Now we pass within the grounds. There is a brief scene to be taken as the thief starts to climb the wall on making his escape, and also the short one showing him running across the lawn to the house. He is to make his entry by way of a window, and the camera is placed so as to view the one chosen. The same procedure is followed here--numbering of the scene, rehearsals, including a preliminary timing of the action so that the director will know how many feet of film it will take, and then photographing, after which preparations are made for the next scene. The director and his players may easily put in a busy day about the house. There will be scenes showing detectives, summoned by the householder, examining the grounds, the watchman hastening up to the front door after he has recovered from the blow inflicted by the thief, and so on. When the sun finally gets too low for the camera’s liking it will be a tired but contented party that returns to the studio. This is but one side of the story. Much has also happened within the house. Though recently perfected portable lighting systems have made it possible to take motion pictures within actual houses, the method is only occasionally used, and our director will probably decide to take all his interiors in the studio. On his return from the day of work outdoors he will leave his requisitions with the carpenter and property-man and be prepared to start early the next morning with his scenes set and all other things ready. Then the thief’s entry into the window, as seen from inside the house, his theft of the jewels, we will say, his departure, the householders aroused from their sleep by the watchman, and their consternation at the discovery of the theft will all be photographed. Pieced together and shown on the screen, the various strips of film will tell a smoothly developed story, but we have seen how it is really made up of little bits of action, photographed at different times, and in far from consecutive order. We have seen what a world of planning the director must do before he sets out to make even the simplest scene of his story. [Illustration: (_Vitagraph_) STAGING A SPECTACULAR BATTLE SCENE]