Historical Drama: Day 16 (Flashbacks)

So... here is the issue.

Mr. N and Mr. W had VERY eventful lives. For me to follow them adequately, I need to focus on a specific time in their lives as the "present". I'm starting Napoleon and Wellington around 1798 and 1799 respectively and following events chronologically from there. Sadly, I can't stick to a straight and simple story from there without going back and showing the audience what has happened before. Time to bring the Delorean up to 80 MPH and power up the Mr. Fusion.

So I hop back to when they were both adolescents and going to school. We see young Napoleon, surrounded by friends and young Wellington sad and lonely. We see Napoleon develop relationships with a young generation of military minds and Wellington developing a self-dependence. Then we go back... TO THE FUTURE... well... 1799 so... back to the chronological present.

Yet... before I get into Napoleon's play at political power don't I need to show his relationship with his brothers and Paoli and some of the other political figures of the French Republic. It's a good thing we packed gasoline because that hasn't been invented yet.

UH OH! I think there's a problem. If I keep jumping around from time to time how are people going to know when it is? I suppose you'll be able to tell how old Napoleon or Wellington are physically but that could be confusing.

No, trust me, it's confusing.

So what I need to do is make it clear to the audience when and where they are. I've done this by offering establishing shots that display dates and locations but I need to be careful as well. Because if I do that too much, the audience could get angry.

And that's just not pretty.