ich
hostess who desires to shame the little girl from the tenements in the
eyes of her son, there is flashed on the screen, against a dark
background, an empty glass gold-fish bowl with the fish themselves
wriggling and gasping on the table beside it. The idea of "fish out of
water" was very apparent to the spectators. Later, when the
tenement-bred family had returned to their humble home, another
picture showed the gold-fish contentedly swimming about in a
well-filled bowl. It is such an effect as this that any clever writer
might think of suggesting in his scenario, and it is legitimate in
every way--far more so, in fact, than some of the tricks of
diaphragming and fading so frequently made use of by certain
directors.

A startlingly novel effect was shown some time ago in the Vitagraph
Company's production of Arthur Stringer's story, "Mortmain." Just as
Mortmain was put under ether the scene proper faded out, giving place
to a dull blur in which the faces of the doctor and his attendants
were brought right up to the lens of the camera and then withdrawn for
several feet, the action being extremely rapid, and being repeated
several times, by means of the camera mounted on a truck, as already
described. This was accompanied by another dark-background strip of
film, across--or rather down--which shot fiery streaks, like the tails
of discharging sky-rockets. The whole effect of anaesthesia was vividly
reproduced, and the effect on the audience was most marked. The idea
of what Mortmain experienced in his last conscious moments "got
across" in no uncertain way. Especially startling and realistic--to
those who have been there--was the effect of the patient's feeling
himself dropping, dropping, dropping through space into--oblivion.

It is extremely unlikely that this work will be made use of by anyone
who has not visited the picture theatres often enough to have seen ten
times as many camera tricks, special effects, and examples of the use
of different technical devices as are herein described. But if you
_are_ taking up photoplay writing without having seen many photoplays
on the screen, you are but half equipped, notwithstanding all the help
you may receive through text-books and trade-journal articles. In
other words, we urge upon you the wisdom of keeping in mind that the
real finishing school for screen writers is the picture theatre
itself.

_15. Dual-Character Double Exposures_

Undoubtedly, the gradual perf