How to Write Exciting Exposition (Writing Advice)

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Күн бұрын

Exposition doesn't have to suck. Learn how to write compelling narrative exposition--with examples from Lord of the Rings, Arcane, Jurassic Park, and more!
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Пікірлер: 336

@crismairo 10 ай бұрын

I think the worst example of infodump that I remember is "Somehow Palpatine returned" It's so bad and awkward that it's hilarious!

@siegfriedmordrake3229 10 ай бұрын

-how did he return ? -SOMEhow! -alright, then!

@hgman3920 10 ай бұрын

but it's mysterious . . .like a box full of mystery

@ltb1345 10 ай бұрын

@@hgman3920 Goofy ahh JJ.

@davidm2862 10 ай бұрын

If someone is using "somehow" in their screenplay, then maybe they shouldn`t be a screenwriter.

@Stormsong93 9 ай бұрын

"Somehow people are still watching this garbage."

@chnkypolarbear 10 ай бұрын

John Wick is my absolute favorite example. It's an info dump on who John Wick is and why everyone fears him, but in a way of "How bad did he just fuck up???"

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

I love it too. They spend the beginning of the movie raising the question "What's so special about this guy?" then you learn who he is. I'm lucky I went into that movie blind--really blew me away

@ultimatehope549 8 ай бұрын

Viggo really sits Iosef down and tells him “allow me to spend the next 5 minutes explaining to you in intricate detail, just how fucked you are.”

@smoldragon339 10 ай бұрын

I feel like an entire video could be dedicated to why Fellowship of the Ring's 8 minute exposition dump works so well, tbh

@hgman3920 10 ай бұрын

it's already been done by at least on YT channel, although I forget which one at the moment

@JohnBradford14 10 ай бұрын

Examples of natural dialogue: 1) A head butler explaining to the other servants about an esteemed guest who will be arriving soon. 2) A reporter demanding answers from a police chief about a crime/mystery that is central to the plot. 3) A bunch of teenagers gossiping about a weird kid who is or will become an important character later. 4) An interviewer asking a potential employee about a peculiar entry on their resume. 5) Two military officials going over tactics for an upcoming battle.

@aix83 8 ай бұрын

Superb, thank you!

@pickleddolphinmeatwithhors677 5 ай бұрын

Many thanks. These are great examples.

@petehealy9819 10 ай бұрын

"Exposition is like a vegetable on your plate you don't want to eat, but you have to...". 😅 I think I paraphrased slightly, but I love your down-to-earth analogies, Brandon! Thanks for another funny and *insightful* video!

@DavidM7314 10 ай бұрын

Children of Men does a brilliant job with exposition throughout the whole movie, especially at the beginning. It’s natural, often subtle, and leaves just enough questions. One of my favorite films!

@erakfishfishfish 10 ай бұрын

I love how that film has the camera be constantly distracted by what’s going on in the world. It’s frequently turning away from the main action to show us little things going on in the periphery. It’s a more nuanced version of what Cuaron did with telling the story of Mexico in Y Tu Mama Tambien, only in Children of Men, he didn’t rely on a voiceover. (This technique is probably better filed under world building than exposition though.)

@Simpson17866 9 ай бұрын

Absolutely beautiful :D When the older guy starts with "As You Know" exposition (which is awkward), the younger man calls him out on "I already know this, you don't need to tell me" (which comes across as the writers apologizing for the bad writing, which just draws even more attention to it), but it turns out that the older man was just setting up a joke and he's offended that the younger man isn't interested in waiting for the punchline :D

@fallenhero3130 10 ай бұрын

The opening of the original DUNE (1984) movie is the most egregious examples of an info-dump I can think of. The movie begins with Virginia Madsen's floating head appearing and talking directly into the camera and delivering long-winded exposition that goes on for several minutes, and only confuses the audience even more.

@reinotsurugi 10 ай бұрын

So true. But then after you watch it the first time and go back for a second run it's like "okay, I'd better listen this time..."

@wfchannel4673 10 ай бұрын

also the opening crawls of all episodic star wars films is pretty egregious but somehow they kinda work for episodes 1-6. 7-9 they're a disaster though.

@Lobosthecrow 10 ай бұрын

That's the way it is in the book. "The character of Irulan serves as a de facto narrator in Dune, with excerpts of her later writings used as epigraphs before each chapter of the novel."

@MajorMlgNoob 10 ай бұрын

The Villeneuve film does the intro much better

@ludovico6890 10 ай бұрын

I always found weird that Princess Irulan shows up in the intro to deliver her bit of exposition, mentions that the emperor is her father, then just... disappears. So her being a princess and her relation to said emperor seems completely irrelevant to the story. She could have just showed up and started: "Hello, I'm a big talking head and here's all you need to know before the movie truly starts."

@davidnoel9355 10 ай бұрын

Zola's speech in the middle of Captain America: Winter Soldier is one of the best, pure info dumps/villain monologues I've ever seen. It somehow keeps you entranced even as it dumps major info. Exposition isn't bad, it's just hard to write well.

@kingofhearts3185 8 ай бұрын

I think it's a mix of it being more philosophical (which fits the character's intellectual side) and it tying the premise of the plot with some real world analogies. The excellent delivery also helped.

@DavidCaissy 10 ай бұрын

About tip #1: "Make your audience WANT the exposition", I think The Hangover did a great job at that! After the opening scene with the tiger in the hotel room, we spend the rest of the movie craving for more exposition!

@Shindai 10 ай бұрын

When I think bad exposition, my first example is The Next Karate Kid. During her introductory scene the main character is arguing with her guardian and comes out with "my parents were in a car accident and they're both dead." Her grandmother or aunt would know that and it slaps in the face how obviously it's only for the audience. I can't remember the setup, something like "If your parents were here..." I don't think they need to point out the parents are dead at all, their absence kinda implies as much, so I'd just have her respond something like "well they're not, or have you already forgotten the accident?" which feels less like Rick moranis turning to the camera to say "everybody got that?" when the plot of Spaceballs was explained in a far more convincing exposition dump xD

@racheltheradiant4675 10 ай бұрын

My favorite example of exposition is the Gilligan's Island theme song, we learn everything we need to know in one catchy tune! A three hour tourrrr🎶🎶🎶

@TheZetaKai 10 ай бұрын

In the beginning, Brandon posted a new video. Then I watched it, and it was good. I could go on, but you get the point. Time for fanservice.

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Haha at least you kept the exposition brief

@useazebra 9 ай бұрын

Another tip from Brandon Sanderson: filtering exposition through an interesting character POV can give an economical method of dumping info while feeling engaging to the reader.

@wombat6 10 ай бұрын

I think the original Matrix trilogy did a great job with scattering the exposition around. There's an info dump when Neo and Morpheus are in the "blank space" in the first movie, but it's captivating. And a lot of the "real world" exposition happens gradually. It takes a while until we actually see the surface of the real Earth in the trilogy "for real" when Neo travels there.

@erakfishfishfish 10 ай бұрын

The info dump in the first Matrix is a great example because it finally answers a question we’ve been asking for a while (especially when it was first released-the whole marketing campaign was based around “What is the Matrix?”). However, I think Reloaded has one of the worst info dumps I’ve seen with The Architect. He speaks so obtusely, plus he’s answering a question nobody thought to ask yet.

@wombat6 10 ай бұрын

@@erakfishfishfish I actually like the Architect scene from Reloaded. He's basically seeing himself as a god figure who already knows all the right choices and just can't be argued with. He really takes his time to convince Neo that he has no choice, as if he's on a power trip. It makes him look like a huge asshole and what's great is that there's a whole buildup to that Architect figure, the encounter is very one-sided because the Architect thinks he's the shit, but he gets swept aside just the same. I do understand that people find that scene boring, but I'm a lore nerd so I ate it all up when I first saw it, lol.

@erakfishfishfish 10 ай бұрын

@@wombat6 fair point!

@reinotsurugi 10 ай бұрын

Very good. I'm thinking about the council of Elrond, which takes several pages but the lore is so rich that each tidbit discussed feels like a real gem.

@williamwebb9724 10 ай бұрын

I love the council of Elrond, but only because I'm a huge nerd. If you look at it objectively, it's the most boring part of the book.

@reinotsurugi 10 ай бұрын

@@williamwebb9724 It should be boring, but Tolkien has created such a great story that it makes us hunger for lore.

@wenwilloughby8197 10 ай бұрын

@@williamwebb9724 Looked at objectively, the beginning of the book would more likely be considered 'the most boring' with its long, loooong build up to 'a party' and absolutely no danger or stakes whatsoever. The council of Elrond is very talky, but there are high stakes throughout.

@dawnkravagna3200 8 ай бұрын

Love your term, “As you know, Bob,” as it sticks in my mind. So when writing yesterday, it popped into my head to remind me to avoid it.

@samsampier7147 20 күн бұрын

Another synonym is "Maid and Butler dialog." Probably okay in stage plays. Otherwise avoid this clunky convention.

@madmartigan21 10 ай бұрын

The West Wing did a lot of "as you know Bobs." A main character would essentially read a guest character's resume to them so that the viewer would know that character's credentials. Those scenes stuck out like a sore thumb in a show that is known for its excellent dialogue.

@namejsliepins2577 10 ай бұрын

West wing also has character named DonaTella which in first two or three seasons is good exposition tool

@madmartigan21 9 ай бұрын

@@namejsliepins2577 yeah Josh explains a lot of stuff to her and she asks questions. That's a good example exposition from the show as opposed to what my comment was about.

@namejsliepins2577 9 ай бұрын

@@madmartigan21 that 's what I meant. Sorkin is pretty good at exposition especially in when his shows are in early stages

@davinator968 10 ай бұрын

I liked the exposition in the Fellowship of the Ring. It introduced the major characters, conflict, and the Shire in a way that held my interest despite reading the book before.

@johnnhoj6749 10 ай бұрын

One of the most common tactics is to follow someone who is new to the world of the film: the new employee, the stranger in town, the fish out of water. We get to learn things as they do. Of course, like everything, this can be done badly or well and they need to learn through conflict, humour etc too. Sometimes though I think that a good old fashioned, tight, well-written, scene-setting V.O. is better than tortuously trying to avoid one. It lets us then just get on with the story and can add its own character and a different angle on what we are seeing.

@erakfishfishfish 10 ай бұрын

There’s a term for that kind of character: the audience surrogate.

@TheZetaKai 10 ай бұрын

This also explains why so many stories have protagonists with amnesia, other than the instant intrigue of how they lost their memory. The hero has no idea what's going on, and needs everything explained to them, so the audience can get invested in their journey because we want to know, too. It also pushes the exposition to later in the story, when the audience is already hooked by the mystery and the hero's efforts to uncover the truth.

@ludovico6890 10 ай бұрын

I've been guilty of writing pretty bad exposition in the info dump category. Now I'm better at it. What I changed is how I introduce it: instead of having "as you know" conversations, have one character not in the known, or someone sloppy and complacent who needs to be retold information he should know or care about. I generally do crime fiction, so it makes sense in a professional environment (the police or the mob) to have someone that needs to be told what's what. I'm currently writing a horror story for Halloween and in it I need to explain that witches are real and are hiding in our world. A lot of the story has to be exposition, so I have one character in the known explaining to a sceptical one, who is the MC and reader's surrogate, how such thing is possible.

@siegfriedmordrake3229 10 ай бұрын

That's a clever way to deliver exposition, nice !

@ludovico6890 7 ай бұрын

@@siegfriedmordrake3229 thanks!

@varanid9 10 ай бұрын

Sometimes these how-to-write videos seem so basic to me, but, this one is about something that never even occurred to me. I normally try to avoid exposition but, sometimes, you have to have it and he's absolutely correct. It seems to me that here is where many writers falter.

@luckyloser6644 10 ай бұрын

I always go back and forth between trusting that readers will pick things up naturally, or getting that nagging worry that they'll feel lost or miss interesting details. But your videos make me feel more confident. Now, I can reframe how to share info to my audience. Just understanding that there are different ways of sharing the details helps so much. I realize that my preferred way of sharing world building is through hands on. And peaking their curiosity to getting answers, brilliant! It's one of those things that I knew I loved in stories and yet I didn't think to recreate that on my end. Thanks so much for the help!

@mrheathcliffh 10 ай бұрын

Oh wow, I literally just searched if you had a video on exposition because I figured out that it's the part i'm struggling with writing most in my story. Your videos are really helpful, thanks for uploading this one!

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Nice! Thrilled to hear my timing was on-point

@collinmiller4721 8 ай бұрын

LOTR’s did info dumps well. They always made it connect to the stakes for a character.

@matthewpaul6904 10 ай бұрын

I was hoping you were going to mention "The Terminator" it balanced hands-on with flashbacks and character moments in 1984 alongside dialogue scenes.

@undefinedusername 10 ай бұрын

The introductory scene to The Warriors is brilliant, because it sets up the story and character traits in short two- or three-line snippets of dialogue that are interspersed with the opening credits and scenes of the Warriors actually heading out to start the story. By the time the intro is done you're pumped up to see what's going to happen next. After watching deleted scenes and seeing how slow and dull it was, you can see just how much they trimmed the fat.

@tearstoneactual9773 10 ай бұрын

This is a super timely video. I needed this. I've been questioning stuff in my writing. I've been told exposition is bad, bad, bad, bad. Don't do it. It's bad. Don't do it. Bad. Bad. Bad. Which has left me confused as to how to convey stuff that needs to be conveyed. What's the difference between narrative and exposition. Actually, a video about that, especially geared toward novelists, would be lovely. But after watching this I realize that I'm hitting the marks pretty much right on target. I still wonder, though.

@johnnhoj6749 10 ай бұрын

Unfortunately the mountain of competing scriptwriting books turns warnings to be careful about something into Commandments Carved in Stone proclaiming "Thou Shall Not!". Exposition, by one means or another, is necessary - not even a necessary evil, as it's been absurdly turned into. All you have to do is avoid boring an audience with excessive and clunky exposition. That's it, be clear but just don't bore your audience.

@CdFMasterVideo 9 ай бұрын

Jurassic Park is also a good example of making the audience want the exposition: In the first scene a man gets eaten by a caged creature and, if it wasn't for the very pitch of the film that you probably knew before buying your ticket, you wouldn't even guess it's a dinosaur. Then in the next scene we talk about the park, about John Hammond, about Alan Grant, but we still haven't seen any of these, all we get shown is a mosquito in amber, which seems extremely important but we have no idea why. Then we meet our heroes, and Hammond talks about his park but keeps dodging the question of what it is. Then we see Nedry getting payment and instructions to smuggle "embryos" out of Hammond's facility. So by now we know that there's a theme park with dangerous animals, precious embryos, and that is somehow relevant to a paleontologist's expertise. And THEN we get to the park, see our first dinosaur, Grant asks "how did you do that" and we get to our answers. To answer your question, a good example of bad exposition is in Kingdom of Heaven. I love the movie, but it starts with three screens of text : - "It is almost 100 years since Christian armies from Europe seized Jerusalem" - OK that one is fine, we get relevant information that would have been a bit too obvious to characters to make them say it. - "Europe suffers in the grip of repression of poverty. Peasant and lord alike flee to the Holy Land in search of fortune and salvation." - The movie will show it pretty well in the first minutes, and it wouldn't be hard to have characters discuss about why people go there: we could have avoided that. - "One Knight returns home in search of his son." - Bro you're straight up spoiling a scene that will come 15 minutes later! Why would you do that?

@stratoplayer1988 10 ай бұрын

The Hitchhiker’s Guide the the Galaxy (specifically the book, radio show, and TV series) has some of the funniest expositions. Whenever a main character brings up an unfamiliar noun, the Guide goes on to humorously explain what it is.

@christinejohnson2839 5 ай бұрын

The movie "The Internship" had a great example of exposition. When Nick and Billy are going into their long term client Williams they recite, back and forth, facts about him in a prep for the meeting. It establishes the effort and dedicated they put into their job. It establishes how precarious a situation they are in money wise and why he is so important to them. It also sucks you into their energy and vibrancy.

@ellie7252 10 ай бұрын

despite Devilman being an amazing manga, it was made in 1972, and the exposition in volume one is delivered in quite a strange and humorous manner. luckily the loredump itself is interesting, as are the characters and their humor, with charming artwork to-boot. one of my fave stories of all time, but it sure does start clunkily.

@GauravSingh-ku5xy 9 ай бұрын

Can't get enough of your channel man.

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 9 ай бұрын

Thanks--glad you're enjoying it!

@HerbyRuths 10 ай бұрын

Portal 2's economical way to provide exposition is masterful. It's a big reason why after two games of villainy, we come to be sympathetic for GLADOS.

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

What's the worst example of exposition you've seen in a story? Let us know!

@quantum7046 10 ай бұрын

Most of the stuff in early Harry Potter feels bad tbh

@user-rv4wn5qk7q 10 ай бұрын

The Room

@TheZetaKai 10 ай бұрын

One word: midichlorians.

@brianedwards7142 10 ай бұрын

Rendezvous with Rama is rightly a solid gold classic so I was pumped for the sequel but Rama II had this massive and very dry infodump about Earth's political and military history between the first and second Rama incursions that I just couldn't get through. I looked at how the book was 4 times as thick as it's predecessor and thought, if all the book was like this opening then it would be a chore rather than a delight. I just gave up. For the record, I blame co-author Gentry Lee, not Arthur.

@brianedwards7142 10 ай бұрын

There's "the begats" in Genesis 5 listing the supposed generations between Adam and Noah. It's only a page or so depending on editions but nobody reads it because it's just "and so and so begat wassisname" over and over. A literal list of names.

@drericfritz 10 ай бұрын

I know you asked for the worst examples of exposition, but I have a really good example. I recently watched the excellent Michael Mann film Manhunter and there is a scene where Will Graham info dumps his history to his step son and it's so, so good. It turns into a really important and sweet character moment between the two. I've been really amazed by it for the past couple week.

@madmartigan21 10 ай бұрын

Also that they're shopping in the grocery store forces them to move around a bit. It's not a static shot. That helps a lot.

@drericfritz 3 ай бұрын

@E_ren_The_Bird Yes! The Red Dragon book has been told three times in flim and tv. One of them was Manhunter, another movie with the same title as the book, and the Hannibal tv show - a show that has some great and weird dialogue.

@jordanhansen5934 10 ай бұрын

One example I can think of is The Last Airbender by M Night Shyamalan. That entire movie is pure exposition. There is literally almost no other substance to the movie. If the characters aren’t infodumping on us then the narrator is telling us what is going on both on and off screen and how we should react to it. There are even multiple examples of “as you know”dialogue.

@intergalactic92 10 ай бұрын

I’m now reminded of how in Yu-Gi-Oh, in literally every duel, every character explains exactly what their card can do each time they use it, even when we have seen them use this card before…. I mean I don’t think I hate it here, because when they all do it it becomes just a quirk of the world, and it does mean we always know what’s going on, but it does become funny when they use pot of greed for the 50th time and still say "that means I can draw 2 cards." I know bro, you used it last week.

@siegfriedmordrake3229 10 ай бұрын

@@intergalactic92explaining to the reader what's happening during the fight is a classic trope in Shonens. It used to bother me because it felt like I was taken for too much of a fool to understand what was happening but now I just take it as a quirk of the genre. It can be pretty funny when you see the characters reacting and commenting like we do in our heads

@genew2278 10 ай бұрын

The very start of that movie is literally just narrated reading on screen, it's just awful

@cloudlion1610 10 ай бұрын

Man I'm so glad I found this channel

@Kaerusss 10 ай бұрын

Worst exposition: "Somehow, Palpatine returned" As hilarious as it was terrible

@AIthrillerandhorror 9 ай бұрын

Hey Brandon, you're writing tips have helped me better my writing and now I work as a regency romance ghost writer on upwork and I've earned a good amount so far. Thanks a bunch! You're changing lives out here!

@erakfishfishfish 10 ай бұрын

My favorite info dump is in Battle Royale when the students are given the rules of the game via instruction video. The girl in the video is so perky as she describes how they have to go about killing each other. It’s so darkly hilarious. (Having a URL on display behind her is such a brilliant touch. Who is that for?)

@adammiller4389 10 ай бұрын

I remember laughing at the long draw-out, bordering on obnoxious, info dumps in Seveneves. The concepts are always interesting and I think that's why it works for his audience.

@hhowdy 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for your advice Brandon I’m not writing a book I’m writing a story for a my movie universe (I want to be a movie director when I am older) and you may not be specifically talking about movies but you are talking about story advice and that’s very good for me, thank you!

@madmartigan21 10 ай бұрын

Damn, I thought the question of the day is going to be the best Exposition we've seen. I was all ready to go with that one.

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Haha let it rip

@danicafugit2697 10 ай бұрын

I see a lot of people complain about exposition but then complain about lack of exposition. For example, you said “It Follows” never explains where the entity comes from and there are people throwing fits because they never got the explanation. Which then leads to amateur writing believing they should explain every. Little. Detail. Of every event otherwise they’ll lose fans.

@MuhammadAbubakar-rk3wx 10 ай бұрын

The Exposition for the first 2 Ant Man movies were hilarious 💀😂

@erakfishfishfish 10 ай бұрын

I assume you’re referring to Michael Peña’s monologues, because those were the best parts of the movies.

@finnanima2413 10 ай бұрын

As you surely didn’t know, I have gone over an exposition dump for The Matrix Reloaded: Neo confronting The Architect, and learning all about the history of The Matrix. I haven’t seen the movie, so what makes this scene great for me is that it’s more than just a three-part exposition dump. Neo, the protagonist, went through a lot of trouble, past, present and future, just to reach The Architect, so he/we need to hear The Architect out. Second, there is text about history and subtext about The Architect. He talks in a very logical and patronizing way both because he’s a program that hates humans and because he created The Matrix. And third, there’s how Neo reacts to all the information; as The One, he has the responsibility of saving humanity on his soldiers, and although he gets overwhelmed by what The Architect tells, he remembers his responsibility and thus escapes the mental trap he is in. I remember Captain America: The Winter Solider having a similar exposition dump to reveal just one of its twists.

@AxleBoost 8 күн бұрын

SUPER LATE, but I'm glad you finally watched Arcane!

@lhistoirenimp4537 10 ай бұрын

What comes to mind is the exposition in Eragon when the Jeremy Irons explained the origins of the bad guy and such. It felt really off and fake. Thanks for the video, really good channel!!!

@loriki8766 10 ай бұрын

Excellent Exposition: Good Omens season 1 with the voice of "God" doing the narration. Very creative. Jane the Virgin (I'm so NOT in to soap operas but that was hilarious), with an unknown narrator (revealed at the end) piping up at strategic times.

@MrDorryn 10 ай бұрын

Why do I enjoy watching these videos even though I don't plan on writing stories ?

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Maybe you DO want to write a story. Give it a shot sometime!

@shantytroyano5597 9 ай бұрын

One of my teachers once told me: "Exposition is an evil, but a necessary evil". 😅

@SARbeaver1 Ай бұрын

One of your better videos, which is a high bar. Thanks.

@UrobourosZero 10 ай бұрын

“Somehow, Palpatine returned.”

@AvroDeadsky 9 ай бұрын

Ive been binging your videos for like 2 days in a row now because I have been working on two separate stories for around two years now and i must gladly say I have learned valuable things by watching your content but also want to pat myself on the back because I often was aware of what you were talking about, and knew to pay attention to it, I've spent many evenings sitting over an open Word document with a story script getting frustrated over how long it takes to think of how to make my story more meaningful and intricate and fill plot holes, but after every time, I learn that its actually not a bad thing, because it means I somewhat know what I am doing. Anyways I will throw a sub your way

@TaharkahX 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the tips. As you know, Brandon, you've been producing helpful videos for some time now and you are qualified to do so due to your experience with writing horror and fantasy.

@brandonwilborn5352 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for this video. Thankfully I've learned how to spot expository passages in my own writing, though I haven't found great ways to break it up and still convey the info required. Your tips should help

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Best of luck with your writing!

@bearram9481 10 ай бұрын

With Ground Hog Day there was going to be a scene where he got cursed or something. But it works better without it.

@spacelinx 9 ай бұрын

I tried reading some HG Wells short stories a couple of months back. For someone who’s considered a great pioneer in sci fi writing, his works (or at least the short story I read) are full of very lengthy info dumps and long lectures from the characters to each other. Nobody talks like this to each other. It gave me flashbacks to my boring class lectures in college.

@loisbushman5183 10 ай бұрын

Thank-you so much for this. I get caught so much between too much info dump and not explaining why a character behaves a certain way

@AdAstraStakePool 10 ай бұрын

Underrated exposition: 3:10 to Yuma (2006), all the important info is communicated so naturally, embedded in conflict. Seamlessly.

@peregrine.somerville 9 ай бұрын

Wow, I think I was the one who requested this video! Thanks so much for making it!

@joshprice7436 10 ай бұрын

Really helpful videos, Brandon. Thank you!

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

@josephrowlee 10 ай бұрын

Great! Thanks for the video!

@RachelParker-1977 10 ай бұрын

Thank you for the fantastic video 🥳 I am eager to view them all. God bless.

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@JamesRDavenport 10 ай бұрын

Hallmark Channel Christmas chick flicks are the queen bee of "As-You Know Bob" dialogue

@philiptalley385 9 ай бұрын

A bad example that comes to mind is The Guardians, which is kind of a Russian superhero movie, it has an info dump as a press conference that is stale and doesn't even have reporters talking over each other.

@DRACONEM312 10 ай бұрын

Theses videos help a lot. Keep up the good work

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Glad to hear it! Thanks!

@nagamata 7 ай бұрын

I could grow old watching a compilation of info dumps from anime characters explaining their tactics/backstory/motives in the heat of a battle

@ReklessTW 10 ай бұрын

Always a great day when you upload dude, currently writing rn

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Thanks! Keep it up!

@TKHaines 3 ай бұрын

Some good exposition is Argyle and McClane's chat at the start of Die Hard.

@hgman3920 10 ай бұрын

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the book) uses humor to the Nth degree to provide exposition as to what kind of place the universe really is.

@greg_nk 10 ай бұрын

Loved the food analogy! throw a god damn stake next to those broccoli! 🤣

@Leo4gzs 9 ай бұрын

I came here for a “this is Katana…” moment and I got rewarded

@HenrikHaugberg 10 ай бұрын

Nothing beats The Matrix when it comes to conveying exposition imo.

@MrJacksonOP 10 ай бұрын

A good example on why we should not show the answers before the questions is the movie Passengers (with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence), to be more specific I suggest you guys to watch the Nerdwriter’s video about this movie. It’s mindblowing

@lotharrenz4621 10 ай бұрын

I haven't read the books myself, but I have been told that the Honor Harrington books dumps the very same info about what happened so far, in EVERY book. it's like watching an episode of a telenovela where 15 of the 25 minutes episode run time is infodump like, "what happened before?". even though the last episode was on yesterday...

@ryank9825 10 ай бұрын

Theatrical Blade Runner. Also Dark City

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

I'm lucky that someone warned me about Dark City. I got to enjoy the director's cut

@azazelgrigori9244 10 ай бұрын

I generally use the prologue for exposition. It's generally 2 or 2 pages worth to make sense of the current story.

@LordBaktor 10 ай бұрын

The narration by Kiefer Sutherlands character at the beginning of Dark City is a completely unnecessary piece of exposition that gives away many details of the movie way too early because the studio didn't trust audiences to understand what was going on. I believe there are fan edits with that bit cut out.

@ashley-r-pollard 10 ай бұрын

Actually, Bob there's a Directors cut that omits narration. It's great. You can thank me later. ;-)

@LordBaktor 10 ай бұрын

@@ashley-r-pollard Who the hell is Bob?

@blshouse 10 ай бұрын

Blade Runner as well, for the exact same reasons. And also thank God for the Director's Cut.

@ashley-r-pollard 10 ай бұрын

As you know Bob, the internet is proof of mankind's inability to communicate in a clear and concise manner. You're welcome. @@LordBaktor

@LordBaktor 10 ай бұрын

@@ashley-r-pollard Do you mean Bob whose mother owns a bakery downtown?

@AlmostEthical 10 ай бұрын

I would never call it "bad" but the first twenty or so pages of Hermann Hesse's Glass Bead Game was such a detailed info dump that I still remember the struggle to get through it four decades on. It's probably a work of genius but ... yikes. Then again, I remember trying to relax on a beach reading A Brief History of Time. It's amazing how often you can read a sentence over without ever having a clue what's going on.

@thomasmann4536 10 ай бұрын

Oh God! Now I'd like you to do a video (or more?) on Arcane :D

@jairoj.ninoperez6390 9 ай бұрын

Rings of Power took exposition to a whole new level when they “revealed” Mordor with a power point transition.

@brianedwards7142 10 ай бұрын

Speaking of which I've been wondering if you could get away today with having the credits at the beginning of a movie like they did back in the "golden years" of movies.

@madmartigan21 10 ай бұрын

There were a lot less people to credit then. You can't put 5-8 minutes up front of movie unless you're a sadist.

@johntabler349 10 ай бұрын

Galaxy quest did this well

@DuncanClair 9 ай бұрын

Inception: exposition the motion picture

@colter7240 10 ай бұрын

The worst exposition I’ve ever seen is probably the dialogue explaining the backstory of Uxas (aka Darkseid) in zack snyders justice league. Not only is it a huge info dump but it is also just a terrible scene in itself because all it is is introducing the big bad/the Thanos of the DCEU as some guy who tried to invade earth and then got his ass kicked so hard he forgot he was even there.

@robertlewis5439 6 ай бұрын

The original studio cut of Bladerunner had famously horrible voiceover exposition by Harrison Ford (not his fault, entirely.) Subsequent director cuts fixed that noise. A terrible recent example is Rebel Moon, with wooden expository dialog galore, which is worse because the story could be carried almost entirely by its visuals.

@heidi1958 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for the help! I want to write but I hate reading exposition. I read a lot so it often feels completely unnecessary. “I get it, he’s the immature best friend character, move on.”

@bearrett_8783 10 ай бұрын

Could you do more novel examples?

@dirkavery4445 10 ай бұрын

This channel is all exposition!

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

The joke's on me

@TheDerekSaenz 10 ай бұрын

New video... NOM NOM NOM 😄

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

Hahah thanks for watching!

@xChikyx 10 ай бұрын

Can you make a video on how to write car chases? It's probably not your area, but I need help with that ahahah

@TheZetaKai 10 ай бұрын

A car chase is like any fight scene, but with clearer stakes. Everyone instinctively understands the rules: the car in front wants to get away from the car in back, the car in back wants to catch with the car in front, and if either side gets too much damage then they lose. It's motivations on Easy Mode. The best way to handle one is to make sure that the action is exciting, with lots of reversals of fortune and near-disasters, while also remembering to make sure that the audience is invested in the outcome; if we don't care about what happens to the characters involved, then none of the sound and fury will signify anything.

@xChikyx 10 ай бұрын

@@TheZetaKai yeah, but describing that action is the most difficult thing I have ever needed to do as a writer

@WriterBrandonMcNulty 10 ай бұрын

I haven't covered this, so I'll add it to my list. Thanks!

@cannibalcatgirl 9 ай бұрын

What do y’all think about a journal entry? I have been placing journa entries from the main character throughout the story since she is very isolated and dialog is minimal. In my first chapter she briefly touches on her new apartment, job, and new city to kind of set the scene. In the chapter itself these things are detailed out naturally but do you think the journal entry to give context is ok? Or cheesy?

@mageprometheus 10 ай бұрын

I write the same boring comment every time. Good lesson, thanks. Rather than an author, I should be a social worker.

@obambagaming1467 10 ай бұрын

The Star Wars info dumps at the beginning of each Episode are iconic, but really unnecessary tbh. They could just explain it through actions and natural dialouge. Lets just say you dont know anything about Star Wars and you watch episode 4 but without the info dump. I think you will quickly understand whats going on. I think if i remember correctly, the diaouge between Vader and Leia helps a lot. You find out that there is an empire and that they hunt down rebels. All the other stuff could be explained through additional dialouge and other scenes.

@blshouse 10 ай бұрын

Good or not, this was core to Star Wars as it was an homage to Lucas' favorite childhood movie and book genres. Then it became iconic after Empire brought it back and Jedi confirmed it.

@obambagaming1467 10 ай бұрын

@@blshouse it definitely is iconic. And I also dont hate them. They are just objectively unnecessary