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| - In any film beginning in wartime In Medias Res, it is almost taken for granted that a narration intoning opening text will describe the start of the war and provide a little history lesson... even if it's a fictional war.
* Opening narration / text crawl, often over a map, with drums or other fanfare. (This trope is big on drums.)
* Story begins In Medias Res...
* Usually, with an Action Prologue. This opening narration requirement can be removed if, as often the case, the writer decides on one of the alternatives, such as: Not to be confused with During the War.
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| abstract
| - In any film beginning in wartime In Medias Res, it is almost taken for granted that a narration intoning opening text will describe the start of the war and provide a little history lesson... even if it's a fictional war.
* Opening narration / text crawl, often over a map, with drums or other fanfare. (This trope is big on drums.)
* Story begins In Medias Res...
* Usually, with an Action Prologue. Opting for an Action Prologue with narration on top, over stock footage of combat or Stuff Blowing Up may produce Narm: People don't generally like to mix their opening crawl with their Opening Action Sequence. However, one may immediately cut to combat scenes In Medias Res as soon as the narration ends; indeed, it's almost expected, to the point where you can throw people off (but not really) with quiet scenes set in a better time/place, if you're seeking a slow build:
* Cut to a quiet scene in Arcadia; the hero will learn of the impending war about to wreck his world by way of a Herald, such as a wounded relative; see Bearer of Bad News, Harbinger of Impending Doom.
* Or the hero may turn out to be tragically related to the prosecution of the war somehow, such as: a family member started it, or got killed in the initial attack. This opening narration requirement can be removed if, as often the case, the writer decides on one of the alternatives, such as: 1.
* Show how the future protagonists react to the start of the war, in a "where were you when"... way.This is a useful way to introduce the future protagonists to the audience one after the other -- a Debut Queue. 2.
* Depict the events leading up to the start of the war, even if it happened years before the main story.This will be done in an Opening Action Sequence involving Stuff Blowing Up, possibly Earth. 3.
* If it's a war "everyone's heard of", the audience viewpoint character is simply informed that a war is on, averting this trope.
* Except perhaps with a newspaper headline (anachronistically titled) "World War Two Begins," or worse, "World War One Begins," as if people back then knew it would be the first of two.
* Surprisingly, #3 is less common, due to Small Reference Pools: World War II movies filmed during the war regularly opened with a War Was Beginning recap. Not to be confused with During the War. See also Opening Scroll. Examples of War Was Beginning include:
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