How to Write Exciting Exposition (Writing Advice)

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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[@crismairo]

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]

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

[@hgman3920]

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

[@ltb1345]

@@hgman3920 Goofy ahh JJ.

[@davidm2862]

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

[@Stormsong93]

"Somehow people are still watching this garbage."

[@chnkypolarbear]

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]

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]

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.”

[@chinchy5545]

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]

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

[@fallenhero3130]

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]

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]

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.

[@jacobburris9637]

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]

The Villeneuve film does the intro much better

[@ludovico6890]

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."

[@JohnBradford14]

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]

Superb, thank you!

[@pickleddolphinmeatwithhors677]

Many thanks. These are great examples.

[@petehealy9819]

"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]

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]

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]

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

[@Shindai]

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

[@davidnoel9355]

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]

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]

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!

[@TheZetaKai]

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]

Haha at least you kept the exposition brief

[@racheltheradiant4675]

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🎶🎶🎶

[@useazebra]

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.

[@reinotsurugi]

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]

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]

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

[@wenwilloughby8197]

​@@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.

[@wombat6]

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]

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]

@@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]

@@wombat6 fair point!

[@dawnkravagna3200]

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.

[@davinator968]

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.

[@ludovico6890]

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]

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

[@ludovico6890]

@@siegfriedmordrake3229 thanks!

[@mrheathcliffh]

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]

Nice! Thrilled to hear my timing was on-point

[@matthewpaul6904]

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

[@madmartigan21]

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]

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

[@madmartigan21]

@@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]

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

[@varanid9]

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.

[@johnnhoj6749]

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]

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

[@TheZetaKai]

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.

[@luckyloser6644]

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!

[@stratoplayer1988]

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.

[@CdFMasterVideo]

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?

[@collinmiller4721]

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

[@tearstoneactual9773]

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]

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.

[@jordanhansen5934]

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]

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]

​@@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]

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

[@undefinedusername]

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.

[@Kaerusss]

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

[@drericfritz]

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]

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]

@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.

[@ellie7252]

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]

Can't get enough of your channel man.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks--glad you're enjoying it!

[@cloudlion1610]

Man I'm so glad I found this channel

[@HerbyRuths]

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.

[@erakfishfishfish]

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?)

[@madmartigan21]

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]

Haha let it rip

[@MrDorryn]

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

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

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

[@danicafugit2697]

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.

[@AIthrillerandhorror]

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!

[@MuhammadAbubakar-rk3wx]

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

[@erakfishfishfish]

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

[@christinejohnson2839]

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.

[@hhowdy]

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!

[@shantytroyano5597]

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

[@adammiller4389]

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.

[@lhistoirenimp4537]

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!!!

[@finnanima2413]

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.

[@LordBaktor]

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]

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

[@LordBaktor]

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

[@blshouse]

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

[@ashley-r-pollard]

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]

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

[@loriki8766]

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.

[@bearram9481]

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

[@AvroDeadsky]

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

[@peregrine.somerville]

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

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

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

[@quantum7046]

Most of the stuff in early Harry Potter feels bad tbh

[@user-rv4wn5qk7q]

The Room

[@TheZetaKai]

One word: midichlorians.

[@brianedwards7142]

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]

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.

[@SARbeaver1]

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

[@joshprice7436]

Really helpful videos, Brandon. Thank you!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ReklessTW]

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

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks! Keep it up!

[@loisbushman5183]

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

[@DRACONEM312]

Theses videos help a lot. Keep up the good work

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad to hear it! Thanks!

[@TaharkahX]

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.

[@josephrowlee]

Great! Thanks for the video!

[@brandonwilborn5352]

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]

Best of luck with your writing!

[@RachelParker-1977]

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

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks for watching!

[@spacelinx]

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.

[@greg_nk]

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

[@UrobourosZero]

“Somehow, Palpatine returned.”

[@nagamata]

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

[@Leo4gzs]

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

[@obambagaming1467]

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]

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]

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

[@JamesRDavenport]

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

[@AdAstraStakePool]

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

[@HenrikHaugberg]

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

[@colter7240]

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.

[@azazelgrigori9244]

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

[@thomasmann4536]

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

[@varanid9]

Worst bit of exposition in a book IMHO: Pierre Boulle's "Monkey Planet" (on which was based the movie "Planet of the Apes"). Not because the exposition scene was that bad - it was just a professor explaining to the main character the principles behind their ship's ability to traverse interstellar space - but because you'd think that an astronaut would be familiar with such things BEFORE he was well into his mission, not need it explained to him during.

[@ludovico6890]

If I remember correctly Ulysse Meroux is a journalist, not a professional astronaut. And from what I remember the invention of Professor Antelle was revolutionary, so it might excuse the exposition.

[@madmartigan21]

@@ludovico6890 That's correct he was indeed a journalist.

[@madmartigan21]

The bad exposition in that book when they find out the history of the planet because all humans have stored in their brains somehow and that (genetically passed down?) memory can be accessed. Definitely a case of the movie being way better than the book.

[@ludovico6890]

@@madmartigan21 That was really far-fetched, even for sci-fi, but I think it might be based in some pseudoscience in vogue at the time. I know Arcadia of my Youth did a very similar thing, giving the hero and his friend some hidden subconscious memory of their respective ancestors.

[@hgman3920]

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.

[@philiptalley385]

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.

[@xChikyx]

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]

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]

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

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

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

[@MrJacksonOP]

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

[@dirkavery4445]

This channel is all exposition!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

The joke's on me

[@brianedwards7142]

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]

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.

[@cannibalcatgirl]

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?

[@bearrett_8783]

Could you do more novel examples?

[@TKHaines]

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

[@TheDerekSaenz]

New video... NOM NOM NOM 😄

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Hahah thanks for watching!

[@AlmostEthical]

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.

[@ryank9825]

Theatrical Blade Runner. Also Dark City

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

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

[@juandediosreyes8526]

What do you think about Daria´s monologues? Do they count as exposition? Thank you!

[@mageprometheus]

I love Daria. I never notice as they are so dry and funny. I need to rewatch every episode, note down every cleaver/funny phrase and why I think so.

[@lotharrenz4621]

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...

[@jairoj.ninoperez6390]

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

[@mageprometheus]

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

[@errantwinds-up8uu]

Not in a bad way, but I feel like Arcane's opening is basically the opening of Aladdin :D

[@Thagomizer]

The worst example of "as you know" expository dialogue I've ever seen in a movie was in "God's Not Dead". The characters constantly supply their own context. Who thought this screenplay was ready to film?

[@lukemauerman3734]

Good video, thanks! As you know, Bob, vampires are dangerous!

[@heidi1958]

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.”

[@qbertq1]

Brandon, what do you think about an appendix to describe technical details not commonly known? Obviously, it only works in writing.

[@Vohaul86]

At first I was a bit wary of infodumps - and then I saw Big Trouble in Little China.😅

[@consu.calderon]

Hi Brandon! Do you think you can do an episode about Sex Education's season 4 writing mistakes? I guess it would be an interesting topic to explore and very insightful to visualize that the problem isn't the topic itself but the delivery of the story. Love your channel btw!

[@robertlewis5439]

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.