A successful play must be able to claim an honorable place among the most important emotional experiences of the spectators—Unity and Harmony must have induced exquisite Reality.
A successful play must be able to claim an honorable place among the most important emotional experiences of the spectators—Unity and Harmony must have induced exquisite Reality.
A successful play must be able to claim an honorable place among the most important emotional experiences of the spectators—Unity and Harmony must have induced exquisite Reality.
Unity Plus Harmony Equals Effect
QUESTIONS IN THE MIND OF THE AUDIENCE; REASON; TRUTH; STRUGGLE; SOLUTION; THE TITLE; HARMONY VALUES.
QUESTIONS IN THE MIND OF THE AUDIENCE; REASON; TRUTH; STRUGGLE; SOLUTION; THE TITLE; HARMONY VALUES.
UNITY resolves itself into a rule of reasonable cause; Harmony becomes solely a matter of consistent effect. Unity has to do with selection, and is a part of the plot; Harmony with arrangement, and is essential to dramatic expression. One is the perfect relation of the parts; the other the perfect expression of the whole.
First of all, there are unities of language that must be observed to insure perspicuity, precision and perfect presentation of the idea.This demands a command of words, a knowledge of grammar and an exercise of rhetoric. The illiterate writer is beyond imagining and might be compared with a blind painter or a mute singer. The next step toward eventual harmony is the choice of an appropriate idea and a subsequent coherent development. The units of development should not merely stick together; they mustclingto each other. Thus we fulfill the unities of impression, which is the simpler part of our task.
Perfect unity in expression is harmony. There is a measure, a key, a pitch, a tone—or a color scheme, if you will—that cannot be violated. The main theme is the refrain, or motif, to which we continually hark back, until we build up a volume of melody that releases itself in a grand finale of harmony. We describe a crescendo—tho it is not a perfect arc, in that its highest point is near the end instead of the center, when it descends rapidly to the plane of its beginning. That is the mark of the perfect artistic production: Balance, the last bar pitched in the same keynote as the first! This suggests the entire play in a single effective impression.
(EXAMPLE 80.)In the first scene of “The Master of the Lost Hills,” Shelburne receives a letter from Petronella Dupuyster saying that she is jilting him for Baron Komisky. The blow shatters his ideas of women, and he cynically thinks none of them is worth while.... In the last scene it is the morning of his coming marriage to Mary. He reads an item in the paper saying Petronella is seeking divorce from her bogus “Baron”; Mary enters and he takes her in his arms, making it clear that he has found THE woman.
(EXAMPLE 80.)In the first scene of “The Master of the Lost Hills,” Shelburne receives a letter from Petronella Dupuyster saying that she is jilting him for Baron Komisky. The blow shatters his ideas of women, and he cynically thinks none of them is worth while.... In the last scene it is the morning of his coming marriage to Mary. He reads an item in the paper saying Petronella is seeking divorce from her bogus “Baron”; Mary enters and he takes her in his arms, making it clear that he has found THE woman.
Every element must be in unison, then, in the perfect play. The poetic play must be rendered everyartificialaid available to delineate, identify and appeal to poeticfeeling. The same is true of romantic, realistic, idealistic, or any other specific type. Each play, for that matter, has its own peculiar exigencies that call for unity auxiliaries for the sake of harmony. The character must have his consistent traits, condition must have its appropriate environment, situations may be heightened by setting, deeds are strengthened by atmosphere—just as the effect is enhanced by harmony. Thus we disclose one of the most vital reasons why the least element in the play should become a factor in the Climax;why it should contribute to, color, culminate and sustain the desired effect of totality to be left in the mind of the audience.
(EXAMPLE 81.)In “The Lost Melody” we begin with the Caption: “Malcolm Decides to Wait and Make His Proposal to Rosalie an Artistic Occasion.” This typifies Malcolm’s character that loves to luxuriate in his own dreams. We next find him a collector of rare jewels, of which his business-like rival, Douglas, only realizes the monetary value. The night of the proposal, Rosalie mistakes Malcolm’s dreaming for lackadaisical disregard. Douglas seizes the opportunity and proposes. The setting is a glorious, lover-like night. They sing the melody that intoxicates Malcolm and sobers Douglas. When Malcolm has detached himself from his ideal state, he finds Rosalie in Douglas’ arms. They part forever. Douglas, true to his type of sordid materialism, rises and falls thru his desire for money. Malcolm becomes the big artist we have felt he might be. And so, till the lost melody is found again, we find a potent strain of harmonizing units building a persistent effect that will haunt the audience after seeing the play.
(EXAMPLE 81.)In “The Lost Melody” we begin with the Caption: “Malcolm Decides to Wait and Make His Proposal to Rosalie an Artistic Occasion.” This typifies Malcolm’s character that loves to luxuriate in his own dreams. We next find him a collector of rare jewels, of which his business-like rival, Douglas, only realizes the monetary value. The night of the proposal, Rosalie mistakes Malcolm’s dreaming for lackadaisical disregard. Douglas seizes the opportunity and proposes. The setting is a glorious, lover-like night. They sing the melody that intoxicates Malcolm and sobers Douglas. When Malcolm has detached himself from his ideal state, he finds Rosalie in Douglas’ arms. They part forever. Douglas, true to his type of sordid materialism, rises and falls thru his desire for money. Malcolm becomes the big artist we have felt he might be. And so, till the lost melody is found again, we find a potent strain of harmonizing units building a persistent effect that will haunt the audience after seeing the play.
The literal construction of the photoplay has evolved a method of writing the manuscript that peculiarly lends itself to the composition of dramatic “business.” While action is the language of emotion, brevity vivifiesaction. Terseness is a potential factor, then, in the construction of the manuscript, and there are several ways in which terseness may be suggestively conveyed thru the physical treatment of written action. In this connection, we must bear in mind that verbs are nativelyaction words; adjectives are color or quality words; and adverbs are essentially drama words.
(EXAMPLE 82.)A simple analysis of the fiction value of the nine parts of speech reveals that (1) ARTICLE is insignificant and is to be used as little as possible; (2) ADJECTIVE is a quality word that visualizes the image and description cannot do without it; (3) NOUN tells what or who we are talking about; have no more nouns than you want the reader to see objects, and no object unless it is clearly visible; (4) VERB is the action word, the dynamo of emotion, the important word in drama; (5) PRONOUN is he, she or it—nothing more and the noun is always to be used in preference, if its repitition permits; (6) ADVERB is the word of color, manner, time, subtilety, charm and emotion and tells HOW, which is what the reader wants to know; (7) CONJUNCTION joins together qualities, objects, groups and may connect short statements and break long ones; (8) INTERJECTION is the less artful way of expressing emotion; (9) PREPOSITIONis the word of passing, the bridge, pause at it and you have suspense.
(EXAMPLE 82.)A simple analysis of the fiction value of the nine parts of speech reveals that (1) ARTICLE is insignificant and is to be used as little as possible; (2) ADJECTIVE is a quality word that visualizes the image and description cannot do without it; (3) NOUN tells what or who we are talking about; have no more nouns than you want the reader to see objects, and no object unless it is clearly visible; (4) VERB is the action word, the dynamo of emotion, the important word in drama; (5) PRONOUN is he, she or it—nothing more and the noun is always to be used in preference, if its repitition permits; (6) ADVERB is the word of color, manner, time, subtilety, charm and emotion and tells HOW, which is what the reader wants to know; (7) CONJUNCTION joins together qualities, objects, groups and may connect short statements and break long ones; (8) INTERJECTION is the less artful way of expressing emotion; (9) PREPOSITIONis the word of passing, the bridge, pause at it and you have suspense.
The Synopsis, while it does not permit of unctuous detail, yet there seems no reason why it should not follow the rules of all narration and be written tersely, but in full, rounded sentences, instead of in the abbreviated forms suggested for the Scenario.
(EXAMPLE 83.)Some writers employ the comma thruout the entire scene: “Donnelly reading over letter girl has written, scowls, roars for girl,” etc. Others use the dash in the same manner: “Donnelly reading letter—scowls—” etc. A more effective way is suggested by the use of the semi-colon and the use of sentences. Each sentence is to mark either all the consecutive action of one character, or the short sequences of action in which possibly all the characters are involved: “Donnelly reading over letter girl has just handed him; scowls; roars for girl; reprimands her brutally. Boy enters; says Dalton is outside; Donnelly shakes his head can’t see him; boy says it is urgent. Donnelly nods and turns belligerently to receive Dalton.” There is vivacity in the short periods and the reader almost instantly falls into the recurring sequences with perfect understanding.
(EXAMPLE 83.)Some writers employ the comma thruout the entire scene: “Donnelly reading over letter girl has written, scowls, roars for girl,” etc. Others use the dash in the same manner: “Donnelly reading letter—scowls—” etc. A more effective way is suggested by the use of the semi-colon and the use of sentences. Each sentence is to mark either all the consecutive action of one character, or the short sequences of action in which possibly all the characters are involved: “Donnelly reading over letter girl has just handed him; scowls; roars for girl; reprimands her brutally. Boy enters; says Dalton is outside; Donnelly shakes his head can’t see him; boy says it is urgent. Donnelly nods and turns belligerently to receive Dalton.” There is vivacity in the short periods and the reader almost instantly falls into the recurring sequences with perfect understanding.
We come to the conclusion at length thatidea, technique, situation or dramatic atmosphere alone is not the thing, but theharmonyof all of these. And in attaining this harmony we find that delineation is essential, while description is incidental, for the simple reason that the characters and setting describe themselves the instant they are seen. The physical picture saves all the space fiction devotes to visualization.
There is nothing more distracting to harmony than the method of some directors in accelerating action by means of perpetual short scenes, regardless of the nature of the theme. If used to excess, this continued employment of the Return sinks its subject to the low level of the “chase” picture that was the curse of the early attempts at dramatic depiction. The time will come, it is hoped, when the chase, the crude pantomime and the actor who flirts with the audience, will become taboo just as the telephone dialog, the soliloquy and the aside are avoided in the best spoken dramas. Both the Return and the Flash are merely alternatives to be employed as special devices for special occasions and not stable units upon which the entire play may be built. They aremerely effective accelerators of contributive action and secondary to the main theme.
Unity is agreeable accord; harmony is artistic concord. Unity is a perfect assemblage of the parts (seen from the constructive viewpoint); harmony is the spontaneous chord shed by the newly created instrument (felt from its perfect operation). In unity we make the parts absolutely consistent with well-known rules; in harmony we make the whole naturally real according to the principles of life and experience.
Strictly speaking, the photodrama is not governed by the so-called Dramatic Unities, restricting dramatic operation to a single Time, Place and Action. For the photodrama, thru the latitude permitted in its multitudinous scenes, may cover continents and span generations. The old order remains unchanged in the matter of Action—there can be butoneAction. There is an axiom in drama, however, that applies equally to spoken drama and to screen drama: The nearer a play approximates the actual time consumed in a definite, continuous and centered story that it represents, the more convincing is its effect likelyto be. In other words, if the consumation of a deed required exactly fifty minutes in actuality and took fifty minutes to be acted, it would be a perfect unity in point of time. But how rare it is to conceive a deed, every consecutive second of which is dramatically worth while!
Finally we come to the harmonious element that appears first on the manuscript, but is conceived wisely last—the Title. The title must fit the play like a glove, and hide its complete nature as tho it were a glove.
Fortunately, photoplays are not chosen—by either public or producers—because of their titles, as books and short stories are often selected. Yet, because of the seeming lack of importance attached to this part of the play, writers, editors and manufacturers do not always accord it the important place it deserves, and will eventually demand. Good, fitting and perfect titles to plays are a distinct commercial asset, beside being a requisite to artistic and harmonious completeness. The title is the head, the handle, the greeting, the introduction, the pleasing personality, the cue and the bid to favor of the as-yet unread manuscript and the as-yet unseen play. Atitle should be exquisite—like a finely-carved casket, obviously containing a precious treasure—its exterior suggesting mystery, wonder, and delight that must follow its revealment. The title must suggest the individuality of the play without revealing its identity as shown thru development, climax and denouement.
Unity we may find if we look for it; Harmony cannot be discovered by the keenest critic, for it is not hand-made but born. When the flesh and form of the play is perfectly built, Harmony enters in a breath—it is the soul of the play! Harmony is the last word of drama!