In this connection, let us quote Mr. Frank E. Woods, who, besides being well known as a critic, photoplaywright, director and supervisor of productions under Mr. David W. Griffith, is an acknowledged expert in editing motion pictures.

“Many a picture,” says Mr. Woods, “has been ruined by inadequate sub-titles.  The makers of the picture have assumed that because they understood the meaning of every action, the spectators should also understand, forgetting that the spectators will view the picture for the first time.  The moment a spectator becomes confused and loses the sense of what he is seeing on the screen, his interest is gone.  While he is wondering ‘What are they talking about now?’ or ’Who is the chap in the long coat?’ or ‘How did he get from the house in the woods?’ the film is being reeled off merrily and the spectator has lost the thread of the story.  Going to the other extreme and inserting sub-titles where the meaning is perfectly obvious, or telling in sub-titles that which is to be pictured immediately after, should also be avoided, although pictures are sometimes criticized for having too many titles when in fact the keen-eyed critic is the only one who finds them too many.  The average spectator is none too alert....  The sub-title should be in complete harmony with the story and should never divert interest from the story.  It should never be obtrusive.  It should be there only because it belongs there.  Therefore all sub-titles should be couched in language that harmonizes with the story.  Every word should be weighed.  Nothing should ever shock the spectator out of his interest in the picture by its incongruity, extravagance or inanity.  Too much in a sub-title is as bad as too little—­like seasoning in a pudding.  The function of the sub-title is to supplement and correct the action of the picture, to cover lapses in the continuity, and to supply the finer shades of meaning which the actor has been unable to express in pantomime."[22]

[Footnote 22:  “Editing a Motion Picture,” by Frank E. Woods, in The Moving Picture World.]

In passing, let us note one point of considerable moment.  Notwithstanding the fact that many pictures are shown in which a leader immediately follows the title, it is much better not to arrange it so.  Let your title be followed by a scene—­by action—­even though the scene be a short one.  Then, if necessary, introduce your first leader.  If when the photoplay opens the title is flashed upon the screen, and immediately a leader is shown, there is a chance that, having taken in the title almost at a glance, the spectator may momentarily divert his gaze and so miss your first leader, only turning his eyes toward the screen again when he notices that a scene is being shown.  Again, even though he may be watching closely, the spectator is seldom quite so attentive to an explanatory insert which is shown before the opening scene as he is to one introduced later, when he has already become interested.