Contrast is the essence of all striking Situations—meaning a contrast between characters or their conditions or environments, resulting from or leading to relations between them.
Contrast is the essence of all striking Situations—meaning a contrast between characters or their conditions or environments, resulting from or leading to relations between them.
Contrast is the essence of all striking Situations—meaning a contrast between characters or their conditions or environments, resulting from or leading to relations between them.
The Potential Situation
CONTRAST; SITUATION’S RELATION TO AUDIENCE; HARVESTING SITUATIONS; PERIL AND DEATH; CLIMAX AND PUNCH.
CONTRAST; SITUATION’S RELATION TO AUDIENCE; HARVESTING SITUATIONS; PERIL AND DEATH; CLIMAX AND PUNCH.
THE most poignant dramatic effect is that obtained by contrasting a character with his most coveted—tho ungratified—condition. The most powerful situations are those in which a character is confronted with that which should have been, that which might might have been, or that which can never be. Therein we plunge into the deepest wells of pathos.
(EXAMPLE 72.)As a case of that which should have been, we find the man who failed suddenly coming into the presence of the man who is prosperousbecause of his failures. That which might have been, we see illustrated in the man and woman meeting years later—the husband and wife of others—when a silly misunderstanding is all that separated them. That which can never be is pathetically shown by an old man making the acquaintance of a youth, who alone can accomplish what he himself wishes to do. These are all dramatic situations of the highest order.
(EXAMPLE 72.)As a case of that which should have been, we find the man who failed suddenly coming into the presence of the man who is prosperousbecause of his failures. That which might have been, we see illustrated in the man and woman meeting years later—the husband and wife of others—when a silly misunderstanding is all that separated them. That which can never be is pathetically shown by an old man making the acquaintance of a youth, who alone can accomplish what he himself wishes to do. These are all dramatic situations of the highest order.
Since drama is an artistic process of obtaining striking and gratifying effects upon the emotions of an audience, the situation is the most frequent and positive means to that end. The situation is what lends novelty, fire and brilliancy to the progressive units of the play. It places the characters in a galvanic relationship with each other or with their condition or environment. It means the introduction of the unexpected—either from the point of view of the character or of the audience. Its introduction marks the beginning of Suspense, and raises the question, What will he do about it? For it means a relationship about which something must be done immediately, and that something is a Crisis. The Situation itself is of short duration but of tremendous power and effect. It succeeds theintroductory action, or a sudden revealment to the audience, of which the character may remain in ignorance, or an unlooked-for entry, or an undreamed-of relationship disclosed—that suddenly change the whole aspect of development.
(EXAMPLE 73.)A woman’s old father has sent for the police to arrest the young criminal whom he has raised from a foundling—when the daughter discloses that the boy is her illegitimate son, and his grandson! A girl betrays a man to the mob for murdering her wealthy benefactor whom she has never seen—when it is seemingly too late the man proves to her that he is the benefactor, and that her brother murdered his valet! In both cases the audience was aware of the relationship and reveled in the characters’ embarrassment.
(EXAMPLE 73.)A woman’s old father has sent for the police to arrest the young criminal whom he has raised from a foundling—when the daughter discloses that the boy is her illegitimate son, and his grandson! A girl betrays a man to the mob for murdering her wealthy benefactor whom she has never seen—when it is seemingly too late the man proves to her that he is the benefactor, and that her brother murdered his valet! In both cases the audience was aware of the relationship and reveled in the characters’ embarrassment.
The foregoing Example has touched a point that should be driven home. It concerns the extent to which the author shall take the audience into his confidence. In this relation, writers will have to discard in photoplay writing what in story writing is undoubtedly one of their greatest assets; namely, the withholding of some of the important details in order to build the delightful surprise at the end. In the photoplay we must take the audience intoour confidence, for the simple reason that everything is screened in the order of its occurrence. That is the first principle of perfect illusion—perfect continuity. The second principle is, that all that is essential must occur on the screen, which is the principle of perfect progression. Both the spoken drama and the fiction story permit a development that is contrary to these principles of photodrama. The writer of those forms builds up a fabric of deception, as it were, around the real events that hides the truth and makes it seem as tho it were just the opposite—until the grand surprise at the end. He does this by means of cleverly framed innuendoes, artificial explanations offered by various persons in the play or story and the delay of misleading evidence that is cleared up in speeches and dialog, that in turn explains why they made the mistakes. The photoplay gains power by being more direct.
We do not try to outwit our audiences; we take them into our confidence. If we can do this cleverly and suggestively, we can equal, if not surpass, any of the effects to be obtained by other forms of dramatic expression.
(EXAMPLE 74.)We see a crime about to be committed, but all of the criminal that appears is a hand—possibly scarred—slipping thru the parting of the portières. When the hero who was robbed or assaulted by that hand finds the ring, the audience finds the criminal. Another instance of showing the essential progressive action, but reserving the full disclosure till the climacteric Situation, is found in the finding of a woman’s lost boy by the man she loves. Later she is led to believe that the boy has gone the evil way he started for. She comes to the man she had scorned, for help; the man takes her to a boy’s school where her boy is the leader. We had only seen the lover find the boy and then we returned to the main line of action.
(EXAMPLE 74.)We see a crime about to be committed, but all of the criminal that appears is a hand—possibly scarred—slipping thru the parting of the portières. When the hero who was robbed or assaulted by that hand finds the ring, the audience finds the criminal. Another instance of showing the essential progressive action, but reserving the full disclosure till the climacteric Situation, is found in the finding of a woman’s lost boy by the man she loves. Later she is led to believe that the boy has gone the evil way he started for. She comes to the man she had scorned, for help; the man takes her to a boy’s school where her boy is the leader. We had only seen the lover find the boy and then we returned to the main line of action.
But are not the audiences’ hopes and fears heightened by omniscence? Their knowledge does not mean foreknowledge, by any means. The hero must work out his own salvation and overcome the villain just the same. The fact that they know that the hero is sitting on the box that contains the treasure for which he is looking is a hundred times more dramatic than if they are not told till the end, when the circumstance may be forgotten. The finest Situations are those wherein he does not realize the true state of affairs that the foregoing scene has fully disclosed to the audience.
(EXAMPLE 75.)In “Madame X” we find the young barrister defending his own mother who has committed murder. At first neither mother nor son is aware of it. The audience knows, and this knowledge makes of this scene one of the most powerful Situations in all Drama.
(EXAMPLE 75.)In “Madame X” we find the young barrister defending his own mother who has committed murder. At first neither mother nor son is aware of it. The audience knows, and this knowledge makes of this scene one of the most powerful Situations in all Drama.
The Close-View—in the capacity of showing only a small portion of the physical action magnified—is most effective in producing Situations. Again, it brings that to the knowledge of the spectator of which the recipient is blithely ignorant.
(EXAMPLE 76.)A Close-View shows us the hand of the villain stealing the priceless scarf-pin; or the hero’s wallet that means his all.
(EXAMPLE 76.)A Close-View shows us the hand of the villain stealing the priceless scarf-pin; or the hero’s wallet that means his all.
Or again, the Close-View can bring close what the audience witnesses almost unemotionally from a distance, possibly showing the burglar’s ugly face where they saw but a head in the foliage. The Close-View is, in fact, one of the most effective devices at the command of the playwright.
The Caption, too, is capable of doing service as a Situation, by rousing a thrill in drama just as they rouse a laugh in comedy. Our difficulty in this relation is to prevent it fromrobbing the scene, or scenes, to follow of surprise or suspense.
(EXAMPLE 77.)The following strengthens a fact that has half-dawned in the mind of the audience. Without the Caption the fact would have passed without particular notice: “Mrs. Donnelly Handles Dalton’s Deadly Messenger, Neither Dreaming That She Is the Intended Victim.” Again we impress a Situation that must not be lost sight of: “Marsten Thinks the Mortgage Lost That Has Slipped Into the Lining of the Coat.”
(EXAMPLE 77.)The following strengthens a fact that has half-dawned in the mind of the audience. Without the Caption the fact would have passed without particular notice: “Mrs. Donnelly Handles Dalton’s Deadly Messenger, Neither Dreaming That She Is the Intended Victim.” Again we impress a Situation that must not be lost sight of: “Marsten Thinks the Mortgage Lost That Has Slipped Into the Lining of the Coat.”
Thus we have seen that even infinitesimal, tho important, points may be made potential Situations by bringing them “down front” in the spot-light, or giving them the advantages obtained thru introspection in fiction.
Death in itself is neither dramatic nor a Situation. Drama is dependent on life, struggle and complication; and a Situation may be evolved out of a perilous circumstance in which the character is threatened with death. A Situation always germinates further life-action; death terminates a line of action and eliminates forever an active participant. Death is never the Climax, but the end.
Since Situations are a matter of such consequence to the playwright, it behooves him toharvest them with the same diligence that he garners plot material. He may readily file and classify them under the same captions and sub-divisions as he does his plot material. Again, the same sources of material are available, especially the daily press, which graciously condenses Situations and Climaxes in the large type of its head-lines.
(EXAMPLE 78.)Ten are chosen at random from current newspapers: (1) Bee Upsets Big Auto; (2) Deceived by His Valet; (3) Two Women Claim Boy; (4) Finds Woman Stowaway; (5) Claims Wife—She Laughs; (6) Woman Gives Away Coins (7) Prince Weds a Commoner; (8) President Is Captured; (9) Blind Man Made to See; (10) Identified by X-Ray.
(EXAMPLE 78.)Ten are chosen at random from current newspapers: (1) Bee Upsets Big Auto; (2) Deceived by His Valet; (3) Two Women Claim Boy; (4) Finds Woman Stowaway; (5) Claims Wife—She Laughs; (6) Woman Gives Away Coins (7) Prince Weds a Commoner; (8) President Is Captured; (9) Blind Man Made to See; (10) Identified by X-Ray.
Among the great number of technical terms that photoplaydom has acquired is one identified with literary work-shop slang as well—the “Punch.” It is more expressive than elegant, however. The Punch is the Climax and something more. It must first be an effective Climax; secondly, it is the effect of that Climax. The Punch is the momentous event that is the excuse for the play. It is the tremendous moment of revealment, when the dramatic struggle that has wageduncertainly from side to side suddenly pitches forward with the victor for good and all—just as the audience had been schooled either to hope or be afraid that it would. The issue of the Climax-Punch must be sufficient to make the audience literally hold its breath, or emotionally rise to the occasion. It is the thing that hits you square between the eyes with an effect that stuns and lasts. If a play has no Punch, it is not a perfect play.
(EXAMPLE 79.)In “The Coming of the Real Prince,” the Climax of the first part was the coming of the bogus prince; the Punch came at the end of play when the real prince came. The first was a city “tin horn Sport”; the second was the plain grocer’s boy, who had been Annie’s neighbor all her life, and a real prince too—that was the Punch!
(EXAMPLE 79.)In “The Coming of the Real Prince,” the Climax of the first part was the coming of the bogus prince; the Punch came at the end of play when the real prince came. The first was a city “tin horn Sport”; the second was the plain grocer’s boy, who had been Annie’s neighbor all her life, and a real prince too—that was the Punch!
The Punch, then, is the motive-idea of the play summed up in a cumulative stroke. It bears the same relation to the story that the climax does to the plot. It is not the big culminating action so much as it is the effect that dawns on the audience. It is the emotional truth of the author’s vision come home to dwell in the heart of each one who sees the vision. The Punch is the recognition by the audience of a visible symbol of spiritual struggle.