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The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts , often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution. Syd Field described it in his 1979 book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting .
The three-act structure is a common structure in classical film and other narrative forms in or associated with the West. [3] [4]First described in the fourth century A.D. by Aelius Donatus in his commentary on the works of Terence, the form was popularized by Syd Field in Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting.
The conception of the three-act structure has been attributed to American screenwriter Syd Field who described plot structure in this tripartite way for film analysis. Furthermore, in order to sell a book within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, often the plot structure is split into a synopsis.
A story structure, narrative structure, or dramatic structure (also known as a dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of narrative structures worldwide, which have been hypothesized by critics, writers, and scholars over time.
An act is a major division of a theatre work, including a play, film, opera, ballet, or musical theatre, consisting of one or more scenes. [1] [2] The term can either refer to a conscious division placed within a work by a playwright (usually itself made up of multiple scenes) [3] or a unit of analysis for dividing a dramatic work into sequences.
Field's most notable contribution is his paradigm "three-act structure". In this structure, a writer sets a film's plot within the first twenty to thirty minutes. Then the protagonist experiences a plot point, providing the protagonist with a goal. About half of a movie's running time focuses on the protagonist's struggle to achieve this goal.
He proposes that a well-structured movie has two main plot points within a three-act structure. [2] [3] The first major plot point occurs 20–30 minutes into the film (assuming a standard 120-minute running time), and the second major one occurs 80–90 minutes into the film. The first plot point ends Act I and propels the story into Act II ...
The third act, the climax of the entire play, is typified by pathos and tragedy. The plot achieves its dramatic climax. Takemoto describes the fourth act as a michiyuki (journey), which eases out of the intense drama of the climactic act, and often consists primarily of song and dance rather than dialogue and plot. The fifth act, then, is a ...