Three Act Structure
The Three-Act Structure
This last piece of our brief introduction to dramatic structure will deal with the ancient concept of the three-act structure. Most may be familiar with this term from the traditional theatre but not realize that it can be applied to film as well.
The graphic to the left illustrates the main components of the three-act structure. Reading from left to right, the horizontal black line represents the linear nature of any story. This “story”, represented by the black line, is demarcated by two vertical lines dividing the “story” into three parts. These parts represent, at its simplest level, the beginning, middle, and end of any story. We will call these three parts Act I, Act II, and Act III respectively. As noted in blue, the three acts also have additional references: the setup, the complication, and the resolution.
Act I (the setup) is the beginning part of the story that introduces the main characters, their relationships, the situation, the location, the time (historical period), and anything else that is important to understanding the future development of the story. Exposition of all of the key story elements are being “set up” for us.
Act II (the complication) is the middle part of the story where the relationships and conflicts between the protagonist and antagonist come into play (the obstacles to the protagonist’s journey, quest, or goals create the dramatic conflict). This is usually where the bulk of the dramatic action occurs (”all drama is conflict”) rising to various levels of complexity.
Act III (the resolution) is the ending of the story where the conflicts are resolved leading to whether or not the protagonist survives, succeeds, or not as well as whether or not the antagonist succeeds or fails or gets their just comeuppance. This is also where we usually determine our satisfaction with the story as a whole based upon our sense of closure to the story.
There is one more element of dramatic structure and that is how do we differentiate between Acts I and II as well as Acts II and III? If we look again at our chart, we see the answer is in red: the plot point (or sometimes referred to as the turning point). A plot point is an event (or series of events) that turn the story in a new direction or forces a change in the protagonist’s journey, quest, or goals. All Acts are delineated by plot points.
Below, I’ve broken down The Sprinkler Sprinkled into it’s respective Acts and associated plot points.
ACT I - The Setup
The character of the gardener (the protagonist) is going about his work watering a garden. The gardener’s goal is simple: water the garden.
PLOT POINT #1
The character of the young boy (the antagonist) enters the scene and steps on the garden hose cutting off the flow of water. The gardener’s goal has now changed: figure out what is wrong with the garden hose.
ACT II - The Complication
As the gardener inspects the nozzle, the boy takes his foot off of the hose spraying water into the gardener’s face. The antagonist has created an obstacle to the protagonist’s goal of watering the garden but the drama has been heightened by adding injury to insult.
PLOT POINT #2
Seeing the boy running away, the gardener realizes what has happened. The gardener’s goal changes again: catch the culprit and get his revenge.
ACT III - The Resolution
The gardener catches the boy and uses the hose to spray the boy getting his revenge.
The Sprinkler Sprinkled
[ Lecture 03 > 2. The Sprinkler Sprinkled > 1. Act One, 2. Act Two, 3. Act Three ]
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ACT I - The Setup
The character of the gardener (the protagonist) is going about his work watering a garden. The gardener’s goal is simple: water the garden.
ACT II - The Complication
As the gardener inspects the nozzle, the boy takes his foot off of the hose spraying water into the gardener’s face. The antagonist has created an obstacle to the protagonist’s goal of watering the garden but the drama has been heightened by adding injury to insult.
ACT III - The Resolution
The gardener catches the boy and uses the hose to spray the boy getting his revenge.
on March 29th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
[…] We discussed three act structure in class, but instead of reinventing the wheel, I just reposted the lecture from Professor Timmons’ online Film Art class at this link. […]