History Main / MissionBriefing

* The computer simulation at the beginning of ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' sort of functions as this, allowing the audience to easily follow what's happening when the ship starts sinking, freeing the characters from having to suddenly turn into MrExposition in the middle of a disaster.

* Occasonally in ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'', since the main character, Catherine Foundling, is the commander of an army. Examples include her getting briefed by her mentor, the Black Knight, to hunt down the Silver Spears that attacked the supply-lanes of the Legions of Terror, or Catherine ordering two members of her TrueCompanions, Masego and [[TheArcher Indrani]], to get the invading [[TheFairFolk fae]] to attack her nemesis. That mission briefing is a failure, though, as both Masego and Indrani trust the other one to pay attention to the orders, as they are both preoccupied thinking about magic (Masego) or oggling their commander (Indrani) to actually learn what they should do, why, and to what end.

->''[[AC:"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."]]''
-->--''Series/MissionImpossible''

* In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', the mission briefing is elaborate, taking on the form of a LectureAsExposition, featuring a HolographicInterface.

** ''Film/ANewHope'' has the briefing before the attack on the Death Star. Luke speaks up about how the impossible-seeming goal wasn't really. The briefing also includes a complete [[ExpositionDiagram Exposition Diagram]] commented by [[MrExposition Mr.Exposition]] himself, projecting the Dath Star plans with the target exhaust vent out of [=R2-D2's=] memory on [[TheBigBoard The Big Board]].

* Several briefings are shown in ''Film/TheLongestDay''. During the glider assault on Pegasus Bridge, Major Howard mentally reviews what he's been told in his briefing - particularly the final part: "Hold until relieved."

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** ''Film/ANewHope'' has the briefing before the attack on the Death Star. Luke spoke up about how the impossible-seeming goal wasn't really. The briefing also includes a complete [[ExpositionDiagram Exposition Diagram]] commented by [[MrExposition Mr.Exposition]] himself, projecting the plans of an [[AirVentPassageway Air Vent Passageway]] out of [=R2-D2's=] memory on [[TheBigBoard The Big Board]].

** And again in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', as the Rebel Alliance plans for their assault on the second Death Star.
** And again in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' when [=R2D2=] displays a hologram outlining the palace raid.
** Ditto ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' with the Resistance's assault on the First Order's Starkiller base, although most of the plan will have to be improvised on the site with Finn's knowledge of the base. And a great deal of luck.
** ''Film/RogueOne'' Has a PA announcement informing the pilots to [[FighterLaunchingSequence launch immediately]], and that their squadron leaders would brief them en-route to their objective. [[spoiler: This of course, is because the entire operation is a spur-of-the-moment decision the Rebel Alliance's leaders didn't have time to plan, their hand being forced by [[RagtagBandOfMisfits Rogue One]] and [[LeeroyJenkins Admiral Raddus]] both going off on their own initiative.]]

->''[[AC:[[Series/MissionImpossible "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."]]]]''

** In the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first film]], the Doc Brown of 1955 builds an elaborate model of Hill Valley to explain to Marty how he's going to get him back to 1985.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic Fumoffu'', when Tessa temporarily attends Jindai High School and shows up to the pool in a SchoolSwimsuit instead of the more modern athletic suits the other girls are wearing. She explains that Kurz Weber convinced her to wear it...and we get a flashback of Kurz running a full-on mission briefing about the School Swimsuit, complete with surveillance photos and 3D models. As Tessa watches in mild confusion, the other Mithril staff members in attendance (all male, natch) nod in solemn agreement.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', Woody outlines the toys' attack on Sid, using a model built from dominoes and other objects from Sid's room.

* The [[Machinima/LeeroyJenkinsVideo PALS FOR LIFE]] party is in the middle of one when LeeroyJenkins suddenly decides to rush headlong into the dungeon on his own. [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption To be fair, it’s not like the plan they were discussing would have actually worked anyway.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Woody outlines the toys' attack on Sid, using a model built from dominoes and other objects from Sid's room.

* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' plays with this trope. Some scenes are played straight, like Lawrence's first scene with General Murray and Mr. Dryden ("What is the job?" "Find Prince Feisal."). Others are used more to develop Lawrence's character than to advance the plot, like his first meeting with General Allenby, where they spend a minute or so discussing strategy and the rest of the scene discussing the campaign's effect on Lawrence.

Occasionally, the Mission Briefing will include ThisPageWillSelfDestruct and/or ObstacleExposition. See also: UnspokenPlanGuarantee.

* While you oftentimes didn't see any PHYSICAL briefing, all of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games had a mission, and in ''[[Videogame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]'' and ''[[Videogame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]'', you had at the very least one textual briefing. ''[[Videogame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'' had full on vocal briefings. [[TheScrappy The way it was handled, however, was not appreciated]].

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
** ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': The team gets a briefing before going onto the island which also serves to info dump details to the audience.
** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'':
*** Dr. Graham and Colonel Foster give Mark, the G-Team and the Monarch brass a briefing at Castle Bravo, going over Jonah's raid on Outpost 61 and giving us a basic exposition on who Jonah is and Mothra's current whereabouts. This briefing was meant to be for a joint operation to Yunnan to prevent Jonah's mercs capturing Mothra, but Mark interrupts the briefing and guesses (correctly it turns out) that Jonah is expecting Monarch to remain distracted focusing on Mothra whilst he and his mercs move on to their next target.
*** During the third act, Colonel Foster gives the rest of the G-Team a fast-paced run-down explaining King Ghidorah's presence in Washington DC and that all four branches of the military will work together to keep Ghidorah occupied as a decoy.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', the [=PCs=] play a team of Troubleshooters sent out on missions, so naturally there's always a MissionBriefing early on. Although, this being ''Paranoia'', getting to the briefing is often a challenge in itself. Sometimes ''finding'' the briefing is a challenge. Sometimes a clone or two gets killed before the team makes it there.
** Of course, this being ''Paranoia'', even when/if you arrive, just ''surviving'' the mission briefing long enough to be sent on the mission is often an adventure in itself.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebComics]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* Done OnceAnEpisode on ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' to describe TheMark and his various evil activities using fancy slideshows, unusual in that it's [[PlayfulHacker Hardison]] who does it instead of Nate, the team's leader. Usually, everyone butts in with their own comments or the character who actually knows what they're talking about takes over the briefing.

* In both the original ''Film/OceansEleven'' and the remake Danny explains to the other ten how they plan on pulling off the heist in Las Vegas.
* ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'', with Kevin Costner explaining how he's going to rescue the prisoners as they're being hanged.
* ''Film/TheRock'' has the [=SEAL=] team leader brief first the Washington bigwigs on the overall plan, and later his team (plus Mason and Goodspeed) on the details.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', Woody outlines the toys' attack on Sid, using a model built from dominoes and other objects from Sid's room.
* Several briefings are shown in ''Film/TheLongestDay''. During the glider assault on Pegasus Bridge, Major Howard mentally reviews what he's been told in his briefing - particularly the final part: "Hold until relieved."

* ''Film/Apollo13'' has a ''mid''-mission briefing, where Gene Kranz calls together his teams to inform them to forget the flight-plan; all of their careful planning is in the toilet and they are improvising a new mission from scratch, the sole objective being the safe return of Apollo 13 to Earth. Naturally, the overhead projector he starts using to illustrate this shorts out, leaving him with nothing but a blackboard, a room full of brilliant engineers with severely conflicting ideas on what to do next, and his own determination: "Failure is not an option!"
* In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', the mission briefing is elaborate, taking on the form of a LectureAsExposition, featuring a HolographicInterface.
* In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the Colonial Marines get a briefing before descending onto the planet. Later, they do a more detailed one, complete with a map table, to plan out how to barricade the aliens out of the complex while they wait for rescue (and then discuss how to get off the planet quicker when waiting becomes not an option).
* Several in a ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'', most notably General Horrocks who combines the briefing with RousingSpeech thanks to his AFatherToHisMen persona. It begins with some HeroicSelfDeprecation.
-->"Gentlemen, this is a story you will tell your grandchildren. And mightily bored they'll all be."
* Several in ''Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai'', especially Shears' initial encounters with Major Warden.
* ''Film/LawrenceOfArabia'' plays with this trope. Some scenes are played straight, like Lawrence's first scene with General Murray and Mr. Dryden ("What is the job?" "Find Prince Feisal."). Others are used more to develop Lawrence's character than to advance the plot, like his first meeting with General Allenby, where they spend a minute or so discussing strategy and the rest of the scene discussing the campaign's effect on Lawrence.
* [[BigBad Cyrus]] gives a hasty one with a sand table model in ''Film/ConAir'' before the battle at the airfield.
-->'''Cyrus''': Considering my audience, I'm going to make this very quick and very simple. [''points to objects in sand''] This is the boneyard, this is the hangar, this is our plane.\\
'''Viking''': What's that?\\
'''Cyrus''': That's a rock. [''knocks it away'']

* Creator/BruceLee receives a briefing in ''Film/EnterTheDragon'' before he goes to [[BigBad Han's]] island.

* The game ''VideoGame/FarCry 2'' notably has no actual mission briefing of sorts, however, after the first five minutes (or so) of cinematic gameplay, you end up in a bed unable to move, where you are confronted by the BigBad, who ''reads your mission objectives to you''.

* Repeatedly parodied by ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', usually by Greg Proops as the voice on the tape.

->''[[AC:"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."]]''

** ''Film/RogueOne'' Has a PA announcement informing the pilots to [[FighterLaunchingSequence launch immediately]], and that their squadron leaders would brief them en-route to their objective. [[spoiler: This of course, is because the entire operation is a spur-of-the-moment decision the Rebel Alliance's leaders didn't have time to plan, their hand being forced by [[RagtagBandOfMisfits Rogue One]] and [[LeeroyJenkins General Raddus]] both going off on their own initiative.]]

--->"If you or any of your team are caught or killed, I don't wanna know your butt. You're sad losers. This tape will self-destruct NOW!"