#Stage plot pro text on bottom how to

DEFINE PROLOGUE How to write a good prologue While you could cut the prologue from the film without really changing anything, it sets up the characters so well while being simultaneously entertaining. Therefore, it makes sense when we find out he’s the rat later in the film. It also clues us into the characters’ attitudes. We may be in for a crime movie, but the prologue lets us know that there will be humor in this story even though things are about to get violent. This particular prologue accomplishes two things. The Dark Knight also uses a prologue, but for a different purpose. It pulls you in and gives you all the information you need in an engaging way. We see Indy recognize booby traps, so we see his intelligence in the field rather than just have someone tell us how smart he is. We see Indy use his whip in action, so we know how tough he is.

With the prologue, we know we’re in for a swashbuckling adventure. The audience wouldn’t know what the film is really going to be, and they would have a poorer understanding of Indiana Jones.

It’s a good scene, but it would be a boring way to open an adventure film. The first scene would be Jones in the classroom being offered the expedition to locate the Ark. If the prologue wasn’t there, the plot would be the same, but the tone would be off. Indiana Jones is after a completely different artifact we never see again, but the prologue accomplishes several things at once. And the interesting thing is that it has nothing to do with the plot of finding the Ark of the Covenant. The opening sequence lasts for 10 minutes, a significant portion of the film. Now that we have a better understanding of what a prologue is versus just a regular opening scene, let’s examine a stellar prologue in one of the best action movies ever made - the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. PROLOGUE DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES Best prologue examples

#Stage plot pro text on bottom download

Once you download StudioBinder’s screenwriting software, you should look at the examples below to see how prologues can be done well. The YouTube channel The Closer Look provides a glimpse into hooking your audience within those first few crucial minutes. You only have a few minutes to grab viewers’ attention, so if you jam in a prologue that shouldn’t be there, then you could lose your audience before your film really gets started. However, prologues can also be done poorly.

Some stories really benefit from a prologue. It makes us aware of the time, place, and season we’re in as well as why this group of disparate people are traveling together. Likewise, The Canterbury Tales prologue sets up the scene and the framing device the novel will use. In relation to stories, these prologue examples provide context for what we’re about to witness.

The character Antonio states, “What’s past is prologue.” The quotation essentially means history provides context for our present. Shakespeare understood the importance of prologues as evidenced from this quote from another one of his works - The Tempest. The famous Romeo and Juliet prologue clues us into the death and misery that’s to follow with the lines:įrom forth the fatal loins of these two foesĪ pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life ĭo with their death bury their parents' strife. Prologues have been a common fixture in literature for centuries.