The three-act structure is a standard narrative model that divides a story into three separate sections.
When you write a script for cinema, it’s very important to determine how to unfold the entire plot to the audience. For that, you need to follow a structure that would develop the story perfectly. You may find several theories for the purpose. But amongst all of them, the three-act structure is the easiest and most used narrative model out there.
The renowned author Syd Field first introduced the structure as a paradigm in his 1979 book ‘Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting’.
As previously mentioned, the three-act structure divides the story into three parts:
Act I – the Setup.
Act II – the Confrontation.
Act III – the Resolution.
These three sections maintain the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
Act One is all about the exposition. To be more precise, this act sets up the tone as well as the theme of the story. In this part, you should introduce the major characters, and establish the world they live in and their relationships with each other. All these things form the basis of the journey that’s going to start soon. The first act includes an “inciting incident” which refers to the incident confronting the main character to a crisis. Now, the character embarks on a new journey to handle the crisis, referring to the “first plot point” or “the turning point”.
Act Two, also known as the rising action, starts from where Act One ends. This act is all about how the character deals with the crisis and goes towards the ultimate goal. In this part, you should focus on the development of the character along with the plot. Also, you can introduce all the subplots, if there are any, which would unfold in parallel to the main plot. Now, a situation, referred to as “the midpoint”, comes raising the crisis, and pulling the character in the worst possible scenarios. Then, the moment, known as the second plot point, comes when the character fights back and finds a new way to deal with the situation.
Act Three is the part where your story comes to an end. It begins with the character making the final step to solve the crisis. Then, there comes the “climax”, referring to the most intense point of the story, where you should provide the answers to all the questions. After that, you need to wind up the subplots and bring some resolution to the story.
As we know, no art form can ever be restricted by rules. So, if the script doesn’t require the three-act structure, you shouldn’t try to incorporate it forcefully.
