What are reader benefits, and how does one create them? This essay answers those questions.
Introduction
Reader benefits are the advantages your audience will receive by using your service, purchasing your product, following a policy, or adopting an idea. Good reader benefits meet four criteria, and each criterion suggests a way to create reader benefits.
Criteria
First, adapt the benefits to the audience. When you write to different audiences, you will need to stress different benefits. For example, suppose your company manufactures a product, and you want to persuade retailers to stock it. The advantages to customers--convenience, durability, price--will not persuade retailers to stock it. To persuade them to do such, you need to stress the advantages to the retailers: quick turnover, high profit margin, and a national advertising campaign that will draw attention to the product and to the stores.
Second, stress the extrinsic and intrinsic benefits. Extrinsic benefits do not come from the service or product; somebody decides to add them to the service or product. Intrinsic benefits come directly from using the service or product, and they are better than extrinsic benefits for several reasons. There will never be enough extrinsic motivators for everything you want people to do. You will not be able to reward every customer or employee. Furthermore, research suggests that extrinsic motivators make people less satisfied with the products they purchase and the procedures they follow.
Third, regard each benefit as a claim that needs grounds (reasons and/or evidence) to convince the reader. (Refer to "The Components of an Academic Argument.") Provide enough grounds to prove that the service, product or policy will benefit the reader. Always provide enough details to be concrete. You will need many details when the reader may not have thought about the benefit before, when there is a difference between a long-term and a short-term advantage, and when it will be difficult to persuade the reader.
Fourth, create reader benefits with a you-attitude. A you-attitude regards things from the reader's point of view--emphasizing what the reader wants to know, respecting the reader's intelligence, and protecting the reader's ego. Use you in positive and neutral messages, but avoid you in negative messages. In negative messages you may seem like a verbal attack.
Creating Benefits
Use the following steps to identify effective reader benefits. Then, choose the benefits you think are the most effective and explainable and develop them.
First, identify the physiological needs that may motivate your reader. Physical needs are the most basic, followed by needs for safety and security, for love and a sense of belonging, for esteem and recognition, and finally for self-actualization or self-fulfillment. (The needs are hierarchical.) Although we move among higher- and lower-level needs, low-level (basic) needs take precedent over high-level needs. Often a service, product or policy can meet needs on several levels. Develop those that are most relevant to your audience.
Second, identify the features of your service, product or policy that meet the needs you identified. Sometimes it will be obvious which features meet a need. Sometimes several features will meet a need. To develop your benefits, focus on the details of each one. When you are writing to clients or customers about features that are not unique to your organization, present the benefits of the features themselves and the benefits of dealing with your organization.
Third, reveal the ways the reader can meet his or her needs with the features of the service or product. Because features alone rarely motivate readers, link each feature to the reader's needs, providing details to make the benefits concrete.
Conclusion
The audience of most of your business and technical messages will not be a single person. When it is not possible to meet everybody's needs, meet the needs of the gatekeepers (those who decide whether your message will be sent to others) and decision makers first.
Provide a summary for those who will want only the primary points. If the decision makers will not need the same details as others will need, provide those details in appendices. Insert a glossary of terms for readers who will not have as much knowledge as the decision makers, and, early in the document, state where the glossary is. Create a table of contents and effective headings, so readers can go to the sections that interest them. If both internal and external audiences will read your document, use a more formal style than you would in an internal document. Avoid personal pronouns, especially you, for it is not applicable to several different audiences.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Electronic Mail
In this essay I delineate three groups of e-mail (positive, neutral, negative) and the essential components of each.
Electronic mail (e-mail or email) is now a standard form of communication, used for informal and formal communication inside and outside organizations. If you compose an e-mail using an organization's computer, you need to realize it is the permanent property of the organization. In other words, do not assume privacy.
Subject Line
The most important part of an e-mail is the subject line. Assume that recipients of e-mail have too many messages to read during one sitting. If they do not recognize the sender or if the subject does not interest them, they will not open those messages.
An effective subject line acts as a title and aids in filing and retrieving. Thus, it must be specific, concise and relative. The subject line needs to be specific to differentiate the message from others with the same subject. At the same time, it must be broad enough to reveal the essence of the entire message. With respect to conciseness, effective subject lines are short--usually containing no more than 10 words, often only 3 to 7 words. Because the subject line introduces a reader to the message, it must not mislead him/her. The subject line needs to correlate to the purpose and content of the e-mail. With respect to purpose, determine whether you are conveying positive, neutral or negative information; with respect to content, restrict your e-mail to a single topic.
The best subject line for negative messages depends on whether you are refusing a request or initiating a negative. When you are refusing a request, click reply and use Re: and the original subject line. (When you reply to a message, the system automatically creates a subject line: Re: and the subject line of the message to which you are responding. Use the subject line if it is acceptable; otherwise, create a better subject line. If you are the recipient of a series of replies, create a new subject line. Re: Re: Re: and the original subject line is not effective.) When you initiate a negative, you will need to decide whether to reveal the negative information in the subject line. Reveal negative information in the subject line when it is serious, when the reader will need to decide or to act, or when you need to report an error you made.
Positive and Neutral Messages
In the first paragraph state any good news and summarize the primary points. Include the date a policy begins, the percent of a discount, et cetera. If the message is a response to an issue, reveal that it is such.
Next, provide details. Do not repeat information that you have stated; rather, answer any questions the reader is likely to have. Present details in the order of importance to the reader. If there is any negative information, present it as positively as possible. A policy may have limits; information may be incomplete; the reader may need to satisfy requirements. Clarify such negatives, presenting them as positively as possible.
Messages to customers or potential customers sometimes include a sales paragraph promoting products or services the organization offers in addition to the product or service about which the reader asked. Such promotions should be soft, not aggressive.
Not all messages require reader benefits. Include reader benefits when you are presenting policies, when you want to shape the reader's attitude, or when the benefits may not be obvious to the reader. Reader benefits are difficult to create when you are announcing a policy that the organization adopted to help it. Those who made the decision may not have been thinking whether the policy would help or hurt their employees. Furthermore, although many new policies help the organization in some way, few employees will regard their own interests as identical with the organization's interests. The organization may save money or increase its profits, but employees will benefit directly only if they own stock in the company, if they receive bonuses, if the company is able to avoid layoffs, or if the savings goes directly to the employees' benefits. The savings an organization accrues often goes to executive bonuses, shareholder profits, or research and development.
The reader needs to understand the reason(s) for the change to support it. When you present reader benefits, clearly state the advantages to the reader. Think about benefits that are a result from the policy itself, separate from any financial benefits.
Tactfully concluding an e-mail can be problematic if it is short. You can tell your reader what specific action you want him/her to take; you can compliment the reader for an action he/she took; you can describe a reader benefit; you can look forward to something positive that relates to the subject of the message. If you have omitted backing (grounds in detail), you can state where your reader can find more information. If you have provided all the information your reader requires, you can write a goodwill ending that refers directly to the reader or to the reader's organization.
A goodwill ending should focus on the professional, not personal, relationship you have with the reader. An effective ending specifically refers to the reader to the extent it would not correlate to someone else or to another person with the same title in another organization. If you are writing to an individual in another organization, the ultimate paragraph can refer to your organization's relationship with the reader's organization. When you are writing to a group--all employees, for example--your ending should apply to the entire group.
Negative Messages
An e-mail is appropriate for a minor negative, not a major negative, which would require face-to-face interaction. Never write or reply to an e-mail when you are angry. If a message infuriates you, wait until you are calm to reply. Remember that employers have the right to read all messages, and an e-mail, similar to other documents, can become a legal document. When a negative e-mail is difficult to compose, create a draft offline so that you can receive feedback and revise it before you send the message.
Tone (the implied attitude of the author toward the subject and the reader) is especially important in negative messages. Carefully edit your e-mail for positive emphasis and you-attitude. The timing of an e-mail can convey tone. An immediate response will suggest that the rejection did not receive much consideration; a negative e-mail immediately before a holiday will seem harsh. When you need to relate negative information, consider recasting it as a positive or neutral message. For example, if your organization has a problem, ask the reader(s) to help solve it. A solution created by employees will be easier to implement. If the negative information will lead directly to a reader benefit, organize the information as you would in a positive or neutral message.
The way to organize a negative e-mail depends on whether you are writing to a person outside the organization, to a peer or subordinate, or to a superior. When there is a reason a reader outside the organization will understand or accept, state the reason before the refusal. A strong reason will prepare the reader to expect the refusal. State the refusal or negative information only once and as clearly as possible. The reader may miss an inconspicuous refusal, making it necessary for you to say no a second time. Present as alternative if there is one. An alternative not only will provide the reader another way to get what he/she wants, but it also will suggest you care about him/her, via helping the reader meet his/her needs. Close with a positive, forward-looking statement.
When you must reveal negative information to a peer or subordinate, first, describe the problem, clearly and unemotionally stating what is wrong. Second, present an alternative or a compromise if there is one. Finally, ask for input or action. Another employee may be able to suggest a solution, and if he/she does such, he/she will be more likely to accept the consequences.
Although your superior expects you to solve minor problems, sometimes you may not have the authority or resources to do such. If that is the case, first, clearly and unemotionally state the problem. Second, describe how it occurred, providing such background information as the underlying factors that led to the problem. Third, discuss the options for solving it. If one option is clearly the best one, state that you think it is such. Your superior probably will judge the options differently; regardless, describe all of them, providing what you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each. Fourth, recommend a solution and ask for action. Asking for approval will allow you to make the necessary changes to solve the problem.
Electronic mail (e-mail or email) is now a standard form of communication, used for informal and formal communication inside and outside organizations. If you compose an e-mail using an organization's computer, you need to realize it is the permanent property of the organization. In other words, do not assume privacy.
Subject Line
The most important part of an e-mail is the subject line. Assume that recipients of e-mail have too many messages to read during one sitting. If they do not recognize the sender or if the subject does not interest them, they will not open those messages.
An effective subject line acts as a title and aids in filing and retrieving. Thus, it must be specific, concise and relative. The subject line needs to be specific to differentiate the message from others with the same subject. At the same time, it must be broad enough to reveal the essence of the entire message. With respect to conciseness, effective subject lines are short--usually containing no more than 10 words, often only 3 to 7 words. Because the subject line introduces a reader to the message, it must not mislead him/her. The subject line needs to correlate to the purpose and content of the e-mail. With respect to purpose, determine whether you are conveying positive, neutral or negative information; with respect to content, restrict your e-mail to a single topic.
The best subject line for negative messages depends on whether you are refusing a request or initiating a negative. When you are refusing a request, click reply and use Re: and the original subject line. (When you reply to a message, the system automatically creates a subject line: Re: and the subject line of the message to which you are responding. Use the subject line if it is acceptable; otherwise, create a better subject line. If you are the recipient of a series of replies, create a new subject line. Re: Re: Re: and the original subject line is not effective.) When you initiate a negative, you will need to decide whether to reveal the negative information in the subject line. Reveal negative information in the subject line when it is serious, when the reader will need to decide or to act, or when you need to report an error you made.
Positive and Neutral Messages
In the first paragraph state any good news and summarize the primary points. Include the date a policy begins, the percent of a discount, et cetera. If the message is a response to an issue, reveal that it is such.
Next, provide details. Do not repeat information that you have stated; rather, answer any questions the reader is likely to have. Present details in the order of importance to the reader. If there is any negative information, present it as positively as possible. A policy may have limits; information may be incomplete; the reader may need to satisfy requirements. Clarify such negatives, presenting them as positively as possible.
Messages to customers or potential customers sometimes include a sales paragraph promoting products or services the organization offers in addition to the product or service about which the reader asked. Such promotions should be soft, not aggressive.
Not all messages require reader benefits. Include reader benefits when you are presenting policies, when you want to shape the reader's attitude, or when the benefits may not be obvious to the reader. Reader benefits are difficult to create when you are announcing a policy that the organization adopted to help it. Those who made the decision may not have been thinking whether the policy would help or hurt their employees. Furthermore, although many new policies help the organization in some way, few employees will regard their own interests as identical with the organization's interests. The organization may save money or increase its profits, but employees will benefit directly only if they own stock in the company, if they receive bonuses, if the company is able to avoid layoffs, or if the savings goes directly to the employees' benefits. The savings an organization accrues often goes to executive bonuses, shareholder profits, or research and development.
The reader needs to understand the reason(s) for the change to support it. When you present reader benefits, clearly state the advantages to the reader. Think about benefits that are a result from the policy itself, separate from any financial benefits.
Tactfully concluding an e-mail can be problematic if it is short. You can tell your reader what specific action you want him/her to take; you can compliment the reader for an action he/she took; you can describe a reader benefit; you can look forward to something positive that relates to the subject of the message. If you have omitted backing (grounds in detail), you can state where your reader can find more information. If you have provided all the information your reader requires, you can write a goodwill ending that refers directly to the reader or to the reader's organization.
A goodwill ending should focus on the professional, not personal, relationship you have with the reader. An effective ending specifically refers to the reader to the extent it would not correlate to someone else or to another person with the same title in another organization. If you are writing to an individual in another organization, the ultimate paragraph can refer to your organization's relationship with the reader's organization. When you are writing to a group--all employees, for example--your ending should apply to the entire group.
Negative Messages
An e-mail is appropriate for a minor negative, not a major negative, which would require face-to-face interaction. Never write or reply to an e-mail when you are angry. If a message infuriates you, wait until you are calm to reply. Remember that employers have the right to read all messages, and an e-mail, similar to other documents, can become a legal document. When a negative e-mail is difficult to compose, create a draft offline so that you can receive feedback and revise it before you send the message.
Tone (the implied attitude of the author toward the subject and the reader) is especially important in negative messages. Carefully edit your e-mail for positive emphasis and you-attitude. The timing of an e-mail can convey tone. An immediate response will suggest that the rejection did not receive much consideration; a negative e-mail immediately before a holiday will seem harsh. When you need to relate negative information, consider recasting it as a positive or neutral message. For example, if your organization has a problem, ask the reader(s) to help solve it. A solution created by employees will be easier to implement. If the negative information will lead directly to a reader benefit, organize the information as you would in a positive or neutral message.
The way to organize a negative e-mail depends on whether you are writing to a person outside the organization, to a peer or subordinate, or to a superior. When there is a reason a reader outside the organization will understand or accept, state the reason before the refusal. A strong reason will prepare the reader to expect the refusal. State the refusal or negative information only once and as clearly as possible. The reader may miss an inconspicuous refusal, making it necessary for you to say no a second time. Present as alternative if there is one. An alternative not only will provide the reader another way to get what he/she wants, but it also will suggest you care about him/her, via helping the reader meet his/her needs. Close with a positive, forward-looking statement.
When you must reveal negative information to a peer or subordinate, first, describe the problem, clearly and unemotionally stating what is wrong. Second, present an alternative or a compromise if there is one. Finally, ask for input or action. Another employee may be able to suggest a solution, and if he/she does such, he/she will be more likely to accept the consequences.
Although your superior expects you to solve minor problems, sometimes you may not have the authority or resources to do such. If that is the case, first, clearly and unemotionally state the problem. Second, describe how it occurred, providing such background information as the underlying factors that led to the problem. Third, discuss the options for solving it. If one option is clearly the best one, state that you think it is such. Your superior probably will judge the options differently; regardless, describe all of them, providing what you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each. Fourth, recommend a solution and ask for action. Asking for approval will allow you to make the necessary changes to solve the problem.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Do You Want to Write a Screenplay?
Every year more than 40,000 screenplays are registered with the Writers Guild of America. Only 1 out of 100 screenplays are sold; fewer than 1 out of 13 screenplays are made. The following tips may help you overcome those odds.
First, know how to write. Because the first reader of your work will look for any reason to reject it and to move to the next screenplay in his/her large pile, if you write well, the reader may place your work with those under deliberation. Writing well is more than spelling words correctly and using grammar and mechanics properly; writing well includes creating emotive characters, an engrossing dialogue, and a sound plot.
Second, analyze movies and screenplays. You do not need to enroll in a film school to write a screenplay, but you do need to know the elements of a successful one. Analyze movies that received critical acclaim--dividing each into scenes, describing the characters, and outlining the plots. Divide your favorite movies into five- or ten-minute segments to study action and pace. The protagonist should intrigue you soon after the opening scene. Ten minutes into Tootsie (1982), we realize that Dustin Hoffman's Michael Dorsey is an ambitious but difficult New York actor. The rising action should be clear to you within 20 minutes. In Groundhog Day (1993), Bill Murray's Phil Connors wakes at 6 a.m. on February 2 for the second time. Be attentive to details. In Chinatown (1974), a drama about corruption in Los Angeles' water department, the director, Roman Polanski, included the sound of dripping or rushing water in almost every scene.
Public libraries, film schools, screenwriters' websites, and the Writers Guild have screenplays, especially of popular movies. Actively read as many as you can--focusing on characters, dialogue, plot and format.
Third, format your screenplay in accordance with Hollywood standards. Purchase software to help you standardize your work, preventing hours of frustration. Use it to create margins, headers, capitalizations and indentations.
Fourth, captivate your reader early. Studios, producers, directors, agents, managers, and some actors employ readers to critique screenplays so that only the best reach important desks. Most readers will decide within the first 10 pages whether or not a screenplay is acceptable. It is the only way they are able to critique their piles of 10 to 20 screenplays every night. Because he/she is the first--and thus most important--gatekeeper your screenplay must impress, you must gain the reader's attention early so that he/she continues to turn the pages.
Fifth, limit the length of your screenplay from 100 to 120 pages. The first thing a reader will do is turn to the last page of your screenplay to see how long it is. Try not to evoke a premature groan from the reader. Furthermore, theater owners prefer two-hour movies that they can screen six times per day rather than four times. Each page of your screenplay will equate to a minute of dramatic time.
Sixth, register your work. Protect your unique intellectual property by filing for a copyright and by registering your work with the Writers Guild of America. Do such after you complete your first draft.
Seventh, know the market. Finishing your screenplay is only half the battle, and it is the easiest half because it is the part most within your control. It is important to know who is buying what and who is producing what. Most studios and production companies will not read your screenplay unless a reputable agent, manager or attorney submits it. Smaller companies may read it if they deal in the genre. To ensure you are not sending your tragedy to a producer of comedies, peruse the most recent versions of industry registers.
Eighth, create a network. The majority of business in Hollywood is conducted via networks. But if you are not living in Los Angeles, you can make helpful contacts by submitting your work to reputable screenwriting competitions, joining a local screenwriters' association, and attending conferences. There are publications and websites that list contests and their submission requirements. Many large cities have local screenwriters' associations that host guest speakers from Hollywood, and some of those cities have film festivals with lectures open to the public. You also may want to attend a conference. Most offer panel discussions and seminars on a variety of topics.
Ninth, continue to write. Rarely is a screenwriter's first screenplay produced. Frequently it takes several screenplays before a screenwriter becomes proficient in characterization and plot development. Most agents recommend that an inexperienced writer not seek representation until he/she has at least three complete screenplays to submit. Thus, it is important to continue to write, generating as many works as you can.
First, know how to write. Because the first reader of your work will look for any reason to reject it and to move to the next screenplay in his/her large pile, if you write well, the reader may place your work with those under deliberation. Writing well is more than spelling words correctly and using grammar and mechanics properly; writing well includes creating emotive characters, an engrossing dialogue, and a sound plot.
Second, analyze movies and screenplays. You do not need to enroll in a film school to write a screenplay, but you do need to know the elements of a successful one. Analyze movies that received critical acclaim--dividing each into scenes, describing the characters, and outlining the plots. Divide your favorite movies into five- or ten-minute segments to study action and pace. The protagonist should intrigue you soon after the opening scene. Ten minutes into Tootsie (1982), we realize that Dustin Hoffman's Michael Dorsey is an ambitious but difficult New York actor. The rising action should be clear to you within 20 minutes. In Groundhog Day (1993), Bill Murray's Phil Connors wakes at 6 a.m. on February 2 for the second time. Be attentive to details. In Chinatown (1974), a drama about corruption in Los Angeles' water department, the director, Roman Polanski, included the sound of dripping or rushing water in almost every scene.
Public libraries, film schools, screenwriters' websites, and the Writers Guild have screenplays, especially of popular movies. Actively read as many as you can--focusing on characters, dialogue, plot and format.
Third, format your screenplay in accordance with Hollywood standards. Purchase software to help you standardize your work, preventing hours of frustration. Use it to create margins, headers, capitalizations and indentations.
Fourth, captivate your reader early. Studios, producers, directors, agents, managers, and some actors employ readers to critique screenplays so that only the best reach important desks. Most readers will decide within the first 10 pages whether or not a screenplay is acceptable. It is the only way they are able to critique their piles of 10 to 20 screenplays every night. Because he/she is the first--and thus most important--gatekeeper your screenplay must impress, you must gain the reader's attention early so that he/she continues to turn the pages.
Fifth, limit the length of your screenplay from 100 to 120 pages. The first thing a reader will do is turn to the last page of your screenplay to see how long it is. Try not to evoke a premature groan from the reader. Furthermore, theater owners prefer two-hour movies that they can screen six times per day rather than four times. Each page of your screenplay will equate to a minute of dramatic time.
Sixth, register your work. Protect your unique intellectual property by filing for a copyright and by registering your work with the Writers Guild of America. Do such after you complete your first draft.
Seventh, know the market. Finishing your screenplay is only half the battle, and it is the easiest half because it is the part most within your control. It is important to know who is buying what and who is producing what. Most studios and production companies will not read your screenplay unless a reputable agent, manager or attorney submits it. Smaller companies may read it if they deal in the genre. To ensure you are not sending your tragedy to a producer of comedies, peruse the most recent versions of industry registers.
Eighth, create a network. The majority of business in Hollywood is conducted via networks. But if you are not living in Los Angeles, you can make helpful contacts by submitting your work to reputable screenwriting competitions, joining a local screenwriters' association, and attending conferences. There are publications and websites that list contests and their submission requirements. Many large cities have local screenwriters' associations that host guest speakers from Hollywood, and some of those cities have film festivals with lectures open to the public. You also may want to attend a conference. Most offer panel discussions and seminars on a variety of topics.
Ninth, continue to write. Rarely is a screenwriter's first screenplay produced. Frequently it takes several screenplays before a screenwriter becomes proficient in characterization and plot development. Most agents recommend that an inexperienced writer not seek representation until he/she has at least three complete screenplays to submit. Thus, it is important to continue to write, generating as many works as you can.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Common Cinematic Terms
The definitions of 60 cinematic terms compose this list.
1. Antagonist. The primary character in a plot (Please refer to
"Plot."), on whom the audience's interest centers, is the
protagonist (or alternatively, the hero or heroine) and if the plot
is such that he/she is in opposition with another character, that
character is the antagonist. The relation between them is one of
conflict. (Please refer to "Conflict.")
2. Anticlimax. Anticlimax denotes a screenwriter's deliberate turn
from the serious and elevated to the trivial and lowly in order to
achieve a comic or satiric effect.
3. Antihero. An antihero is the primary character in a modern
movie whose attributes are discrepant from those we associate
with the traditional protagonist of a serious work. Instead of
manifesting largeness, dignity, power or heroism, an antihero is
petty, disgraceful, passive, ineffectual or dishonest.
4. Auteur. An auteur is a director (Please refer to "Director.") who
exercises creative control of a movie and has a strong personal
style.
5. Character. Characters are the persons in a cinematic work who
have particular moral, intellectual and emotional qualities that
we infer from what they say and the distinctive ways they speak
(the dialogue) and from what they do (the action). The grounds
of the characters' moralities, temperaments and reactions are
their motivations. A character may remain stable with respect to
outlook and disposition or may undergo a radical change, either
through a gradual process of development or as the result of a
crisis.
6. Climax. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
7. Close-up. A close-up directs the attention of the audience to a
detail (face, buttocks, feet, et cetera) that is, at that moment,
important to the course of the plot.
8. Comedy. A comedy often ends happily, for its function is to
entertain, provoking laughter and satirizing manners. Comedy
focuses on humans in social situations and depends on codes of
conduct, manners and morality, which it uses to express or imply
a standard against which deviations are measured. Comedy may
be high (intellectual) or low (physical).
9. Composition-In-Depth. Please refer to "Montage."
10. Conflict. Most plots contain conflict. Conflicts may occur
between a protagonist and an antagonist, between a protagonist
and his/her fate, between a protagonist's circumstances and
his/her goal(s), or between the oppositional desires and values of
a protagonist.
11. Contrast. Contrast is a directorial technique that forces the
audience to compare seemingly disparate shots or scenes that
relate to one another, one strengthening the other.
12. Crisis. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
13. Cut. A cut is a transition from one scene to another via an
abrupt change of image or sound, as between shots in a film.
14. Denouement. Please refer to Freytag's Pyramid."
15. Dialect. A dialect is a regional variety of the standard literary
language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists that
differs in pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary. Screenwriters
often use dialects in an attempt to present a character more
realistically or to express significant differences in class or
background.
16. Dialogue. All the words two or more characters exchange with
each other in a scene is dialogue, but recently the term dialogue
has begun to mean all the language of a movie.
17. Director. The person who oversees the artistic production of a
movie is a director.
18. Dramatic irony. Such occurs when an audience is aware of
something that a character or characters in a movie do not yet
know. Screenwriters use it to heighten tension or suspense or to
increase an audience's sympathy and/or comprehension.
19. Dramatic time. The period of time that elapses in the plot of a
movie--in opposition to physical time, which is the period during
which a movie is screened--is dramatic time.
20. Episode. An episode is one of a series of related events in the
course of a sequence.
21. Flashback. The order of a united plot is a continuous sequence
of beginning, middle and end. The beginning initiates the main
action in a way that makes us look forward to something more;
the middle resumes what precedes and requires something to
follow; the end follows from what precedes but requires nothing
more.
The structural beginning may not be the initial stage of the
action that a screenwriter brings to a climax in a screenplay.
Many short films begin at the point of the climax--in medias res,
"in the middle of things"--and longer works often capture our
attention in the opening scene with a representative incident
that relates to and closely precedes the event which precipitates
the conflict. In movies such often occurs with flashbacks:
interpolated scenes--frequently memories, reveries or
confessions--that represent events occurring before the time at
which the works open.
22. Flat character. If a screenwriter builds a character around a
single idea or quality and presents him/her without much detail,
then the character is flat. Usually one can describe such a
character in a single phrase or sentence.
23. Foil. A character in a work who serves to stress and highlight
the distinctive temperament of the protagonist is a foil.
24. Foreshadow. To foreshadow is to present an indication or a
suggestion of an event that will occur later in the work.
25. Freytag's Pyramid. The German critic Gustav Freytag in
Technique of the Drama
(1863) introduces an analysis of plot
known as Freytag's Pyramid. He describes the typical plot of a
five-act play as a pyramidal shape--consisting of rising action,
climactic action, and falling action. Although his description
applies to a limited number plays, critics of film frequently use
his terminology. The rising action begins during or immediately
after the opening and continues with the development of a
conflict. The rising action (conflict) reaches the highest point of
tension (climax). Next, a reversal or turning point (crisis)
occurs, which inaugurates the falling action. Finally, the action
or intrigue ends in success or failure for the protagonist. Two
frequently used terms for the outcome of a plot are resolution
and denouement.
In many plots the denouement involves a reversal in the
protagonist's fortunes--failure or destruction in tragic works and
success in comic works. The reversal often depends on a
discovery, the discovery of something important that was
unknown to him/her.
26. Hero or heroine. Please refer to "Antagonist."
27. Image. An image is a visual likeness of a real object or person,
and in the act of specifying resemblance, image distinguishes
and establishes the entire category of visual experience that is
not a real object or person. In that specifically negative sense, in
which a photograph of a dog is not the dog itself, a photograph is
an image. But image also has some positive connotations: the
creative action of the imagination realized by an instrument. An
artist filters and modifies reality, combining that experience with
other experiences to create a conceptual image, an image subject
to the manipulations of his/her instrument(s). What emerges is a
plastic image that is a reality in its own right. A painting is not,
fundamentally, an image of a dog. It is a likeness of a mental
concept that may resemble a dog or, as in abstract
expressionism, bear no visible relation to any real object. If
realism is the term of a graphic image that precisely simulates
some real object, then a photograph--and hence a movie, being a
sequence of photographs--is a form of reality itself.
28. In media res. Please refer to "Flashback."
29. Mise en scene. This term refers to the arrangement of
performers and properties on a stage before the camera.
30. Montage. Cinema is a two-dimensional art that creates the
illusion of a third dimension through montage, a rapid succession
of shots from different angles at different ranges, and through
composition-in-depth, movements of the camera or of the
performers.
31. Motif. A motif is a conspicuous element--such as a symbol,
image or theme--that appears throughout a work, contributing to
the unity of the work.
32. Narrator. The cinematic narrator is a composite of a large and
complex variety of communicative elements. I present some of
them in the following diagram, which is incomplete. My purpose
is simply to deconstruct the multiplex channels.
Auditory Channel
/ \
Kind Origin
/ / \ / \
noise voice music onscreen offscreen
/ \
earshot commentary
Visual Channel
/ \
Nature of image Treatment of image
/ / \ / \
prop location performer cinematography editing
/ \ / / \ \ / \
appearance performance / / \ \ type rhythm
/ / \ \ / \
/ / \ \ straight fade
/ / \ \
lighting color camera mise en scene
/ / \
distance angle movement
The cinematic narrator is the interaction of the spectator with all
the aforementioned elements.
33. Pan. To pan is to move a camera in such a way as to follow an
object or to create a panoramic effect.
34. Parallelism. This technique resembles contrast (Please refer to
"Contrast.") but is considerably wider in scope, as when two
seemingly disparate thematic incidents develop simultaneously.
35. Plot. The plot in a movie constitutes its events and actions,
rendered and ordered to achieve specific artistic and emotional
effects. That description is deceptively simple because
characters perform the actions--verbal discourse as well as
physical actions--that are the means by which they exhibit their
qualities. Therefore, plot and character are interdependent
critical concepts.
There are a great variety of plot forms: tragedy, comedy,
romance, satire and other genres. Each exhibits diverse
plot-patterns and may be narrative or dramatic.
36. Producer. A producer finances a movie.
37. Prop. A prop is a theatrical property.
38. Protagonist. Please refer to "Antagonist."
39. Resolution. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
40. Reversal. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
41. Rising action. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
42. Romance. Generally, romance refers to a comedy in which
sentimental love conquers all.
43. Round character. A director presents a round character with
subtle particularity because the character is complex in
temperament and motivation. Such a character is difficult to
describe adequately, and similar to a real person, he/she is
capable of surprising us.
44. Satire. Despite the aesthetic and often comic pleasure of satire,
satirists incline toward self-promotion as judges of morals and
manners, of thought and behavior. Numerous satirists ridicule or
berate the shortcomings of their own times, hoping that their
values will outlast the occasion or crises of the moment.
45. Scene. Narrowly, a scene is any part of a movie in a single
setting with an unchanging number of characters. Broadly,
scene refers to a brief portion of a movie that has its own
identity and development.
46. Script. A director will divide a script (a copy of a screenplay)
into sequences, each sequence into scenes, and each scene into
shots from various angles. In other words, he/she will construct
a scene from shots, a sequence from scenes, and a reel from
sequences.
47. Set. A set is the entire enclosure in which a movie is filmed. It
is also referred to as the soundstage.
48. Setting. The overall setting of a movie is the general locale,
historical time, and social circumstances in which its action
occurs. The setting of a single scene within such a work is the
particular physical location in which the scene takes place.
49. Shot. The basic unit of cinema, a shot is a single cinematic
take. Please refer to "Take."
50. Simultaneity. This technique allows a director to construct the
falling action of a movie from the simultaneous, rapid
development of two parallel actions, in which the outcome of
one depends on the outcome of the other.
51. Soliloquy. A soliloquy is a dramatic form of discourse in which
a character reveals his/her thoughts when alone or unaware of
the presence of other characters.
52. Stock character. Stock characters are types that occur
repeatedly in a particular cinematic genre and are recognizable
as part of the conventions of the form.
53. Subplot. A subplot is a story within a story (a movie) that is
complete and interesting in its own way(s). Please refer to
"Parallelism."
54. Suspense. A lack of certainty, on the part of the audience,
about what will happen, especially to characters with whom the
audience has established a bond of sympathy, is suspense. If
what occurs violates any expectations the audience formed, then
it is surprise.
55. Symbolism. In the broadest sense of the term, symbolism means
anything that signifies something. With respect to that sense, all
words are symbols. With respect to cinema, however, a symbol
is an object or event that signifies another object or event, which
in turn signifies something beyond itself. Some symbols are
public; some symbols are private.
56. Take. When a director films a scene without interrupting the
run of the camera, it is a take. A take may be either short or
long.
57. Theme. A theme is a general concept or doctrine, implicit or
explicit, which a screenwriter incorporates into his/her work and
makes persuasive to an audience.
58. Tragedy. A tragedy normally features a reversal of fortune from
good to bad and ends in catastrophe and death for the
protagonist and others. It is the genre of most movies that focus
on the meaning and significance of life.
59. Voice-Over. The voice of an offscreen narrator or of an
onscreen character the audience does not see speaking in a
movie is a voice-over.
60. Zoom. To zoom is to simulate movement rapidly away from or
toward a subject, using a zoom lens.
1. Antagonist. The primary character in a plot (Please refer to
"Plot."), on whom the audience's interest centers, is the
protagonist (or alternatively, the hero or heroine) and if the plot
is such that he/she is in opposition with another character, that
character is the antagonist. The relation between them is one of
conflict. (Please refer to "Conflict.")
2. Anticlimax. Anticlimax denotes a screenwriter's deliberate turn
from the serious and elevated to the trivial and lowly in order to
achieve a comic or satiric effect.
3. Antihero. An antihero is the primary character in a modern
movie whose attributes are discrepant from those we associate
with the traditional protagonist of a serious work. Instead of
manifesting largeness, dignity, power or heroism, an antihero is
petty, disgraceful, passive, ineffectual or dishonest.
4. Auteur. An auteur is a director (Please refer to "Director.") who
exercises creative control of a movie and has a strong personal
style.
5. Character. Characters are the persons in a cinematic work who
have particular moral, intellectual and emotional qualities that
we infer from what they say and the distinctive ways they speak
(the dialogue) and from what they do (the action). The grounds
of the characters' moralities, temperaments and reactions are
their motivations. A character may remain stable with respect to
outlook and disposition or may undergo a radical change, either
through a gradual process of development or as the result of a
crisis.
6. Climax. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
7. Close-up. A close-up directs the attention of the audience to a
detail (face, buttocks, feet, et cetera) that is, at that moment,
important to the course of the plot.
8. Comedy. A comedy often ends happily, for its function is to
entertain, provoking laughter and satirizing manners. Comedy
focuses on humans in social situations and depends on codes of
conduct, manners and morality, which it uses to express or imply
a standard against which deviations are measured. Comedy may
be high (intellectual) or low (physical).
9. Composition-In-Depth. Please refer to "Montage."
10. Conflict. Most plots contain conflict. Conflicts may occur
between a protagonist and an antagonist, between a protagonist
and his/her fate, between a protagonist's circumstances and
his/her goal(s), or between the oppositional desires and values of
a protagonist.
11. Contrast. Contrast is a directorial technique that forces the
audience to compare seemingly disparate shots or scenes that
relate to one another, one strengthening the other.
12. Crisis. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
13. Cut. A cut is a transition from one scene to another via an
abrupt change of image or sound, as between shots in a film.
14. Denouement. Please refer to Freytag's Pyramid."
15. Dialect. A dialect is a regional variety of the standard literary
language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists that
differs in pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary. Screenwriters
often use dialects in an attempt to present a character more
realistically or to express significant differences in class or
background.
16. Dialogue. All the words two or more characters exchange with
each other in a scene is dialogue, but recently the term dialogue
has begun to mean all the language of a movie.
17. Director. The person who oversees the artistic production of a
movie is a director.
18. Dramatic irony. Such occurs when an audience is aware of
something that a character or characters in a movie do not yet
know. Screenwriters use it to heighten tension or suspense or to
increase an audience's sympathy and/or comprehension.
19. Dramatic time. The period of time that elapses in the plot of a
movie--in opposition to physical time, which is the period during
which a movie is screened--is dramatic time.
20. Episode. An episode is one of a series of related events in the
course of a sequence.
21. Flashback. The order of a united plot is a continuous sequence
of beginning, middle and end. The beginning initiates the main
action in a way that makes us look forward to something more;
the middle resumes what precedes and requires something to
follow; the end follows from what precedes but requires nothing
more.
The structural beginning may not be the initial stage of the
action that a screenwriter brings to a climax in a screenplay.
Many short films begin at the point of the climax--in medias res,
"in the middle of things"--and longer works often capture our
attention in the opening scene with a representative incident
that relates to and closely precedes the event which precipitates
the conflict. In movies such often occurs with flashbacks:
interpolated scenes--frequently memories, reveries or
confessions--that represent events occurring before the time at
which the works open.
22. Flat character. If a screenwriter builds a character around a
single idea or quality and presents him/her without much detail,
then the character is flat. Usually one can describe such a
character in a single phrase or sentence.
23. Foil. A character in a work who serves to stress and highlight
the distinctive temperament of the protagonist is a foil.
24. Foreshadow. To foreshadow is to present an indication or a
suggestion of an event that will occur later in the work.
25. Freytag's Pyramid. The German critic Gustav Freytag in
Technique of the Drama
(1863) introduces an analysis of plotknown as Freytag's Pyramid. He describes the typical plot of a
five-act play as a pyramidal shape--consisting of rising action,
climactic action, and falling action. Although his description
applies to a limited number plays, critics of film frequently use
his terminology. The rising action begins during or immediately
after the opening and continues with the development of a
conflict. The rising action (conflict) reaches the highest point of
tension (climax). Next, a reversal or turning point (crisis)
occurs, which inaugurates the falling action. Finally, the action
or intrigue ends in success or failure for the protagonist. Two
frequently used terms for the outcome of a plot are resolution
and denouement.
In many plots the denouement involves a reversal in the
protagonist's fortunes--failure or destruction in tragic works and
success in comic works. The reversal often depends on a
discovery, the discovery of something important that was
unknown to him/her.
26. Hero or heroine. Please refer to "Antagonist."
27. Image. An image is a visual likeness of a real object or person,
and in the act of specifying resemblance, image distinguishes
and establishes the entire category of visual experience that is
not a real object or person. In that specifically negative sense, in
which a photograph of a dog is not the dog itself, a photograph is
an image. But image also has some positive connotations: the
creative action of the imagination realized by an instrument. An
artist filters and modifies reality, combining that experience with
other experiences to create a conceptual image, an image subject
to the manipulations of his/her instrument(s). What emerges is a
plastic image that is a reality in its own right. A painting is not,
fundamentally, an image of a dog. It is a likeness of a mental
concept that may resemble a dog or, as in abstract
expressionism, bear no visible relation to any real object. If
realism is the term of a graphic image that precisely simulates
some real object, then a photograph--and hence a movie, being a
sequence of photographs--is a form of reality itself.
28. In media res. Please refer to "Flashback."
29. Mise en scene. This term refers to the arrangement of
performers and properties on a stage before the camera.
30. Montage. Cinema is a two-dimensional art that creates the
illusion of a third dimension through montage, a rapid succession
of shots from different angles at different ranges, and through
composition-in-depth, movements of the camera or of the
performers.
31. Motif. A motif is a conspicuous element--such as a symbol,
image or theme--that appears throughout a work, contributing to
the unity of the work.
32. Narrator. The cinematic narrator is a composite of a large and
complex variety of communicative elements. I present some of
them in the following diagram, which is incomplete. My purpose
is simply to deconstruct the multiplex channels.
Auditory Channel
/ \
Kind Origin
/ / \ / \
noise voice music onscreen offscreen
/ \
earshot commentary
Visual Channel
/ \
Nature of image Treatment of image
/ / \ / \
prop location performer cinematography editing
/ \ / / \ \ / \
appearance performance / / \ \ type rhythm
/ / \ \ / \
/ / \ \ straight fade
/ / \ \
lighting color camera mise en scene
/ / \
distance angle movement
The cinematic narrator is the interaction of the spectator with all
the aforementioned elements.
33. Pan. To pan is to move a camera in such a way as to follow an
object or to create a panoramic effect.
34. Parallelism. This technique resembles contrast (Please refer to
"Contrast.") but is considerably wider in scope, as when two
seemingly disparate thematic incidents develop simultaneously.
35. Plot. The plot in a movie constitutes its events and actions,
rendered and ordered to achieve specific artistic and emotional
effects. That description is deceptively simple because
characters perform the actions--verbal discourse as well as
physical actions--that are the means by which they exhibit their
qualities. Therefore, plot and character are interdependent
critical concepts.
There are a great variety of plot forms: tragedy, comedy,
romance, satire and other genres. Each exhibits diverse
plot-patterns and may be narrative or dramatic.
36. Producer. A producer finances a movie.
37. Prop. A prop is a theatrical property.
38. Protagonist. Please refer to "Antagonist."
39. Resolution. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
40. Reversal. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
41. Rising action. Please refer to "Freytag's Pyramid."
42. Romance. Generally, romance refers to a comedy in which
sentimental love conquers all.
43. Round character. A director presents a round character with
subtle particularity because the character is complex in
temperament and motivation. Such a character is difficult to
describe adequately, and similar to a real person, he/she is
capable of surprising us.
44. Satire. Despite the aesthetic and often comic pleasure of satire,
satirists incline toward self-promotion as judges of morals and
manners, of thought and behavior. Numerous satirists ridicule or
berate the shortcomings of their own times, hoping that their
values will outlast the occasion or crises of the moment.
45. Scene. Narrowly, a scene is any part of a movie in a single
setting with an unchanging number of characters. Broadly,
scene refers to a brief portion of a movie that has its own
identity and development.
46. Script. A director will divide a script (a copy of a screenplay)
into sequences, each sequence into scenes, and each scene into
shots from various angles. In other words, he/she will construct
a scene from shots, a sequence from scenes, and a reel from
sequences.
47. Set. A set is the entire enclosure in which a movie is filmed. It
is also referred to as the soundstage.
48. Setting. The overall setting of a movie is the general locale,
historical time, and social circumstances in which its action
occurs. The setting of a single scene within such a work is the
particular physical location in which the scene takes place.
49. Shot. The basic unit of cinema, a shot is a single cinematic
take. Please refer to "Take."
50. Simultaneity. This technique allows a director to construct the
falling action of a movie from the simultaneous, rapid
development of two parallel actions, in which the outcome of
one depends on the outcome of the other.
51. Soliloquy. A soliloquy is a dramatic form of discourse in which
a character reveals his/her thoughts when alone or unaware of
the presence of other characters.
52. Stock character. Stock characters are types that occur
repeatedly in a particular cinematic genre and are recognizable
as part of the conventions of the form.
53. Subplot. A subplot is a story within a story (a movie) that is
complete and interesting in its own way(s). Please refer to
"Parallelism."
54. Suspense. A lack of certainty, on the part of the audience,
about what will happen, especially to characters with whom the
audience has established a bond of sympathy, is suspense. If
what occurs violates any expectations the audience formed, then
it is surprise.
55. Symbolism. In the broadest sense of the term, symbolism means
anything that signifies something. With respect to that sense, all
words are symbols. With respect to cinema, however, a symbol
is an object or event that signifies another object or event, which
in turn signifies something beyond itself. Some symbols are
public; some symbols are private.
56. Take. When a director films a scene without interrupting the
run of the camera, it is a take. A take may be either short or
long.
57. Theme. A theme is a general concept or doctrine, implicit or
explicit, which a screenwriter incorporates into his/her work and
makes persuasive to an audience.
58. Tragedy. A tragedy normally features a reversal of fortune from
good to bad and ends in catastrophe and death for the
protagonist and others. It is the genre of most movies that focus
on the meaning and significance of life.
59. Voice-Over. The voice of an offscreen narrator or of an
onscreen character the audience does not see speaking in a
movie is a voice-over.
60. Zoom. To zoom is to simulate movement rapidly away from or
toward a subject, using a zoom lens.
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