If a scene is important enough to require a cut-in leader,
it is reasonable to suppose that it has the full attention of the
spectator after the first few seconds of action. This being so, it
would seem that the spectator is far less likely to miss a point of
the action _immediately following a cut-in_ than he is to miss what
occurs at the beginning of a scene, following an ordinary
between-the-scenes leader. It is a fact that a few directors drag the
action of a scene for the first few seconds following an ordinary
leader for the purpose of again centering the attention of the
beholder on the action itself, before developing--_in_ action--another
point of the plot.
We have already referred to "panoramic" leaders giving long casts of
characters, the leader moving upwards on the screen instead of
sidewise as in panoramic _scenes_. Today, the panoramic sub-title, as
well as the panoramic letter or other insert, is quite common,
especially in feature pictures. Those directors who, notwithstanding
all, still favor the use of introductory matter before the first
scene, frequently resort to long panoramic sub-titles as a means of
making the spectator familiar with the theme of the story before
starting to tell it, just as Kipling has so frequently introduced an
introductory paragraph of the same nature in his short fiction.
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