LESSON XVI.
Stage-settings.
A real feature in Photoplays is the setting, which is shown by the scenes and surroundings, and takes the place of the elaborate description of the novelist.
When a certain setting in your play is to be one of the main features, name it as a scene; for illustration, “Teddy’s Room,” in sample Scenario. The stage Director takes care of the scene settings, but if you give a list of Props (as you will see given in the sample Scenario) it will be of great assistance to the property-man.
Work as much into each setting as possible, as it is an expense to produce each new setting.
Express your settings or scenes in a few words, and the Director will do the rest. Avoid showing expensive settings. Always bear in mind that moving pictures are simply photographs and that the elaborate settings you may desire must often be taken in the Studio and not in the home of a millionaire.
A great many Scenarios with good plots have been rejected because the expense in producing them was too great.
You, of course, see many elaborate settings; but the play and situations were strong enough to warrant the expense.