What makes a Story Memorable?
Selective exposure and perception is something embedded with in each of us to certain degrees. this selectivity of ours makes us a complicated audience when it comes to media. Media makers from all the media industries strive to grab our attention and also KEEP it. Most of the time, it's easy for them to get our attention however they have a much harder time keeping it.
In this demo I talked about how certain elements media makers use to grab our attention but fail at keeping while finally showing elements that make a story memorable to me (my opinion).
1- Sex appeal
Most of us remember this movie for it's raunchiness and blatant sex appeal. It caught our (males) attention with T&A but do we remember the story? I don't.
2- Cheesy Romance
Yes most girls in class loved it but this is another easy trick used in Hollywood a lot. Honestly think about how many movies have a tacked/forced romance so they can grab a female audience with the the male? Now movies like Titanic, I remember the beginning and the end (James Cameron with all cannons firing!). Everything in the middle seemed pointless and forgetful (except draw me like one of your french girls - sex appeal). Honestly the romance between Jack and Rose really demanded I suspend my disbelief!
3- Cars and asses! Its every man's dream!
Fast cars everywhere! Sexy chicks everywhere!
Tough men+Fast cars+ a sexy actress= movie that the teens and macho men will flock to= $$$
It's a simple formula that Hollywood uses to different degrees to score some quick cash. Honestly I have watched a few movies from the Fast and Furious series and the only think I remember is men challenging each other to race for women or their manliness. Oh before I forget, there were a lot shaking booties and rap songs...
4 - Power Fantasy Action
Seriously who remembers anything about these kinds of movies except one-liners and that scene where macho guy X does something badass? These movies just revel in wanton chaos and destruction for no artistic reason. The explosive stuff happening hardly serves to advance or improve the plot.
5 - Girly Movies
GASP! Its a movie for women! With shopping sprees, expensive dresses and heels, girl talk, gossip and sexy men! Its every woman's dream! NOT! Honestly movies that try to cash on their female audience because they think they are feminine and demonstrate women's life are just dumb. Focusing too much on what is perceived to be common in women's life (like the stuff above) and forgetting that telling a good involving story is more important. Of course this could be a matter of target audience meaning I won't get it...
6 - Excessive Shock
Oh my God something just jumped out of the closet! Oh my God his head is gone! Oh my God she got dragged by Jason! Oh my God he's got 1 minute before his head explodes!
Well you get the idea. Most horror movies nowadays are guilty of producing quick shocking scares instead of building tension and scaring you to death with one well executed scare. Stuff like Saw just makes you think whether the directors wanted to scare you or gross you out with the excessive gore.
7 - Lavish Production Values
Beautiful movie indeed but where is the plot? The character development? The things that matter?
Movies like Avatar seem to be the current trend now in Hollywood. Awesome visuals to get the audiences interested and then serve them a cliched or boring story.
Now that i talked about common techniques or elements that media makers use to grab your attention let's talk about things that make a story memorable
1- Great set pieces
Memorable set pieces like Hogwarts or the Matrix allows to create a link between us and the world where the story happens. We become so enamored by the world that we want to be a part of it (I still want to be a Wizard damnit! Hagrid, where you!?)
2- Great Villains
Some us just love a good villain. Whether because he's so despicable or too cool to hate. A movie with a great villain will make the story memorable because obviously the villain is a big part of the story; if you remember what he did then you will remember most of the story.
Here is one of the best video game villains, GladOS an AI that is all about schadenfreude and verbal abuse:
3 - an amazing introduction
An amazing intro can really cement the story and world in your head watch these clips and disagree. I DARE YA...
And that was the demo in a nutshell. A lot of important things like good writing, character development and some of the positive stuff I mentioned are needed to craft good and memorable stories not the redundant stuff above. They should be a little extra or bonus. The cherry on the cake not the whole freaking cake!
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