INTRODUCTION
Both as a form of entertainment and as an educational force the motion picture now merits consideration in the front rank of the world’s activities. Conservative estimates state that twelve million persons attend the picture theaters of the United States every day. Were figures available for Europe they could not add any to the amazement of those who remember that the motion picture’s strides to its present popularity have been taken in a period of less than twenty years.
Perhaps it is because of the rapidity of its growth that the art is still a mystery to the layman. In this book the author has set himself the task of answering the hundred and one questions that must occur frequently to followers of the motion picture. In a logical manner every stage in the process of making motion pictures is covered, while due attention has been paid to the historical and business phases of the subject. A studied effort has been made to use terms clear to the lay mind. With the task completed, it is the conviction of the author that the reader will find his puzzling doubts replaced by a clear understanding that should add immeasurably to his interest in the motion-picture art.
Additional chapters of instruction in the writing of photoplays have been included in the belief that they will meet a widely-felt need for accurate information and authoritative advice on this aspect of the silent drama. Though the book is explanatory throughout, a chapter of specific advice to the amateur organization desirous of staging a motion picture has been provided. This is an untouched field in works on pictures, and one that we believe is steadily becoming of interest to a wider circle.
New York, December, 1915.