Complex and involved stories with many plot threads can quickly become confusing for the audience. The deeper the story gets, the more likely it is that the audience will get lost. Some producers like to provide a quick opening recap to bring their audience up to speed. And while not everyone goes down this path, there are some good reasons to do so (and some methods that are far better to use than others).
The older we get the more difficult it is to remember things and in a world that overloads us with information on a regular basis, it can take even young audience members a few moments to reorient themselves to where a particular story and story-world is up to. You can help the members of your audience plug directly into the story at the point an episode takes it up again by doing a little of the heavy lifting (in terms of remembering where everything is up to) for them.
Okay, so it’s probably a good idea to provide a recap, but how should it be done?
That’s a valid question. Especially in light of the following fact: Recaps are BORING.
While it is no bad thing to help your audience out with an occasional (or even a regular) recap, it is essential to make sure the recap is short! Five-sentences-or-fewer short, if possible. And there are some specific beats to hit that are worth keeping in mind.
A suggested content model
Here’s a simple 4-part model for what needs to be included in a recap.
- Start by identifying the protagonists’ current goal and the reason for it.
- Have you noticed that TV shows never say “last episode on [[show name]]”, but instead say “previously”? As stories have grown more complex, knowing what happened in the last episode is simply not enough. The audience needs to be brought up to speed on all the important things that impact the current episode from the past.
It’s also okay (while not recommended where you can avoid it) to throw in the occasional outright lie. You might be amazed to discover just how common it is in television to add things to the recap that didn’t actually happen (or juxtapose things in such a way that they lead the audience to a conclusion that was never there in the previous episodes that are being referred to – Farscape was notorious for it. Recap whatever is needed to make sense of the story. - Outline the major beats from the most recent episode. Make sure you identify key character moments as well as plot events.
- Lastly, transition into the current episode (whether by segueing into the titles or via a short connective narration).
Some recap techniques
There aren’t that many techniques used to provide a recap. Here are four that are particularly common.
Firstly, the recap can be provided by a flashback pastiche, a series of connected soundbites from previous episodes that bring the audience up to date. This can be a very effective technique, but can also be very inefficient. It is REALLY important not to let the pastiche drag on. Pick the lines you want to borrow from past episodes very carefully… and make sure they communicate what you want to say. It may be necessary to record some new lines that make your intention clear.
A second common technique is to simply use the dialog from one of your characters to introduce the episode. This also can be an inefficient form of delivery. It can be hard to put the words needed for a recap into the mouth of your characters and keep it sounding natural.
A third common technique is to supply the recap through a narration. This can be as simple as scripting the five lines from the model. I prefer it for its simplicity, but it isn’t the most fashionable technique in use.
Lastly, in the days of Old Time Radio it was fairly common for a serial to replay the last scene of the previous episode at the beginning of each new episode as a means of keeping audience members oriented to where the story was up to.
An example narration
Let’s imagine our show (The Heights) is about a mother (Karen) trying to find her son in a post-apocalyptic world (referred to as the Heights because the lowlands are too radioactive to be safe). Lets further imagine she works as a mercenary in order to have the freedom of movement needed to search for her son and that the show has a recurring villain, a kidnapper of children, who is about to rear her head once more in the current episode. Let’s assume our villain uses kids as slave labor but her labor force has been decimated by some kind of new disease. The current episode will concern itself with the villain’s attempt to kidnap the community’s doctor in order to deal with the outbreak.
We would need to establish in the first paragraph the setting, who our protagonist is, and what she wants.
NARRATOR: The human world has been reduced to a wasteland of swirling radioactive particles in the aftermath of a war (referred to as “the burning times”) most survivors never even knew was coming. Small groups of humans scrape out a hand to mouth existence in highland areas that were less affected by the global calamity. Karen Ross, a mercenary, uses her skills to stay mobile and search for her son among the scattered communities.
We would need to remind viewers of the last run-in between Karen and the villain (and the villain’s aims and activities and any reason she feels particular animosity towards Karen).
NARRATOR: Two years ago Karen and her team came across a raiding party that was kidnapping children from survivor communities, brutalizing them and turning them into child soldiers to be sold to the highest bidder. They destroyed the gang’s training facilities, earning the ongoing enmity of the gang’s leader, Tanya Small.
We would need to remind viewers of any key character moments and plot moments that have an impact on the current episode (Karen’s unrequited attraction to the community’s doctor for example, and how rare and prized individuals with medical training are among the survivor community).
NARRATOR: Dr. Jim Cameron has been part of her team for 18 months. He’s a skilled medic, one of the few to survive “the burning times” and, despite their growing attraction, Jim has been reticent about forming any sort of ongoing attachment with Karen.
We would need to bring to mind the events of the most recent episode.
NARRATOR: In the last episode Tanya and her team took part in an attack on a group of nomadic bandits that had been raiding outlying settlements and threatening the community’s food stores for the coming winter. The food supplies were successfully secured but her Lieutenant, Terry Smith, was badly injured and is now recovering (leaving her slightly short-handed).
We would need to add any information that had not been previously revealed that is necessary for understanding the current story.
NARRATOR: Tanya Small has begun raiding again and recently killed a doctor who had been showing a little too much sympathy towards her young prisoners by attempting to smuggle them out of her camp. She is now starting to feel the lack of medical expertise within her community…
And we would need to transition into the story (perhaps with a teaser scene).
TEASER: Tanya’s camp.
At 260 words the above (when all put together) is a two-minute long introduction to the current episode (and therefore, too long).
A Better, More Succinct Version
Here’s an edited down version.
NARRATOR: The human world has been reduced to a wasteland of radioactivity. Karen Ross, a mercenary, uses her skills to stay mobile and search for her son among the scattered survivor communities. Two years ago her team destroyed the training facilities of a gang of child abductors who were selling child soldiers on the black market. In the last episode, despite the way her growing attraction to Dr. Jim Cameron is complicating her life, her team secured the community’s food supplies against bandits, but now the leader of the child-abduction-gang is back, in search of a doctor to fill out her ranks…
This version clocks in at a much more reasonable 45 seconds and still hits all the required beats.
A Pastiche Example
Pastiche (stringing together a series of clips and scenes from past episodes, perhaps with a sound transition between each, can be an effective alternative to narration as a means of providing a recap…
NARRATOR: Previously on ‘The Heights’…
COLONEL JIMINEZ: No-one even remembers what the world was like before it was blanketed in radiation.
SOUND: SCENE BREAK (WHOOSH)
KAREN ROSS: I’m Karen Ross. This is my team. We’re mercs for hire. We’ll do whatever job you’ve got!
SOUND: SCENE BREAK (WHOOSH)
JOHNNY ANGLE: That’s Karen Ross. She’s spent the last few years searching for her son. She’s never given up, despite everything. She never lets up. You sure you want to join her team, doc?
DR. JIM CAMERON: I’ve got my own reasons, but yeah. This is the team I want to be part of.
ROSS: So, you’re a doctor are you Cameron? Welcome to the team.
SOUND: SCENE BREAK (WHOOSH)
MOTHER: (TEARFUL) They took our children. They make soldiers out of kids and sell them to monsters.
ANGLE: If we destroy that training camp, we’ll only have destroyed an arm of the monster, not the head. And we’ll have made a powerful enemy.
ROSS: I don’t care. Tanya Small’s stealing kids. She’s going to pay.
SOUND: SCENE BREAK (WHOOSH)
SFX: Explosions
TANYA SMALL: Who’s responsible for this.
LIEUTENANT: Ma’am, the word is this was Karen Ross’s team.
SMALL: She’s cost us all of our profits and then some.
LIEUTENANT: She’s long gone, Ma’am.
SMALL: Yeah, well. I won’t forget this.
SOUND: SCENE BREAK (WHOOSH)
LIEUTENANT: Ma’am. Somethings happening in the compound. The kids. They’re sick.
SMALL: How sick?
LIEUTENANT: Real sick. Too sick. One died last night, and another this morning.
SMALL: Damnit. I’m not losing my investment. We need to find ourselves a doctor.
LIEUTENANT: That’s not going to be easy.
SMALL: Easier than you think. And it might earn me a little revenge at the same time.
MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH.
This example is also approximately 2 minutes long and made up of pieces put together from previous episodes (separated by quick transition effects – in this case, a whooshing sound). Because it is a pastiche of dialog, it can get away with being longer than a standard introductory narration.
A Dialog Example (using Character Exposition)
A scripted scene is a third technique that can be used to provide a recap.
SOUND: OUTDOOR AMBIANCE – BREEZE, BIRDS ETC. – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
GRUNT#1: It’s not going to work.
GRUNT#2: You tell her that
GRUNT#1: No way. You think I want to end up like the Doc.
GRUNT#2: (SARCASTIC) What? You got an objection to getting your brains splattered all over the floor? (BEAT) Besides, he had it coming. Trying to smuggle those kids outta the camp right under Small’s nose was stupid.
GRUNT#1: A lot of good killing him as a punishment did her, though. We’ve got a major epidemic in the camp. It’s cutting into her profits. And now she wants to raid Ross’ team to nab their doctor? It ain’t gonna work, I tell ya.
GRUNT#2: You always say that, but Tanya Small’s no dope. She’s thought this through and they’ll never know what hit ’em. (BEAT) Besides, she’s been aching for an opportunity to hit back at that bitch, Ross, since her team blew up our training compound.
GRUNT#1: Yeah, I heard they didn’t even get paid for that one. That makes it personal.
GRUNT#2: Yeah, well. We missed out on plenty of paydays when we couldn’t sell any more of those kids to the warlords. Small’s got a good thing going here, training kid soldiers. It’s taken us a long time to get back on our feet. Ross’ got no call messing with our business.
GRUNT#1: Which one’s Ross?
GRUNT#2: See down there by the hospital hut? The tall blonde standing just a little too close to the doctor? Another one of her team’s in there.
GRUNT#1: Yeah, I see her. So that’s why Small picked a doctor so far from home. She wants to hurt Ross.
GRUNT#2: That’s about the sum of it.
GRUNT#1: They say she’s got a soft spot for kids too. Spends all her time trying to find her missing boy.
GRUNT#2: That just shows she’s nuts. The boy’s dead alongside the million or so other corpses created by the war. He died down in the low lands of radiation poisoning like everyone else.
GRUNT#1: Yeah. You got that right. (BEAT) Why do you think they’re looking so relaxed down there?
GRUNT#2: Everyone’s been celebrating. Ross’s team just got back from securing their winter food supplies. (BEAT) You ask me, that’ll be one of the first places that Small hits on her way here.
GRUNT#1: C’mon, let’s get outta here. We gotta report back.
GRUNT#2: Had enough reconnaissance have you? (BEAT) Yeah, I guess it’s time.
MUSIC: OPENING THEME – LET IT FINISH.
This introduction comes in at just under 3 minutes. It’s longer than the other two (and a little clumsy, since it’s just a hastily thrown together example) but it draws the audience into the drama, and hits all the beats, by enacting them. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to hit all the beats necessary to bring new (and old) audience members up to speed without it sounding overly expositional and clunky. Audiences tend to be more forgiving of a quickly completed introductory narration than they are of ham-fisted dialog.
Replay the Last Scene of the Previous Episode
One last technique worth mentioning is the replay. A common choice in the days of old time radio was for a serial to replay the last scene of the previous episode at the beginning of each new episode. While this may be enough to help your regular audience members get back into the story it does nothing to connect them with important developments from episodes prior to the last one and introduce new listeners to the story. That said, it can still be helpful from time to time.
My Own Preference
Generally speaking, I want to get to the meat of the story as quickly as possible. The old rule of “start the story at the most interesting point possible” is a good one. A quick couple of lines of narration can let me hit the beats of a recap with as much economy as possible and then, having got it out of the way, move on to what matters most (at least to me). As a result, a short piece of narration tends to be my first preference, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the other recap techniques, and lots of producers make very effective use of them.
When, however, producers of ongoing serials don’t make use of recaps in some form – especially if the story they are trying to tell is complex and layered – they make it much more difficult to keep their audience up to date and ease new listeners into their world.
What do you think is essential to include in a “recap” and what are your preferred techniques for recapping the content of your serial episodes? Let me know in the comments.
This article is © 2018 by Philip Craig Robotham – all rights reserved.
So, what’s your opinion on recaps and how they should be used? Do you agree with our point of view? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comments below.
