GLOSSARY
To listen continually to words you do not understand, is Ignorance; to use words persistently and inaccurately, is Pedantry; to essay the Business of Expression and not study the significance of its terminology, is Dabbling.
THE MOST-USED TERMS DEFINED WITH MANY SUGGESTIONS FOR REVISION AND ALTERNATIVE TERMS.
IT was but natural that photoplaydom should be all cluttered up with the crude material from the workshop where it first saw the light of the screen—the Studio-Factory. The Photoplay, step by step, was manufactured. Ideas, pictures, crude plays and even playwrights were manufactured! Let the factory have its own terminology, but do not cripple technique with it. That day has past forever, but we have many of the relics still remaining, most noticeable are those to be found among the terms applied to the technique of the photodrama. They all smack of the factory. There was never a question of literary quality, value or significance. Many of them are unique in their homely appropriateness and should remain. Others are ridiculous and should be changed. Among the latter are terms that are without reason, and which are used with different significance in different studios. There should be a dignified standard of universal usage and recognition. With this aim in view, several suggestions are offered.
Action—Specific act of a character; the Scenario; the combined elements that compose a drama.
Business—The playwright’s instructions to the actor to perform the expressive acts that transform him into a character.
Bust—(Meaningless, misleading.) See CLOSE-VIEW.
Caption—The interpretive reading line preceding a Scene, or Sequence, that explains, excites interest and indicates passage of time.
Close-Up—(Unliterary; confusing because of both verbal and adverbal use.) See CLOSE-VIEW.
Climax—The supreme moment in the play; the end toward which all elements tend in the Plot.
Cut-Back—(Really instruction in manufacturing to cut film and go back; misleading to playwright who goes only forward.) See RETURN.
Censor—Person employed by National or Local Board of Censorship to criticize plays with a view to their moral influence.
Chase—An inartistic device in which many scenes are consumed in showing the pursuit of one or more characters by others, and their perilous or ludicrous difficulties.
Close-View—The isolated, microscopic or magnified close view of some important fragment of action or essential piece of evidence or reading matter.
Co-Incidence—A chance incident, meeting or discovery that conveniently helps out the plot and is obviously unconvincing to the audience.
Crisis—The instant that follows the “planting” of a Situation and precedes the Solution; the turning-point when something must happen.
Characters—What the actors should become in the eyes of the audience.
Cast—The list of names, parts and required characteristics of the characters (in some cases includes names of actors taking the parts).
Dissolve—To dissolve one scene or character gradually into another.
Director—The person or persons who translate the playwright’s manuscript into action, setting and effects by directing the production of the play, which is simultaneously photographed.
Discover—Means to find a character already upon a scene when it is thrown upon the screen: “Douglas discovered at window.”
Denouement—That part of the Plot left after the Climax; the part of the play following the culmination, when “just deserts” are meted out as a result of the foregoing action.
Dynamic—The visible exercise of force, violence and physical effects, as opposed to visualized emotion.
Enter—Said of a character as he enters a scene: “Enter Douglas.”
Exit—(Plural EXEUNT.) Said of a character as he leaves a scene: “Exit Douglas.”
Establish—To make certain the relationship of a character with other characters and with his surroundings, or to make known his identity.
Episode—An isolated incident not bearing upon the climax which has no place in the Play.
Editor—Person who reads manuscripts to determine their availability, and possibly edits, revises and rebuilds promising manuscripts to practicability.
Exterior—A scene laid actually or presumably in the open-air.
Film—The celluloid strip upon which the photographs are to be—or have been—portrayed. (FILM as a verb seems almost eligible because of usage.)
Fade—To cause a scene to fade gradually into blackness.
Flash—(Variously used by different Companies.) Accurately, when referring to a scene fragment that is flashed for a second on the screen.
Farce—Extravagant Comedy.
Harmony—The perfect agreement, consistency and balance of all the parts with the whole in a complete, artistic and gratifying effect.
Insert—Any matter that breaks the continuity of a scene; printed matter, letters, inscriptions, captions, dialog, close-views, visions and devices other than action.
Interior—A scene laid under the roof and within the four walls of any structure.
Jump—A gap, not merely in the continuity, but in the progressive action of the Play.
Leader—(Prominent editorial in a newspaper.) See CAPTION.
Lead—One of the “star” actors having the leading part in a Play.
Locale—The combined Settings for the main theme of the Play, including Atmosphere.
Long Play—A Play occupying more than one Reel.
Multiple Reel—(See LONG PLAY.)
Manuscript—The written form of the playwright, containing Synopsis, Cast, Scene-Plot, Remarks and Scenario.
Pantomime—Sign language and inter-communication between characters.
Punch—An effective Climax; the effect upon the audience of the Climax.
Plot—The organized dramatic material upon which the Play is elaborated.
Properties—All articles necessary for the effective staging of a play.
Reel—1,000 feet of film; length of a Short Play; the spool upon which the film is wound.
Register—The method of visualizing sounds by showing the reflex action of recipient.
Release—To place a Play upon the market; the Play so released.
Screen—The framed surface upon which the Play is projected; the act of projecting.
Spectacle—A Scene or Play or series showing daring deeds, gorgeous settings or dynamic force or numbers; not necessarily dramatic.
Set—Specific Scene artificially constructed.
Short Play—A one-reel, one-part Play; comparable to the Short Story, or One-act Play.
Setting—The scenic environment in which the action takes place.
Scenario—The Action of a Play laid out in progressive Scenes with appropriate Business.
Synopsis—A condensed version of the play in story form and present tense.
Script—(Slang, by which nothing is gained but ill-repute.) See MANUSCRIPT.
Sequence—Logical order of succession of events; a connected series of incidents.
Serio-Comic—Comedy written in vein of seriousness that makes it ridiculous.
Split Reel—A subject, or Play, occupying less than one reel.
Scene—All the Action in one Setting taken without moving or stopping the camera; a Scene broken by any form of Insert is “continued,” technically unbroken after the interruption.
Stage—The Cinema stage never exceeds in limits the range of the camera.
Sub-Title—(A secondary title, as: “St. Valentine’s Day, or The Fair Maid of Perth,” “The Fair Maid of Perth” being the sub-title to “St. Valentine’s Day.”) See CAPTION.
Title—The name by which the Play is called and known.
Technique—The science of giving established and effective photoplay form to the dramatic Plot.
Theme—The main line of Plot development; the subject-idea of the Play.
Tint—To color the scene to represent moonlight, lamplight, firelight.
Unity—The agreement and appropriateness of the elements that constitute a Play.
Visualize—To interpret the playwright’s ideas in such a way that the audience will see and understand them.
Vision—The screening of some remembered or contemplated action bearing on the play that is passing thru the mind of a character; picturing a dream.
OTHER VOLUMES IN
THE AUTHORS’ HAND-BOOK SERIES
THE PLOT of the SHORT STORY
BY
HENRY ALBERT PHILLIPS
Author of “A Complete Course in Short Story Writing,” “A Complete Course in Photoplay Writing,” “A Complete Course in Plot Construction,” “Art in Short Story Narration,” “The Photodrama,” and formerly Associate Editor of the “Metropolitan Magazine.”
Introduction by Matthew White, Jr., Editor of “Munsey’s”
The only serious work on Plot Sources, Construction and Analysis there is; just as valuable to Photoplaywright as to Fiction Writer.
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“‘The Plot of the Short Story’ will prove invaluable to the Photoplaywright. Originality and treatment of plot are the essence of the successful picture play, and Mr. Phillips points out very clearly how these plots may be obtained.”—PHIL LANG, Editor of the Kalem Company.
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Art in Short Story Narration
A Searching Analysis of the Qualifications of Fiction in General and of the Short Story in Particular, with Copious Examples, Making the Work
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Transcriber’s Notes:
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.