14 Using Design to Improve Understanding
Throughout this course, I will be emphasizing the big three icons on your word processor’s toolbar: B, I, and U, as well as such concepts as using headings, spacing and bullets. For instance, take a minute to look at how the two following document examples are designed differently:
Example 1
Today’s popular movies come in three main categories: horror, comedy and drama. Although it is easy to differentiate between each type, there are some subtle similarities that connect each type. Whether or not a movie is successful in its own genre often depends on how successful it uses the other genres. A good director knows this and looks for it each time he or she calls for action.
Horror movies utilize suspense, action and shock value to attract an audience. Suspense is important in keeping the viewer invovled from beginning to end. It is there to make sure the viewer does not get up and leave a movie for popcorn at any time from beginning to end. Not knowing what is going to happen next makes the movie all that more interesting. Action makes it more realistic. Poor movies such as the Friday the 13th movies did not use adequate action to create a normal impression in the sequence of events. It didn’t seem plausible. A good horror movie, above anything else, has to be believeable. The shock value in horror is obvious. The audience screams. If you are not scared while watching the movie, you are not going to appreciate it as a horror movie. Directors have to know how to make someone jump. Having a black cat suddenly appear is a common example of shock value. Good directors find a lot better examples than that.
Comedy requires all three components as well. Suspense is in the form of not knowing the punchline before a joke is given. A good comedy will give the audience new things to laugh at. Someone like Eddie Murphy is an expert at it. He knows how to make people laugh simply by altering is approach to comedy. Believe it or not, action again is significant to the success of the movie. If you don’t have good relationships between characters, you won’t believe the story. Comedy relies heavily on reality. We don’t laugh at things we don’t recognize. They scare us more than anything else. Shock value, in comedy, comes from the amount of laughter the movie creates. Laughter is to comedy what screams are to horror. If you don’t have a good joke, you don’t have good comedy.
Drama is a mixture of horror and comedy. It includes laughter and screams, combines them in a way that makes people cry, cry for happiness and cry for sadness. It is the most difficult genre to get right. That is why many people are bored easier by drama. It is more difficult to sit through than the other two, even if done perfectly. That is why the three components are so important in drama. Without suspense, who cares? Without action, who can follow the plot? Without shock value, how can there be a climax?
Example 2
POPULAR MOVIES TODAY
How Directors