More than ever before, in this day of
feature photoplays, there is a constant opportunity to use leaders and
other inserts with telling effect. The point simply is that with more
leeway than the writer has ever been given before, you should learn to
take advantage of every shining opportunity to work in a really
effective sub-title, while constantly guarding against the temptation
to introduce one on the slightest excuse.
Let such inserts as you do use be phrased in clear, terse language.
The old example in the schoolbook, that it is simpler and therefore
better to say, "A leather apron" than, "An apron of leather," holds
good with inserts, and especially leaders. Short, clean-cut sentences
strike the eye and penetrate the mind the most quickly and
effectively. If you doubt this, look at a good advertisement. So do
not only dispense with every needless insert, but cut out from each
insert every needless word.
_3. The Danger of Over-Compression_
In cutting, do not go too far. Use enough words to be clear and
definite. Vagueness is an abomination and confusing pronouns make an
author as ridiculous as his scene is unintelligible. Remember that the
leader is shown on the screen for only a moment, and it is for you to
assist the spectator by making your leader so plain "not that it _may_
be understood," as Quintilian used to say, "but that it _must_ be
understood.
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