eli5: What are “acts” in a movie/film and how are people able to figure out where they start/end? Are there always three acts? More? Less? Please explain.
In: Other
Just like in modern songs, there are trends in the structure of movies. For example, a common structure for a song is often something along the lines of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus (a lot of songs may also start off with a chorus and then lead into the first verse as well). Most movies work in a similar way where the structure of the movie generally starts with an intro, rising action, and then falling action. These 3 terms are effectively synonymous with Act I, Act II, and Act III in a 3 Act movie, but there are of course other movie structures. In the first act of a film, the characters, setting, etc. are introduced. In the second act, some level of tension is created with those characters responding to it in kind. In the third act, that tension builds up and is then resolved.
If you want to give an example of a popular movie (hopefully I’ve seen it), I can generally identify when each act starts and ends if you’d like.
Act’s are just the current tool we use to make our product easier for public consumption. First, if people vaguely know what they are expecting then they are more likely to consume. In this case, take the hours out of their lives to watch. Second, it’s an easy way to break a story up in all the accepted forms of story telling media, First act, The Setup, the problem occurs, Second, The Confrontation, the problem worsens, or creates a new, larger threat, final act is always for the resolution of the problem.
A heap more go into it after thousands of years of examining audiences like pee breaks, intermission to sell goods or change reels or the like, or just the shortening of modern attention spans. (For example, it used to be a 5 act structure until well AFTER Shakespeare) and what we have now is the consumeristic descendent of that 5 act, greek theatre based, mode of story telling.
An act is a general phase of story. You can say that each act is in a way a standalone part of a the larger work because each have some introductory condition and then a resolution based on that.
The three act structure is one of the more common types, but not all stories requires three acts. In a three act structure, the first act is usually an introduction to the characters and the environment. You learn about the characters, and by the end of the act, you should learn what it is that they are trying to do. The 2nd Act is when we go past the exposition and start to work on resolving the conflicted identified in Act 1. This act might see the character suffer some failures or other inadequacies. By the end of this act, the characters should have made some type of progress towards their goal, or perhaps reversed some poor fortune. The 3rd Act is the resolution. The characters take all that they did and learned in the Act 2 and make a final attempt at the conflict resolution. This is the climax of the story and then the winding down of the
You can identify the acts by some type of plot point taking places. This could be a turning point in the story, or any other highlight as such.
Let’s examine the act structures of *Star Wars*. In Act 1, we learn about the conflict between the rebels and the Empire. We learn who the characters are, and what they want. Luke and Ben meet, and they find Lea’s message. The end of Act 1 is when Luke discovers his dead aunt and uncle, and he decides leave his home with Ben in order to find Lea.
Act 2 is all about finding Lea. Luke, Ben, and Han travel towards Alderan, but end up in the Death Star instead. They manage to rescue Leah there, and fight their way out. Ben starts to train Luke in the force, but Ben dies. The Act concludes when they escape the Death Star and defeat the intercepting Tie-Fighters.
Act 3 is the resolution, where the characters take everything learned previously and make a final push for victory. The Rebels launch an attack on the Death Star with help of the plans that Lea acquired. The Empire also makes good on their efforts to find the rebel bases (from Act 2) attempt to blow up the hideout. Using what he learned from Ben, Luke manages to blow up the Death Star. Han decides to help his new friends and joins the battle at the last minute. The movie ends with the heroes being rewarded for their actions.
an ‘act’ is phase of a story, generally bracketed by a particular inciting or concluding incident.
a three act structure is a method of story structure, and is extremely common in english-language media, not just films. the first act is the setup, the second act is rising action, and the third act is climax/resolution.
the three act structure is not the only narrative structure there is. a narrative structure is a method a creator uses to construct a plot; they are helpful skeletons upon which to build an outline for a story. there are a wide variety of narrative structures, and what method is used depends on medium, genre, length, creator preference, and many other factors besides.
the narrative structure is a useful tool in the creator’s toolbox, but it can change wildly depending on the work. one way to get a feel for different kinds of narrative structures is to take a work (a book, a film, a video game) and examine the major plot points and story beats. when does character development happen? what incidents spur the main plot (if there is one)? are there side plots or b plots? when does the climax occur? is there a climax? is there a resolution?
Jill Chamberlain teaches something called The Nutshell Technique. Film Courage interviewed her and put the whole hour plus video on yt, although you could just watch parts of it as they added these as well. Her book is incredible and breaks down movies on one form, I.e. The Setup Want / with the end of the first act culminating in the Point of No Return +The Catch, etc. It’s helped me a lot in writing my novel although her process is really geared towards films. She even talks in her book about films like Pulp Fiction containing all of the points covered on her Nutshell Technique form but in a different order.
It should be noted that the Three Act Structure can be a tool to build a plot, but it is better understood as a tool to *analyze* a plot. That is, the writer probably doesn’t sit down saying, “I am going to write a first act that includes these things, followed by a second act with these things…” The writer writes the film in whatever form or structure and we the audience can divide what we’re watching *roughly* into three parts so that we can process each part.
As a metaphor for this, consider social security numbers that are xxx-xx-xxxx format. Originally, each group had a purpose – area, group, serial. Now, however, the numbers are assigned randomly so that format doesn’t mean anything. It *does* make the number easier to remember, though, because instead of remembering nine digits in sequence, you can memorize three digits, two digits, and four digits. Way easier.
In a not entirely dissimilar way, the three act structure is a way for us to understand a plot. Regardless of when in the plot certain things happen, we can reliably look for those moments so that the overall structure appears more familiar. Then, we can use that familiar ground as a starting point to delve deeper into the plot.
So, an act begins and ends when it makes sense, usually at an important point in the story.
A little off topic, but are their any notable films that DONT follow the three act formula?
Screenwriter here:
Acts are important by 1, organizing the story, and 2, help the story creator.
1:
The acts help the director and screenwriter break up a long story into three parts. Sometimes there are four, but the traditional format is three. Do you need acts? No. The story is usually able to still work, but it’s a bit of a pain when you don’t. Think of it like chapters in a book: would you rather read one, huge chapter where you can get easily lost and confused? Or would you rather it be chopped up into concise, easy to understand chunks?
2:
Writing a movie is really hard. There’s a lot of things to consider like character development, tone, and overall fluidity of the story. Writing a story without an outline is like writing an essay without one: it may sound easier and quicker, but soon you’re going to be asking yourself “what the fuck was I trying to say?” or “where should I put that part?”
Ultimately, acts are there to help with the structure. They may sound annoying and maybe a touch cliche, but they’re important if you want to make a good story.
Hope this helped!
Most people here are by and large correct but I’m gonna go out and disagree that three acts are the best way to break up a story. I think the Shakespearian Five Act structure makes a lot more sense in most instances and can more reliably break plot motifs into discrete sections. Most writers will find themselves accidentally tending towards this with the exposition/plot initiation/rising action/climax/resolution structure, which is a very vulgar way of framing shakespearian act structure.
There may be more than 3 acts in a play but the most common is that there are 3, these are marked by events that mark a before and after the play. for example in Titanic the first act It ends when Rose and Jack meet, then the second act begins and this same one ends at the moment they accuse Jack of the theft of Rose’s diamond since from that moment The ship begins to sink, and again there is a change of plot and tone in the movie.
Latest Answers