh because contrasts are sharp
.
,

the bl a ck o f s i n against the white o f purity the red o f ,

passion against the green o f j ealousy the heaven high ,

-

ambition against the hell deep revenge S uch drama -

.

i n high key h a s always been popular and may be good ,

art I f the cinema composer i s ambitious to produ c e

.

”
good melodrama he will find worthy examples in
Goethe s Faus t in S h a kespeare s O th e llo in M arlowe s
’ ’ ’
, ,

Tam burlai n e and in S ophocles s OEdi p us R ex M elo

’
.
,

drama o f the screen may be good i f it i s done in the

mood o f these plays and according to the methods o f
their authors There must be balance between mean
.

ing and movement between th robbing motives and ,

thrilling e ff ects Because w ithout this balance all

.

spectacle and catastrophe remain undramatized Um .

dramatized fire and flood explosion o f mines catapult , ,

ing automobiles thousands o f men and horses dashing

,

over miles o f landsca p e are to be c lassified with the

cir c us but n ot with drama .
2 59 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

the clim ax o f the play This should be so because the

.

sequence o f pictures i s the language in which the pho

t op lay exp resses itsel f as the sequence o f words i s
,

the language in which stage drama expresses itsel f .

In the masterpieces o f stage drama the dialog always

i s most incisive most impressive most memorable at
, ,

the be ginning o r end o f a crisis o r climax This em ,

phasis i s due partly to the content o f the sentences

s p oken and partly to their literary form Thus in the
.

photoplay the crises o r climax o f the dram a should

coincide with the most striking pantomime the most ,

impressive setting the most dramatic stage grouping

, ,

the most artistic stage composition in static o r fluent

forms .

( I One feels as a critic that this principle o f pictorial

”
emphasis should be applied in the photoplay Y et it i s .

di fficult to find many examples among the big photo

plays that have hitherto been produced I n Carm e n.
,

for example the climax begins when D on Jose st a rts

,

f or S eville and ends when he slays C armen and him

sel f j ust outside the entrance to the arena But pic .

t o ri ally these tableaux are less interesting than the bull

fight less sti rring than the fight among the women in
,

the cigarette factory and less beauti ful than the marine
,

view at the opening o f the play three points in the

,

d rama which have no very great pl ot value In J oan

.
,

th e Wom a n the climax begins when Joan is condemned

as a witch and ends when sh e is burned at the stake ,

but the most impressive tableaux in the play are the

b attle scenes o f the armoured knights led by the i n
spired Joan o f Arc Th e B i rth of a N a ti on wonder
.
,

f ul as it i s cannot be looked upon as having any d e fi

,

nite plot stru c ture which i s undoubtedly a shortcoming

,
 TH E C O NS TR U C TIO N O F A PL OT 257

o f the play I t i s really onl y a series o f little dramas

.

relating to a single period in American history But .

i f we take the play as a whole we can perhaps agree

that the most impressive picture as a pictu re the tab ,

leau whi ch we remember longest is the gathering o f ,

the K u K lux K lan Y et that gathering an d the start

.

o f the ride i s neither the beginning nor the end o f a

d ramatic climax However in I n toleran c e G ri ffith

.
,

has managed to combine the most memorable pictures

with the most significant action in the B abylonian stor y ,

the climax beginning when several thousand men as

sault the walls o f the city and ending when the mass
,

ive gates swung open by treachery admit the enemy

, , .

Th e clima x o f the story o f American contemporar y

li fe presented in I n tole ra n ce begins when The Boy as
c e n d s the sca ff old i s most intense at the moment when
,

the four executioners raise thei r knives to sever the

cords which are to trip the sca ff old and ends when the ,

pardon arrives by automobile Pictoriall y the end o f.

the climax seemed cheap because by 1 9 1 6 when I n

, ,

tole ran c e appeared the arriv a l o f the racing a u tom o

,

bile i n the nick o f time had become an outworn melo

dramati c device B ut the picture o f the fou r men
.

with their knives sus p ended above the white cords

leading to the sca ff old ready to sever them at any
,

moment was a visual e ff ect that m a de the spectator

,

gasp and that will be remembered by him as long as he

,

remembers any part o f I n tole ran ce We do not say .

that a pictorial progression toward the climax o f a

photoplay can always be obtained but we do say that ,

when such progression o f pictorial values can be O b

f ained it will materially strengthen the play as a whole .

Another means O f securing emphasis in a pictorial

 2 58 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G
h so
p g
ro re ss 1o n 1 s the accele rat1on o f the tempo as we have ,

shown in the chapter on pictori a l composition in fluent

forms The best example o f this e ffect is shown in
.

that part o f I n toleran c e where the several stories are

running parallel and appro a ching a cl imactic point .

“ The exposures become shorter a n d shorter and our ,

attention i s fl a shed faster and faster from on e story to

the other until the staccato style gives us the feel ing o f
”
,

racing towards a dramatic goal .

An audience enj oys the p rogressiv e heightening o f

attention which can be achieved in the four ways we
,

have j ust indicated But no audience in the world

.

could endure such heightening attention for as much

as an hou r at a time i f the heightening were a mathe
,

m ati cally perfect graduation rising from second to ,

second and fro m minute t o minute S uch a rise

,
.

would strain the audience t o the point o f complete ex

h a u st i o n I f attention i s to rise to any height it is
.

necessary there fore that it b e allowed to ri se in a

, ,

rhythmical line I t is on e o f the laws o f all human

.

activity that periods o f intense concentration must be

relatively short and are possible only a fter periods o f
,

c omparative mental repose .

L e t u s symbo lize the progression o f dramatic atten

tion by a loosely hung cable which ascends a hillside
rh y thmically over a row o f posts The angles o r .
,

apexes o f the cable would ea c h represent a c risis ex

, ,

cept the highest which would represent the cl imacti c

,

point o f the plot The most dramatic pictures would

.
,

o f course coincide with these apexes o f the cable

,
.

Those pictures which narrate incidents o r si tuations

would be on the up curves since they create suspense ,
.

S till lower down on each c urve would be the de

2 60 TH E ART OF PHOT O PL A Y M A KI N G

that it is organically united with the complication .

But suppose that the plot had been resolved not by ,

finding a flaw in the bond but by having S hylock ,

struck by lightning at the moment when he has re

c e i ve d permission o f the court t o carry o u t the p ro

vision o f the bond That would violate unity by.

bringing a foreign element into the plot because ,

neither Jupiter nor avenging Fate nor the law o f

, ,

electricity have anything to do with this play .

S ometimes the solution may be foreshadowed in the

premise o f th e play In Th e S e con d M rs Tan q u eray
. .

the climax i s M rs Tan q ue ray s discovery that on e o f

.
’

her former lovers has become engaged to marry her

step daughter E llean E lle an is willing to forgive
-
, .

her fian cé but cannot forgive her step mother M rs

,
-
. .

Tan q ue ray who now sees no hope for the future no

, ,

possibility o f redeeming her past kills hersel f This , .

tragic end recalls what sh e had said at the beginning

o f the play D o you know I feel certain I should ,

make away with mysel f i f anything serious happe ned

”
to me . Another kind o f organic solution i s to be
found in the type o f play in which the end o f the com
plication i s the reverse o f the beginning Thus in .

Twe lf th N i gh t the main complication is due to the di s

guise which V iola assumed at the beginning o f the
play The solution comes naturally when the charac
.

ters concerned discover that V iola is in disguise .

Besides being an organic p art o f the pla y the solu

tion should balan c e with the complication ; that i s it ,

should be su fficient f or the complication In Th e S c c .

on d M rs Tan q u e ray the husband suggests after th e

.
,

tragic discovery concerning h i s wi fe s former relation ’

with E lle an s sweetheart that the y get out o f this

’
,
 TH E CO N S TR U C TIO N OF A PL OT 26 1

place and go abroad again and begin a fresh

,
Had .

the play ended with that solution the audience would

not have been satisfied Every on e would have felt
.

that it was merely temporizing merely a deceptive ,

pause in a tragedy which would grow no less tragic

as time went on I f the solution o f a complication is
.

a slight matter easily arranged we are given the al

, ,

te rn at i ve that the complication was not as serious as

it seemed that We as spectators have been tricked by
,

the playwright I f the two families who are at feud

.

in R om e o an d Ju li e t patched up their quarrel for the

sake o f the lovers with a Bless you children " I f ,

y ou feel that way about it go ahead and get married

, ,

we in the audience should feel that th e feud was not a

very sincere one a fter all and that the j oke was on
,

those who had shed their blood in it However the .

matter i s viewed we see that a play c annot be c on vi nc

ing unless there is proper balance between solution and
c omplication .

S uch balan c e involves emphasis o f ending It .

means that a dramatic a c tion terminates instead o f ,

pausing be fore another period o f pro gression It .

means that i f there is a sequel that is an entirely di f

,

fe re n t story and may better be told some other day

,
.

The main suspense in the form o f a definite question

in the spectator s mind has now been relieved by a de fi
’

nite answer He did not ask it in vain Hi s attention

. .

has marched up hill through the length o f a play but ,

it has arrived somewhere and the spectator has,

reached a higher level o f experience H e has f o r an .

hour o r so escaped from himsel f has been diverted ,

from the prosaic commonplaces O f his o wn li fe ; and

the diversion has been edi fying as well as entertaining .
2 62 TH E ART OF PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

Y es Hamlet does get his revenge but he like the rest

, , ,

o f us gets revenge at too high a cost N o Romeo

, .
,

and Juliet can never in li fe be happily united but their ,

sacrifi c e i s the purchase o f peace among those who

survive N o L ady Windermere did not insult M rs
.
,
.

Erlynne nor did she ever discover that the notorious

,

woman was her mother because even the M rs E r , .

lynnes o f the world are refined by fire and will let no ,

harm come to thei r own off spring And so on in all .

,

the masterpieces o f drama the action a fter a vigorous , ,

march halts permanently at the goal o f some truth

,
.

Thi s is the final downward curve in the rhythm o f the

play and it leaves the spectator in a state o f emotional
,

repose The dramat i c st1r sub s1d e s the p 1c ture on the

.
,

screen f de s out and the satisfied spe c tator returns to

a ,

himsel f .

But i s he satisfied because he has j ust witnessed a

play which was constructed according to the principles
o f unity balance emphasis and rhythm ? By no
, , ,

means do we make such a c laim We do not claim .

that the skeleton constitutes the li fe o f the body o r ,

that grammar constitutes the message o f a sentence .

But we do insist that as th e message cannot be ex

,

pressed witho u t proper grammatical construction and ,

as the heart cannot throb except within an organized

frame so drama cannot live can not have a perma
, ,

n e n tl
y vital significance to the spectator i f it is frag ,

mentary unbalan c ed uncentralized unadapted to the

, , ,

rhythm o f the spe ctator s mind and heart i f in short

’
, , ,

it i s not b reathed into a well organized form .

2 64 TH E A RT OF PH O T O PLA Y M A KI N G

some village weekl y A playw right may dire c t an

.

amateur production o f h i s play at the casino o f a Sum

m er resort A pianist may play his own c omposition
.

at the musi cale o f an indulgent host A painter may .

e xhi b it his unsold painting at a tea in his own studio .

But the photoplaywright must make his c inema c om

position a c ommer c ial commodity b e fore it can exist as
art The producer ma y s ay I ll make money at an y
.
,
’

loss to art but the cinema c omposer ma y not sa y ,

I ll produce art at any lo ss o f mone y

’ ”
.

I t behooves u s there fore to stud y the needs o f o ur

indispensa b le all y the manu facturer H is c ommercial
, .

aim i s a c complished only when the box o ffi c e test

shows immediate results at low c ost The res ults .

must be immediate ; the response from the e xhi b itors

must be prompt The film manu facturer does n ot
.

spe c ulate on the return from the next generation H e .

does not b elieve in paying storage charges on art and ,

he has not time to plant trees f or hi s grandchildren .

He b uys borrows or steal s the plots o f y esterda y

, , ,

manu fa c tures films today rents them to the exhibitor

,

tomorrow and s c raps them the day a fter tomorrow

, .

All this briskness o f business can be accomplished onl y

by qui c k distri b ution following a vigorous c ampai gn
o f advertising .

The producer insists that th e photopla y he m anu f ac

tures into a film must have advertising value The .

pla y must have in itsel f something whi c h c an be sensa

t i on ally presented in the newspapers o r on bill posters ,

and ma y b e c ome the topi c o f c onversation everywhere ,

in the c lub and the kitchen on the way to s chool or

,

b aseball game on the way to Wal l S treet or c hurch

,
.

”
I n short the pla y must have a talking point S ome .
 C O M M ER C IAL N E ED S 265

feature must be so strong that no one can possibl y i g

nore it Thus in a few recently released plays the
.

talking points have been respectively as follows : the

prod uc tion c ost a million dollars ; a real ocean liner is
sunk ; a r eal horse plunges over a high c li ff a c tuall y kill
,

ing himsel f and seriousl y wounding his rider ; the hero

ine in leaping from the cli ff into the sea broke the
’
world s re c ord for high diving ; the star wears fi fty
di ff erent gowns during the pla y ; a famous artist s ’

model is shown in the nude ; the b ullfigh t is genuine ;

owing to the daring treatm ent o f the sex theme children

are not admitted This list o f pun c hes can be ex

.

tended inde finitely b y an y on e who is not blind or dea f .

W hatever o bj ec tions we may make to these points we

must admit that the advertisements whi c h c ontain
them will not go unread and that the pla y s so e x
,

p lo i t e d will not fli c ke r a c ross the screen unobserv ed .

S ometimes th e astute manu fa c turer hit c hes his ad

”
ve rt i s i n g
“
float on to some bandwagon ahead by
adopting a story already widely discussed w i th a title ,

all read y to be conj ured with He films a sto ry o f n o

.

t o ri ou s vogue Th re e W e e k s or D a m age d Goods

,
It .

may be undramatic ; it may lack pictorial value ; it ma y

off er no opportunity for good acting ; but it is saleable
”
because the title is a good talking point At other
.

times it is the per forme r who i s familiar to the publi c .

A prize fighter o r master o f so c iety dancing o r Euro

, ,

pean adventuress o r sla c k wire contortionist is s tarred

,

in some bit o f studio hack work which vapid as it is

, ,

pa y s for itsel f because o f the reputation o f a person ,

”
whose name i s a good talking point“
.

At the sound of all this talk the true artist heaves

a sigh o f distress be c ause he knows that in a per fe c t
,
2 66 TH E A RT O F PHOTO PL A Y M A K I N G

composition all the elements are so harmoniously

blended all the parts so per fe c tly c orrelated that no
, ,

o n e part is c onspicuous o r salient enough to be sei z ed

”
upon as a talking point He cannot find any talk
.

”
ing points in the Venus o f M ilo or th e S istin e ,
”
M adonna o r the Cathedral at C ologne o r M acb e th or
, , ,

Tann hcius er o r Cros s i ng th e B ar To him only th e

’

.
, ,

composition a s such i s to be talked o f To him the .

masterpiece i s classic because the artist has so care

fully c o ordinated and subord inated all o f his materi
-

als that a new per fe c tion a new totalit y has resulted

, .

This philosophy o f the true artist is sound ; yet he

must stop his sighing and learn to trim his sheets to
the wind I f the publicity man must have his fea
.

”
ture why then he must have it But while the pub
, .
,

li c i ty man is consulting his book o f synonyms for su

p e rlat i ves let the
,
photoplayw right build h i s pla y
around and up to the very level o f the feature If .

the play i s to contain a c hampion diver let the plot ,

turn on the height o f the dive I f t h e pla y is to con .

tain an artist s model o f unusual physical beauty pos

’

ing in the nude let the whole tone nature and plot o f
, , ,

the play be in per fect keeping and the nude will seem ,

n o more extraordinary on the s c reen t han in painting

o r sculpture .

The cinema c omposer who wants to give the tal k

ing point a genuine rOle as an organic part in the
d rama should observe the method o f S hakespeare ,

whose dramas su rvive as art for all times despite their

”
“
talking points for the da y L ike the photopla y .

producers o f today he revamped popular old plays and

,

adapted famous O ld stories But he invariably bet .

t e re d what he borrowed and that vast di fference b e

,
2 68 TH E A RT O F PHOT O PL A Y M AKI N G

need and the artists ideal coin c ide For a play must
’
.

have emphasis somewhere i t must h ave a heart which ,

gives vitality to the whol e play and that c entre o f li fe ,

not only c an but should be a hum an character

, , .

S opho c les S hakespeare M oli e re Barrie S haw all

, , , , ,

have fo c ussed thei r attention on a single chara c ter in

any parti c ular play ; and all o f these masters have mod
e lle d thei r great characters more or less to suit the abil

ities o f parti c ular actors o r actresses B ut none o f .

these men have made the mistake o f looking upon a

part as greater than the whole nor upon a per former as ,

greater than the character and the result is that the ,

’
author s creation lives on long a fter the interpreter
has been forgotten By all means let the photoplay
.

”
wright keep his eyes ou the stars o f the motion
pi cture studio but let him remember also that they are
,

merel y the interpreters o f the characters which he cre

M ost the advertiser i s looking for novelt y

of all .

And in this as we have shown in the chapter o n the

,

psychology o f the audience he undoubtedly reflects ,

popular taste We are all straining our energies

.
,

spending o u r fortunes travelling the world over i n

, ,

ou r eagerness to se e something new But i f this new .

thing is vital to us onl y because o f its novelt y its ,

li fe is only ephemeral it must perish w ith the d i s

,

c ove ry Fo r novelty by definition c annot b e perma

.
, ,

nent A thing whi ch i s novel in 1 9 1 0 i s out o f date

.

in 1 9 1 8 B ut i f that thing possesses beaut y the beauty

.
,

need not fad e with the novelty Italian O pe ra f o r .

,

example was once a great novelty in England but its

,

charm was more essential than the novelty and tha t ,

ch ar m has developed into an inspiring beauty known

 C O M M ER C IAL N E E D S 29
9

t hroughout the civilized world S o in the photoplay

.

there is no reason wh y novelty and dramati c truth an d

beauty sho uld not exi st c on currentl y O f all the plot .

patterns in stage drama none is olde r than the tri ‘ ‘

”
an gle plot the drama o f husband wi fe and lover
, , , .

Y et Be rnard S haw once when fog bo und in S cotl and

,
-

for four days composed an entirel y new treatment o f

,

this ancient theme His on e act play H ow H e L i e d

.

t o H e r H us ba nd tells the story o f a young poet who

had w ritten a volume o f poems to a married woman ,

Aurora and was su i p ri se d b y the husband at the mo

,
'

ment when he was a bout to elope with her The poet .

when a cc used begins to l ie declaring that the poems

,

were addressed to the dawn and not to the woman and ,

that he had o f c ourse never thought o f her as a mis

, ,

tress At this the hus band i s fu rious ; he names a list

.

o f f amous men who have tried to run o ff with his

wi f e and desires to k now how the young man c an have

,

the impudence to insinuate that Aurora i s not to be

loo k ed upon with the e y es o f love The whole a ff ai r
.

e nds ami ca b ly only when the po t c on fesses the truth

e
.

I n this play an old initial situat i on is developed with

n ovelt y because the dramatist has rea c hed down b e
,

neath the hypoc risies o f hus bands and brought into th e

,

blazing light o f satire an interesting truth o f h um an

n ature .

The new twist i s what the motion p i c ture adve r

ti ser c alls such a variation as S haw gave to the old
triangle situation N ew twists are not obje c
.

t i on ab le so long as the y are natural twi sts and not c on

tortio u s Originality o f plot i s largely a matter o f
.

revealing old faces in n e w places Human natu re .

does not change with the histor y o f the ra c e N atural .

2 79 TH E A RT O F PHO TO PL A Y M A K I N G

love feels the same and mani fests itsel f in the same
way now as it did thousands o f years ago ; yet Hardy s ’

R e turn of th e N a ti ve is a di ff erent story from that o f

Anthon y and C leopatra Hate is aroused in the same
.

way n ow a s in the days be fore primitive m en had dis

c overed fire o r had per fected the c rudest weapon ; yet
Th e S i eg e of Troy i s a di ff erent story from the Battle
o f Verdun . The general traits in the normal human
being are eternal verities The individual may change
.
,

slightly through education experience su ff ering or, , ,

fortune ; b ut h i s weaknesses are still there only sup ,

pressed and hi s virtues are the same only c ultivated

, , .

H umanit y develops neither new sins nor new virtues .

I f an author c ould discover o r invent a new s i n he ,

would in on e season become richer than Ro cke feller .

Even the production o f a new virtue would c reate a

mild sen sation and would net him a fortune But the .

particular combination o f persons things pl aces and , , ,

actions may be new The lance i s old but the machine

.

gun is new ; M t Olympus is old b ut the Woolworth

.

Tower i s new S heep herding is O ld b ut the manu

.
,

facture o f motion pictures i s n e w Hen ce o r1gi n ali ty .

i n dramati c c omposition involves th e revelation o f the

familiar i n the n e w the c om b ination o f the etern al
,

verities w ith passing circ umstances It i s in this o r .

g a n i z at i o n and integration that the alchemy o f the art

i st s imagination may exert i ts magic A block o f
’
.

marble ma y be as old as the hills ; what n e w t hing it

shal l become whether a watering trough a door step
, , ,

a cornerstone the keystone o f an arch or a statue o f

, ,

Venus depends on what a man sees in it and with what

skill he can embody his vision .

”
N ovelty a fam ous
, star the new
,
3, C‘
272 TH E A RT OF PH O T O PL AY M A KI N G

The producer read the s c enario and handed it bac k

with the remark that it was very wel l written but that ,

they d i d not desire costume plays T hen with rare

generosity he added I can give you a tip on h ow
,

to fix it up s o that it will go through M ake Rip an .

Ameri c an army O fficer o f today who gets drunk and

dreams that he is Rip Van Winkle and then wakes up ,
”
and re forms . The playwright meekly suggested
that no expense would be cut down by this be cause ,

th e characters o f the dream would have to be in the

costume o f the period S tupid playwright " L isten
.

to a shrewd re futation S ure they d have to wear

.
,
’

some kind o f costume b ut it don t have to be correct

,
’
,

because you se e it s only a dream and the army o fficer

, ,
’

wouldn t know what the correct c ostume was

’
The .

answer to the first producer is that there i s no disputing

hi s customers tastes I f the motion pi c ture enthusiast
’
.

asketh f o r a stone give him not bread But the fact .

is that there are at p resent a c tually more c ostume

pl ays on the screen than plays o f modern li fe To .

the second prod ucer there is n o answer unless it be ,

that he might save a few dollars by putting his dream

ing army Offi cer in a dress suit instead o f a U S A rmy . .

uni form But there is a hope that the new generatio n

.

o f producers are waxing in wisdom that while they se e , ,

the genuine drama o f ou r contemporaries in everyda y

clothes they are not blind to the pictorial appeal o f the
,

strange garb o f distant lands and other days when ,

the realities o f li fe were no less stern than now .

E xpediency even a cc ident i s another factor in the

, ,

reduction o f expe nditures One photoplay dire ctor .

in N ew York said S cenario writers don t seem to

,
’

realize that we have to work with what comes to hand ,

 C O M M ER C IAL N EE D S 27 3

For e xamp le we may be on our wa y to a lo c ation

, ,
‘

driving at fi fty miles an hour and may suddenly pass

,

a beauti ful water fall that we had never be fore heard

o f N ow the story has no ac tion that c alls for a
.

water fall but we can t a fford to miss that beauti ful

,
’

pi cture so we p ose o ur stars with th e water fall

,
’

as a background and when we get home the scenario

,
”
editor makes up a title for that picture Again the .

dramatic value o f setting is entirely ignored In the .

same manner the pe rsonality o f the hero o r heroine

’

o f the author s intention may be wa rped to suit the

temperament and a b ility o f the particular performer
who happens to be available at the time when the pla y
i s to be produ c ed Hen c e i f the demand o f e xp e
.

d i e n cy i s to be o b served a c ommercially desirable

scenario should read something like this : L et some
body ( depending on what members o f your c ompan y
are available ) do something ( depending upon the
circumstances ) somewhere ( depending on th e sets
y ou have on hand and the lo cations y ou d i s c over )
‘

for from one to ten reels ( depending on y our c ontract

w ith the distri b utor ) .

In fa c t the producers frequent request for

’

”
s ynopses onl y is final proo f that the acc ident made -

play i s commercially pre ferable to the play lovingl y

c reated by th e individual artist L e t us see j ust h ow
.

”
far th e synopsis on l y s y stem removes the author
’
from hi s audience First the author s general idea
.
, ,

stated in the synopsis i s altered in general by the

,

scenario editor o r by the managing dire c tor o f the

c orpo ration ; second the original idea i s further
,

adapted b y the c ontinuity writers who prepare the

studio scenario ; third this s c enario i s interprete d by
,
2 74 TH E A RT OF PH OTO PL AY M A K I N G

the director o f the per formers ; fourt h his general ,

interpretation i s varied by the actors ; fi fth their h i st ri ,

o n i c intentions are turned awry by the laws o f optics

and the mechanical limitations o f photography ; sixth ,

the developed films are a sss em b le d according to the

j udgment o f the cutter and j oiner ; seventh the ,

fin ished photoplay may be further interpreted accord

ing to the speed and focussing o f the proj ecting
machine N O wonder a cinema composer becomes
.

discouraged when he c ontemplates these seve n inter

ve n t i on s between himsel f and hi s audience These .

interventions are n ot necessary ; they do not o f course , ,

occur in the work o f a man like G ri ffith H is c on c ep .

tion composition supe rvision and revision o f such

, , ,

a play as Th e B i rth of a N a ti on i f s e t down in words

o n paper would make several volumes the size o f thi s

book Imagine the p roducers asking G ri ffith to submit

.

a three hundred o r even a twelve hundred word

,

synopsis o f his photoplay " Imagine what we would

say o f the director o f some philharmonic orchestra i f
“
he sent out an advertisement like this : We are i n
th e market for music suitable to o u r musicians o ur ,

instruments and o ur auditorium C omposers a re

, .

requested to observe that we want ideas onl y and not

the complete scores D escribe clearly in 5 00—7 5 0
.

words the general idea the movements melodies , , ,

moti fs etc and leave the details to be worked o ut b y

, .

us. We find by experience that ou r expert sta ff score

writers in the O ffice c an work u p the ideas i n proper
musical fo rm more s a tis factoril y than the free lance
composer who really w ill waste his valuable time i f
,

he bothers with the complicated technique O f th

musical s c ore with its horizontal and vertical lines
, ,
276 TH E AR T OF PH O T O PL A Y M AKI N G

the same as you The solution lies with you who b u y

.

tickets for motion picture entertainment and it ,

c onsists in your making the produ c tion o f good art

more profitable than bad art .

TH E E N D

P RI N TE D TH E U N I TED STA TE S OF A M E RI CA
 I N D EX
Acti ng, Th e art of , a nd the B u e B ird, Th e, 1 32, 1 34 , 237
l
l
p h otop ay, 1 , 1 0, 1 2, 1 8, 78, l
B ott e I mp , Th e, 8 5 , 88
1 42, 1 43 , 1 72, 1 79 . 1 85 , 1 90, B ush m an, M r Fran c i s, 1 0 .

265 , 267 ; S e e a s o u nd er l
Ch arac te r Cab i r ia, 1 0, 5 9 , 9 5
Cces ar a n d C l e op a tra, 1 75 , 208
A le gory, S e e Sy m b o sm
“
l
l
A ng e u s. Th e . 37 . 4 s, 48 , 4 9.
li
Cam e ra M ag i c , 80 8 9 , 1 05 , 1 22 , —
5 1 , 1 73 ; S ee a lso il us tra l 1 36. 1 4 5 . 1 5 9 . 1 7 7 . 1 88 . 204 ;

i on t S e e a s o Ci ne matog rap hy
l
A nima l s in t h e p h otop l ay, 5 7 , il
Ca m le, 1 6
70. 76. 8 5 . 9 8 1 1 7 1 32. 1 39 . Com m . 43. 9 3. 1 5 9. 225 . 23 1 .
1 4 1 - 1 43 , 1 80, 1 86—
, ,

1 88 1 89 , ,
25 6 ; S e e a ls o i l us tra t i ons
l
191 l
Ca th e d ra at Ro ue n , 94 ”

A n th ony a nd l
C e op a tra 93 ,
Ch ap li n , M r Ch a rl e 1 0, 1 7 ,
. i ,

Ap o lo l an d th e M us e s, 33 ,
1 79 , 1 8 1 , 1 86, 1 88 , 236

4 7 , 49 , 62 ; S e e a ls o ll us i Ch a ra c t e r, d ra ma t i c ,
tra t i on fi
d e ni ti on o f , 1 92
A rc h i t e c tu re an d th e m ot io n d e n e at i o n o f , 1 09 1 1 6- 1 1 8,
li ,

i
P ct u re , 4, 30. 33 . 67 . 1 48 ; 1 23. 1 5 3 . 1 58 . 1 60 1 62- 1 6 .
. 4
l
S e e a s o u nd e r Se tt i ng 1 67- 1 69. 1 92- 203. 20
4 . 246.
A ri st otl e , 234, 238 2 70

A rt of th e M ov ng P ic ture, i p s y c h o o gy l
o f 1 03 1 04 1 20
-

1 4—
, ,

Th e , 5 0 e m o t o na l a p p e a l o f ,
i 18 ,

A rt , Th e p h ot op ay a s a d i s l 1 06, 2 1 9 - 2 25 , 227- 229

i
t nc t, 1 6 , 29 — .
i
c om c , 1 8 1 , 1 8 5 , 1 88 , 1 90

A s Y ou L i k e I t, 1 44 sym b o l c , 1 1 4, 1 27 - 1 34
i
A ud i e n ce , Th e c in e m a, S e e t h e a c t o r a n d , 1 6, 1 7 , 5 8 ,
P syc h o ogy l 1 69 . 1 85 . 1 90. 1 94 . 1 9 5 . 1 9 7 .
A u d rey 4 5 , 4 6 ; S ee a s o i us
, l ll 1 99 9 207- 209 9 2200 22 5 ) 268 9

tra ti ons 27 3 ; s e e a ls o A c t n g i
C n e m at og rap h y, 2, 1 8 , 29 , 3 3,
i
B a rri e , Si r am e s, 9 1 79 , 1 9 1 ,
J , 3 5 . 64. 69 . 9 0. 246. 259 . 274
268 ; S e e a l so t t e s o f h i s il c ut -b ac k, or fl a sh -b ack
, Se e
p la s u nd e r P ot l
f
B eau tif i l, The , 27 f ad e - i n a n d f ade -o ut , 1 9, 65 ,
Bi r th of a N a t on, Th e, 1 0, i 1 76 . 1 99 . 200
25 6. 274 d i sso l e , or t ran s f orm at on ,
v i
l
B ack B u t terfly, Th e, 1 1 8 1 9 . 82 8 3. 1 33 —
2 78 I N D EX
C i n e m ato g rap hy c on ti n u e d D aug h ter of th e Gods, Th e ,

ii
v s on s, 1 9, 83- 8 5 , 1 33, 200 5 7. 70. 7 1 . 86
d re am s, 1 33 D avi d Copp e rfie ld , 1 5
l
C o se -up , 1 9, 40, 5 61 7 6) 78 3 D e M ille , M r Ce c , 66, 9 3 ; S e e . il
9 5 , fi ’ 1 68, 1 97 a ls o t t es o il
f L as ky p h oto
d o ub e e x p osu re,l or d ua l p lays
rOle , 1 9 , 1 0 4 D a og , Se e Word s on th e
i l
i
v gn e tt e , 39 sc re e n
li i
g h t n g, 4 1 , 5 1 D ip l omacy , 46 ; S ee als o il lus
i i
jo n ng , 70 tra ti on
s e e a ls o Cam era M agi c D i scus T h rowe r , Th e ,
”
3 2,
Ci vi liz a ti on, 98, 1 26 i llus t ra ti on
47 ; S ee a ls o
Cl ose -up , S ee Ci n e m at og ra D i s solve , Th e , S e e C nem a i
p h y, P c t o ri a c om p o s t on
i l ii t ograp h y
in ue nt f orm s,
fl a nd D ol l s H ous e, Th e, 1 49
’

Word s D on "u x ote, 1 4 i

Cog wh e e ls, Th e, 1 26 D oub l e E xp osu re, S e e Ci n e
Co l o ur i n t h e m ot on p i c t ure , i m at og rap h y
40. 5 0. 66. 67 . 7 2. 7 5 i
D ram at c A p p e a , 204- 232 l
Com e dy , Sc re e n , 2 1 , 2 2, 8 7 , 88 , s u sp e n s e a n d e m ot on a in i l
1 42 . 1 74 . 1 7 5 . 1 77. 1 79 4 9 1 . t e re s t, —
23 24 , 2 1 9 22 5 —
204 , 2 1 8 , 267 su sp e n se , 1 29 , 1 73 , 1 96, 207

Com e dy o f E rrors, Th e, 243 232. 24 9 - 24 2 . 246. 24 8 . 25 0.

244 2 5 3. 25 5 . 2 5 8 . 26 1

Com m e rc a N ee d s, 7, 29 , i l 1 00, fli ct 5 9 228 230 250 259

c on -

1 82, 224 , 2 63—

, , , ,

2 76 s u p i e 230 23 1
r 25 9
r s ,
-
,

ta lk n g p o nt s, 79 , 1 1 9 ,
i i 15 1, D e m s S ee Ci ne m at g ap h y
r a ,
o r

D w M r and M s S i d e y
re , . r . n ,

th e s t ar, 1 9 5 , 2 67- 268 1 0, 1 83

no ve l ty , 1 8—
21 ,
2 1 6, —
268 2 7 1 . l
D r "e ky l a nd M r H y d e 1 04 . ,

low c ost . 5 7. 1 4 9. 1 5 7- 1 5 8. l
D ua rOle , S ee C n e m atog rap h y i
27 1 - 27 5

Cros s i ng th e B ar 266 ,
E n lig h te n thy D aug h ter, 1 22
Crowd Th e , i n a m ot i on p i c
, E ve rym an, 1 29 , 1 3 1
t u re , 2. 3 5 . 44 . 4 5 . 5 3 . 5 71 E xp e ri m e n tal P sy ch o ogy of l
63 . 65 . 69 . 70. 84 . 9 s. 1 5 7 B e au ty, 5 5
Cut -b ack , S ee u n d e r Pl ot Ey e , Th e ap p e a t o t h e , i n th e l
Cut -i n , S e e C n em at og rap h y, i p h ot op l ay, 1 1 1 3 26 , 3 1 , —
—
,

P c t o r a c om p o s t o n i n
i i l ii 3 5 . 4 8 49 . 5 2. 5 8 . 62. 66.
ue n t f o rm s, a n d W o rd s
fl 68 . 7 1 . 72 . 78 . 88 . 90. 96.
1 27. 1 38. 1 5 0. 234 . 242
D am ag e d G oods 1 1 8 , 265 ,

D an c n g a n d t h e p h ot op l ay
i Fad e i n an d
- f a de -
o ut , S ee
c om p are d a s a rt s, 30, 6 1 , 88 C n em at og rap h y
i
2 80 I N D E"

M an Wh o M arri ed 0 D umb P a i n te d S ou l , Th e, 202, 222

Wif e Th e 40 , , Pa i nt i ng an d th e m ot i on p ic
M ark h ei m, 22 1 t ure, 2: 37 30: 2
3 35 9
-
37
M ars e i l l a i se , L e , 1 01 39 . 61 . 64 . 65 . 67. 73 . 88 . 9 2.
Mas k ed R i der, Th e S ee Illus , 94 . 1 22. 1 27. 1 72. I 79 . I 9 7 .
tra ti on 29 1 . 26 2. 26 9 . 23 5 . 264 ;
M ax Com es A cross 1 88 , s ee a s o l Pi c tori a l co mp osi
M e l ti ng P ot Th e 1 25 , , i on
t
M e rch an t of Ve n ic e Th e , ,
14, P ant omim e Stage , , a nd th e
38 , 73, 0 218 230, p h ot op l ay 1 6 1 1 21 ,
-
1 2 1 212 , , , , , 1 02,
237 -
242 . 24 3 . 24 7. 1 22, 1 23 ; s ee a sol A ct i ng

25 0. 2 5 2. 2 5 5 . 2 5 9- 260 and Ch arac te r

M i l e s ton es 1 06 1 26 , , P ass i ng o f th e Th ird F lo or

M ob Th e St ag e S e e Crowd
, , B a c k, Th e, 1 30, 1 3 1
M oli ere 1 79 , 268 ; s e e a ls o
, Pe n se ur, L e , 1 98”

ti tle s of h i s p lays P e ter Pa n, 1 4 , 9 7, 1 84

Musi c , S e e u nd er P i ctori al Ph otograp hy, S e e Ci n e matog
com p os i ti on in flu e nt rap h y

f orm s P ck f ord, Mi ss M ary , 1 0, 8 5

i
M u s i c M as t e r , Th e , 1 6, P i c toria Comp os i ti on, 5 5
l
Myt h ol ogy 9 5 . . 1 1 3. 1 25 . 1 27 . P c tor a c om p os t i on i n ue nt
i i l i fl
1 28 ; s ee a so l Cam era f orm s, 6 1 - 79, 204
magic m o em e nt e rsus stat ic m o
v v
m e nt, 1 1 , 1 2 , 30 3 3, 6 1 66 — —
N at ure , S e e u n d e r Se tt n g i l
an a ogy t o m u s c , 3 , 30 5 5 , i ,

67 68. 69 . 7 1 74 . 7 6- 78 . 1 1 3 .
- -

N otre D am e d e P ari s 1 5 7 ,
1 3 6. 1 7 8 . 274
N ove , Th e an d t h e p h ot op l ay,
l ,
sp e c a l c o nd t i ons, 69
i i
6 6 6 6
c o m p o s i t i on wi th n a sc e n e ,
0 5
3, 4, 2 , 5 7 5 ,
1 1 1 1 ,
i
1 64 . 1 69 . 1 73. 1 82. 1 93 . 1 97 .
66
207 . 209 . 2 1 0. 222. 248 . 263
u n ty , 68 , 70 72, 2 1 1 , 233
i —
Nove ty i n t h e p h ot op ay S e e
l l ,
i
e m p h a s s . 68 . 72- 7 5 . 233. 24 5
u n d er Comm e rc a n e e d s i l b a an c e . 68 . 75 —
l 7 7. 23 3. 25 5
rhy t h m 5 .
2 68 .
—
77 78. 233.
Od e on a Grec ian Urn , 99
OEdip us R ex, 25 4 S e e als o Pa i nti ng an d t h e
O n e A M , 236 . .
m ot i on p c t ure i
O n th e Us es of th e Comi c Pi cto r a com p o s i t on i n stat i c
i l i
S p iri t, 1 85 f orm s, 26— 60 1 77 204 , ,

On T r i a , 2 1 -
l
5 21 6 b e a uty , 1 1 , 27- 28, 1 9 7
ll
O th e o, 254 t yp e s o f p c t u re s 5 7 i ,

O u tcas ts of Poker Fla t, Th e, s tat ci versus fl uent f orm s ,

161 0-
3 33
O vertones, 1 04 s p ec a i l cond i t i on s, 8
3 4- 1
 I N DE" 28 1

Pi ctori a c om p os t i on i n stat i c
l i P sych ol ogy of th e c nei ma au

f orm s c on ti n u e d d i e n c e , 7—25

se ec t l
o n o f is u b j , 3 3 36,
ec t -
t h e c rowd e rs u s t h e p ub c ,v li
56 6 —
5 1 3 7 1 0, 29 , 27 5
a rrang e m e n t, 33 , 3 6- 38 se n s e ap p e a , s e e Ey e , A p l
un ity 43 . 5 5 . 1 9 7 . 233
4 1 -
p e a to t h e l
— t h e b e au t u d e ne d , 27—
.

e m p h as 1 8 . 4 2 4 7 . 5 5 . 74 . 1 9 7.
0

if l
28 fi
233 se -
lf i
e m ot on , 1 3- 1 4 , 1 80, 1 83

l
b a an c e : 42, 47- 5 1 7 5 5 7 233 s oc a i l i
e m ot on , 1 5 - 1 8 , 22, 23,

y
rh t h m . 42 . 5 2. 233 204 , 1 80, 1 8 3 , 1 96, 2 1 4 , 2 1 9
d ram at c m ea n ng , 5 6, 58 —
i 59, i 22 5 : 2 7 229 3
2 -
23 1 - 232, 24 1 9

197 242 . 2 5 5

Pi p pa P
as ses , 99 s u sp e n se , s ee D ram at ic ap

l
P ot, Th e con st ru c t o n o f a, 20, i p ea l
23 3 2 62 ;
-
see a so D ra l i ll
nt e e c t u a l ap p e a l , 1 8 25 , —
i
m at c A p p e a l 1 86 . 1 83 . 232 . 244 . 268

p ol
t d e n e d fi
, 205
—
2 07 se n se of won d e r 80 82 86 , , , ,

b e ad r -
s t i ng p l ot ,
23 5 - 237 , 1 42

238 i m ag i nat i on , S ee I m ag i na
cab l e p l ot 235 , 23 7—
238 t i on
i
,

s i t uat i o n fi
de n e d , 24 0, 250 s ub c o n sc ou s , 8, 22,5 9 , 86,
c r s s,ii 24 9 -2
5 1 , 255 , 2 58 1 60, 1 7 2, 1 75 , 201 , 2 33, 262

c l i m ax . 249 . 25 1 . 2 5 5 . 2 58 . Pu b li c , Th e , S ee u nd e r Psy
c h ology
260

p re m i s e 2 8 —
3 24 9 25 2 260
, , ,
P u ri ty 1 1 7 ,

c om p l i ca t i on 238 24 9 2 5 9 , ,
- Pyg m a li on , 1 25
sol ut i o n 238 244,
25 9 262 , ,
-

i
un ty 2 1 1 2 1 8 2 1 9 2 —
34 24 0
, , , , ,
R e tu rn of th e N a ti ve, Th e ,
2 5 2 . 25 9
1 63 . 27 9
e mp h as i s . 24 1 . 24 5 246. -
25 5 .
i
R c h a rd II I , 8 3 208 ,
259 . 26 1 . 268
R ip Va n Wi n k le, 2 72
ba lan ce, or l og i c a l s e q ue n c e ,
i l
R va s Th e 1 69 , 1 84
, ,
2069 207 , 229 3 23 1 , 24 2) 25 1
R o bi n H ood 1 44
25 5 . 25 9 . 260
,

— R om e o a n d "u li e t, 206, 230,

p rob ab i l i ty , 14, 1 34 , 242 24 5 ,
239 . 24 1 . 243. 24 7. 26 1 . 262
25 3
R om o la, 1 73 , 221
m e l od ram a, 25 3, 2 54 , 25 7
R osa li nd , 1 74
rh yt h m . 24 7 . 2 58 -2 5 9 . 262

c ut -
b a c k 1 9, 1 06 -1
09, 2 1 5
—
,

2 1 6 2 37 , 248 249 ; s e e a l s o
,
S car et l L e tter Th e 9 1 , ,

Cut -i n S car e t l Wom an Th e 43 ; S ee , ,

Poor L i t tle R i ch G ir Th e , 8 5 , l
, a so l i llu s tra t i on
1 26. 1 7 7 S c h oo l f or S can da l
,
Th e, 9,
Prom e th eus B ound 223 , 1 10
28 2 I N DE "
Sc re e n d evi c e s, i m tat i on, e tc l i . f o rm s ; see l
a s o, 1 1, 1 2,
S e e C n em at og ra p h y
i 1 23- 1 25 . I 39 . I 4O. I 4 I

Sc ulp t u re an d th e m ot on p i c i c om c , 1 88 i
t ure , 3 . 30. 3 2. 3 3 . 3 7 . 3 9 . Sh a d ow, S e e u nd er I m agi na
1 66. 1 98 . 201 . 23 5 t i on
S ec ond M rs Ta n q u e ray, Th e
.
,
S h ak e sp eare , W il iam , 9 , 40, l
239 . 24 7. 25 3. 260 5 8 . 92. 1 8 1 . 226 . 24 1 . 266.
268 ; s e e als o th e t t l e s o i
S ecre t Th e 2 1 9 f
lays
, ,
h is p
S e cre t of th e S wamp Th e, 98 , ,

1 20
Shaw, Ge orge B e rn ard, 9 , 1 25 ,
1 79 . 1 8 5 . 226. 268 . 269 ; s e e
S e rp e n t Th e, 1 1 8
a s o th e ti t l e s of h i s p ays
l l
,

S e rva n t i n th e H ous e, Th e
Sh e r d an, R i ch ard B , 9 1 79
i
,

1 30. 1 3 1 . 1 34
.
, ,

1 8 5 ; s e e a s o th e ti t l es of l
Se tt i ng
h is p ays l
d ram at i z i ng a n atura l 1 4, 55,
,
S h oo ti ng of D an M c Grew,
1 37- 1 65 . 1 9 7. 204
Th e. 9 5
l and s 4 . 1 1 . 1 3 . 3 5 . 4 3.
c ap e.
S h oue tte p i ctu re, S ee u nd er
il
49 . 5 1 . 5 3. 63 . 64 . 66. 69 . 76. I m ag n at on i i
94 . 9 5 . 1 37. 1 39 . 1 4 3 . 1 44 . S st ne M adonna, Th e ,
i i 3 7,
1 5 6. 1 5 7. 1 58 . 1 6 1 . 1 63
44 . 266
m i a r n e . 1 1 . 1 3 . 3 5 . 36. 5 3 . 5 7 .
Song o f t h e L ark , Th e , 1 72 ”
63 . 69 . 9 3. 9 5 . S ong of S ong s Th e 224
96. 1 00. 1 1 5 . 1 3 7 . 1 39 .
, ,
1 40.
Sop h oc l e s, 268
1 46, 1 5 2, 1 5 8, 1 63 , 2 1 8
St ag e p l ay , Th e, ve rs us t h e
i
arc h t e c tu ra , 4 , 1 1 , 35 , l 40, p h o t o l a
p y. . 1 26 . 38 -
39 . 4 1 .
7 5 . 76. 7 7. 94 . 96. 1 06. 1 1 0. 46. 8 5 . 88 . 94 . 98 . 1 08 . 1 38 .
1 4 1 . 1 4 7— 1 48 . 1 5 3—
1 37 . 1 44 . 1 4 5 . 1 46 . 1 48 . 1 54 .
1 5 4 . 1 5 7.
1 5 6, 1 5 7, 1 64 ; s ee a so l 1 69 . 1 7 1 - 1 72 . 1 7 6. 1 86. 1 90.
A rc h t e c tu re i 1 96— 1 9 7. 1 99 . 201 . 204 - 262 .
i nte i o r r. 1 1 . 36. 42 . 43 . 4 5 . 74 . 2 64 . 266
9 7. 1 4 3 . 1 46. 1 5 2 . 1 5 3. 1 5 4 .
S tory of a R oun d H ous e, Th e,
1 55
1 63
f ak e d . 86. 87. 1 49 Sub t t e s, S ee Word s o n t h e
-
il
n e ut ra l 15 1, 27 1 , 27 3
ive 1 5 1 1 5 2—
, s c re e n
in fo rm at 153 Sup e rnat ura , Th e , in th e l
1 5 6—
, ,

sy m p at h e t i c Cam e ra l
p h ot op ay , S ee
151 1 59
1 23—
, ,

sy mb l i c o 1 17 1 22
, 1 25 , , , i
m ag c ; s ee a s o, 4 , 9 7 , 1 59 l
1 32 . 1 33. 1 34 . 1 4 9 . 1 5 6- 1 5 9 . S usp e n s e D ram at ic , S e e D ra
,

1 61 m at c ap p e a l i
i ip at i n g 1 5 1 1 61 1 62
p art c -
S we e t K i t ty B elloirs S e e us ill
f ormat ive 1 5 1 1 62—
, , ,

1 64 t rat i on
—
, ,

in m o t i on See P i c tori al
, Sym b ol sm , 74 , 1 09, 1 1 0 1 36,
i
c omp o s i t i on in fl ue nt 1 98. 204
HE followi n g pages i
co n tai n ad vert se m en ts

of th e l
M ac mi la n b oo k s on k i n dre d su b ec ts .
j
Making the M ovies
BY ERNEST A . DENCH

Cloth, 8 1 2 5 .

A n i nform i ng li ttl e b ook is t h i s d esc ri b i n g ,

th e wa y i n w h i c h m ovi n g p i c tu re s are m a de .

T h e re are ch ap t e r s on P u tt i n g O n a P h ot o
P l a y M ovi e S tars
, Who Ri s k T h e i r L i ve s f or
Re al i s t i c Fi l m s , H ow R ai l r oad P h oto P l a ys
a re M ade H ow Fi r e Fi l m s
, a re T a k e n M ak ,

i n g Ca rt oo n s fo r t h e M ovi e s T a k i n g Fi l m s
,

U n d e r th e S e a, Th e W or k in a Fi l m Fac
to r y , A vi at i on an d th e M ovi e s Th e P r od u c
,

t ion of th e T r i c k P h oto P l aysm an y , an d

o t h e r e q u a lly i n te r e s t i n t i M r De nch
g op c s . .

k n o w s th e m ovi n g p i c tu re b us i n e ss f r om th e
i n s i de a n d h as wr i tte n m ost e n te rta i n i ngly
on h is sub e c t
j .

TH E M AC M I L L AN CO M P A N Y
Pub li sh ers N ew York
How to See a Play

B Y RI CHARD B URTO N

Th i s book p ut s i n th e ha nd s l aygoe rs a he l p ful di s

of p

c us s i on of wha t i s i nvo lve d in th e i n t e ll i g e nt e njoy m e n t of

th e t h e at re . I t sh ows c onc i se l y an d auth ori tati ve l y wh at

a p l y i s i n i t s d eve l op m e nt on E n g l i sh so i l i n i ts c h ang i g
a ,
n

form s a nd in i t s i nte re st in g ne w c l ai m s t o d ay e m p h as i s-
,

b i ng p l ced up on th e p re se nt s itu at i on
e a I n a d d i t i on to a
.

sk e tc h o f t h e d rama as l i t e ratu re a n d c ul tu al ap p e a l an d
r ,

i n i ts re l at ion to soc i e ty th e re atm en t i nc l ud e s a d i scu ssi on

,
t

of t h e a rt i s t i c an d c on stru ct i ve a sp e c t s o f t h e p l ay .

D r B urton, th e Pre si den t

. ofma Le ague o f Amer
th e D ra

ic a 18 a n e ng agi ng c ri t i c H i s b ook i s on e wh i c h sh oul d i n

.

t e rest all th e at re goe rs in a sm uc h a s i t i n d i cate s h ow t o s ee

-
,

a p l ay in o rde r t h at i t m ay g ive t h e great e st p l e asure a nd

p rofit t o th e sp ec tator . D r B urt on wri te s wi th a k ee n u n

.

d e rst an d ing of t h e d ram a an d wi th th e z e st of on e wh ose

e njoym e n t o f t h e th ea t re h as n ot b ee n l e sse ne d by m any

years of c l ose stu dy an d an aly s i s of i t s outp ut .

TH E M ACM IL L AN CO M PANY
Pub li sh ers 84-88 Fi f th Ave nue N ew Y ork
 B Y FRAN K WAD LE I GH CHAN DLER

PROFE SSO R or COM PARATI VE L I TE RATURE AND

D EAN or THE C O LL E GE OF L I B E RAL A TS R

IN THE UN IVERSI TY or CI N CI NN ATI

AUTHO R or R O MAN CE S or R OGUERY AND

THE L ITERATURE or R OGUER Y

“ " ’
.

A study t h e b est p ay s of t he
of l lea di ng d a mat ists f the p ast r o

q uarte r c e n t u ry I n t hi s d sc u ss
. i i f a l it
on y t op i
o c f t h e e ra r o

h ou r, ce rt a n i t h e m es , a rt i t i
s ki n d s
c d i d eas, an id red a re co n s e ,

ra t h e r t h an t h e work o f i n d ivi d u al s m an b y m an
, Sp eci fically .
,

t h e b ook l i l u t t es t h ou gh t h w k s f th
s ra ,
r f di fi e t ce or o ose O e ren ra ,

t h e dram a t i t c tm t f su h h
rea ent as t h w yw
o c d w m an
c a ra c e rs e a ar o

an d t h e p i est l y h e
r ; f su h m t ifs as t h t y nn y f l v
ro o c o th e e ra o o e,

i n flu ce f h ed i t y an d nvi r m en t an d t h e i d eal of h or;

en o er e on , on

of su ch i t u t i s as
s a co m m n l y i n v l v d i n p l y s p ese t i g
on are o o e a r n n

scen es f m m rri d lif ; of su h a p l t as t h

ro a e e t e rn l t ri an gl ;
c o e e a e

of su c h soc i l p rob l m s as t h se
a f
e x d iv ce r i l t go
o o se , or , ac a an a

n i sm s an d t h e
,
l t i s f t h e i c h d t h p ; d f u ch
re a on o r an e oor an o s

art i st i c vari ti e s as t h
e at urali s t i c t h r m
e n t i c t h sy m b oli c , e o an , e ,

and t h p e ti d m
oe c I t wo h p t rs co
ra a . n d wi t h t h I ri h
c a e n c e rn e e s

p yla s ,a t
nai l m v
on a m t i s d es i b d ; an d i n m st of t h
o e en t h e rs
cr e o e o

ap p ae in i d tall y m in di t i on of t h nat i n l s w ll as
rs c en so e ca e o a , a e

th e p s e r on al p u l i ri t i es of wri t s Sp a i sh I t l i
, ec a F ch er ,
n , a an , re n ,

G e rm an , S di n v i
can R u ssi an
a E gl i h
an , O wi n g t t h or ve l n s . o e no

ty f it s p l
o an d t h
an wea l t h of i t m a t ri l i t h u l d p v of
e s e a , s o ro e

val u e b ot h t the col l e ge st u d ent an d t o t h

o rd i a y d an d e o n r re a er

p la y g oe r.T h t xt c tea i n seana l y s i s of so

onm e t w o h un d re d a n d
e igh t y rep rese nt a t ive p la ys .

THE M ACM I L LAN COM PAN Y

Pub li sh ers 64-66 Fi fth Avenue N ew York