THREE ACT STRUCTURE AND ENIGMA CODE

Three Act Structure

The 3 act structure is an ancient principle which is still widely used in storytelling today. It is used in plays, poetry, novels, comic books, stories and movies. We felt that learning about how the 3 act structure works would help us when creating our short film, as it will give our film a clear structure, which is easily understood by the audience.

Act One: The Setup

In Act One the protagonist meets all of the characters in the play. We also find out what the main problem of the story is. Everybody can usually plot Act One because we have to know the problem to have the idea. Act one usually attempts to make the storyline seem intresting and intrguing, as it is usually in act one where the audience will decide to keep on viewing the film or not.

Act two: The Confrontation

Act two is usually where the complication takes place, and where the complication that has already been set up becomes more dangerous/difficult to solve. The heroes usually attempt to solve this, whilst the adverisaries attempt to defeat them. The end of act two is uaually where the climax takes place, and is often the heroes lowest point of the movie. This is the point where the the problem either has to be resolved, or has to continue to effect the protagonist negatively.

Act Three: The resolution

Act three can go either two ways. One way is that the problem can be reaolved, and everything will become poitive for the protagonist, and any doubts are removed. Alternativly, the problem can either become worse, or not be resolved, and the protagonist is faced with a never ending dilemma. However either way, it is usually made clear which way the story is going to end.

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Enimgma Code

Enigma codes pose questions to the audience which are then answered shortly after or later on in the film. They're questions enabling the audience to get intrigued with the film and wanting to find out the answers to these questions, therefore watching more of it. Enigma codes entice the audience to watch the rest of the film as they're curious as to what will happen next; they also help to move on the narrative. An example of this in our short film is the role of the stranger, as throughout the story his intentions are not made clear, and whether he is genuine is questionable. However, in our storyline we do answer the question, as we end the film without the audience finding out if the man is just a friendly young man doing a good deed, or in fact is a man who prey's on helpless homeless girls.