the basic
situation, the action moves progressively to a logical conclusion, the
climax coming, usually, in the next to the last picture. The last
picture is the surprise-denouement--the event which naturally and
inevitably follows the climax. There is, of course, a wide contrast
between one of these series and a "dramatic" photoplay; but the same
principle that governs the evolution of the story in the comic
supplement should be applied to the working out of your photoplay
story. Cultivate the picturing eye, we repeat, so that by being able
to visualize each scene as you plan it in your mind you cannot fail to
produce in your scenario a series of scenes whose action is logically
connected and essentially natural and unforced.

_5. The Interest of Suspense_

To say that there must be a logical sequence in progressing from scene
to scene, and that each must appear to be the natural outcome of the
one preceding it, is by no means to say that you must suggest in one
scene what is about to follow in the next. It is when we review a
photoplay in retrospection that we decide whether proper care has been
given to the planning of the scenes so as to make them lead smoothly
one into the other, but while we are watching a photoplay for the
first time, half the charm lies in _not_ knowing what is coming next.

Suspense, then, must be kept in mind as the scenario is being planned.
You should not only keep the spectator in suspense as to the climax as
long as possible, but in building up your plot you should work in as
many unexpected twists as you can without destroying its logic. Mr.
Hoagland says: "Suspense is a delightful sensation, though we all beg
not to be kept in it." So whet the spectator's imagination by
springing little surprises and minor climaxes whenever they can be
introduced without seeming to be forced. Make each such incident
another step upward toward your climax proper; hold back the "big"
surprise, the startling denouement, until the very end. The most
enjoyable feature of Anna Katherine Green's "The Leavenworth Case" was
that she kept the reader in the dark until the last chapter as to who
was the real murderer. All the many detective novels that have since
appeared have been successful exactly in proportion as the solution of
the mystery has been withheld from the reader until the end of the
story.

Naturally, this requires careful planning. About twenty years ago, one
of the high-class fiction magazin