Film as Literature

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Film as Literature

• Three Act Play
• Notes Structure

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Introduction

• The three-act play is the standard used from
  Aristotles Poetics and has a loose but similar
  quality to the way the Greeks created plays -
  similar to the play structure that Shakespeare
  used.
• Remember the five acts in Julius Caesar and
  Macbeth?

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Act I

• 20 - 30 minutes
• Includes inciting incident
• Happens about 10 minutes into the film
• Something happens - a situation - gives the
  viewer a reason to care about the characters and
  what might happen.
• Also, we are getting to know the characters,
  time, setting.

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Act Break

• The character(s) is challenged
• Something major happens
• Sets up the dilemma both emotionally and
  circumstantially - this can be subtle or obvious
• This connects events, actions, etc. changes the
  nature of the story/film

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Act II

• 25 - 60 minutes
• Character(s) is going for what they want and
  possibly what they need
• What they need may be unconscious
• Creates contradiction - a polarity
• Want is external
• Need is internal

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Note

• What a character wants may NOT be what they need.
• In tragedy, it is irreversible - character gets
  only what he/she needs - must sacrifice something
  - often life.

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Note, continued

• In Hollywood films, we dont like our
  protagonists to die, so feature films (unless
  they are indy films) will typically have a more
  positive than negative ending.
• The character gets what he/she needs, but often
  gets what he/she wants as well. It makes for more
  ticket sales. )

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Mid Plot Point

• Equivalent to approximately pages 60-80 in a
  novel
• Story arc climbs, the stakes are raised, rising
  action
• By the end of Act II, you think the character may
  get what they want, not necessarily what they
  need.

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Mid Plot Point, continued

• This is very Hollywood formulaic - can be tricky
  - many variations.
• If character is not getting what he needs, can
  start decompensating - the suffering,
  miscommunications, unanswered questions, losses
  and so on can be the beginning of realization.
• Ex. What did Peter Warne want/need in It Happened
  One Night?

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Act III

• 15 - 30 minutes
• In film, this happens quickly
• The stage is set for the moment of recognition,
  i.e., the climax
• In Hollywood, there can be a twist (of
  recognition) in a normal story - the character(s)
  can get what they want and what they need.
• Ex. Peter got the story AND the girl.

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Source

• Jodi Arneson
• USC filmic writing class

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It Happened One Night scenes
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It Happened One Night Commentary

• Capra thought scenes that didn't further the plot
  were as important as the ones that did. Joseph
  McBride quotes a Capra interview with Richard
  Glazer. "Sometimes your story has to stop and you
  let the audience just look at your people. You
  want the audience to like them. The characters
  have no great worries for the moment--they like
  each other's company and that's it.

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It Happened On Night, cont.

• The less guarded they are, the more silly it is,
  the better. These scenes are quite important to a
  film. When the audience rests and they look at
  the people, they begin to smile. They begin to
  love the characters, and then they'll be worried
  about what happens to them. If the audience
  doesn't like your people, they won't laugh at
  them, and they won't cry with them."