If you steal it, make sure you change it to *6* Oscars, since that's what I meant to type... but my ahole boss didn't give me today off and wants me to produce a damned stack of pages by the end of the day!
The acts in TV are much like the acts in Shakespeare - created for commercial breaks. (Okay, the acts in Shakespeare actually are due to printing and binding restraints - they could only do so many pages at a time, so they just created these arbitrary breaks... and now people think they belong.) I've just done TV movies - but the commercial breaks usually are something you work into a 3 act structure story. It still ends up being: Introduce conflict (begin the story), Escalate the conflict (the middle of the story) and Resolve the conflict (the end of the story).
The whole 3 act thing ends up connected to that other Greek thing: the Three Unities - specifically the Unity Of Action/Event. Your story is about one main conflict (action/event) and there's a begin/middle/end to that action/event.
Here is Shakespeare's five act structure. I'm too lazy to write it up myself so I stole this from ehow.
Act I: Inciting Action
The inciting incident of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is the ghost of King Hamlet revealing the deception of his brother Claudius to his son, Prince Hamlet. This is where the plot begins. Hamlet is compelled to learn the truth about his father's death. The rest of the story unfolds from this incident. The first act also contains exposition that explains the setting, characters and background of the drama.
Act II: Turning Point(s)
A Shakespearean play may have several turning points. Act II generally has at least one turning point for the protagonist. In the case of "Hamlet," the turning point of Act II comes when Hamlet realizes that Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are being used against him by Claudius and his mother. In Act II he plans the play within a play in which he will "catch the conscience of the king."
Act III: Climax
In Act III, Hamlet gains the knowledge that he needs to take action against Claudius. This is referred to as the "climax" or "crisis decision." Act III starts with the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy, in which Hamlet contemplates the action he must take to right the wrong that Claudius and his mother have done to his father.
Act IV: Falling Action
The falling action in a Shakespearean drama contains further turning points. As the consequences of the action in Act III begins to unfold, tension builds, and often further character development occurs. In a tragedy such as "Hamlet" the reader or viewer is led to believe that there is still hope for the protagonist. In a comedy, things go from bad to worse for the hero or heroine.
Act V: Resolution
In the final act, the conflict is resolved, either through ruination or triumph. The resolution in a tragedy is the catastrophe resulting from the climactic actions, usually focusing on the downfall of the protagonist. In a comedy, the resolution usually involves the marriage of all principal characters in a happy ending.
Here is Shakespeare's five act structure. I'm too lazy to write it up myself so I stole this from ehow.
Act I: Inciting Action
The inciting incident of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is the ghost of King Hamlet revealing the deception of his brother Claudius to his son, Prince Hamlet. This is where the plot begins. Hamlet is compelled to learn the truth about his father's death. The rest of the story unfolds from this incident. The first act also contains exposition that explains the setting, characters and background of the drama.
Act II: Turning Point(s)
A Shakespearean play may have several turning points. Act II generally has at least one turning point for the protagonist. In the case of "Hamlet," the turning point of Act II comes when Hamlet realizes that Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are being used against him by Claudius and his mother. In Act II he plans the play within a play in which he will "catch the conscience of the king."
Act III: Climax
In Act III, Hamlet gains the knowledge that he needs to take action against Claudius. This is referred to as the "climax" or "crisis decision." Act III starts with the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy, in which Hamlet contemplates the action he must take to right the wrong that Claudius and his mother have done to his father.
Act IV: Falling Action
The falling action in a Shakespearean drama contains further turning points. As the consequences of the action in Act III begins to unfold, tension builds, and often further character development occurs. In a tragedy such as "Hamlet" the reader or viewer is led to believe that there is still hope for the protagonist. In a comedy, things go from bad to worse for the hero or heroine.
Act V: Resolution
In the final act, the conflict is resolved, either through ruination or triumph. The resolution in a tragedy is the catastrophe resulting from the climactic actions, usually focusing on the downfall of the protagonist. In a comedy, the resolution usually involves the marriage of all principal characters in a happy ending.
This is good.
One of the big problems about breaking a script into countable acts is that people have different definitions of what an act is.
To me its a sequence of scenes that have a clear trajectory for these elements (plot/character/tone.) So there's no way for me to consider a traditional Act 2 a single act because most Act 2s have at least two distinct paths for the above mentioned elements.
I don't mind reading scripts or watching films that break the 3 act structure, but I have to say - of the ones I have read/watched, they were mostly crap and could have actually benefit from a much tighter structure.
Last edited by one seven spectrum; 11-28-2011, 03:37 PM.
Reason: Explain
And "tone" is probably not the right word. What I mean by tone is, "sh!t feels like it's going good right now" "sh!t feels like it's getting a bit shaky now." "sh!t is going to sh!t now."
I'm one of few (it seems) that actually enjoyed DRIVE ANGRY for that fact. There were times it felt like it strayed from the standard fare we're fed to expect, but I was sitting beside my girlfriend saying "This is wicked!" and "How cool is this?" - For that reason BDZ mentioned above.
And "tone" is probably not the right word. What I mean by tone is, "sh!t feels like it's going good right now" "sh!t feels like it's getting a bit shaky now." "sh!t is going to sh!t now."
Setting goals and obstacles, emotional highs and lows?
For example, nearly every scene in Star Wars has an emotional high or low and some form of conflict.
Rescue the Princess... Escape detention block but now trapped in trash compactor... Luke vs. Trash Compactor Monster... Trash Compactor is compacting... Escape trash compactor... Chased by Stormtroopers... Get away from Stormtroopers... Witness Darth Vader Kill Obi Wan... Escape Death Star... Mini battle with Tie fighters... Win battle and reach rebel base but the Death Star shows up to ruin the party... etc...
It's up n' down and back and forth the entire movie. Every little victory is followed by a defeat.
Luke can't even go to a bar without being hassled by Walrus Man.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue
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