In other words, do not mistake
an effect produced by trick photography for one that is merely the
result of exceptional care and work on the part of both cameraman and
director.
CHAPTER XIV
HOW TO GATHER IDEAS FOR PLOTS
_1. Watching the Pictures_
Unless you are already a successful fiction writer when you first
determine to write photoplays it is not going too far to assert that
you have never yet really watched a motion picture. You have
_witnessed_ many, but only the playwright and the theatrical man may
be said to _watch_ plays, whether on the stage or on the screen, with
every faculty alert and receptive, ready to pounce on any suggestion,
any bit of stage business, any scenic effect, or any situation, that
they may legitimately copy or enlarge upon for their respective uses.
This keen attitude is partly a matter of inborn dramatic instinct, but
it is even more a matter of training and habit--therefore cultivate
it.
Not only does the professional photoplaywright remain wide
awake when watching real photoplays, but he often finds as much
plot-suggestion in other classes of films as there is in the
story-pictures, for plot-germs fairly abound in scenics, vocationals,
microcinematographics, educationals, and topicals, as these several
sorts are called by the craft.
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