Picture this scene: you sit down in a movie theater just in time to catch the beginning of your film. As you dig into your popcorn, you see the star of the movie on the screen—he stands breathlessly on a crowded street, holding a gun, blood trickling down his arm. A wounded man lies on the ground next to him, writhing in pain. Immediately you think: did I miss something? Who are these characters and why is this happening?
Of course, this technique has become common in television shows and movies: grabbing the audience’s attention immediately by beginning the story at a critical point in the plot, only then to return the narrative to the beginning, taking the story up to the point which the audience has already seen, before concluding with the resolution of the conflict.
