Photoplay Plot Encyclopedia; an Analysis of the Use in Photoplays Of

' yC-NRLF i'l'iiiNiiir ekciv:l()ph])ia 1*1 t '. AN ANALYSIS OF THE USE IN PHOTO- PLAYS OF THE THIRTY-SIX DRAMATIC SITUATIONS AND THEIR SUBDIVISIONS. CONTAINING A LIST OF ALL THF, FUNDAMENTAL DRAMATIC MATt- RIAL TO BE FOUND IN HUMA'J^ EX- PERIENCE, INCLUDING THE SYNQPSE.T OF ONE HUNDRED PRODUCED REP- RESENTATIVE PHOTOPLAYS, WITH A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE SITUA- TIONS USED IN EACH. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR COMBINING SITUATIONS, FOR TEST- ING THE STRENGTH AND NOVELTY OF PLOTS, AND FOR BUILDING PLOTS; AND AN INDEX REFERRING TO EACH PRODUCER, AUTHOR, STAR, STORY AND SITUATION MENTIONED IN THE TEXT. By FREDERICK PALMER .\nd ERIC HOWARD Series Y PUBLISHED BY PALMER PHOTOPLAY CORPORATION Departmtnt of Education LOS ANGELES, CAL. Copyright, 1920 Pajlmeu Photoplay CoaPoaAXioK Los Angelks All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE 7 The law of the thirty-six dramatic situations; the classification of situations; the of purpose this work ; plan of study. Part One. CHAPTER ONE 13 The purpose of fiction and photoplays; what is a dramatic situation; what is a situation the photoplay ; combination of situations ; the backbone of drama. CHAPTER TWO 17 The relation of Theme to the situations of thirty-six ; examples dramatic themes; Characterization and its relation to the thirty-six situations. CHAPTER THREE 20 Plot interest and situations; the plot outline for combining situations; outline of a to test it. "The Golden Chance" ; plot logic and way CHAPTER FOUR 25 The emotional curve; the rule of three and situations; visualization; analysis, elimination and revision; the element of conflict in situations; the dramatic triad in situations; how situations suggest themes and characters; how to use situations in plot building. CHAPTER FIVE 26 Novelty; what it is; how to achieve it; how to test it. CHAPTER SIX 31 A word of warning; dramatic and undramatic; the test of situations; a summary of the law of the thirty-six situations. Part Two. CHAPTER SEVEN 37 Situations I to VI, inclusive: Supplication; Deliverance; Crime Pur- sued BY Vengeance; Vengeance Taken for Kindred Upon Kindred; Pursuit ; Disaster ; the subdivisions of each situation ; explanatory comment regarding the use of each situation in the photoplay. CHAPTER EIGHT 42 Situations VII to XII, inclusive: Falling Prey to Cruelty or Mis- fortune; Revolt; Daring Enterprise; Abduction; The Enigma; Obtaining. CHAPTER NINE 46 Situations XIII to XVIII, inclusive: Enmity of Kinsmen; Rivalry of Kinsmen; Murderous Adultery; Madness; Fatal Imprudence; In- voluntary Crimes of Love. SS'^iM Page CHAPTER TEN +9 Situations XIX to XXIV, inclusive: Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecog- for Kindred ; All for an Ideal ; Self-Sacrifice nized ; Self-Sacrifice Sacrificed for a Passion; Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones; Rivalry of Superior and Inferior. CHAPTER ELEVEN 53 Situations XXV to XXX, inclusive: Adultery; Crimes of Love; Dis- covery of the Dishonor of a Loved One; Obstacles to Love; An Enemy Loved; Ambition. CHAPTER TWELVE 58 Situations XXXI to XXXVI, inclusive: Struggle Against a God; Mis- of a Lost Erroneous ; Remorse ; Recovery taken Jealousy ; Judgment of situations. One ; Loss of Loved Ones ; Summary Part Three. CHAPTER THIRTEEN 65 Examples of Situations in Photoplays; The synopses of one hundred and representative produced photoplays with constructive comment analysis of the use of the thirty-six dramatic situations in each of them. Part Four. CHAPTER FOURTEEN 151 The Photoplay of the Future; Probable development of theme and character- of life. ization in the photoplay; the elimination of artificiality; the reflection *^^ CHAPTER FIFTEEN •••••. The conclusion; further suggestions for the combination of situations; the of selection of theme and the creation of characters ; the development strong, dramatic and novel plots; the nature of novelty. INDEX 155 PREFACE 1. If one were to ask a successful photoplaywright just what element in the finished play he considered of most importance, just what element formed tlie backbone of the action and provided a basis on which to build, the answer would be, "Sit- uations." The stage dramatist would probably make the same reply, and the author of the kind of fiction in which the plot is the point of interest would concur. In any discussion of the dramatic or narrative forms in which Plot is the important considera- tion, we must start with the factor of Situation. It is true that all plots are combinations of situations, and that without situations stories or plays will be quite devoid of plot. 2. In order to hold the interest of an audience it is necessary to present dramatic plots—records of sustained and suspensive conflicts. In the Palmer Plan Handbook, the three fundamentals of a photoplay have been called Conflict, Suspense and Punch. None of these qualities can be present in any degree without a strong basic situation or situations. In the Handbook a situation has been described as a Predicament, and has been indicated as the starting point of the play. It has been suggested that the author find a strong situation and then work forward and backward in the development of a well-rounded and dramatic plot. Often, however, despite the excellent examples of situations that have been suggested, the beginning author has found it difficult to discover a strong, or novel, or genuinely dramatic situation, and has failed to develop effective plays because of this basic weakness. 3. In reading and criticising hundreds of photoplays during the past year, ranging in merit from the ridiculous to the sublime, dealing with a multitude of themes, it has been forcibly made clear to us that the average beginning writer is often hampered by an excess of untrained and misdirected imagination. In too many of the stories we have read there has been a tendency towards imitative writing. Too often the student has dug deep into his memories and has fovmd a plot lurking there. With no standard of critical judgment, with no means of comparing his ideas with those that have been conceived and developed in the past, the student has written a story that was technically well constructed but lacked the fire of originality. This has been due to an excess, rather than dearth, of imagination. But, unfortunately, the imagination has been misdirected and has been allowed to wander. 4. It is the purpose of this work to supply the author, especially the photoplaywright, with a handbook of reference, which will be stimulating in its suggestive- ness and at the same time a means whereby the novelty and the strength of a plot idea may be judged. By using the classification of fundamental dramatic situations formulated by Gozzi, Schiller, Goethe, De Nerval, and best of all by Georges Polti, to whom the present writers acknowledge their indebtedness, we are at once simplify- ing and widening the possible flights of imagination. And in going further, and into a virgin field, with the data accumulated by Polti, we hope to make more specific and useful the law he formulated. 5. Let us state the law in question here at the outset, that we may progress to its application and interpretation more readily. There are only thirty-six fundamental dramatic situations, various facets of which form the basis of all human drama. 6. Lest this seem dogmatic, it must be remembered that there is nothing arbi- trary or cabalistic in the number thirn^-six. As Polti says, the number might be 7 smaller or greater, but thirty-six seems to be the most nearly accurate. Various writers on the subject have endeavored to discover a new situation to add to Polti's list, but all of their efforts have been feeble and ill-considered in comparison with his scholarly work. It is not the purpose of the present volume to add anything to the data rediscovered and formulated by M. Polti, but rather to carry that knowledge into a new field—that of the Photoplay—and to give the photoplaywright a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of the nature of each situation that has been used in photoplays, how it was used, whether it has been used to exhaustion in certain forms, whether it opens a new and interesting line of thought to the writer, etc. In this way the work will lead you into wide vistas of the imagination, many of them un- traveled by the writers of today, and will indicate the pitfalls that are everywhere awaiting the unwary author. 7. This work must be regarded as a work of reference. It is a stimulus rather than a formula, and at all times the writer must avoid seeking plot material ready- made for his use. Properly assimilated and understood, the work will help you to judge the worth of your own ideas, will suggest ways and methods of development, and will guard you against the danger of imitation and repetition. It can not, nor any other book, think for you. 8. It is true that all plots are combinations of situations, and that this work will deal with the fundamental situations in a comprehensive way and will indicate possible and worth-while combinations. But the student must not come to it hoping to find plots ready to use, like a prepared breakfast food. The real work is left to the creative author, and only in the degree that you possess creative ability and dramatic — imagination the imagination, that is, that leads you to create dramatic characters and to place them in interesting conflicts with one another—can this work serve you. 9. Not long ago a young writer who has succeeded in certain kinds of writing, chiefly poetry and essays, gravely said that he was through with fiction and photoplays, that he had no imagination.

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