THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE

TODOROV'S THREE ACT STRUCTURE

When creating my short film, I will have to decide whether I accept or reject a traditional three act structure.

BACKGROUND TO THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE:

• Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian structuralist linguist who came up with the three act structure
• He said that all stories follow the same loose structure from beginning to end 
• The three act structure follows a chronological narrative

WHAT ARE THE THREE ACTS:

-ACT 1: EQUILIBRIUM

• Act 1 is the setup of the films natural order where all opposing forces are in balance
• Characters are introduced 
• During the first act an inciting incident may occur which challenges the equilibrium and gets the story going (when doing research, the placement of the inciting incident differed between act 1 and act 2)

-ACT 2: DISRUPTION

• Act 2 is where the tension starts to rise until you reach the climactic point of the film
• This is usually where the confrontation between 'good' and 'evil' takes place

-ACT 3: NEW EQUILIBRIUM

• This is where the 'evil' in the film is conquered and a resolution takes place
• This may return the film to the equilibrium introduced at the start or it may introduce the viewer to a new and improved equilibrium

EXAMPLE OF THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE:

To better understand the three act structure, I decided to look for examples in some of my favourite films:

Kings of Summer:

-Act 1: Joe lives at home with his dad where they struggle to see eye to eye as Joe starts growing up

-Inciting incident: Joe decides to run away with his friends and live in the woods

-Act 2: Tension rises between Joe and his friend as they both like the same girl. This leads to one of them running back to civilisation and the other one being bitten by a snake.

-climax: The argument between Joe and his friend/snakebite 

-Act 3: Joe and his friend make up in the hospital and the film ends with the two friends being driven home by their parents and the house they built just remaining in the woods.