The 3 Act Structure
http://www.featuredarticles.com/The-3-Act-Structure/a19522_1
Moses Jones
By Moses Jones
Published on 01/13/2010
The traditional story has 3 acts.
The 3 Act Structure
One of the most famous and used structures of storyteling is called the three act structure. This structure has been utilized by many great storytellers, notably shakespeare. This storytelling structure is also used in many movies. Some of the notable uses is Star Wars, and Back to the Future. Often times to utilize the three act storytelling structure, stories are broken into three films.
In the three act structure, the story would introduce the character(s) and the problem in the first act. The second act would depict the character trying to solve the situation, and the third act would have the character finally solving the situation or failing to solve the situation.
Many people would have the second act be the longest part of the story. The second act would also be the most dramatic act of the story where the main character(s) get in to the worst situation(s), things seem like they will turn out for the worst and then suddenly they turn out for the better in the third act. The first act in a 120 page screenplay would be 20-30 pages, the second act would be 90-100, and the third act would just be 15-30 pages.
What the second and third act consists of however does not seem all that certain. Some say that the second act is the whole movie including the action and the third act is just the epilogue. Others would give the impression that the climax is somewhere late in the third act. But in trilogies the films are the acts and they are of almost equal length.
But there need not be three films for a three act story. There are many films that could be broken up into three distinct acts. One of them is Gladiator, by Ridley Scott. The first act could deal with Maximus's life as a General. The second act could deal with him as a slave becoming a Gladiator, and the third act could deal with him finally getting his revenge for what happened to his family.
As far as a 3 act story split across 3 films, Chris Nolan's Batman series so far could count as one. It displays the three act structure. We meet the main character and we learn his problem in Batman Begins. The Dark Knight focuses on his efforts to serve justice, but the antics of The Joker brings Batman and Gotham down to its darkest hour. The third and final one (most likely) will show a resolution to the whole problem.
The three act structure for storytelling is a widely used and highly adaptable way of telling a story on any medium from books to films and even video games.
In the three act structure, the story would introduce the character(s) and the problem in the first act. The second act would depict the character trying to solve the situation, and the third act would have the character finally solving the situation or failing to solve the situation.
Many people would have the second act be the longest part of the story. The second act would also be the most dramatic act of the story where the main character(s) get in to the worst situation(s), things seem like they will turn out for the worst and then suddenly they turn out for the better in the third act. The first act in a 120 page screenplay would be 20-30 pages, the second act would be 90-100, and the third act would just be 15-30 pages.
What the second and third act consists of however does not seem all that certain. Some say that the second act is the whole movie including the action and the third act is just the epilogue. Others would give the impression that the climax is somewhere late in the third act. But in trilogies the films are the acts and they are of almost equal length.
But there need not be three films for a three act story. There are many films that could be broken up into three distinct acts. One of them is Gladiator, by Ridley Scott. The first act could deal with Maximus's life as a General. The second act could deal with him as a slave becoming a Gladiator, and the third act could deal with him finally getting his revenge for what happened to his family.
As far as a 3 act story split across 3 films, Chris Nolan's Batman series so far could count as one. It displays the three act structure. We meet the main character and we learn his problem in Batman Begins. The Dark Knight focuses on his efforts to serve justice, but the antics of The Joker brings Batman and Gotham down to its darkest hour. The third and final one (most likely) will show a resolution to the whole problem.
The three act structure for storytelling is a widely used and highly adaptable way of telling a story on any medium from books to films and even video games.