(EXAMPLE 47.) Man’s relations with the Devil is in itself plot material, but too general. We must become more particular. Crime is one of man’s relationships with the Devil, but that is not available as definite plot material; at least it is not a plot germ as yet. We further particularize, and select sub-divisions of crime: Bomb, Thief and Finger prints. Here again is elemental plot material, but there are further steps still to be taken before we can class them as legitimate plot material, or plot germs. At last, we arrive upon pregnant material—among the items of the daily newspaper—which we can seize upon as plot germs: “Bomb Throwers Trailed by a Boy;” “Caretaker Locked in Closet by a Thief;” and “Take Finger Prints of Everybody.”
The discovery of a plot germ, however, merely marks the beginning of the exercise of one’s plotting power. This starts our thoughts in a definite train in search of an idea. The idea proves to be something big that comes to pass; that is our story. Now we will begin to build our plot by seeking a cause for the great deed that culminates the story. That cause becomes the beginning of our play. The effect of the causal condition, ambition or deed, results in the events that happen between the beginning and climax of the play, and raises three standard questions that our complete plot must answer: (1) What is the Cause? (2) What is the Effect of the cause? (3) What Climax does the effect lead to?
A great photoplay plot should concern a ludicrous, a pathetic, an heroic or a tragic episode in the lives of two or more people. A complete plot is, in fact, a perfect syllogism. We advance our first premise for the action to follow in the Cause; our second premise is the Effect, or action; there can be but one conclusion, which we demonstrate in the Climax.
Original themes are few in number and were all used scores and scores of times before this generation was born; original plots are inexhaustible and admit of as many variations as there are products in literature from different minds based upon the original twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Do not be afraid of the ancient theme, because the fact that it still survives shows its popular sway; but your survival as a playwright depends on your originality in treatment of plot material in its application to theme.
Plot material is the tell-tale dust of Deeds that lies heavy behind the curtain of Commonplace Events; in the crevices pried open by Ambition; in the niches worn by Crime; and in the knot-holes gnarled by Nature.
CHAPTER II
Where to Get Plot Germs
OBSERVATION; READING; EMPLOYMENT OF FACTS; THE DAILY NEWSPAPER; DANGERS; PROPRIETY; ORIGINALITY; THE “TRUE STORY;” IMPORTANCE OF NOTES; TITLES; PLOT CLASSIFICATION.
DAILY life is filled with dull routine and monotonous detail; but drama is contrary to actual life, in that it picks and chooses the events it requires for its purposes, isolating, magnifying and suppressing them according to its needs. Drama demands that there be a keynote of human interest, a bond of vital relationship, in the life of man, or the revealment of a soul’s supreme moment under pressure of struggle.
To have one’s eyes open in his search for plot material is not sufficient; the plot seeker’s imagination must be sensitively alert, and his emotions prepared to throw some feeling into the impression. Thus equipped, he may acquire visions thru observation, and not mere mental photographs. Bear in mind that this matter of creating Literature and Drama draws just as heavily on the emotions as it does on brains. The imagination is the frontier post between the two.