Archive for the ‘screenplay storytelling techniques’ tag

Five Techniques for Revealing Exposition

Dreaded exposition – the necessary but boring information every screenwriter fears will put an audience into a deep sleep. Most screenwriters agree the best way to present exposition is visually, but when that’s not possible and you’re forced to resort to expository dialogue it can be a challenge.  Here are five techniques to help you subtly reveal exposition through dialogue:

1. Present it in small portions
Don’t overwhelm the reader with too much information at once, break up the exposition into several scenes or among more than one character, such as this scene from Aliens:

BURKE
What’s he scanning for?

GORMAN
PDT’S.  Personal-Data Transmitters. Every adult colonist had one surgically implanted.

HUDSON
If they’re within twenty klicks we’ll read it out here, but so far…zip.

2. Imply the information
Instead of presenting the information directly, imply it.  Implied information engages the reader – actively involving him in the story as he tries to figure out the information.  In the film Escape From Alcatraz, the exposition surrounding Frank Morris’ childhood is implied:

CHARLEY BUTTS
What kind of childhood did you have?

FRANK MORRIS
Short.

3. Surround it with emotion
Camouflage the exposition with emotion. When the audience is emotionally impacted by a scene, they will not notice the exposition.  It can be any emotion: shock, fear, curiosity, anxiety, etc.  In Erin Brockovich, Susannah Grant provides plenty of exposition in this scene, which she surrounds with tension:

GEORGE
Come on. Gimme your number, I’ll call you up proper and ask you out and everything.

ERIN
You want my number?

GEORGE
I do.

ERIN
Which number do you want, George?

GEORGE
You got more than one?

ERIN
Shit, yeah. I got numbers coming out of my ears. Like, for instance, ten.

GEORGE
Ten?

ERIN
Sure. That’s one of my numbers. It’s how many months old my little girl is.

GEORGE
You got a little girl?

ERIN
Yeah. Sexy, huh? And here’s another: five. That’s how old my other daughter is. Seven is my son’s age. Two is how many times I been married and divorced. You getting all this? 16 is the number of dollars in my bank account. 454-3943 is my phone number. And with all the numbers I gave you, I’m guessing zero is the number of times you’re gonna call it.

4. Surround it with conflict or action
Distract the audience with conflict or action. In the Terminator, James Cameron presents a 10-minute scene full of nothing but exposition.  10 minutes of exposition!  But the audience never notices. While Reese is explaining to Sarah – and the audience – all the pertinent background information (where he’s from, why he’s there, what the future holds, what the Terminator is), the two are constantly surrounded by conflict and action (fleeing the police and engaging in a battle with the Terminator.)

5. Feed it to a hungry audience
Wait to reveal information until the audience is begging to know it.  Set up the desire for the reader to know the information by withholding it for as long as possible.  In Chinatown, Robert Towne carefully builds anticipation.  When Evelyn Mulwray’s secret in finally revealed, the audience is eager to hear the information.  Callie Khouri achieves the same effect with the build-up and presentation of Louise’s secret in Thelma and Louise.

Understanding The Narrative Throughline

What’s driving your screenplay?  And why do you need to know?

Understanding what drives your script helps you determine the essential foundation of your story (or throughline) and allows you to strengthen the script by incorporating elements (scenes, sequences, and characters) that “serve” your story.

There are three-types of screenplays:
1. Character-Driven
2. Theme-Driven
3. Plot-Driven (also called Premise-Driven)

CHARACTER-DRIVEN
Character-Driven screenplays are essentially about the transformation of a character or a group of characters.  The natural throughline (or organizing principle) is the character arc of one or more of your characters.  Juno is a character-driven film.  There’s a theme and a premise, but the engine of the movie is Juno’s realization (transformation) that she’s not as mature as she thought, adults aren’t necessarily any more mature than teenagers, her parents are pretty wise and cool after all and, she’s actually in love with her best friend, her baby’s daddy, Paulie Bleeker.  If your script is character-driven your protagonist needs to have a compelling transformation.

PLOT-DRIVEN
Most action-adventure films are all about the premise.  Sometimes they have a vague underlining theme but few action protagonists experience any type of character transformation (James Bond is the same guy at the start of every film and the end of every film, from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace). If your script is plot-driven, you’ll need to have an exceptional premise – think Aliens, Ocean’s Eleven, Terminator, Jurassic Park, and Die Hard. An amusement park with dinosaurs– that start killing the tourists!  The most incredible Las Vegas casino heist ever – with escalating obstacles, complications, and life or death stakes!  Who needs character arcs?

THEME-DRIVEN
Theme-driven films are the hardest to pull-off successfully without sounding like you’re giving a lecture.  In a theme-driven film, the premise and characters are secondary to the message the screenwriter wants to convey.  If your script is primarily thematic, you must select elements that best illustrate your message but that also work on their own terms.  One such film that pulls this off brilliantly is the Oscar-winning western, Unforgiven.  The film Unforgiven has wonderful characters and a compelling plot, but every element in the script serves its central theme, which is:  violence doesn’t solve anything and actually makes things worse.  All of the elements in the film are carefully chosen to illustrate that point – the sheriff whose methods of “keeping the peace” are often more vicious than the crimes he prevents, the “eye-for-an-eye” vengeance that leads to suffering rather than justice, and the horror of wanna-be gunslinger when he’s faced with the reality of actually killing a man.

THE KID
That was… the first one.

MUNNY
First one what?

THE KID
First one I ever killed.

MUNNY
Yeah?

================

THE KID
(breaking down, crying)
Oh Ch-ch-christ… it don’t… it don’t seem… real… How he’s… DEAD… how he ain’t gonna breathe no more… n-n-never.  Or the other one neither… On account of… of just… pullin’ a trigger.

MUNNY
It’s a hell of a thing, ain’t it, killin’ a man.  You take everythin’ he’s got… an’ everythin’ he’s ever gonna have…

THE KID
(trying to pull him-self together)
Well, I gu-guess they had it… comin’.

MUNNY
We all got it comin’, Kid.

Screenplay Structure: How To Create Your Story Blueprint

STRUCTURE IS FORM
The structure of your screenplay is the foundation.  It supports the plot, theme, premise, characters, and all the crucial elements: beats, scenes, and sequences.  Without structure, your story would collapse.  Most screenwriters use a variation of the classic three-act structure, with specific structural elements within each act, to layout a script.

Creating a structural “blueprint” will help guide you through the outline process and eventually, with writing the complete screenplay.  You create your story blueprint by noting each event (or plot point) of your story that fits into the structural elements.  When you understand which plot point makes up each structural element (the Inciting Incident, the MidPoint, the Climax, etc.), you have poured the foundation for the structure of your screenplay. Now you can build on that foundation – writing the outline and creating the beats, scenes, and sequences of the script.

I have written a brief, mini-eBook, “Screenplay Structure: How to Create Your Story Blueprint”, to help you with this very-important step in the screenwriting process.  Just click on the book cover to download a free PDF copy and get started!

STAY-TUNED: In my next post I will explore the Plot-Driven, Theme-Driven, and Character-Driven Script.