These days, with all the big-bang, razzle-dazzle special effects eye candy and CGI capabilities that film makers have in their arsenal to take viewers practically anywhere in the world (or beyond), it’s easy for filmmakers to “go big” with the size and scope of their movies. Sure, every once in a while we’ll get something special like Avatar, but if there isn’t a compelling and substantive storyline beneath that big sugary shell, you get Battlefield Earth. Many a director has fallen prey to the siren call of CGI and pyrotechnics. I am looking at you Michael Bay.
Good filmmakers manage to resist the urge to lean too much on the numerous technological crutches they have available to them. Instead, they narrow down their fims and focus instead on delivering powerful messages in compelling, human ways.
12 Angry Men
This movie is set almost entirely in a cramped, sweltering jury room. You can almost feel the sweat dripping down your back as you watch the jurors pace back and forth and argue about the guilt or innocence of the 18 year old boy who is accused of first-degree murder. You want out of that jury room.
Psycho
Hitchcock was a master of narrowing the camera’s focus and taking full advantage of a small, cramped space to intensify the experience – count the number of cuts (sorry – pun intended) and angles he gets from within a single shower scene in Psycho.
Kill Bill Vol. 2
In between much more expansive (dare I say indulgent?) scenes from Kill Bill Vol. 2, Quentin Tarantino buries us, along with “the Bride,” six feet under - alive. It’s intense and terrifying, even if for only a couple minutes, and even from the comfort of the couch.
THE INEVITABLE ANALOGY TO THE WEB
In many of the same ways, web designers have a similar bevy of tools at their disposal to make flashy, audacious, immersive experiences that will “wow” you visually. But, that feeling will be fleeting if there isn’t a purpose or message to buttress all of those visuals. If the experience on the site doesn’t resonate with the user on a deeper level (evoking thoughts like “They’re right, I need this product!” or “That’s exactly my problem. I am glad I have found someone who understands my problem and can help me”), it’s not going to produce any real results for that website’s owner.
SITES THAT FOCUS AND GET IT RIGHT
APPLE
No surprise here; I am an apologetic Apple Fanboy. Seriously though, can you find a cleaner, attractive and usable website? I don’t think so. Apple does a great job placing the focus squarely on their products. The scope of the site has grown a bit over the years as they’ve expanded their product offerings, but it’s safe to say they’ve been very restrained in their design philosophy. The single goal on this site is to deliver just what’s needed for the user to have the best web experience possible (in order to buy their products of course). Heck, look at their URL structure – compare the URL for the iMac (http://www.apple.com/imac) versus the URL for the Internet Explorer 8 browser (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/internet-explorer) - which one are you more likely to remember?
KALEIDOSCOPE
Beautiful and professional design. Crystal-clear and friendly voice throughout the content. Compelling calls to action throughout – all on a single page. Perfection.
EVEN MORE REASONS FOR NARROWING THE FOCUS
There are some practical reasons for narrowing down the focus of your website to only the most compelling and essential elements too:
- Save money – less elaborate and smaller websites (in terms of pages) are generally going to cost less, so spend that hard-earned money on the stuff that matters most
- Save time - focus your time and energy on building a new website by creating content for only the most important pages on your site. Users aren’t really going to care too much about your “Company History” page if you haven’t impressed them on the pages they visited before getting to it, so don’t kill yourself trying to write page content for millions of pages
- Do it different – Be remarkable by standing out from the crowd. If your industry is full of big flashy websites, keep yours small and tight. Users will remember "that one different site"
RECAP
Whether it’s on the big screen or on the web, it takes courage to put down all of the cutting-edge tools and capabilities that are available. Focus not on eye candy, but instead on delivering a powerful, meaningful, relatable experience. When you can strip away everything but what matters to the viewer, you’ve accomplished something significant – and people will notice.