Page:The Point of Attack, or, How to Start the Photoplay.djvu/15



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. But why all that preliminary action? It has no direct bearing on the story itself and was therefore omitted. It makes no difference to the audience who Tod's parents were or how they died. The only matters of importance to the tale are that Tod is an orphan working in a steel mill. This leads through a logical sequence of events to his adoption by the mill owner. So the author began the story with a scene of Tod at work, then had the five o'clock whistle blow and Tod rush out to meet his sweetheart. The little incidents of lovemaking were laughable and interesting and placed the audience in a sympathetic frame of mind, filling them at the same time with expectation and curiosity as to how the little love affair was to end. The beginning and the ending of the story were the calm—the middle was the storm but it must be remembered that the calm must be interesting from the very first scene.

20. A variation of this procedure is the reversal of the order of sequence to that of storm—calm—storm. In other words, the story opens with a direct plunge into a situation or crisis, then slows up and moves along at a quiet tempo, which speeds up toward the finish and the story ends with rapid, sensational action. So far as the opening is concerned, "The Miracle Man" serves to illustrate. The story begins with a scene in the slums in a great city at night. 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 13