Reveal (narrative)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The reveal (also known as the big reveal) is a

narrative structure and is the exposure to the reader or audience of a previously unseen key character, or element of plot or performance
.

A reveal is different from Aristotle's anagnorisis, in which something is revealed to a character rather than to the audience.

Narrative

The reveal may result in a

escape artist.[1]

Stage magic

In a magician's act, "the reveal" may refer to[1]

  • the normal culmination of a trick
  • the unexpected (to the audience) culmination of the trick
  • an explanation of the trick, which itself may be immediately eclipsed by a version of the trick that the first reveal can't explain.

Film

Reveal is also used for two distinct cinematographic techniques:

  • A slow, theatrically presented image of an important character or item not seen previously in the film;
  • A close-up, wide shot, or other unusual camera point-of-view that shows the audience an important visual clue not known to characters in the same scene.

In the sense of first-time showing of a character, a reveal is similar to, but usually not the same as, the opening shot or Establishing shot that gives the location or context of a new scene.

References