Open loop

Storytellers open a loop by planting something unresolved, then paying it off later: a claim that sounds wrong, a result shown before the method, a cost mentioned before the reason. The tension holds attention because an unfinished thought is uncomfortable to leave alone.

Loops work as a set. Open one in the title, close it early enough that the viewer trusts you, and open the next before the last one shuts. Two failure modes cost more attention than the loop ever bought. One is the loop with no payoff. The other is a loop so obviously manufactured that the viewer clocks the trick.