There’s one surefire way to tell who is the ‘bad guy’ in a movie or book– It’s to hear how the plan is going to take place. If the character launches into a long rant, chances are he or she is the bad guy. Good guys don’t monologue.
Why do bad guys do that?
It could be because they believe that there’s no way you could possibly appreciate the amount of evil scheming that went into the end result, and they want to make sure the protagonist (as well as the audience) fully understands that being bad is hard work!
As content developers, we don’t want to be positioned as the ‘bad guy.’ We must pay close attention to the amount of backstory we need to include in order to “sell” the idea. It’s important to provide the correct amount of information that allows the audience to know what we are hoping to accomplish, and what the next steps are. We need to be sure that the point is clear to the audience, without boring them to death, or giving them time to figure out an escape plan.
We don’t need to monologue.
And since I fancy myself a ‘good guy’ I’ll just leave it at that.
Chris Gregoire
Digital Strategist
