The point is: Don't be too ready to add to the expense merely because
it is a multiple-reel story. The test should be: Is the expensive
scene or effect absolutely essential to a proper unfolding of your
plot? If it is, include it; if not, leave it out or find as good a
substitute effect as you can. In any event, omit expensive scenes for
minor parts of your plot.
_2. Considering the Expense of Settings_
Do not write a scene into your scenario that will necessitate too much
work for scenic artists, carpenters, and property men. A truly big
theme is, of course, entitled to careful, and even elaborate, staging;
but it is usually only necessary to set forth the big theme and
describe the setting in a general way; the producer will do the rest.
Do not be extravagant in your requirements. This should be one of your
first considerations when you start to write a scene: could it be
played as well in some other setting that would not require so much
"staging?" Perhaps, in the setting that you thought of first, it might
be necessary to use several extra people, thereby adding to the cost
of production. No doubt it would be very pretty and effective to have
Ralph make up his quarrel with Dorothy as she sits down close to the
camera in the crowded ball-room; but, if the play did not already
contain a ball-room scene, could not the reconciliation be shown just
as well in the library or on the street near her home or in a
drawing-room scene where only a few guests are assembled, the guests
all being regular members of the stock company?
Some pictures calling for special properties and extra people fully
justify the additional expenditure; others do not.
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