s which he constantly used in his
theatrical work but seldom or never employs in his capacity of
photoplay producer. Nevertheless, he still uses a scene-plot diagram,
drawing it himself on regular printed forms.

As may be gathered from the foregoing, the scene-plot diagram for a
photoplay setting is entirely different from the diagram of the
setting for a scene on the regular stage. The former shows, printed,
the comparative shape and dimensions of the "stage," and gives, in
figures, the depth of the stage and the distance from the camera to
the "working line," below which (toward the camera) an actor must not
step if he wishes his feet, therefore his whole body, to show in the
picture.

To say "the depth of the stage" is to say that the printed diagram is
marked off in a scale of feet from the camera's focus. The figures at
the right side of the sheet indicate the distance in feet from the
camera, while those at the left show the width of the field, or range
of the camera lens, at different distances. Only that portion of each
piece of furniture which is marked a solid black in the diagram is
supposed to show in the picture. Thus half of a table may be "in" and
half "out" of a picture, or scene. This diagram-form is made out by
the director for virtually every set that shows an interior scene, and
he frequently draws one also for exteriors, where a building, or even
what appears in the picture to be a complete, permanent structure, is
set up by the carpenters and mechanics out of doors. Such a scene-plot
diagram is reproduced at the end of this chapter.

The scene-plot which you as a photoplay author are called upon to
prepare, however, is simply a list of the scenes used in working out
your scenario. Here you must distinguish between "scene" and "set" (or
setting) in photoplay writing. We know that the scene is changed every
time that the camera is moved. One scene or ten may be taken, or
"done," in the same set--that is, a half-dozen scenes might be taken
successively in a business office without changing the set at all.
Therefore, although you have two hundred _scenes_ in your five-reel
scenario, only twenty _sets_ may be needed in which to play them.

_3. How Scenes and Sets Are Photographed_

We know that a scene is ended when the cameraman stops "grinding;" we
understand, also, that a change of setting is brought about by moving
the camera, even though, in the case of taking two exterior scenes,
the came