Clarence G. Badger

“ A limousine drives up to the curb and a cripple is seen struggling almost beneath the wheels. A crowd gathers and there is a stir of excitement. From almost the first moment of the story the action is intense and clutches the attention of the audience. A little later it is modified to a slower tempo in order to explain the plot and prepare the audience for the tremendous dramatic situations which follow. ”

“ Proceeding upon the assumption that a photoplay is a screen drama which must be unrolled before an audience within a specified time limit, it is clearly necessary to give concentrated attention to the important matter of beginning the story. We are dealing with a situation—a dramatic crisis or a correlated series of situations or dramatic crises. The start must not be too far in advance of the climax, for in that case there will not be sufficient time or film footage to logically and consecutively arrive at such climax. ”

“ The novelist, the dramatist of the speaking stage and the photoplaywright must all wrinkle their brows over this same problem of starting a story, yet each in his separate path of craftsmanship must choose a different method. ”

“ Another value of the detailed study of the point of attack lies in the assistance that it renders in avoiding too complicated subjects. If the author finds that his plot is so complex and intricate that there is great difficulty in getting it started in such a manner that it will be clear and easily comprehended by the audience, he would better either simplify it or sweep it aside and start on an entirely new story. Above all things a photoplay must be understandable to every member of the audience. ”

“ It is a fact that many novels have been more or less successfully adapted to screen use, but almost invariably it has been necessary to reorganize and rewrite them into the form of dramatic action. In some few cases novels have been photographed in their full and original order, but these have almost invariably been failures as screen productions. In dealing with the photoplay as the drama of the screen, I am assuming that the time is not far distant when practically all photoplays will be the original work of successful students of screen craft—photodramas created by trained photodramatists. ”

“ As a rule, however, there is an excellent reason for choosing a certain point of attack, and the novice in photoplay writing who is determined to succeed should attempt to go deep enough into the analysis of each photoplay witnessed to find out for himself or herself just why a certain beginning is used. In many cases the student may, after carefully viewing a screen production, hit upon an opening that would have been much preferable to the one which appears. The constant study of the screen from this angle is exceedingly helpful as well as being fascinating to the progressive craftsman. ”

“ In setting about to write a photoplay, we are dealing with persons, places and things of which the audience has no previous knowledge. Therefore, right at the start we must introduce our characters to the spectators, familiarize them with the environment in which the story is set, tell them of such past occurrences as have a direct bearing upon the story that is to follow—and interest and entertain them from the very first moment. ”

“ One of the best and most frequently used story structures is that which starts quietly, familiarizing the audience with the characters and the surroundings, and then flows gradually and naturally into the sequence of dramatic situations, after which it passes on to a peaceful and happy ending. ”

“ The elder Dumas said, "Any one can relate a dramatic situation; the art lies in preparing it, getting it accepted, rendering it possible." By getting it accepted, Dumas meant getting it accepted in the minds of the audience. I find it difficult to agree with Dumas that "any one can relate a dramatic situation," for it has been my experience that unless one is definitely trained in dramatic values, it is exceedingly difficult to do so. ”

“ The photoplaywright must never lose sight of the fact that photoplays are written, produced and exhibited for entertainment purposes and that theatre patrons do not pay admission for the sake of witnessing puzzles. Provided that a story is possessed of strong, dramatic qualities, the simpler the construction is the better. "The Miracle Man," which stands as one of the greatest photoplays that has ever been screened, was founded on an exceedingly simple plot and careful investigation will reveal that almost invariably the most intensely dramatic stories possess this same quality of simplicity. ”

“ Another way of starting a photoplay is to plunge directly into the crisis, or the first of a series of crises or dramatic situations. This method is employed in "Speed and Suspicion," where we find Clinton and Barrow being pursued by a speed officer. The story deals with a laughable crisis in their lives and it is of no interest to the audience who they are, where they came from, what their lines of business may be nor anything else other than that they are breaking a law and are being pursued therefor. ”

“ The audience is immediately interested in the simple little love affair and laughs sympathetically at the wholesome young fellow's awkward love making. As one simple though interesting event follows another, the characters are established and the spectators are thoroughly familiarized with the general environment, thus preparing them for the first of the series of crises when Tod courageously throws his employer from beneath a falling crane and nearly loses his life in so doing. ”

“ It is apparent then that the novelist may relate a long, drawn-out series of happenings extending not only completely through the life of a character, but back into the lives of his ancestors and on into the lives of his children. The dramatist is not permitted such liberal privileges. ”

“ The novelist is the freest of the three from tightly drawn limitations. Frequently a novel is a fictional biography and starts with the birth, or at least the early childhood of its principal character, moving gradually along through the seven ages to the grave. ”

“ Palmer has set forth tersely and truthfully that one of the greatest problems of the photoplaywright lies not in gleaning themes and plots from a scant supply of material, but rather in choosing for development basic story ideas from a worldwide reserve store so inexhaustible as to bewilder those who have not acquired the knack and habit of elimination and selection. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "All the world's a screen," and all the myriad inhabitants are potential characters. ”

“ It is unnecessary to go deeper into the story itself, other than to state that after all the conflict and obstacles are passed—after the storm is over—we find the two old rivals shaking hands and the lovers busy with the kiss that we know precedes a not distant wedding.
A Definite Analysis. 19. It is the point of attack alone with which we are concerned at the present time. The author might have gone back and showed the death of Tod's parents, his search for employment, his securing a job in the steel mill, and then finally have arrived at the point where the story actually begins. ”

“ Hence we see that while the photoplaywright has a wider sweep of possibilities after his story is once under way, he is in the clutch of greater difficulties than either the novelist or the dramatist so far as the matter of getting started is concerned. ”

“ Then we learn of the boy's start at school, and through chapter after chapter his life is unfolded before us until he is married, a child is born, his wife passes away and finally, a bearded and broken man, he is found dead. ”

“ In the exhibition of a five-reel subject about seventy-five minutes are occupied in running the five thousand feet of film through the projecting machine, and the time for the showing of one, two, six or seven reel subjects may be calculated accordingly—an average of about fifteen minutes to each reel. ”