...but your READER has no idea about any of these.
In each script you will inevitably have to introduce your reader to some information necessary for him or her to understand what is happening and why, or why the characters are acting in a given way. This is what we call EXPOSITION.
Film script should be all about showing, not telling. Telling is always boring. Remember that. ALWAYS. If you confront your readers (and eventually the audience) with a long paragraph explaining what is going on, you will lose them.
Therefore writers (and directors) have devised some clever ways of hiding exposition.
Here are some most common:
1) PLAIN TEXT
"opening crawl" - Star Wars (1977)
Script link: Star Wars: A New Hope (1976 draft)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...
A vast sea of stars serves as the backdrop for the main title.
War drums echo through the heavens as a rollup slowly crawls
into infinity.
It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships,
striking from a hidden base, have won their first
victory against the evil Galactic Empire.
During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal
secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the
Death Star, an armored space station with enough
power to destroy an entire planet.
Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess
Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of
the stolen plans that can save her people and
restore freedom to the galaxy...
The awesome yellow planet of Tatooine emerges from a total
eclipse, her two moons glowing against the darkness. A tiny
silver spacecraft, a Rebel Blockade Runner firing lasers
from the back of the ship, races through space. It is pursed
by a giant Imperial Stardestroyer. Hundreds of deadly
laserbolts streak from the Imperial Stardestroyer, causing
the main solar fin of the Rebel craft to disintegrate.
2) TEXT CARDS + PICTURE/MONTAGE
A Knight's Tale (2000)
Script link: Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino
EXT - DAIRY FARM- DAY
The modest dairy farm in the countryside of Nancy, France (what the
French call cow country).
We Read a SUBTITLE in the sky above the farm house;
CHAPTER ONE
"ONCE UPON A TIME IN...
NAZI OCCUPIED FRANCE"
This SUBTITLE disappears, and is replaced by another one;
"1941
One year into the German
occupation of France".
The farm consists of a house, small barn, and twelve cows spread
about.
The owner of the property, a bull of a man FRENCH FARMER, brings a axe
up and down on A tree stump blemishing his property. However simply by
sight, you'd never know if he's been beating at this stump for the last
year, or just started today.
3) VO + PICTURE/MONTAGE
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) opening sequence
Clash of the Titans (2010) opening "galaxy" sequence
Script link: The Lord of the Rings (undated draft)
BLACK SCREEN
SUPER: New Line Cinema Presents
SUPER: A Wingnut Films Production
BLACK CONTINUES... ELVISH SINGING....A WOMAN'S VOICE IS
whispering, tinged with SADNESS and REGRET:
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
(Elvish: subtitled)
"I amar prestar sen: han mathon ne nen,
han mathon ne chae...a han noston ned
wilith."
(English:)
The world is changed: I feel it in the
water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it
in the air...Much that once was is lost,
for none now live who remember it.
SUPER: THE LORD OF THE RINGS
EXT. PROLOGUE -- DAY
IMAGE: FLICKERING FIRELIGHT. The NOLDORIN FORGE in EREGION.
MOLTEN GOLD POURS from the lip of an IRON LADLE.
GALADRIEL (V.O.)
It began with the forging of the Great
Rings.
IMAGE: THREE RINGS, each set with a single GEM, are received
by the HIGH ELVES-GALADRIEL, GIL-GALAD and CIRDAN.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Three were given to the Elves, immortal,
wisest...fairest of all beings.
IMAGE: SEVEN RINGS held aloft in triumph by the DWARF LORDS.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Seven to the Dwarf Lords, great miners
and craftsmen of the mountain halls.
IMAGE: NINE RINGS clutched tightly by the KINGS OF MEN...as
if holding-close a precious secret.
GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT'D)
And Nine...nine rings were gifted to the
race of Men who, above all else, desire
power.
(MORE)
4) MONTAGE
RED (2010)
The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2010)
5) EXPOSITION IN DIALOGUE
Inception (2010) - "shared dreaming sequence"
6) FLASHBACK
7) ANIMATED FLASHBACK
Ciało (2003) - character shorts
8) PICTURES, NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, HEADLINES
Rogue (2007) - bar sequence
Script link: Avatar (2007 draft)
INT. SHACK - DAY
NORM and TRUDY assist JAKE with his chair as they cycle in
through the AIRLOCK. GRACE is already inside, starting the
GENNY. She turns on the lights and equipment.
There are 4 bunks, a clutter of science gear, and -- through
a short connecting corridor -- THREE LINK UNITS in the second
module.
As Grace powers up the Link equipment, Jake stops to look at
STEREO STILL PICTURES which are taped and tacked up around
her workstation.
CLOSE ON PICTURES -- Grace posing at the school with various
grinning children. There is one of her with two lanky girls,
a younger Neytiri and an older girl who looks much like her.
BONUS LINKS:
- best character intro
- best film opening
*
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