ACT TWO, PART ONE
by Alexandra Sokoloff, from STEALING HOLLYWOOD: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
(Elements of Act I checklist is
here).
In a 2-hour movie Act II, Part 1 starts at about 30 minutes, and ends at about 60 minutes.
In a 400-page book Act II, Part 1 starts at about p. 100 and climaxes at about p. 200.
Act
II, Part 1 is the most variable section of the four sections of a
story. I have noticed it also tends to be the most genre-specific. It
doesn’t have the very clear, generic essential elements that Act I and
Act III do – except in the case of Mysteries and certain kinds of team
action films, which generally have a more standard structure in this
section.
IF THE FILM IS A MYSTERY, this section will almost always have these elements:
-QUESTIONING WITNESSES
-LINING UP AND ELIMINATING SUSPECTS
-FOLLOWING CLUES
-RED HERRINGS AND FALSE TRAILS
-THE DETECTIVE VOICING HER/HIS THEORY
IF
THE FILM IS A TEAM ACTION STORY, A WAR STORY, A HEIST OR CAPER MOVIE
(like OCEAN’S 11, THE SEVEN SAMURI, THE DIRTY DOZEN, ARMAGGEDON and
INCEPTION) then this section will usually have these elements:
- GATHERING THE TEAM
- TRAINING SEQUENCE
- GATHERING THE TOOLS
- BONDING BETWEEN TEAM MEMBERS
- SETTING UP TEAM MEMBERS’ STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES that will be tested in battle later.
There may also be
- A MACGUFFIN
- A TICKING CLOCK
But
if the story is not a mystery or a team action story, the first half of
Act 2 will often have some of the above elements, and ALL stories will
generally have these next elements in Act II, part 1 (not in any
particular order):
- CROSSING THE THRESHOLD - ENTERING THE SPECIAL WORLD
(This
scene may already have happened in Act One, but it often happens right
at the end of Act One or right at the beginning of Act Two.) How do the
storytellers make this moment important? Is there a special PASSAGEWAY
between the worlds?
- THRESHOLD GUARDIAN (maybe)
There
is very often a character who tries to prevent the hero/ine from
entering the SPECIAL WORLD, or who gives them a warning about danger.
- HERO/INE’S PLAN
- What is the hero/ine’s PLAN to get what s/he wants?
The
plan may have been stated in Act I, but here is where we see the
hero/ine start to act on the plan, and often s/he will have to keep
changing the plan as early attempts fail.
- THE ANTAGONIST’S PLAN
Same
as for the hero/ine: the plan may have been stated in Act I, but here
is where we see the villain start to act on the plan, and often s/he
will have to keep changing the plan as early attempts fail. Even if the
villain is being kept secret, we will see the effects of the villain's
plan on the hero/ine.
- ATTACKS AND COUNTERATTACKS
How do we see the antagonist attacking the hero/ine?
Whether
or not the hero/ine realizes who is attacking her or him, the
antagonist (s) will be nearby and constantly attacking the hero/ine. How
does the hero/ine fight back?
- SERIES OF TESTS
How do we see the hero/ine being tested?
In
a mentor story, the mentor will often be designing these tests, and
there may be a training sequence or training scenes as well. Sometimes
(as in THE GODFATHER) no one is really designing the tests, but the
hero/ine keeps running up against obstacles to what they want and they
have to overcome those obstacles, and with each win they become
stronger.
- OFTEN THE HERO/INE IS WINNING
The hero/ine usually wins a lot in Act II:1
(and then starts to lose throughout Act II:2), but that’s not
necessarily true. In JAWS, Sheriff Brody doesn’t get a win until the big
defeat of the Midpoint, when he is finally able to force the mayor to
sign a check and hire Quint to kill the shark.
- BONDING WITH ALLIES – LOVE SCENES
This
is one of the great pleasures of any story – seeing the hero/ine make
lifelong friends or fall in love. Besides the more obvious romantic
scenes, the love scenes can be between a boy and his dragon, as in HOW
TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON; or between teammates, as in JAWS; or a man and his
father or a woman and her mother (some of the most successful movies,
like THE GODFATHER, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT and
STEEL MAGNOLIAS show these dynamics). What are the scenes that make us
feel the glow of love or joy of friendship?
Or in
darker stories, instead of bonding scenes, the storytellers may show the
hero/ine pulling away from people and becoming more and more alienated,
as in THE GODFATHER, TAXI DRIVER, THE SHINING, CASINO.
In
a love story, there is always a specific scene that you might call THE
DANCE, where we see for the first time that the two lovers are perfect
for each other (this is often some witty exchange of dialogue when the
two seem to be finishing each other’s sentences, or maybe they end up
forced to sing karaoke together and bring down the house…). You see this
Dance scene in buddy comedies and buddy action movies as well.
- GENRE SCENES (action, horror, suspense, sex, emotion, adventure, violence)
Act II, part 1 is the section of a story that will really deliver on THE PROMISE OF THE PREMISE.
What
is the EXPERIENCE that you hope and expect to get from this story? – is
it the glow and sexiness of falling in love, or the adrenaline rush of
supernatural horror, or the intellectual pleasure of solving a mystery,
or the vicarious triumph of kicking the ass of a hated enemy in
hand-to-hand combat?
Here are some examples:
-
In THE GODFATHER, we get the EXPERIENCE of Michael gaining in power as
he steps into the family business. There’s a vicarious thrill in seeing
him win these battles.
- In JAWS, we EXPERIENCE the terror of what it’s like to be in a small beach town under attack by a monster of the sea.
-
In HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, we get the EXPERIENCE and wonder of
discovering all these cool and endearing qualities about dragons,
including and especially the EXPERIENCE of flying. We also get to
EXPERIENCE outcast and loser Hiccup suddenly winning big in the training
ring.
- In HARRY POTTER (1), we get the EXPERIENCE of
going to a school for wizards and learning and practicing magic
(including flying).
(I want to note that for those of
you working with horror stories, it’s very important to identify WHAT IS
THE HORROR, exactly? What are we so scared of, in this story? How do
the storytellers give us the experience of that horror?)
Ask
yourself what EXPERIENCE you want your audience or reader to have in
your own story, then look for the scenes that deliver on that promise in
Act II, part 1. Well, do they? If not, how can you enhance that
experience?
And another big but important
generalization I can make about Act II, part 1, is that this is often
where the specific structure of the KIND of story you’re writing (or
viewing) kicks in. For more on identifying KINDS of stories, see
What Kind Of Story Is It?
Act
II part 1 builds to the MIDPOINT CLIMAX – which in movies is usually a
big SETPIECE scene, where the filmmakers really show off their expertise
with a special effects sequence (as in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and
HARRY POTTER, 1), or a big action scene (JAWS), or in breathtaking
psychological cat-and-mouse dialogue (in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS). It might
be a sex scene or a comedy scene, or both in a romantic comedy.
Whatever the Midpoint is, it is most likely going to be specific to the
promise of the genre.
THE MIDPOINT –
- Completely changes the game
- Locks the hero/ine into a situation or action
- Is a point of no return
- Can be a huge revelation
- Can be a huge defeat
- Can be a huge win
- Can be a “now it’s personal” loss
- Can be sex at 60 – the lovers finally get together, only to open up a whole new world of problems
=====================================================
All the information on this blog and more, including full story structure breakdowns of various movies, is available in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks. e format, just $3.99 and $2.99; print 15.99.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and
doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding
six more full story breakdowns.
WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is
a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories,
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