Flashing arrow

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A flashing arrow is an audiovisual cue used in movies to bring some object or situation that will be referred later, or otherwise used in the advancement of plot, to the attention of the viewers.

The device is not introduced into the plot or the dialogue, but is something peripheral; however made obvious (hence the name) by a particular camera shot or background music. An example of this device is a camera close-up in a horror movie that suggest information like danger from an unlocked door. A literal flashing arrow was used in the 1981 film Student Bodies to mock this clichéd use. [1] The use of flashing arrows and that particular joke were both mentioned in Everything Bad is Good for You where the authors says works that have little use of this and require figuring things out yourself have a more deductive viewer base.

Another example of a literal flashing arrow can be seen in the Ouran High School Host Club. This device is used several times throughout the anime—for instance in the first episode, a flashing arrow and high-pitched beeping noise indicate a vase that a character breaks later on in that scene.

Another example is a cut, in an action film when the hero is in a difficult-to-escape situation, to a brief shot of the item he will use to save himself.

A form of flashing arrows are used in some video games as well; in these cases, the important object or clue is itself glowing or flashing. However, this use can be forgiven to an extent, as a realistically-sized key (for example) would be nearly impossible to see on a standard-sized television set without some sort of illumination.

A case in point of this can be seen in the film Natural Born Killers during a scene where the protagonist stabs to death a young woman with a pencil. The pencil shows up in nearly every cut scene before the girl's death.

An example of this is the use of oranges in the Godfather saga. They are seen several times as an icon of death. In the first film, Tom Hagen and Woltz negotiate Johnny's movie status at a dinner table with a plate of oranges on it, and Woltz soon discovers his dead horse's head; Don Vito Corleone is buying oranges from a fruit seller when he is attacked; Sonny drives past a billboard promoting Florida Oranges before he is attacked at the toll booth; oranges are placed on the table at the meeting of the Mafia bosses (and specifically in front of the ones who will be assassinated at the film's climax); and Don Corleone dies while eating an orange, as he plays with his young grandson. Tessio is also seen peeling an orange at Connie's wedding. Carlo, who is responsible for Sonny's death, is wearing an orange suit when Sonny beats him up. In The Godfather Part II, Michael Corleone receives an orange from Johnny Ola, the Sicilian henchman of Hyman Roth, who later plots an attempt on Michael's life; and later in the movie, is seen eating an orange as he orders the "hit" against his enemies, in preparation for the climax of the film. At the start of the film, at the funeral of Vito's father Antonio Andolini, oranges on trees are seen, shortly before Vito's brother Paolo is shot. Additionally, in a scene from the early 1900s storyline, Don Fanucci takes an orange from a street vendor's cart and tosses it about just before his death at the hands of a young Vito. Also, in The Godfather Part III, a bowl of oranges is knocked over as the helicopter assault begins. During the confession scene in The Godfather Part III, when about to speak to Cardinal Lamberto about the murder of his brother Fredo, Michael suffers a diabetic attack and is given a glass of orange juice. At the end of The Godfather Part III', Michael is seen sitting on a chair and later dies. The first thing that fell off the chair was an orange, then his cane, then himself. The roots of the orange as a symbolic fruit which represents wealth, power and healing, can be traced back to Renaissance Art and, in Italy, to the powerful Medici family. [2] Oranges are also representative of the historical roots of La Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia), which began as a protection racket for citrus farmers in late 19th century Sicily. Citrus fruits today remain one of Sicily's main exports.