Page:The Point of Attack, or, How to Start the Photoplay.djvu/11

 coming play, but which have occurred before the appearance of the first scene on the screen;

Look forward and more or less vaguely suggest what will or may happen;

Secure attention;

Arouse interest;

Create expectancy;

Stimulate curiosity.

12. Just as there are an endless number of stories yet untold and awaiting the treatment of properly trained writers, so are there countless ways and means of starting these stories into action. Probably the oldest method is embodied in the Prologue, frequently used in the past and in some cases at present. This device is employed in spoken drama to convey necessary explanations and prepare the audience for what is to follow, and it may, in some cases, be utilized in a photoplay. It must not be a thing apart, however, but must be as directly, logically and smoothly connected with the body of the story itself as possible.

13. "Gates of Brass," one of the study scenarios accompanying the Palmer Plan, supplies a fine example of the Prologue in a photoplay. The real story commences after the lapse of twelve years. All that goes before is, in effect, a Prologue. It serves to convey to the audience the information that Blake is a "dyed in the wool" money-shark and that the better side of his nature enwraps him in a surpassing love for his daughter. The story that follows is based upon the result of this conflict of character inside the man, yet the Prologue and the story proper are so skillfully and smoothly linked together that the spectators, in viewing the picture, scarcely realize, without careful analysis, that they have 9