Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
storytellers understanding what
need to know
really means, and stripping
away everything that doesn't apply.
Terminated
Now let's look at a classic Hollywood example of seeding exposition, in a
movie I think it's safe to assume every reader of this topic has seen: time-
less sci-fi action flick
The Terminator
. If you haven't, I recommend you do
so before reading further. In fact, you might want to watch it regardless, to
refresh your memory of the movie's details.
The Terminator
(1984) has a complex, time-travel-related plot that could
easily have confused its mainstream audience if not handled carefully. It
can be summarized as follows:
An unstoppable murderous cyborg has traveled back in time to
1984 to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the man who will lead
humankind's resistance against the machines that rule the world
in 2029.
Quite a bit going on there! And remember, the film was released in
1984, a time when movie audiences had had limited exposure to concepts
such as cyborgs and time travel. So how did writers James Cameron and
Gale Ann Hurd convey this complicated premise? How far into the story
did they go before they gave the audience all the exposition needed to
fully understand the complex plot?
The Terminator
runs a tight 1 hour and 47 minutes (1:47:00), which
means the halfway point occurs at around the 53-minute mark (notched
on the time scale for reference). Referring to the art below let's look at
each point in time that the writers add a piece of the expository puzzle.
