Bad Prologues vs Good Prologues (Writing Advice)
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- Learn what separates a bad prologue from a good one. Examples from Justice League, Indiana Jones, Goldfinger, Game of Thrones, and more!
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0:00 Intro
0:41 Should You Use a Prologue?
1:24 What is a Prologue?
2:18 What Good Prologues Do
4:30 Bad Prologue #1: TONE
6:17 Good Prologue #1: TONE
7:29 Bad Prologue #2: GENRE
9:24 Good Prologue #2: GENRE
10:02 Bad Prologue #3: INFO DUMP
11:12 Good Prologue #3: INFO DUMP
11:45 Bad Prologue #4: ORIGIN STORY
12:50 Good Prologue #4: ORIGIN STORY
13:48 Bad Prologue #5: LENGTH
14:51 Good Prologue #5: LENGTH
15:26 Recap
15:49 Outro
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Credit to SkyDilen for my video intro.
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Positive note I want to add about Batman v Superman (SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING):
BvS begins and ends with a death/funeral. This helps bring the movie full-circle, which works in that regard.
I see the failure of the BvS prologue as a failure of editing, not writing or directing. Watching it the first time in the cinema it was clear to me that the message the prologue was trying to convey was that Bruce Wayne, an adult man in his 40s, is still having nightmares about the murder of his parents, it's still affecting him on a daily basis. The nightmare scenes should have been much shorter and punchier to make this clear. All they really needed to be were flashes and moments before he woke up in a panic and we would have gotten the message very clearly. My guess is that the editor wanted to cut it down, but lost this fight with the director.
@@denniscastello504 That’s actually a great take. Your way would’ve worked much better
@@denniscastello504 I had no issues with the length of the nightmares, I feel they got the message across pretty easily.
There is technically only one long nightmare and the one that is a vision of the future, the other ones are fairly short
I think the point of the BvS prologue is to show how broken bruce wayne was by his parents falling. He says something about "things that fall stay fallen... on earth." it's all setting up his broken contrast to perfect unbreakable superman.
And it leads right into bruce running into 9/11 to save his corporate "family." (This is what breaks him and kicks off his unreasonable rage at superman. if he was so angry at the accident that killed his 2 family members, what happens to his sanity/reason when superman accidentally kills dozens of his surrogate family? It's his worst nightmare)
(+lex luthor's comments on the flipped painting also echo this idea of the lie that comes from above)
The thing to remember about a prologue, I think, is that it's not part of the first act, it's the opening act.
What I mean is that giving a local prop comic a short set to open for Carrot Top would work fine, but let the comic go too long or try to have them open for a metal band, and it's like what are you thinking???
_The Dark Knight_ has easily one of the most memorable and near perfect openings, as it combines action, crime, shock, chaos, betrayal, all to introduce the psychotic, anarchic, master villain Joker in a prologue that doesn't wear out its welcome, coming in at just around five minutes.
Inglorious Basterds similarly introduced its villain in a very effective way, though the scene is a bit longer as it's mainly dialogue
Yep, love Dark Knight's prologue. Gripping stuff
Agreeing that it's excellent, it's not really a prologue. That scene is part of the main story, the beginning of it actually.
@@MajorMlgNoob In the case of Inglorious Basterds I would had preferred it even longer, it's IMO the best part of the movie.
And the amazing soundtrack, just building that tension. It adds so much to it.
“About as fun as a child’s funeral”
I always liked the prologue to „Megamind“. It does everything: establishes tone, genre, main characters and conflict plus the backstory of the main characters. Also it‘s visually engaging, Action-packed, and, the best part, hilarious. Highly underrated movie, I feel.
Based
FirstLifeFan I totally agree. Megamind is a brilliant movie
Another thing I think Megamind handles magnificently is the 2nd act break-up trope.
Specifically, the scene where Roxanne tears into him and calls out everything he’s done.
megamind is a masterpiece
A bit late to the party but I've always loved the prologue for the 2007 film, I Am Legend. It's a news segment where Dr. Krippin (played by Emma Thompson, perfectly cast for such a tiny role) declares that she has genetically altered the measles virus and has actually cured cancer. Cut to "Three Years Later" and the world has been devastated by the "Krippin Virus." That's all the backstory you need. Everything else is told visually.
Good example. Have you read the book? It’s one of my favorites. Strong sense of isolation and loneliness
Imagine you think you have done something so amazing and instead you wipeout humanity.
@@robpolaris5002 Anthony Fauci came awfully close. I doubt he'd care, any more than Bill Gates. To them, we are bugs.
@@KutWrite I didn’t get that impression from Dr. Krippen. She seemed genuinely happy she had saved lives.
The worst part about Covid is the damn pharmaceutical companies are trying to make it more deadly!!! Fauci killed hundreds of thousands to millions. Killing 20 makes you a serial killer, hundreds of thousands perfectly fine.
@@KutWrite So, in your disaster movie Fauci was lead scientist in the Wuhan lab in 2019, huh?
I like Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds. Sets the tone, introduces the main villain and establishes how terrifying and intelligent he is and sets another key character on her revenge quest which comes full circle by the end of the film.
i think that prologue is the best and only interesting part of the entire movie.
@@LargeAndRobustPeter Best? maybe... only interesting part?? how very dare you
@@LargeAndRobustPeter all I'm going to say is the bar scene...the bar scene bro.
hahaha 😇
oh ya i forgot the bar scene. its good too. two good scenes for sure. otherwise its not to my taste. im not fond of tarantinos hyper gore, and all the shitty acting outside those two scenes
This is going to be obvious, but the prologue from Pixar's Up is not only my favorite prologue, it's my favorite part of the movie. The rest of the movie never reaches that emotional high, I can even say you can just watch the prologue and skip the rest of the movie. My second favorite? The prologue from the cinematic videogame The Last of Us.
Actually or is arguably a bad prologue because it steals the movie. - nah, it is indeed a good prologue.
its pretty good and by this definition in video its good but it can also be bad since it somewhat doesn't set the tone when you think about it, you might think he would focus more on the emotional part of him remebering his wife or smt. idk i'm probally saying shit
@@siluda9255totally agree. Tone is inconsistent
This is the new one, but I REALLY loved the prologue in Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse introducing Gwen's backstory quickly while also telling us what's going to happen in the movie. It shows immediately that she and her relationship with Miles will be in big focus, while she's telling what happened in the past it's foreshadowing to what's going to happen later in the movie, it perfectly cuts to introduction of Miguel O'Hara and Jessica Drew and how Gwen ended up with them. It's also there to remind us that a lot of Gwen's decisions in the film were based on her past before she met Miles and again before she reunited with him.
It is crazy that when using Last Crusade as a bad example due to length you didn't use Raiders as the counter-example which does a PERFECT job of setting up all franchise elements in a timely manner, not just the film itself.
Great point
Last Crusade wasn't used as a bad example in this video...
@@neilbeaton9498 bruh 14:02
@@kehlercreations ope I should've watched the whole video
@@kehlercreations It had a lot of information to divulge and it did while remaining entirely true to the Indiana Jones genre of action movie. The people on here saying it's a mini-movie within the movie are absolutely right. I never thought it seemed too long.
Zombieland's prologue is great. It perfectly sets the tone, while throughout the rest of the movie there are often call backs to it.
Good call!
The Princess Bride has two prologues - the sick kid & grandfather and the backstop of Westley and Buttercup's romance - but you don't mind at all watching it because they're done so well.
The grandfather part is a framing device. It also is book-ended (needs to be at the start and the end), so the "real" story-within-a-story has its own start and end. It's usually done in fairytales, but see Titanic and Edward Scissorhands for modern-ish takes.
My favorite movie ever ... and you're right. The prologue to the movie and prologue to the story both work perfectly.
I think the prologue was inconceivable.
Ever since I saw the prologue for the first LotR more than 20 years ago now (good lord) I have been absolutely in love with it. That's just pure perfection. Oftentimes when I need that LotR itch scratched and don't have time to watch 12 hour long movie (and damn right I would) I just *need* to see the prologue.
Also, pro tip - have Cate Blanchett read your boring prologue. She'll make it work, because she's a goddess. 😂
And to think that Peter Jackson HATED it. He didn't want a prologue but the studio demanded that he include one.
@@brandonbuchner1771 ironic then that the extended edition has two prologues 😂
@@PickledShark when I say prologue I’m talking specifically about the Cate Blanchett one. Not the Sméagol/gollum one in Return of the King. He didn’t want a voice over introduction like what was in Fellowship.
@@brandonbuchner1771
I mean the “Concerning Hobbits” prologue in the first movie, right after the One Ring prologue
@@PickledShark hmmm. I don’t remember if they said anything about that one in the directors commentary.
I actually love the Last Crusade's prologue. It's a great young Indy adventure with a great actor as young Indy. Wish we could see more.
Having first seen it as an adult, not a child, I agree with you. Different strokes for different age levels.
Interestingly there is a young Indiana Jones TV series. I think i've only seen one episode of it but yeah it starred River Phoenix, the young man who played Young Indy in the Film.
We also got to see how Indy got his iconic chin scar.
As a kid i loved the prologue and watched it with glee every time i rented it. But i was deeply into movies and movie soundtracks so i was probably more patient than most kids. Still, Indiana Jones films are not first and foremost childrens films, so i’m not sure why a child’s attention span should be the deciding factor for structure of a feature film. And if adults can’t stand to sit through an introduction that good, at that length, we have bigger problems. 😂 But that’s an uncommonly good prologue. It only works that long because it is packed full of hilarious and exciting moments, acted directed shot and edited masterfully.
Agree! I don’t think it’s too long at all. Ever since I was a little kid I’ve watched this movie and showing why he’s scared of snakes helped me get why this brave hero is scared of an animal I love.
The White Walkers scene from GoT s1 e1 sets such a terrifying tone. It was perfect.
Yep, and it needs to be there to establish the fantasy elements
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty
Not just that, it establishes the existential threat that is always in the background while the political machinations are played out in the foreground.
All the criticisms of the final season that I've seen miss an essential point: it's in the wrong order. The existential threat of the White Walkers must be dealt with last, AFTER the politics has been resolved.
Indeed, really great prologue, draws you in immediately with that "WTF?!" reaction that leaves you desperate to find out more. It's so simple yet so effective.
It also established the great amount of disappointment to follow.
It’s even better in the book, it’s a perfect first chapter
The LOTR has one of the best prologues IMO, considering its length (just 4 min) vs. the amount of information it conveys (MASSIVE). The music is also a complete masterpiece, which you could say about the entire thing.
The intro to The Living Daylights is also a favorite; the "hero shot" of Tim Dalton makes it perfectly clear who the new Bond is without a word being spoken
My favourite movie prologue is one that you mentioned (and showed) in passing but didn't get into: Jurassic Park. It accomplishes so much in a delightfully short amount of time. That the cinematography is absolutely perfect certainly helps (as it does throughout the film, which I contest is Spielberg's masterpiece).
In a movie that will take HALF its runtime to become the monster survival flick we know and love (the iconic shot of the T-Rex roaring beside the cars, the first full-body look at a predator in the film, comes EXACTLY 50% of the way through), and will consist mostly of philosophical speeches and discussions, the prologue does ALL the heavy lifting of establishing genre to prepare us for the incredibly slow-paced build. Jurassic Park simply would not function without the prologue hanging over our heads to remind us that dinosaurs are enormous, terrifying beasts that can kill and eat us almost without trying, if given the chance. It's that knowledge that allows us to get behind every single one of our protagonists as they lecture Hammond on precisely why and how this is a colossally bad idea. It's the counterweight to all the majesty and wonder that fills the first half of the film, as we bask in the magic of seeing dinosaurs in all their glory, paired with possibly the greatest film score of all time.
All of that - ALL of that - is balanced by a couple dark minutes in the rain, where we see just the eyes of a single raptor for only a second, as a man is slowly pulled into a giant box, while a minor character screams "SHOOT HER!"
That's the tension. That's why the power outage works. Why the lawyer running to the outhouse and abandoning the kids works. It's why the ripples in the water works. We've understood the REAL danger behind the facade the whole time, because we saw it in the prologue.
In case you hadn't guessed, Jurassic Park is my favourite movie XD
I was hoping someone would mention JP! It’s my favorite too. :)
Its one of a few things that the movie added that wasn’t in the book that i think elevates the movie as a good book adaptation, instead of just showing half the book and calling it a day
@@edun4513 Absolutely! I think the cuts were reasonable to fit the medium - Crichton was one of the screenwriters, after all - but I agree, the prologue was a perfect addition. Everything else was to shorthand things or step up the pacing, but this opening sequence was killer (pun intended).
My pet peeve is when they are not confident their story will be engaging so they show basically the climax of the movie, and then say "Three days earlier..." or some such thing. It's like saying hey this is going to be really boring for a while but in the meantime try to remember how much excitement is coming later if you just stick it out.
So Megamind?
My favorite prologue is in Puss in Boots the Last Wish. We see the fearless hero Puss in Boots celebrate a party larger than life, sing a song about his "bravery," and then he fights the hill giant in a fantastic show of the action to come. Best opening to a movie ever imo.
The prologue for RAIDERS OTLA is the best in the business by a mile. The creepy music as they move through the jungle, the mounting threat, the bullwhip, the spiders, booby traps, that escape- it's just perfect
I really love the prologue in the game Arkham Knight. At first it feels totally disconnected (you are not even Batman) then there's a very spooky surprise and suddenly you understand the point of that scene and everything is then connected. It introduces the vilan quite nicely and conveys info of why the city won't be totally populated. AND is super short.
Bad Vs Good use of violence would be interesting. Violence should be shocking, tell us something about a character and convey a plot point. It shouldn't be boring or unnecessary.
Ahhhhh!!! Great idea. Thank you for this
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Cheers, I'll look forward to it. A good, example of bad violence is in Game Of Thrones when Cersei is talking to The Mountain and he's just randomly killing people for training while they chat. Murphy's death at the start of Robocop is a good example of really brutal graphic violence being used well.... good luck getting this one part the censors!
As a teacher I've has students ask me about this. Once the question was about Saving Private Ryan. First of all I established that it was a decision to be made individually between each of them and their parents. Then I said that my advice in general would be to ask themselves whether they want to watch it because they want to understand more about what it was like for the people that fought in the war, or because they thought it was cool to watch people being blown up. I do the same thing. There's a noticeable difference between violence that serves some purpose in telling the story and violence just for violence's sake.
@@snowangelncthat’s some great stuff, kudos for getting kids to think about the content they’re consuming
Very informative. “Never use a prologue that doesn’t include your main protagonist” was what I’ve always heard. I liked the nuance of this video much more.
Thank you!
I will push back on this slightly because you can just as easily use your antagonist in a prologue or neither one IF it properly sets the stage for your protagonist. Crime stories or medical dramas often open with some tragic accident or brutal demise of some poor soul. But whether you stay within the box or live constantly outside it, each writer has to find where they operate best.
Exactly, the antagonist also works! I am thinking about Inglorious basterds where the antagonist is introduced in a clearly unforgettable way, the tone is creepy but witty and the backdrop is clearly introduced. That's a way to start a movie
Even though that could be true with some, a lot of movies have got just the antagonists and gone fine
It’s like putting a rule on something because too many people do it poorly. I remember being in early elementary and my teacher told me to never start a sentence with “And”. This frustrated me because I was smart enough to use it correctly and with intention
I like how you transition from the origin story of Indiana Jones right into the origin story of Sean Connery.
Hahah totally by accident
Fellowship of the ring prologue is a masterpiece.
The prologue from The Sixth Sense is intriguing, because it lets you know that Malcolm is dead...if you're paying attention. Also, for sheer emotional impact, Up wins, for me. I watched Up with a friend who had recently lost his wife to cancer. We picked the movie to be something light, not knowing that the prologue would be so tender and heart-wrenching. As someone who's not a fan of animation, I was surprised at how effective this prologue was.
I didn't like that prolougue at all because it set this melancoly tone and then the rest of the movie is so silly and all over the place (or more accurately, I liked the prolouge and didn't like the rest of the movie). But I have yet to meet someone who shares this unpopular opinion xD
It’s important, since it sets the story up for the twist at the end. Its a story that requires it, otherwise the twist at the end would be a total WTF!?
One of my favorite movie prologues is at the start of Serenity, the movie sequel to the Firefly TV show. Even if we're not familiar with the TV show, we know the genre (sci-fi). We get an info-dump about the universe, but at the same time we're introduced (or reintroduced) to important characters and the horrifying situation they're in. We're introduced to the Operative, the primary villain, and shown just how incredibly dedicated and dangerous he's going to be. I don't know how long it is because it's got action and a jump-scare to presages a horror element later. It's just a master class in starting a movie.
I like how it's like, a prologue within a prologue within a prologue within a prologue. First you have the history exposition, which turns out to be a lesson in a class River took when she was a kid. Then that lesson turns out to be a memory River is reliving as she's tormented in the government facility, before being rescued by Simon. Then that rescue scene turns out to be a recording that The Operative is watching. (Whether that final layer is a prologue is debatable I guess, I don't know when that scene occurs relative to the rest of the movie.)
@@NoriMori1992 That's a great point. It's like four layers of prologue within one prologue. And I would argue since it's all part of the same scene, it's all prologue.
I pretty much love everything about Serenity . Great flick!
As for current movies, I think the Batman has a perfect prologue: It's a detective story...and starts off with a Murder that will drive the story through to its conclusion.
It also perfectly sets the tone and theme and gives us the backstory (Halloween, Bruce Wayne has been Batman for two years, he's been using fear, unpredictability and vengeance (Batman) as a means to create fear in Gotham's criminals who have been running rampant, Gordon has created a signal, Batman has to be strategic in choosing his targets,). And it's all done while showing constant action that builds to the climatic reveal of Batman saving one citizen from a gang of thugs.
Yeah I loved The Batman’s prologue for the reasons you mentioned. My only issue was that there was a little confusion with the opening POV and what was going on inside the house. But once the scene settles in, it’s a great prologue
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty That was a little confusing at first, but I think the intent was to visually show how blurred the line between Batman and the Riddler was and show how gray the line is between good and evil in Gotham. Both Batman and Riddler were stalking and terrorizing from the shadows. The difference was the extent that they went to to make their point. Batman has a limit he won't cross. (murder). Riddler has no limit to reach his goal. (Including murdering countless people.) So it directly ties into Bruce's story arc and his revelation that he can't be vengeance anymore, but instead needs change to become hope.
@@mattosso7676 Thanks a great take on the POV
Ew that movie is garbage
I was literally about to say that.
The prologue in the Expanse with Julie Mao on the Anubis is great because it gives the viewer information that neither of our protagonists have, allowing the audience to piece what happened together with the characters.
My favorite prologue is in Predator. It introduces each character over a few minutes helicopter ride, doesn't spoil the plot and engages the viewer.
hell yeah
Predator is amazing as a movie to set up the protagonists as amazing bad asses only to have them fighting for their survival against a far superior foe.
@@jacevickiit makes the foe even scarier.
The predator can kill John wick if he wanted
Nice pun with 'blown opportunity' after the road head scene.
Haha
My favorite story prologue is the one from Fellowship of the Ring. It's the best example of an info-dump prologue done right that I know of.
I feel like Fellowship of the Ring has a perfect opening. It sets the tone and genre, it builds the world without info-dumping, setting up the stakes, and most importantly, it visualizes Sauron at the height of his power, providing context to the stakes and engaging viewers on their second, third, and fourth re-watch because we almost never get to see Sauron again. It has action, heroism, betrayal, and it sets up the theme of the story: the race of Men are capable of great deeds, but their ambition and their lust for power can easily corrupt them. This ties directly into the protagonist and hero being a hobbit, a "weak" and unassuming race, easy to miss and easier to dismiss, however the opening ALSO sets up the eventual conflict between Aragorn and Boromir, which shows not all Men will succumb to their thirst for power and control. Absolutely amazing.
I love the opening crawls of Star Wars: quick, to the point and sets the scene and the stakes. I also loved the Fellowship's prologue because, although long, it explained the history of the ring for those who had not read the books.
It then immediately cuts to the boarding of Leia's ship, establishing the threat the Empire and its HIGHLY TRAINED TROOPERS _cough_ pose to the characters. It also sets up the droids as tone-aware comic relief.
That’s great, unless you had the guy sitting behind me on opening night telling his buddy all of the differences from the book for the full 3 hours.
How? Using his logic with Alone in the Dark 10:56 it would mean Star Wars got very bad prologues
My favorite prolog has got to be the one from Serenity. Not just from the constant perception shifts but for the weight of information dumped in an enjoyable way.
Inception had the most mind-blowing Prologue I ever watched
Amazing intro
A contender for best prologue: "The Third Man." Truly one of the great movies, and that opening voiceover works perfectly: It's casually cynical (the tone of the movie), it's informative about the protagonist and the maguffin/antagonist (but coy enough to not spoil that), and it draws interest in Vienna itself. Very well done.
The prologue for Dune was a bit of an info dump but I was so hooked by the visuals and sound design that it was a great way to immerse us into the world.
I was waiting for that to come up in the video. That's where I learned the word Prologue. It was 8 minutes long and I still didnt understand what was going on.
this guy isn't playing favorites, he used two Zach Snyder movies for both examples and I love it!
Hahaha thanks for watching!
Except the Snyder cut prologue is also awful.
Nah, he seems very confused about prologues.
- The Army of the Dead one wasn't meant to be a prologue but a teaser
- Using his logic with Alone in the Dark 10:56 it would mean every Star Wars and Conjuring movie's got a bad prologue
- What logic is he using when you say Zack Snyder's Justice League has a short prologue? The prologue goes all the way up to Bruce Wayne walking down toward the Icelandic village. By the same logic, 2017 Justice League's prologue isn't just the kids filming and asking Superman, but the Batman hunting Parademon on the rooftop scene too.
- Batman v Superman has no prologue. It starts right off the bat. It's not a Batman movie, it's a Superman sequel. We don't need to invest a significant portion of the movie telling Batman's origins. The intro does the job, establishing the antagonist before we move into what triggered the antagonism.
@@whyequalswhat Ok bot
@@AshrafAnam No. The one's who praise Snyders trash are the bots
Berserk stands out in my mind for first having a prologue that takes place at the same point as the main story, but is itself a prologue to a greater prologue that is a fantastic story on its own. Both serve to serve eachother and set up the main plot almost 90 chapters into the series.
What about that other seinen masterpiece which is known for having the best prologue ever? I think it's called.. peakland saga? I'm not sure
I always felt one of the best prologues was from the film Serenity. It’s a short but sweet scene that explains the complex sci fi world, sets up one of our characters, and sets the tone as a sci-Fi with horror elements film.
Also, depending on how you look at it, you could even say there’s a second prologue that sets up a couple characters and the villain - really before getting into any of the meat of the plot.
I agree. I think the writing of Serenity's prologue is a masterclass at both showing and telling information in a short amount of time to get the audience caught up to a world that's already been established.
Star Trek (2009) is my favorite intro/prologue. It basically gives you a short movie filled with action, love, duty, and an intro into the eventual antagonist of the movie. When I first saw that intro I thought okay roll credits. Movie's done and I got my money's worth. (Money's worth being a RedBox rental)
I really liked the prologue from Serenity. It delivered a lot of setting info while staying interesting by revealing itself to be scenes within scenes. Then we got a great oner introducing each member of the crew and the ship.
The Big Lebowski has a hilarious prologue narrated by Sam Elliott, with visuals that perfectly set the tone of the film and even foreshadow future events.
“But sometimes there's a man, sometimes, there's a man. Aw. I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. I've done introduced him enough.”
Aside from the Coen brothers making one great movie after the other, there is one prologue I always found most curious, absurd and delightful at the same time - in their film A Serious Man.
Neither tone, setting or even the characters have any connection to the main storyline (or so it seems), but it is a small gem leading to a brilliant movie.
Just watched "Thor:Love and Thunder" so it's at the front of my brain. I actually loved the beginning. It was tragic and sad. But the rest of the movie, was a COMEDY! Take the serious start out and I could see this as a hilarious comedy. Or make the rest of the movie just as serious. BUT PICK ONE!
I'm still shocked at how serious and depressing Love and Thunder was.
Haven't seen it, but thanks for sharing that example. If I ever do another prologue video, I'll have to include TL&T
When it comes to books I think I liked the prologue from the Wheel of Time, it was great. Showing off the One Power, the madness, Dragonmount's creation, the Forsaken etc. Loved it.
I really like the introduction to Zootopia. It gives you the tone and genre, it introduces the world and one of the protagonists, and it does it via a childhood flashback (a form of origin story).
The prologue to the animated "Beauty and the Beast" is a classic one. It's quick, effective, and beautiful.
I thought the Magneto origin story in X-Men was great because I wasn't aware of that story and it establishes sympathy for him and clearly shows he doesn't see himself as a villain.
One of my all time favourites is easily Children Of Men: shows the state of the world it takes place in, introduces the troubled main character who seems to have stopped caring at all, and excellently sets the tone of the movie by opening with a 90sec stabilised handheld one-shot
I remember watching the Early MacGyver episodes (1980s version). I think they were prologues at the start of each of those season 1 episodes and I loved them. They showed a quick sequence of MacGyver problem solving and then after the intro music he would be back for the main story.
Amazing example of prologue setting tone is fellowship of the ring. The actual story starts out with Frodo in a small town, but the prologue introduces the grand scale, and high stakes of the story
“It’s about as fun as a child’s funeral.”
And the award for the darkest analogy of the day goes to…..
If Alone in the Dark is a horrible, dull movie, then isn't a horrible, dull prologue actually a good prologue? It tells you everything you need to know about what you're about to see. 😄
Hah, it does hit on his one point of communicating to the audience what their in for! Nice observation. But that alone just makes it a serviceable prologue maybe
The prologue from Se7en is great: it's at a crime scene that has nothing to do with the main narrative, but in doing so it establishes the genre as crime thriller. It establishes, subtly but efficiently, some important characteristics of main characters Mills and Somerset, and of the relationship between them at this, their first meeting. It establishes the tone: dark, sombre and constantly raining. And, in a deft sleight of hand, it tries to disguise the true meaning of the film's title by slipping in the line about "the next seven days" - as the following week will see the transition between Mills and Somerset, as the younger man is replacing the retiring older man.
That this brilliant prologue is then followed by one of most influential and much-imitated opening credits sequences in modern cinema, is the cherry on top.
The prologue to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) is great. It starts with a slow zoom to New York City where April O Neil is reporting on "the silent crime wave" which shows various crimes happening all over the city with a lot them being perpetrated by the Foot clan. Establishes the tone, with some funny robberies which ends with April getting attacked showing no one is safe. The Turtles intervene in darkness until the intro credits start.
One of my favourite prologues is the start of Valerian. It starts in the present day and takes us through future history as each country gradually sends astronauts to the ISS. Eventually aliens, and then more aliens all being welcomed to "Space Station Alpha". It's just a really really optimistic view of the future and often I'll just watch the prologue and then not bother with the rest of the movie.
I agree with you. Easily the best scene in the movie. Unfortunately it also shows how uninspired the rest of the film is
It went viral in Ukraine because one of space countries is Ukraine. And russia doesn't seem to exist. Finally a realistic future, a refresher after impossibly unrealistic stuff like USSR in Space Odyssey... Literally 2001.
That prologue deserved a better movie. It stands alone as an amazing short film.
In the list of what good prologues do, you could also add
1. Characterization, tell us who someone is that might not get a lot of screen time but enough for us to know who they are and their motives
2. Stakes - If the plot centers around a specific item, it tells us a little bit about it's history and how significant this item could be
3. Shared History - Letting us know knowledge that the characters might know, but that isn't inherently clear/might not be able to be brought up in the plot
Serenity ... its prologue does all those things. It meets the wickets this video talks about too.
A lot of films use the opening credit sequence as a way to do a sort of prologue. You get moments of world-building and character introduction, usually as the camera pans over the scene(s). The moving camera gives it some dynamic vibes, to start the film with some movement, even if the scene isn’t necessarily super action packed. Lots of 80s and 90s films did this.
Shots have been fired against the Star Wars franchise's stupid scrolling text prologue, and I'm here for it
"Watchmen" is a great example of a good info dump prologue.
"Inglorious Basterds" is a great example of a good long prologue
Another exception to the bloated prologue where it works really well, is in the film noir, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), with Barbara Stanwick and Kirk Douglas, his first feature role. The whole movie is 1hr 56min, and the prologue is over 16 minutes. Yes, it's long, to the point you don't even know you're watching a prologue, but once you get into the main part of the story, not only do you realize that it was indeed a prologue, but the story couldn't have worked nearly as effectively without it.
I'm actually a huge fan of the Superman prologue of the original theatrical run. It's awkward in a good way, setting the tone for an actual good portrayal of a Superman that I feel every previous movie lacked.
"About as fun as a child's funeral"
Thx. I'm gonna use that in the future
Hahaha thanks for watching
At the time of watching this video, I have to say that the prologue from the 1st episode of the 1st season of Freelancers is my favorite. it does a good job of introducing each of the characters' individual personalities, as well as their collective sense of over confidence and lack of self-awareness. It's short and to the point, but contains a lot of rapid-fire humor, establishing that the series is a comedy, as well as what type of comedy it is. Simultaneously, it delivers what little exposition is needed to understand the setting and situation of the story in a very natural, organic way.
One of my favorite prologues in the movies is from "Jack Reacher". It is disturbing when he starts to shoot people but it sets the tone perfectly for what is to come.
I have given up any pretensions about being a writer, but I love these advice segments which I think could be used to help create better reviews. Sometimes a person knows something isn't quite right about a film but finds it hard to organize the reasons....well, thinking about different aspects and comparing them with similar but better films is an approach worth trying. Thank you!
same, i seem to have all these little ideas in my head but when i come to pen something down its... just an idea. Just a sentence or two, a random character and nothing else comes out of me, it frustrates me to no end because i would love to create, i just don't think i can
Thanks for watching--glad you got something out of this video!
I don't know if this helps, but the first story I ever wrote came from a writing exercise that went something like this: Put a character in a dangerous situation, then cut off one of their five senses. Then have that character try to survive that situation.
Give it a try sometime. You have nothing to lose
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Except one of your senses.
Never give up -- your skills are ripening.
The short film Queen Of The Night by Dirt Poor Robbins. It establishes the tone, genre, and loops around really well in the ending.
Best prologue i ever read was in the book Tigana by GGK. It takes place before a major battle that occurs years before the main story starts, but its implications set the scene for everything that occurs afterwards. And it gets even better once you read the story and learn all the context behind it.
This is a big yep.
Excellent example.
Inglourious Basterds seems to violate your guideline regarding length, and possibly even unnecessary origin story, but I find it breathtaking: a perfect example of Hitchcock's definition of suspense
The thing is that that's completely in line with the rest of the film. It's my favorite Tarantino film, and, as much as it is a coherent film, it's a movie that is made up of mini-movies with most scenes doing a surprisingly good job of standing apart from the rest of the movie.
Every rule has exceptions that can be mastered into near perfection. In some sense that's a very integral part of that movie even if it is not part of the main plot.
My favorite prologue is probably from The Departed. Yes, it's almost 20 minutes long, but so much happens in those 20 minutes that you can't have the rest of the film without it.
Really? I remember hating the movie for that very same thing lol
@@billyb4790 May I ask what your favorite prologue is?
Martin Scorsese really knows how to open a movie
Extremely boring and overrated movie from prologue to epilogue.
@@APTapes I don’t have a favorite epilogue. The best epilogues are ones I know I’m not watching lol
"Breaking Bad" has some of the best prologues that I have ever seen. They are surreal and mysterious and just get the audience desperate to know their significance. The opener to season three where we see a group of Mexican peasants and two hitmen crawling on their bellies over a long distance is so strange that it litterally haunted me in my sleep for days. Incredible stuff.
What I would like to see added to this format is a break down of what the bad examples try to accomplish, and figure out how it could be fixed and maybe analyze why the writers made that choice. For example, I really liked the blown opportunity portion of bad prologue # 2.
I like Mistborn's prologue a lot not only because it sets the tone of the story and introduces a key character, but it's damn memorable, too. But, after starting Way of Kings, I'm coming to gather that's just one more thing that comes naturally for Sanderson.
The opening for the Way of Kings (the assassination, not the oathpack thing) is my favorite prologue of all time
I think an interesting prologue would be from Pacific Rim, specifically because it has two separate prologues, the infodump over news footage explaining the background of the world, and then the opening fight, which serves as a visual reinforcement of everything we learned in the infodump, and a traumatic backstory for the main character. On top of that it perfectly summarizes how the rest of the movie will go, the infodump serves as a leadup to the fight, and the fight is the main action. Building tension, and releasing tension, which how the rest of the movie handles those fights. It does a lot of work for a movie about big robots punching big lizards.
Now someone just needs to rewatch it once. Even just once.
The bad guy giving Young Indiana Jones his hat, as he earned it. One of the coolest movie scenes I will ever see in my lifetime.
One of my favorite prologues is from the original Highlander movie. It gives us genre, tone, setting, central plot and main character with a great combination of tension, action, juxtaposition (fake fighting vs real battle) and a glimpse of back story. The only unnecessary element is Iman Fasil (Connor's foe) doing back hand-springs along the length of the parking deck. Not only is that level of athleticism out of character for Fasil, it's unnecessary because it doesn't add to his swordmanship. He also isn't even slightly out of breath in the scene immediately after.
I love the prologue in "It"--establishing Bill and Georgie, getting the stakes, establishing the supernatural horror context, and very quickly sketching in characters who seem immediately real. In the book, it's even better, because it also establishes the kind of circular time sense that's the whole vibe of the story.
(Watching a few reactions, I've wondered if "The Hunger Games" might have benefited from a filmic prologue to establish the back story. It's not usually a great idea, but so many people completely misunderstand the bread scene--which is essential to understanding the actions the protagonist takes, and would also serve to introduce the stakes of the world--that I feel like there had to be a better way to handle it. The flashback version _barely_ works in the book and doesn't work at all in the movie--which also ages the characters too much for the scene to make sense, because they wanted the recognizable actors--and just screams, "Oh, we know you read it, anyway." Except that a lot of viewers hadn't. There had to have been a better way to get across the meaning of that scene.)
My favourite opening is from the first Scream (1996). Does it count as a prologue? I mean, it directly connects to the rest of the story, so it isn't an entirely self-contained sequence, and yet, it also feels separate because we're focusing on a character who (SPOILER) is killed off and thus doesn't return for the rest of the movie. And like most great prologues (e.g. Raiders/Last Crusade, most 007 openings) it could work well as a self-contained movie with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Scream's opening is definitely a prologue (and a good one)
I’d like to point out Villeneuve’s Dune has a great info dump prologue. The visuals are stunning, and you’re totally excited to learn about this universe.
Though it's not often thought of as a prologue STAR WARS' opening with Vader boarding Leia's ship, seems to fit the bill, and is unforgettable.
I dont agree with you at all on the justice league. Using your own rule. It introduce us to superman (not the greety brooding one) who he is and what he believes in so that the audience feels what they lost since he is dead at the beginning of the movie (you see the contrast with the opening song that is still part of the prologue) , it is like endgame, you see a happy moment wity hawkeye family just before they vanished. If you only take the super man scene and not also the song then you only take half of the prologue. Of course it doesn't make sense in the case
I've gotta say man, I really appreciate your work. It's poignant, fascinating, insightful, and inspiring. I appreciate that you make these videos!
Thanks so much. Always appreciate comments like these
I think an instance of a bad origin story in a prologue (or more so opening) is for the manga Fire Punch. It drops Agni's motivation and backstory, which is basically his whole character, in the first few chapters, and also a lot about the world. Honestly, it makes the story a whole lot less interesting when it could have inserted this information in a more natural manner and gotten straight to the point.
Basically the prologue is the equivalent of dropping everything about your OC in a 3 slide instagram post.
Also I dropped Fire Punch half way through so apologies for any misinformation.
"about as fun as a child's funeral"
One of the funniest things I've ever heard TBH
This is the 3rd video I have watched, well crafted with verbal comments and written comments. I gave thumbs up and subscribed.
Thanks!
Love this format, Brandon! Thanks for your hard work.
Thanks! I'm planning to do more Bad vs Good videos in the near future
Raising Arizona's prologue is pretty long, but I wish it could've been even longer.
I really like the prologues from all of the guardians of the galaxy movies they are all short and gives an origin story to one of the characters, or the genre of the movie
the first one we see little Peter listening to music, and from that we know he loves music and then we saw his mom die in front of him which leads to him being closed off and works mostly alone and most importantly being kidnapped by Yondu by a space ship, you know it's about to be si fi movie from that
In the second we see Meredith quill with ego playing music, seeing this is where Peter got his music love, and a foreshadowing on egos plan
In the 3rd we see baby Rocket back when he was jsut a normal raccoon and then we see the High Evolutionary hand about to grab him while he was shaking and scared, from that we know who the movie will mainly focus on, and that it will be sad since right after that we saw adult Rocket singing Creep by Radiohead, which is a perfect choice to know how he feels
yes, love this format. make more like this
Thank you! I need to carve out some time and do another one of these. Bad Endings vs. Good Endings has been on my mind for a while.
The Boys has a great prologue. It not only shows the powers of Homelander and Maeve but all shows how society is enamoured with their presence. While also showing the gritty violence in the story to come.
ohohoho just watched how to write a terrifying villain and homelander is the one to ask
dudes breathes intimidation
"It's about as fun as a child's funeral" omg 😂 didn't expect that
This was a great help to me (along with your dialogue videos). I had a "bloated" prologue that I rewrote. It now gives one of the 4 main characters some more agency, shows his sense of loss and gives him some baggage to carry forward through the story. One of my favorite prologues is from the "Lord of the Rings" movies (the book is way too long). The premise of "much that once was is now lost, none now live who remember it", Is so powerful.
Just found your channel. Love it so far, and I enjoyed the bad vs. good format. Your insights are concise, authentic, and engaging - keep it up!
Thank you! I'm planning to do a "Bad Ending vs. Good Endings" in the near future, so keep an eye out for that
So glad I found this. Exactly what I needed. Thank you)
Glad it helped--best of luck with your writing!
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thanks)
1989's Batman had the perfect twist on the Wayne origin story, in that, we think that's what we're about to witness, but it turns out to be just another mugging in Gotham, and Batman is already on the prowl.
I love the Lord of War prologue where the open credits show one sheet metal become a bullet and the life cycle of the bullet. All the way from its production to killing a child in a war torn country. It sets the tone that in pursuit of profit of weapons, at the end of the day, it is meant to kill people and blood will be on the main character's hands, whether he finds it morally appalling or not.
Man, you're the BEST! THANK YOU sir!
Anytime. Hope the video helped!
With #5, that was why I didn't like A Quiet Place: Part 2: prologue is too long and nothing new was added to the main characters, just Thriller Filler. They didn't need 12 minutes of prologue to introduce a new character with nothing to add until we get to the Inciting Incident.
I had some MAJOR problems with AQP2, but strangely the prologue didn't bother me that much. You're right though--it doesn't add much to the story other than introducing Cillian Murphy's character and reorienting us to the story world.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I had other big problems with the film as well. It was a C- at the end of the day for me but a disappointment nevertheless.
@@jacindaellison3363 My biggest problem was that they threw the story rules out the window. In AQP1, noise = death. In AQP2, noise = plenty of time to escape.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I know! One scene Cillian Murphy's character is whispering to Reagan. Like, you're supposed to be quiet! Also, Reagan was foolish to go off on her own. It was uncalled for, as well Marcus...boy I think he was the worst.
@@jacindaellison3363 Yeah, I hated the direction they took AQP2. Horror sequels are hard to pull off, so I get why they tried to make it more of an action-adventure story, but this one just fell flat to me.
I found this video with great timing, as I have just written my first ever prologue a few days ago, and it seems to contain/leave out everything you said to contain/leave out.
Thanks for the tips 👍
Thanks for watching!