Understanding the structure
The assumption that a linear basic structure will make stretchtext easier to understand is of course dependent on a clearly created line. If users are to experience a stretchfilm as easy to understand, they need to grasp the structuring principles that guide the editing.
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For readers or viewers new to hypermedia, the idea of stretching and contracting the linear story may seem familiar enough to make the users feel comfortable, but it is no guarantee that the hypertext really will be simple to understand. We have all experienced linear films or articles that are far from easy to understand, and to create stretchtext versions of them would rarely make them any less difficult.
Only if the linear work has an effective structure can we hope that the stretchtext version will be effective. There are many ways of organizing a linear text. Examples include chronology, narrative, argument, news story, and song.
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Weddings, for instance, have a well-known structure, and need less explanation than other films.
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All those who tested the wedding film had been to a wedding themselves. Ceremonies such as weddings always repeat the same basic elements, so the sequence in a film from such a ceremony is very predictable. When users are presented with the possibility to view more of a part of the wedding, they have a reasonably good understanding of what to expect.
Films of less formulaic events or stories do not have this advantage. When the short version of the travel film shows a short holiday in New York City, it is not immediately clear what from the trip the longer version will include that the short version skipped.
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Most home films have a less predictable structure. In the next section, "Linking and Film Editing," we will see that they consist of what narrative theory knows as catalogues and scenes.