Exposition - Video Game: Storytelling - page 77

Planting
Extending our landscaping metaphor—but, I hope, not over-farming
it!—let's move from seeding to planting .
If seeding exposition is like spreading it evenly across a broad surface
such as a new lawn, then planting is choosing a specific spot for a unit of
exposition, and very deliberately placing it there.
Think of it like planting a sapling. You need to decide exactly where you
want it, knowing that over time it will grow into a tree and eventually
provide you with the intended benefit (e.g. shelter, shade, privacy). It is
something you plant not for now, but for later.
In stories, planting is simply establishing something specific that will be-
come important later on .
You might introduce a machine or gadget and demonstrate how it
works, or an object and its properties. Perhaps you demonstrate that a
character has a certain knowledge or expertise—possibly even a gift or
special ability.
Whatever expository sapling it is you plant, it is usually something that
seems trivial to the audience at the time but becomes hugely important
later on. The storyteller's challenge is to plant this expository item in as in-
nocuous a way as possible. You want the information to penetrate the
audience's consciousness, but at the same time it's important to quickly
move on. You don't want to telegraph that (or how) this plant will be used
later. Ideally, the audience will have half forgotten about it by the time it
comes up again, so that it still surprises them and yet doesn't feel like it's
come entirely out of left field.
One of my favorite examples of effective planting in a movie is in Aliens .
(There's James Cameron again!) Several vital points related to a particular
piece of equipment are planted just as Act II kicks of, but are not seen or
mentioned again until the climax. I am talking, of course, about the Power
Loader.
As with The Terminator , I assume you've seen this modern classic—and
if you haven't, I recommend you do so before reading further, because this
example is going to include at least one massive spoiler.
Shortly after Ripley agrees to accompany Burke and the space marines
to investigate what happened to the colonists on LV-426, we see the mar-
ines making preparations for their drop onto the planet. As the soldiers
hustle and bustle through the Sulaco 's hangar bay, with the Sarge barking