The great principle that governs the construction, outcome and solution of all organizations, plans and plots, is the ever-conscious FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FORESHADOWING of the objective mission, the sum of all the parts and the decisive action.
The great principle that governs the construction, outcome and solution of all organizations, plans and plots, is the ever-conscious FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FORESHADOWING of the objective mission, the sum of all the parts and the decisive action.
The great principle that governs the construction, outcome and solution of all organizations, plans and plots, is the ever-conscious FOREKNOWLEDGE AND FORESHADOWING of the objective mission, the sum of all the parts and the decisive action.
Beginning With the End
SEEKING THE CLIMAX; WHEN TO BEGIN THE PHOTOPLAY; EVER-FORWARD MOVEMENT; THE LIVE BEGINNING.
SEEKING THE CLIMAX; WHEN TO BEGIN THE PHOTOPLAY; EVER-FORWARD MOVEMENT; THE LIVE BEGINNING.
THE great question in the minds of the audience is, What will be the outcome of it all? Audiences generally take all beginnings of plays for granted. No ambitious playwright, however, can afford to take and employ plot beginnings as a mere matter of chance. Every particle employed in the building of a plot is the part of a conscious, pre-arranged design—most especially the beginning.
In the first place, we must find something to write about; some condition, experience or deed that is worthy of a plot, a story or a play. As we consider this or that item of plot material, in our search for a plot germ, we pause and ask of it: To what end? To what good? The moment we discern the culmination of a big moment, or the performance of a decisive action, or the accomplishment of a great deed, we have found our plot germ. This is not the beginning of our play, but its culmination, or climax. We at once set about to clarify, strengthen and heighten this climax. The process should fill us with inspiration, give our thoughts the impetus of flight and point our course clear and straight. Thus inspired, equipped and confident, we set out to begin our play.
(EXAMPLE 54.)We may peruse newspapers, read books, witness plays and give our attention to plot material in vain and then stumble over a pregnant plot germ in an unexpected quarter. For instance, we suddenly discern in our old neighbor whom we have seen around all our life, a picture of tragedy, that echoes Lear. He had slouched around the place, scolded by his wife and brow-beaten by the grown children until he seemed the acme of the commonplace.Tears in his eyes one day suggest a story. He was the plot material; his tears the plot germ; how to make the old man happy in the last great moment of his life, is the climax and aim of the prospective play.
(EXAMPLE 54.)We may peruse newspapers, read books, witness plays and give our attention to plot material in vain and then stumble over a pregnant plot germ in an unexpected quarter. For instance, we suddenly discern in our old neighbor whom we have seen around all our life, a picture of tragedy, that echoes Lear. He had slouched around the place, scolded by his wife and brow-beaten by the grown children until he seemed the acme of the commonplace.Tears in his eyes one day suggest a story. He was the plot material; his tears the plot germ; how to make the old man happy in the last great moment of his life, is the climax and aim of the prospective play.
The climax resolves itself into a definite purpose to guide the playwright; for he writes every scene with a view to its influence on the climax; if it has no influence on the climax, that is sufficient evidence that it is not necessary for his play purposes. The writer who sits down to write his play with no definite idea of the outcome is bound to be swayed by every new development that appears on the horizon of his imagination. His characters will lead him around by the ears, tweak his nose and play blind man’s bluff with him—as the resultant play will show.
We begin our photoplay with the incident that marks the beginning of the vital relationship between one of the principal characters and the climax. The birth of the plot, however, does not mean the birth of the characters. The ever-forward trend necessitates our going back only once—when we begin.
(EXAMPLE 55.)To resume our plot of Example 54: Having resolved on the climax to bring the affairs of our old-man hero to the greatest moment of his life, we must turn now from the facts entirely and weave our fiction tale: The old man in his youth was a gambler; he lost the fortune for which his wife married him; he won his family’s everlasting disregard; he had always had a “system” which he knew could beat the market; this is what they all say; one of his daughters marries a well-to-do, genial young man; he becomes the old man’s friend; the old man confides his “system” to him and manages to make him believe in it; these two plan to invest all he has; they do; the family discover it too late; they drive him out; the son-in-law’s fortune is apparently lost; the tide turns and he wins a fabulous amount; it is he who brings the old man back—ready to die now that he has proved his precious “system.” Since our play concerns the old man’s relations with his son-in-law, we may properly begin it just previous to that young man’s engagement with his daughter. Our first scene could be captioned: “Ill-treated Half His Life for Losing the Money Ma Married Him For.” The action would establish the old man’s relations with his family. To go back to the old man’s losing his fortune would be to run the risk of telling another story and necessitates the “years later” breach in the development.
(EXAMPLE 55.)To resume our plot of Example 54: Having resolved on the climax to bring the affairs of our old-man hero to the greatest moment of his life, we must turn now from the facts entirely and weave our fiction tale: The old man in his youth was a gambler; he lost the fortune for which his wife married him; he won his family’s everlasting disregard; he had always had a “system” which he knew could beat the market; this is what they all say; one of his daughters marries a well-to-do, genial young man; he becomes the old man’s friend; the old man confides his “system” to him and manages to make him believe in it; these two plan to invest all he has; they do; the family discover it too late; they drive him out; the son-in-law’s fortune is apparently lost; the tide turns and he wins a fabulous amount; it is he who brings the old man back—ready to die now that he has proved his precious “system.” Since our play concerns the old man’s relations with his son-in-law, we may properly begin it just previous to that young man’s engagement with his daughter. Our first scene could be captioned: “Ill-treated Half His Life for Losing the Money Ma Married Him For.” The action would establish the old man’s relations with his family. To go back to the old man’s losing his fortune would be to run the risk of telling another story and necessitates the “years later” breach in the development.
By a live beginning we mean one that quickly gets into the heart of the theme withas few scenes as possible. It can be done in the first scene very often, especially if preceded by a meaty caption. The first scene must be suggestive at least of the climax.
(EXAMPLE 56.)In the first scene of “All Power for a Day” we establish the irrascible character of Col. Farrington that led to his attack on Ridgway and his death that brought about the big moment of the play ... In “The Salt of Vengeance” the first scene depicts Dalton discovering the rotten bridge that later precipitated the train that maimed his child and caused him to seek vengeance.... In “The Master of the Lost Hills” the letter is screened that jilts Shelburne and sends him out to the Lost Hills on the great adventure that makes the play.
(EXAMPLE 56.)In the first scene of “All Power for a Day” we establish the irrascible character of Col. Farrington that led to his attack on Ridgway and his death that brought about the big moment of the play ... In “The Salt of Vengeance” the first scene depicts Dalton discovering the rotten bridge that later precipitated the train that maimed his child and caused him to seek vengeance.... In “The Master of the Lost Hills” the letter is screened that jilts Shelburne and sends him out to the Lost Hills on the great adventure that makes the play.
Our course lies between beginning the play too early and injuring the continuity by “years-later” breaks; or not beginning it soon enough and having to resort to explanations, thru hitching visions, of many important scenes depending upon something that has gone before. Try to begin at that point where the first scene in the vital action occurs; make the identities powerful and clear; establish relationships that nothing will efface from the minds of the audience. Then go ahead withas little loss of time as possible, for the audience is apt to be skeptical at first and sit back demanding, “Well?”