Page:The Point of Attack, or, How to Start the Photoplay.djvu/17

 audience. 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.

23. In the Handbook, Mr. Palmer has mentioned two methods of building a plot—by gathering together a group of characters and working forward from a beginning, or by hitting upon a big, climatic situation and then working backwards to the start, deciding through analysis just how the characters manage to get into such a situation. In working along either of these lines it is equally necessary to decide upon what appears to be the one best point of attack. In arriving at such a decision, it is well to reason somewhat as follows: Photoplays are built of the conflict of two or more factions and the situations or crises that result from such conflict. Therefore, at just what time and place do the factions involved start to converge—to approach the point of contact that leads to the conflict that forms the story. After such a point of convergence is selected for a beginning, it is next necessary to determine just how much of the conditions antecedent must be explained to the audience, and in just how brief and interesting a manner this may be accomplished. The more the picture is kept within the frame and the more self-explanatory it is, the easier will be the task of getting started. In 15