There’s this concept in screenwriting that we call “hanging a lantern on it”. It basically means that we point out something before it can trip up an audience. By acknowledging that we are aware of the problem/issue we reassure the audience that we know what we’re doing and they can sit back, relax and take the ride with us.
It came up in my spec Edge script. I had a beta reader point out that somewhere my Prometheus character has to point out that he will use any weapon in his war against magic, superstition and religion — including magic. (It ends up having a bad result, but that’s what makes it drama).
Anyway, I’ve been looking for a place in the script to drop in that one line, but I haven’t found it yet. The script is really pretty tight so wedging in this line it’s proving challenging.
And I found the place. Got rid of a couple of lines that I didn’t like all that well too so added bonus.
Looking forward to that script Melinda – loved the third book BTW!
Glad you enjoyed it, Bill. I had a lot of fun writing it. I’d wanted to set a climactic battle in that fortress from the moment I saw it and I finally got to write that scene.
Can you give an example of hanging a lantern from a movie – like Back to the Future 1, or The Apartment, or Get Out, High Noon, When Harry Met Sally?
So sorry I didn’t get to these sooner. I find all the social media to be exhausting. Hanging a lantern. Okay, here’s an example. Empire Strikes Back. Han is about to take the Falcon into an asteroid field. It might have bumped the audience to think, “that’s too improbable. I don’t buy it. They couldn’t survive”. So the writer has C3PO stand in for the audience and state that. Then Han comes back with “Never tell me the odds!” which works to help define his character and also explain why he would try this crazy thing. It can be as simple as when the writer wants to bring back into the plot a very untrustworthy person, and again your reader of viewer might think, “But that person screwed us over. Why would you trust them?” Again they are voicing what the audience might think and feel and then the hero says, “yes, I know, but we don’t have a choice.” and either gives the reason why they don’t have a choice or just leaves it there.
Does that make sense?