Foreshadowing

A character jumping out a window (for good reasons I hope) wouldn't need any foreshadowing that I can tell from the little info you just told me.

You dont have to give away too much. Indy freaking out "I hate snakes, Jack! I hate em!" at a snake at the beginning of Raiders gives us no reason to think that later he would be trapped with hundreds, but having that opening gives us a better sense of the task and fear he's up against.

Now. In a horror film, showing a knife in a kitchen drawer at the beginning gives us a reason to believe that it will ultimately be the device that the victim will use to kill the monster. We're used to it-- seen it dozens of times, but if you take that cliche' and turn it on his ear and later, when the victim opens the drawer and... NOTHING THERE and then he/she turns and the monster has it. Then you took the expected and like a good magician tricked us.

Foreshadowing isn't bad. Bad foreshadowing is.

But for your WIP, I can't tell you.
In other words, give me clear examples of things you are doing...

"My main character jumps out a window to certain doom" just sounds... wrong.

Related subject perhaps -- or maybe not -- taking a shot in the dark:

PLANTS AND PAYOFFS by Kathryn McCullough
http://www.scriptnannies.com/script/07_06.html

-Derek

There's some good info on foreshadowing and planting in some of the link removed via request from other site's Webmaster. columns, too.

Parkinsonsd said:

Maybe it's like said before, the trailers are doing the foreshadowing, but from a literary standpoint, it feels wrong to suddenly have my main character jump out a window to certain doom without an explanation earlier on setting forth a motivation.

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Maybe he decided he didn't want to appear in a sequel, but was keeping this information from the rest of the team.

the best example of foreshadowing (or maybe you think of it as "setup") is in Crash - that resulted with the impenetratable cloak vs blanks incident

i think in a comedy or horror - now, the best way is to plant it and once the audience makes their assumptions go against it and surprise them

Watch The Prestige. There are plenty of foreshadowing, hints, clues, crumbs lying around. In fact, the very first shots of the film are all foreshadows/clues.

maestrowork said:

Watch The Prestige. There are plenty of foreshadowing, hints, cllues, crumbs lying around. In fact, the very first shots of the film are all foreshadows/clues.

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Plus, there's Hugh Jackman.

I'm more of a Christian Bale fan. That guy is INTENSE.

At the risk of derailing, thee and me would be watching that movie for two entirely differing reasons, one of which would involve puppies.