Page:The Point of Attack, or, How to Start the Photoplay.djvu/16

 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. "The Miracle Man" might have begun in the little country town where the patriarch lived, later picking up the action in the city slums, then returning to the patriarch's home, but it was much more effective and the continuity was much smoother, started and carried through as it was.

21. In analyzing the current productions, week after week, the student may invariably see how any photoplay might have been opened in numerously different ways. 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.

22. 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 14