Plot Point II

[Stealth66]

I've been studying the three-act structure a lot lately, trying to breakdown different movies to check my understanding. So far I have a firm grasp on Plot Point 1, as it's fairly obvious.

So, for those out there who are familiar with the following movies, would you please tell me where we break into Act III in each? What incident makes up plot point 2? Just wanna check my answers against the ones given:

The Bourne Supremacy

Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Wrong Turn

The Hitcher (2006)

[Plot Device]

I'm told that the delinneation between Acts 2 and 3 of any script is usually far harder to nail down that the one between Acts 1 and 2. I am told that a lot of times a writer will find himself sitting in a development meeting with execs, and he'll be dismayed to find disagreement in the room as to where that line falls. (Even if the writer TELLS everyone where that line is, some execs in the room won't believe him and will even go so far as to tell him he's wrong! -- about his own script!)


As for your examples, I only saw Bourne Supremacy (I never saw any of your other examples). And if I am recalling it all correctly, Plot Point 2 was when Jason Bourne learned something kinda ... important (I don't recall what he learned), and it was so compelling and so world-shattering that it drove him just a few scenes later to do something very brash. It drove him to very deliberately lay down his passport to expose himself and his location to the Treadstone people. And THAT was the close fo Act 2. But I only saw the film once, and I don't even recall with much clarity at which point in the film it was that he did that. if I'm wrong about that being the end of Act 2, it was most certainly the end of a reel.



As for "reels" ...........



When I am writing my scripts, I try to keep the 15-page rule in mind, which is also the very very old-fashioned method known as sequencing. Sequencing is from the old days of silent film when reels were much smaller and only held about 15 minutes of film. So a two-hour film needed 8 entire reels. Hollywood learned very early in the 1920's that if the first reel didn't end with a cliff-hanger, then during the two to five minutes it took a projectionist to change to the next reel, people were likely to get up and leave (like today's problem with people flipping the remote control--only the attention span of a modern day remote-wielder is a lot shorter than 15 minutes). So here's how I judge not only my own scripts, but also professional and produced ones. It's also how I try to pinpoint the close of each act:

Page 15 -- Must end Page 15 with something intriguing/exciting like a murder or peril or the revelation of a dark secret. Some sort of a high stake needs to be made obvious.

Page 30 -- We do not see Plot Point 1 on page 30. That's because Plot Point 1 already happened a few pages ago (around page 25-29). Instead, by the end of Page 30 (or sooner) we see the main protag's blood-pumping response to Plot Point 1. And only THEN can we officially say that Act 1 has finally ended.

Page 45 -- This reel's ending must have a new revelation, a new twist, a new danger. The pitch and tone should be heightened far above what we saw at the end of the previous reel. A new set of stakes must be layered onto the previous ones.

Page 60 -- Mid-point. Sometimes this is a low-point of devastating disappointment. Or sometimes it's a high-point of even more intense drama.

Page 75 -- More revelations. Things look bleak.

Page 90 -- This is typically the end of Act 2. Plot Point 2 has already been introduced (around pages 85-89), and whatever that Plot Point is, it often involves a terrible blow to the main protag. And then, more important than the blow itself is his response to the blow (which we will see on Page 90, or sooner) that marks the end of Act 2 and set us up for Act 3.

Page 105 -- This entire reel is a good place to reveal the existence of either a conspiracy or sabotage (the film text books state that by Page 105: "characters previously thought unrelated turn out to be related by alliance"). And so by the end of that reel, the main protag's response to the conspiracy/sabotage, or his attempt at damage-control, becomes the new cliffhanger. Everything else after this is the final struggle

Page 120 -- And here is our very very satisfying ending. And it neeeds to be a doosey!







Anyway ... I think in Bourne Supremacy, the end of Reel 6/Page 90/Act 2 was probably when he put his passport down.

[Plot Device]

Also, I am told that the original Alien from the late 1970's has a perfect 3-Act structure and is therefore used in film writing courses. AND that it also follows the 15-page sequencing method to the ultimate degree.

Every 15 pages, somebody dies in that script. And ... on page 105 (the end of Reel 7) we find out that a conspiracy has been afoot ... we find out that "characters previously thought unrelated turn out to be related by aliance" ... we find out that the one guy is really an android passing himself off as a human, and that he has been given orders by The Company to protect any alien life form that might be stumbled upon, even at the expense of the crew.

[Stealth66]

I'm told that the delinneation between Acts 2 and 3 of any script is usually far harder to nail down that the one between Acts 1 and 2.

:e2bounceyI'm glad to hear that! I started feeling like a moron after a while.

As for your examples, I only saw Bourne Supremacy (I never saw any of your other examples). And if I am recalling it all correctly, Plot Point 2 was when Jason Bourne learned something kinda ... important [...] It drove him to very deliberately lay down his passport to expose himself and his location to the Treadstone people...

Hmm. I don't see a note written down about a passport in my papers. I put Bourne's return to Moscow to find the guy in the beginning who shot his girlfriend as the beginning of the third act. This happens roughly around 80 minutes into the movie, which would make the third act 22 pages/minutes long. (Movie's 102 minutes total.) I'm using minutes because I'm breaking down acts by watching the movies, not by reading the scripts.

When I am writing my scripts, I try to keep the 15-page rule in mind, which is also the very very old-fashioned method known as sequencing.

Very interesting. I'm going to keep my eye on this one as I rewrite my script.

Also, I am told that the original Alien from the late 1970's has a perfect 3-Act structure and is therefore used in film writing courses. AND that it also follows the 15-page sequencing method to the ultimate degree.

Sounds like I found my weekend assignment movie then. It's also in the genre I write, sort of, since my stuff isn't sci-fi. It'll be very interesting to see how the 15-page sequencing plays out.

Since I'm only aiming for 90 pages, does this sound about right:

Plot Point 1: around pages 22-23
Mid-point: around page 45
Plot Point 2: around pages 67-68

[nielsty]

Yeah, according to my calculations it fits.

[Stealth66]

Thanks, Nielsty. I'm working on rewriting my entire script since you mentioned structural problems. Been working hard on that. It makes it so much easier now that I have a sort of road map to work with.