#Exposition in film

[writingwithfolklore]

When to Info Dump

                I was taught as a young writer to never ever ‘info dump’. An info dump is a paragraph (or several) that just runs the readers through info they need to know. While avoiding info dumps is typically a good practice—lots of information at once can be overwhelming, boring, or ‘cheap’—as with most things in writing, never say never. Recently, I finished a book that info dumps often, and with intention, and it worked.

                To info dump well, you actually have to do it often (or relatively often). Just one info dump somewhere in the middle or beginning of the story is going to seem like a mistake. Using it as a literary technique however, and it adds a sort of intrigue, whimsy, or discordant tone to your story.

                In this way, it becomes a quirk of your narrator’s voice. It should match or make sense with the character you are following. A super serious, meticulous character may info dump in the way they would list off the information they know. A more bubbly character may info dump out of excitement to share their interests.

                Which brings us to the type of information you can reasonably info dump without getting in trouble. Of course, the information shared should be stuff that your character would know, but also, information that they would care to share.

                For example, that serious character would info dump only pertinent, personally important information, whereas the bubbly character probably wouldn’t info dump about real estate or politics—unless of course it’s part of their special interests. A detail oriented character may only info dump about things they are noticing in the moment. A history buff would definitely info dump about culture and the past.

                Essentially, use the right amount, for the right character, with the right information, and you can pull off an intentional and well-done info dump. Otherwise, avoid it!

                What are your thoughts on exposition or info-dumping?

[columboscreens]

[mariocki]

Messiah of Evil (Dead People, 1974)

"Hard to remember back on things... but I - I remember the red moonlight Daddy told me about, only once. Mama gave him a bad look when he talked about it. He was only a boy himself, then. He called it the blood moon. He said that was the night that he lost religion. He learned that men could do... could do horrible things... like animals."

[notasapleasure]

when you see acclaimed 1984 film Terminator for the first time in the cinema in 2024: FINALLY some good fucking movie

[datura21]

Bill viola à Liège.

[skitskatdacat63]

Btw The Talented Mr. Ripley is the best film ever made. If you even care.

[the-woman-upstairs]

Kudos to The First Omen for being so good I went from “ugh they’re doing a prequel to the first Omen film 🙄” to “i’m gonna need about five more sequels with the characters/stories from this prequel 🤩.”

[elodieven]

inside/out

#doubleexposure

#kodakgold

[marinebeccarelli]

Involuntary double exposure. The story of a house move from Paris to Lyon. February/March 2022

[ravenalla]

The way before mando season 3 came out when I heard we were getting a 4th season I could not have been more hyped it wasn’t gonna be ending, and now when I see updated filming news about I couldn’t care less :/

[writingwithfolklore]

Backstory is Revealed When You Need It, Not Before

                Recently I shared my first 30 pages with my writing mentor, and now I'm sharing her advice with all of you (This is part 2! Find part 1 here). She told me my beginning read very slowly because I was giving backstory before it was relevant in the story, rather than intertwining it with the action.

                What I mean by that is, I was giving a lot of exposition on my world just through my character noting it to herself. I worried that if I didn’t lay down the basics right away, when I did mention it later it would come as a bad shock to readers.

While that might have a logic to it, it's very slow to read just exposition on the world. To get these details through naturally and when they're relevant, while still conveying them in the beginning, we needed to create a conflict for my main character to react to right away.

This way, I could spend the first couple pages revealing the essentials of my world and main character without halting the pacing to a stop.

                Okay, consider these two examples:

Character A avoided the alleyways as they travelled to the store. The city was overrun by gangs who liked to lurk in their dark corners, jumping out at unaware passerby’s for coin or favours.

                Vs.

The back of Character A’s neck prickled as they passed an alleyway that swallowed all light. They were steps away when they heard a raspy voice, “don’t you know you gotta pay the fee to pass through our turf?”

                How this character resolves this conflict will betray who they are as a person. Do they cower? Do they fight back? Do they reveal they have connections to another gang, or the police?

                This little conflict, as well as establishing a vital part of your world and character, should in some small way connect to the bigger conflict up ahead, aka the inciting incident.

                In this example, this specific gang would probably be where the main antagonist is from—or the consequences of how they deal with this follow them into the inciting incident in some way.

                Backstory only when it’s most relevant, not to anticipate when it will be important later.

                Good luck!

[pedroam-bang]

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (1997)

[hsslilly-blog]

the man who knew too much (1956) is too long god damn it drags TOO MUCH. had never watched this version and jesus. it’s really saved by the last 30 minutes that theatre scene is extremely anxiety inducing and it works sooo well. the last scene with doris day singing que sera sera to find her son made me cry but i have a pass because my mother is dead. they got an oscar for that at least. but damn they shouldve cut like. 25 minutes from this film

[lifesver]

(not) lil dire verse starter for @t4mpered / cw the usual dusk topics

bar is hazy with low laughter, and the warm rumble of a jukebox in the corner of the room — staticy, playing some old country song leland doesn't recognize. a little more lively than normal, though, leland thinks — or, maybe it’s just already the weekend, and he's lost track of his days, again.

leland's been here a few times now — quiet and subdued at johnny's heels. watch, learn. mirror. don't look so wide-eyed and scared. don't act like some skittish outsider. but he still feels out-of-place. it smells like mildew and cigarettes and stale beer in here, and rough-faced men sit perched on barstools, trying to chat up the pretty young bartender. real blue-collar types; ones johnny seemed to know most of by name, that leland didn't want to get caught looking at wrong.

he sends a nervous glance across the room — looking for a familiar shadow leaning on the wall, staring him down — but doesn't find him. it makes leland fidget with the handle of the blade in his jacket pocket. wouldn't he have told you, if this was another test? an odd worry settles in the pit of his stomach; what if something happened, and he doesn’t come back for you? what if —

( — what if you snuck away to that payphone outside, again? )

his fingers twitch at carved handle, agitated. eyes flick across the faces in the room again. breathe. you're fine, you can do this, you can — leland forces his shoulders to relax. it’s probably fine; he would be back. wouldn't let something get out of hand. wouldn’t let him get hurt, or anything like that — right? even if he isn’t watching leland from afar, others in this bar probably are. that's what johnny said; eyes everywhere, in this town.

he's supposed to pick out a stranger. a drifter, or a passer-through. someone who might not be missed. maybe, someone who seemed... vulnerable. leland tastes something sick in the back of his throat; there's no illusions of what he's here to do. what he’s done before — what’s expected. ( — and you want to do well for him, don’t you? show you’ve gotten better, that he can trust you. that he doesn't have to put you back down in the dark. you can be good enough — )

he scans the room again. johnny would say it like this; most people are lookin’ for something. then the trick was — you'd play that role for them; a friend, a hookup, sometimes a fight. whatever it took, to get them following you out to a secluded place — which, it got a little easier to do, when you pretended to be someone else. anyone else. anyone besides leland mckinney, officially, legally, dead. even if whatever he is, now, wanders around regardless of an obituary entry — lifelike in every way — with a heart that thuds and rattles, like a cold stone in his chest.

maybe in some sickeningly guilty way, it’s freeing. to smile, to give fake names to strangers. to know that no one’s going to match his face to a missing poster — not in this town, anyway. or, maybe not anywhere, now. people kept to themselves, around here. and if the past year had taught him anything — it was to forget about the idea of anyone in this god-forsaken town helping him.

leland blinks. opening chords of the next song roll fuzzy from the old jukebox; i need you, lynyrd skynyrd. he remembers, mostly, because he remembers when they started playing it on the radio, in the summer. he remembers trying to memorize the words, muffled through the dirt wall. it hums low in his throat as he spots his stranger, a dark silhouette by the bar, turned away from him. leland pauses just a moment, eyes fluttering closed as he performs the familiar practice, of putting all the roiling anxiety in him under cement. takes a measured breath to steady himself — okay. okay — find out what this stranger is looking for. you're fine. you can do this.

ain't no need to worry

there ain't no use to cry

'cause i'll be comin' home soon —

leland settles with his back to the bar, parallel to his stranger. at first it’s just a brush of contact, a bump of elbows, that could easily be written off as accidental. he gives a small sidelong glance to the man's profile, noting closed body language, static practically rolling off tense shoulders. but, definitely not a local, leland thinks, with a touch of bitterness — guy lacks the distinct grimy film this place tends to suffocate you with. but — there's something else, that makes his stomach twist in knots. something that stings nostalgic in the man's scruff and shaggy hair, the hard furrow of his brow. in that weathered brown jacket.

( " say somethin' " the far-away voice tries to reach him. as scared as him.

" ... leland? " )

— you know i get so lonely

that i feel i can't go on,

leland's eyes wander back to the blinking lights on the jukebox, and names that are not his own shift around behind his teeth. ❝ … they look lost in their own world, ❞ he comments, candidly. and nods toward the center of the room — where a couple of drunken patrons were in a slow, woozy sway to the music. a woman throwing her head back with laughter as her dance partner spins her around under the dim, gaudy lights. it looks a little silly, to him. it looks… romantic.

leland’s chest squeezes. he keeps eyes down, tracing the frayed stitching on the sleeve of stranger’s leather jacket. ❝ — what about you? ❞ leland smiles softly, mostly to himself, ❝ you look like you’d rather be anywhere else. ❞ god. he knows the feeling.

[silveragelovechild]

“These films remain so fundamentally derivative and dull that you can’t escape the feeling that you’re watching an extended fan film… filled with even more superficial characters and excessive exposition”

[foxcassius]

i think it is silly when people act like studio ghibli is the end all be all of animated filmmaking and writing when in fact every film will have a different combo of writers and directors and when marnie was there is a movie that cannot execute the basic tenets of "show dont tell"