1. CHAPTER 15 EXPOSITION STORY

2. SHOW, DON’T TELL

3. Exposition means facts—the information about setting, biography, and characterization that the audience needs to know to follow and comprehend the events of the story. Show honest, natural scenes in which human beings talk and behave in honest, natural ways… yet at the same time indirectly pass along the necessary facts. Dramatize exposition.

4. SHOW, DON’T TELL Dramatized Exposition: 1.Further the immediate conflict 2.Convey information Convert exposition to ammunition. Characters and camera behave truthfully. Parse out exposition: 1.Never include anything the audience can reasonably and easily assume happened. 2.Pace the exposition—the least important facts come in early, the next most important later, the critical facts last.

5. SHOW, DON’T TELL Whatever is said hides what cannot be said. Save the best for last. Reveal only the exposition the audience absolutely needs and wants to know and no more. Create the desire to know by arousing curiosity. Put the question “Why?” in the filmgoer’s mind.

6. THE USE OF BACKSTORY We can turn scenes only one of two ways: on action or on revelation. Powerful revelations come from the BACKSTORY—previous significant events in the lives of the character that the writer can reveal at critical moments to create Turning Points. A mix of action and revelation.

7. FLASHBACKS Another form of exposition. First, dramatize flashbacks. Second, do not bring in a flashback until you have created in the audience the need and desire to know.

8. DREAM SEQUENCE, MONTAGE, VOICE-OVER NARRATION Dream Sequence: exposition in a ball gown. Montage: A series of rapidly cut images that radically condenses or expands time and often employs optical effects. Voice-over: Less is more. Respect the intelligence and sensitivity of your audience.