other creative line.

_7. Centralizing the Interest_

It is almost impossible to produce a really effective photoplay
without centering the attention of the spectator on one of the
principal characters and holding it there until the end. Even when the
principal characters are lovers, either one or the other is bound to
stand out in the picture more than the other. As in a play on the
regular stage, either the hero or the heroine must dominate the action
or the spectator is very likely to miss some of the best points of the
plot because of the shifting interest. In such a play as "Romeo and
Juliet," many would find it difficult to determine which of the two
principal characters evokes the more sympathy and interest in the
spectators. Yet a careful study of the play will leave no doubt that
it was Shakespeare's intention that one of the two "star-crossed
lovers"--Juliet--should dominate the action of the drama very subtly
and certainly, the other being, though in only the slightest degree,
it is true, subordinate to the "principal." The same thing is true in
the stories of Damon and Pythias, Paolo and Francesca, and Pelleas and
Melisande. You must determine at the very beginning whether it is to
be the man or the woman, and, having trained the spot-light upon that
one, keep it there until the end.

A certain picture, released about four years ago by a European
manufacturer, was concerned with a husband, his wife, and his
friend--a man who for a period of some months was a guest in the home
of the pair. In the ordinary sense, it was not a problem plot; the
friend was an honorable man, and the husband, who had the most sincere
admiration for his old college companion, was a fine fellow in every
way. Yet, as the story progressed it became apparent that there had
been a love affair between the wife and her husband's friend when
they were both scarcely more than children. Little incidents in the
action of the next few scenes gradually caused the audience to
sympathize with the friend. Then, toward the end of the play, the
sympathy was definitely shifted to the husband. This, of course,
viewed in the proper light, was as it should be; but only a scene or
two from the end of the picture an incident happened that again caused
the audience to feel that it was the friend who alone deserved the
woman's love. The result was that out of all the hundreds of people
who saw the picture in the two days during which it was shown at a