In the case of female characters, with their more extensive wardrobes and innate desire for change, this danger of ridiculous errors is magnified. The lot of the director’s assistants will not be an easy one. For the director himself the methods of work have been outlined in a preceding chapter. First, in collaboration with his assistants, a “scene plot” is laid out; that is, a list of the locations needed, and the number of the scenes in which they will be used. Similarly a “property” list is made out. Let him also determine, as we have shown the professional director doing, the order in which he will stage his scenes. A convenient plan now is to have the complete scenario typewritten, each scene on a separate sheet of paper, and placed in a loose-leaf binding in the order decided upon for production. The director will find that this makes it much easier to study the individual scenes thoroughly, to so “visualize” them as to secure their full possibilities. In taking the scenes, let the director remember one particular point: Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, before the camera is turned an inch. Once the camera starts to “grind” you are using film, and if everything is not perfect you are either wasting money on scenes that will have to be retaken, or else you are weakening the picture should the faults be overlooked. In rehearsing, the director must not only assure himself that the players are capably interpreting the emotions called for by the story, but he must also see that there is no danger of their stepping outside the lines of the camera’s vision in the excitement of the action after photography has started. Experience with two or three scenes will show the director that this happens more often than would seem possible. Before the final word of approval is given the players must go through their parts as though they were “second nature,” for the camera registers everything, and the look to the side-lines, the glance at the director for instructions that would go by unnoticed on the stage, will be caught by the camera and cannot be erased except by taking the scene over again. After a rehearsal or two the camera-man will time the scene for the director so that he can tell how much film it will use, and if it is not in agreement with the estimate allowed in the scenario, make the necessary changes. The camera-man will lay out the boundary-lines of the stage for you and advise you on the distance from the camera to station the players. This will vary according to the number of characters in the scene and size of the stage required for the particular bit of action. For ordinary scenes it is wise not to allow the players to be farther than fifteen feet from the camera, and frequently for a tense bit of action in which a few players are seen they should be brought up to the ten-foot line. In acting the players should move a trifle slower, more deliberately, than they ordinarily would.