"
[Footnote 23: Epes Winthrop Sargent, _Technique of the Photoplay_.]
Mr. William Lord Wright, author of "The Motion Picture Story," has
this to say on the subject:
"Nearly all photoplays now contain a flash of newspaper headline. It's
a good way of putting over the information essential to the plot, but
it is suggested that the headlines be properly written. Perhaps the
author of the playlet was a novice in writing headlines, or maybe the
director was a know-it-all. If not a newspaper man and a headliner, we
would advise the author who wishes to use headlines in his action to
get some newspaper man to write them for him. Some of the would-be
newspaper heads we have read on the screen lately are not impressive
or well written. Headlining is a difficult art."
If you have occasion to use a will, mortgage, or other legal document,
in telling your story, you will realize that the property man in every
studio has the blank forms on hand for anything that you may
introduce. It is therefore only necessary to show, say, the back of
the mortgage on the screen, with the names of the principals written
upon it. Then, later in the scene, or in some other scene, you can
show the body of the mortgage. But if you show the body of such a
document in Scene 10, after having shown the outside in Scene 4, it
would be well to flash the outside, or cover, again in 10, before
displaying the contents--for the purpose of identifying it, as in the
case of the letter.
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