CHAPTER IV

Artifice is the edged tool of Art which, when wielded skilfully, may carve lines of life in a piece of clay and bring fame to the artificer; when handled clumsily it is sure to mar the material and may injure the hand of the artisan.

Various Devices—Their Use and Misuse

THE CAPTION; THE INSERT; THE CLOSE-VIEW; THE VISION; DIALOG; BREAKING UP LONG SCENES; PRESERVING THE ILLUSION.

DO not seek to write photoplays that are sufficient in themselves and do not need the aid of tricks of the trade, devices or artifices. Such plays must need be crude because, even tho perfect in plot, they are bound to appear cut-and-dried, clipped and cured, and wanting in all those little human touches which by piercing the emotions and gaining the sympathies of the audience, do more than win the approbation of the mind. The impression that the perfect play is the one which can dispensewith any of the legitimate devices, no doubt comes from a misconception of the precise potentialities of these artifices. It is true, if they do not serve as a means to an end; an integral part of the play; units in the development of the story; then they not only may, but should, be dispensed with, by all means. We employ nothing—property, actor, scene, spectacle, spoken word, insert, incident or device—in the perfect photoplay that has not a bearing on the climax of the play.

The caption—variously miscalled leader, sub-title, etc.—is the most necessary, the most difficult and the most powerful of the illusory agents employed in screening the dramatic story. Its importance to the writer may be reckoned from the fact that it is one of the few small parts of the photoplay that is supplied by the author and shown intact to the audience. The caption is an action-title and, like the chapter headings of a novel, portions and savors the great bulk of the story and collectively gives its gist.

(EXAMPLE 10.)Take, for instance, the captions of “The Coming of the Real Prince” (Reliance), and we have the big moments in the play that madeit impossible for the audience to lose its vital significance: (1) ANNIE’S WIDOWED MOTHER, LEFT PENNILESS, OPENS A BOARDING HOUSE; (2) THE DRUDGE; (3) ANNIE FINDS SOLACE IN “CINDERELLA”; (4) THE DREAM OF PRINCE CHARMING AND THE WONDROUS CITY BEGINS; (5) “NO, BUD, I HAVE GIVEN MY HEART TO A WONDERFUL PRINCE;” (6) THE COMING OF THE PRINCE; (7) THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY THEY GO FOR A STROLL IN THE ENCHANTED FOREST; (8) THE FAIRY TREASURE—HIDDEN BY ANNIE’S MISERLY FATHER; (9) THE PRINCE SEES AN EASY OPPORTUNITY TO FILCH TWO TREASURES; (10) THE FLIGHT TO THE WONDROUS CITY OF DREAMS; (11) THE MAGIC AWAKENING OF MOTHER-LOVE; (12) “FOR THE PRINCE WAS A MIGHTY GOOD FELLOW!” (13) THE GLORY OF THE PRINCE’S DOMAIN BEGINS TO FADE; (14) “YOU WOULDN’T HAVE ME, MOTHER, SO I DREAMED OF A PRINCE!” (15) THE COMING OF THE REAL PRINCE... And there’s the complete story, which any one with imagination can readily fill out.

A play screened without captions or inserts would be wanting in all the little human, intimate and sympathetic touches that warm the heart and pitch the emotions of the audience. The figures that flitted thru the play, unintroduced,would be identified by the spectator asthis or that actor, and not as Tess, or Mr. Barnes, or Sherlock Holmes—allcharactersof delightful memory. Pantomime sufficiently powerful to suggest every relationship; costume and accompaniments obvious enough to establish every environment; and action violent enough to interpret every emotion without the aid of captioned or inserted matter, belong to the elemental days of photodrama.

First of all, the caption should never be employed to tell of an action that is to follow in the scene, for a caption should never be used if it is possible to translate its essence into action:

(EXAMPLE 11.)For instance, in the following scene: Scene 56. JEWEL ROOM—Douglas has just finished forcing open the door of the jewel cabinet and holds the necklace in his trembling hand ... it would have been superfluous to have captioned, DOUGLAS STEALS THE NECKLACE.

Too often important points are unsuccessfully left to the imagination of the audience because they have been so clear in the mind of the writer. Frequently these points are essential to preserve an unbroken continuity, yet too subtle to be conveyed by action, deduction,suggestion, inference, implication or relationships.

(EXAMPLE 12.) (a)To economise, by getting right into the pith of the story: ANNIE’S WIDOWED MOTHER, LEFT PENNILESS, OPENS A BOARDING HOUSE ... introduces us to Annie and her mother, tells that her father has died, they are penniless, they must work, the place we find them in later is their boarding house.(b)To indicate a lapse of time and tell what worth-while has happened: THE SPRING COMES—AND WITH IT HER PRINCE ... the previous scene had been in the winter, Annie has been dreaming of her prince and we might not have identified the weak, flashy young man as such; the caption is, also, a link in the suspense.(c)To communicate a mental or psychological process: THE DREAM OF PRINCE CHARMING AND THE WONDROUS CITY BEGINS.... contains the very essence of the climax and reveals the psychological trend of the entire play.

We must bear in mind that there is something more important than sequence of visible action, and that is unbroken continuity or perfect cohesion of story unity—of which every intelligent audience is ever conscious—that knows no such thing as gaps, breaks or retrogressive movement. The caption is thebridge that spans these and supports, quickens and gratifies the imagination in addition.

The caption can be made to fulfill its most artistic function by combining all the essential qualities, already referred to, and also by serving as the action-title for a complete sequence of dramatic action. Thus one caption may cover all the scenes in a sequence, each caption adding a link in the development of the story and all together giving the gist of the story itself (as illustrated by Example 10). Thus the caption becomes a distinctive aid in building the dramatic plot, a contributory force in its expression, and a gratifying parallel to lead, guide and fulfill the action for the audience. Captions are not labels, but means of suggesting beyond the visible action and of furnishing deeper motives than those on the surface. There are beauty and harmony captions which often add a poetic touch, or an emotional tone, and intensify the dramatic effect.

(EXAMPLE 13.)THE FLIGHT TO THE WONDROUS CITY OF DREAMS ... but we must take care that the poetic title is not a part of the harshly realistic play, for we are seeking integralharmony. For example, in HELL—SECOND-HAND, we find captions to suit the theme: 10 MINUTES THIS SIDE OF ETERNITY! ... THE LIFE-BLOOD RED FLAG.

An insert is filmed matter which is inserted in the appropriate place in a scene, the film being cut for this purpose. This matter must appear and be known as an insert to the writer and manufacturer only; to the audience, it becomes the normal, logical and only natural phenomena that could be presented under the circumstances and sustains and strengthens the illusion of reality. From the point of view of the screen, an “insert” would suggest something stuck in, or a patch; therefore it must never be recognized as such except in the workshop. Technically speaking, all inserted matter is inserts. From a mechanical point of view, the film must be cut in order that captions, printed or inscribed matter, close-views, visions, spoken lines, etc., may be inserted. But we should ignore the manufacturer’s construction and consider inserted matter only as an essential to the perfect visualization of our dramatic story.

The letter, telegram and newspaper insertare dangerous expedients to employ too frequently in the artistic photoplay. They are so easy to stick into a play that, like slang, they become a ready makeshift for the lazy mind, with results that are damaging to dignity.

We cannot repeat too often that everything employed in the photoplay is done so with a specific purpose, for a progressive effect, and for no other reason. Likewise, it must bear some cumulative and contributory relation to the climax. Thus inserts and captions must be something more than mere explanatory matter by becoming important contributory data.

The insert is a great factor for economy, and when properly used in this respect may contribute to heightened effects thru suggestive condensation.

(EXAMPLE 14.)The following letter insert not only saves many scenes but teems with revelation: “Dearest—You simply can’t stand it any longer. Come with me to the city at daybreak. Meet me in the office.” What it has told fills the gap; what it promises because of this audacious proposal makes the play.

The telegram is similar in character, only it allows still greater condensation:

(EXAMPLE 15.)“Meet me in the office at daybreak.” It serves as a further amplification of the same example, tho there is an obvious inconsistency in conveying such startling intelligence by wire.

The employment of the newspaper heading and paragraph is a decided novelty in conveying artistic data. The seeming awkwardness of the medium must be overshadowed by a simple and convincing naturalness on the part of the character in obtaining information from this source that strengthens its plea as dramatic material:

(EXAMPLE 16.)LIBRARY—Nelson enters with tray containing letters and papers. Shelburne opens paper, reads, pauses, laughs:INSERT O ... (News item heading)WEALTHY SOCIETY WOMAN LEARNS SHE HAS MARRIED BOGUS BARONScene (Continued)Shelburne thoughtful. Mary steals in and places her hand over his eyes. The fact disclosed in the item wiped out all the past that stood between Mary and Shelburne. The library scene was made more natural by the reading of the paper and what followed was inevitable. Neither the sense of the scene nor any conceivable action alone could have told adequately what really transpired. An insert alone filled the purpose.

(EXAMPLE 16.)LIBRARY—Nelson enters with tray containing letters and papers. Shelburne opens paper, reads, pauses, laughs:

INSERT O ... (News item heading)

WEALTHY SOCIETY WOMAN LEARNS SHE HAS MARRIED BOGUS BARON

Scene (Continued)

Shelburne thoughtful. Mary steals in and places her hand over his eyes. The fact disclosed in the item wiped out all the past that stood between Mary and Shelburne. The library scene was made more natural by the reading of the paper and what followed was inevitable. Neither the sense of the scene nor any conceivable action alone could have told adequately what really transpired. An insert alone filled the purpose.

Perhaps the most effective use of the insertis to establish the premise of the plot, to cover the causes leading up to the opening of the play and possibly the relationship of the characters:

(EXAMPLE 17.) “Dear George:—As I write this I am preparing to run off with the Baron Komiskey. To be frank, I’ve gotten tired of not seeing you take any interest in anything. Forgive your former fiancée,PETRONELLA.”In which we see the characters of both Petronella and George laid bare, besides furnishing a motive for George’s change of character and future actions. This insert breaks the first scene.

PETRONELLA.”

In which we see the characters of both Petronella and George laid bare, besides furnishing a motive for George’s change of character and future actions. This insert breaks the first scene.

The theory of breaking scenes with inserts has been discussed and has grounds for objections from an optical point of view only. The argument advanced against their use is based on the persistence of vision with which the eye retains for a considerable period the image of that which has passed before it, obscuring that which follows. This theory would become seriously operative when applied to inserts should we look upon them as extraneous matter—as for example the vaudeville acts that intervene between the parts of the long photoplays produced in many of the variety theaters. But, far from it, the ideal insert iscontributory dramatic material that rather precludes a possibility of gaps, jumps or discontinuity of dramatic sequence. The perfect insert emphasizes an otherwise too modest period of action. Optical delusion is a negligible quantity in the face of dramatic illusion, which sweeps everything mechanical before it.

To speak of inserts asexplanatory matteris objectionable, because of the natural inference that the story is to be interrupted and the audience button-holed while a formal explanation is inserted. Unless an insert becomes essentialinterpretive material, quickening the movement of the play and heightening the interest in the story, something must be wrong with the construction. Inserts should be classed with all other forms of essential interpretive material, such as expressive action, gestures and attitudes; logical characters and effective settings; and should be mercilessly dispensed with unless they fulfill a specific mission in carrying the story forward toward an inevitable climax.

The term, close-view, makes a finer distinction, signifying that an object or a portion of it is magnified, or that a close-view of a segmentof the action is seen on the screen at close range by itself.

(EXAMPLE 18.)“.... Annie reads letter, a great joy breaking over her face: INSERT LETTER.... “Dearest—Come with me to the city at daybreak.”In which the letter is presented for our perusal with the same care that it would be inserted in a story at the proper moment. It is part of the story.

(EXAMPLE 18.)“.... Annie reads letter, a great joy breaking over her face: INSERT LETTER.... “Dearest—Come with me to the city at daybreak.”

In which the letter is presented for our perusal with the same care that it would be inserted in a story at the proper moment. It is part of the story.

In the same manner a calling card, an inscription on a grave-stone, a monogram on a ring, a miniature photograph, may be brought, as it were, close to our eyes. The illusion is ingeniously preserved by the presence of the character’s trembling or tracing fingers following the emotion in his soul.

The close-view, however, may take a step farther than merely photographing an inanimate object; it may dramatically emphasize a segment of exquisite action.

(EXAMPLE 19.)INSERT CLOSE-VIEW of title page of “Cinderella,” Annie’s trembling hand tracing first word .... INSERT CLOSE-VIEW of Annie’s face, she closes her eyes, her lips move with a smile of ecstasy.

The close-view is indispensable for acute emphasis; for peculiar dramatic effect; fordiscernment of some essential object too small to be sufficiently noted or noticed otherwise; for the display of the finer and more subtle emotions; for the revealment of some otherwise hidden object or action important in unfolding the scene and developing the action. The last named takes the same latitude as fiction in bringing in essential data beyond the discernment of the human eye. The optical process, too, of looking at distant objects thru a strong glass is effectively reproduced by the close-view. A rather bizarre use is made of the same device by showing a sectional view of some inclosure:

(EXAMPLE 20.)The hero may be eavesdropping on the villain and be concealed in a box or a barrel; this fact is disclosed by means of the sectional view. Or a man crawling thru a tunnel and shaking the earth beneath the scene of action.

The close-view has no equal for breaking dangerously long scenes in a manner so natural and potential that oftentimes it makes a brilliant presentation of something that would in all probability have become tedious.

The vision insert is treated more particularly later on, under other captions. Suffice itto say, that the vision insert simulates the more subtle mental processes of thought and fantasy—such as reflection, introspection, dreams and hallucination—that have a simultaneous dramatic bearing on the conduct of the character and on the psychological development of the story.

(EXAMPLE 21.)CAPTION .... AFTER FIVE YEARS WITHOUT HER.Scene 31. Simply marked grave in cemetery.Malcolm discovered kneeling, closes his eyes. Fade toINSERT VISION .... Reproducing scene 20 in part (great rock above beach, etc.). Fade toINSERT VISION CLOSE-VIEW .... Malcolm looking intently at Florence, whose eyes disclose her tender love for him. Fade toScene 31 (Continued) Malcolm has opened his eyes, arms opened as tho to take Florence.

(EXAMPLE 21.)CAPTION .... AFTER FIVE YEARS WITHOUT HER.

Scene 31. Simply marked grave in cemetery.

Malcolm discovered kneeling, closes his eyes. Fade to

INSERT VISION .... Reproducing scene 20 in part (great rock above beach, etc.). Fade to

INSERT VISION CLOSE-VIEW .... Malcolm looking intently at Florence, whose eyes disclose her tender love for him. Fade to

Scene 31 (Continued) Malcolm has opened his eyes, arms opened as tho to take Florence.

A helpful distinction between the simple insert and the close-view insert—tho they are both close-views, as a matter of fact—is to designate all static and inanimate matter that is neither alive nor in motion, as simple inserts; and that which is properly part of the action and has life, motion and expression, as close-view inserts.

(EXAMPLE 22.)Letters, telegrams, news excerpts, printed, carved, engraved matter, miniatures or other likenesses reproduced, and objects incapable of automatic effort are simply inserts. Close-views of a hand, face, or other part of the anatomy under the stress of emotion, or merely revealing a contributive peculiarity, remote objects with their contingent action brought near, and fragments of action isolated for emphasis, are close-view inserts.

The question of the employment of dialog at all in the photodrama has been widely discussed. It would seem to hinge on the meaning of the word “dialog.” If the word is used in its strict sense of “a conversation between two or more persons,” then we may eliminate it from the photoplay without further question. The photoplay is no place for conversations. But there are occasions upon which the apt employment of a spoken line of dialog has no equivalent or substitute. It becomes one of the fine contributory elements that establishes and preserves the illusion. The effective use of the spoken line is usually as an insert, being timed to appear simultaneously with the representation of its utterance:

(EXAMPLE 23.)To be precise, the insert follows its actual utterance:Scene 23. Vine-covered arbor.Follows business both pathetic and ludicrous of Bud proposing: Annie smiles, shakes head.INSERT SPOKEN LINE .... “NO, BUD, I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN MY HEART TO A WONDERFUL PRINCE!”Scene 23. (Continued) Bud broken up but manly.

(EXAMPLE 23.)To be precise, the insert follows its actual utterance:

Scene 23. Vine-covered arbor.

Follows business both pathetic and ludicrous of Bud proposing: Annie smiles, shakes head.

INSERT SPOKEN LINE .... “NO, BUD, I HAVE ALREADY GIVEN MY HEART TO A WONDERFUL PRINCE!”

Scene 23. (Continued) Bud broken up but manly.

The spoken line is occasionally used also as a caption, giving voice to the climacteric sentiment or situation in a single scene, or series of scenes, that follows:

(EXAMPLE 24.)CAPTION 6 .... “TO BE HANGED BY THE NECK UNTIL DEAD!” is followed by a courtroom scene. The nature of the proceeding is obvious. The judge rises and pronounces the conventional sentence of death that gives dramatic significance to the entire sequence of action that follows.

The spoken line has a poignant directness in it that is scarcely equaled by any other piece of business. The mental process should be so cunningly imitated that the enthralled spectator hears the words he craved just as distinctly as tho they had beat upon the drums of his ears instead of the drums of his soul. The words pierce the spectator with personal sympathy, or antagonism, and fairly thunderthru the silence. Like all other inserted matter and devices, the spoken line must not be used if it can be dispensed with to the artistic betterment of the play. It must come naturally and bridge a possible gap. It must be used as a supplement to, not a substitute for, effective action. Visualized action takes first and foremost place in the photoplay; all other matters are harmonious trappings and devices or illusion that decorate creaking mechanics with esthetic realities.

Inserted matter, unless artistically used, becomes theatric instead of dramatic. It becomes a sign of weakness and appears in the same light as clumsy explanations in stories written by inexperienced writers. The perfect photoplay leaves no doubts, offers no explanations, starts nothing it can not finish—it is all action,action, ACTION! And by action we mean technically visualized interpretation of whatsoever nature that convincingly contributes to the perfect illusion of emotionally seeing a dramatic story.

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