ACT I The Set-Up



The Hook The hook is the intriguing episode that grabs the attention and sparks the curiosity of the viewer. It could take the form of a confrontation between strongly contrasting characters; it could present ordinary people doing extraordinary things (or vice versa), or it could pose a question. The Key Line The key line poses the question that the film as a whole will explore, The key line points out the theme of the film. Inciting Incident The Inciting Incident is scene that presents the protagonist with a problem that disturbs the normality and predictability of life. Before the inciting incident, the protagonist has been living life as normal;
The Classic Three-Act Linear Structure
Act Approximate Event time 0-5 mins The hook(引子) 2-5 mins Act I 15 mins 30 mins 60 mins Act II 90 mins Act III 105 mins Turning Point Climax The Key Line(主线) Function Grabs attention of audience Pose question to be explored Crisis for protagonist(i.e. protagonist takes first decisive action in pursuit of goal) Protagonist becomes truly committed to (致力于)goal Crisis for protagonist ( Results in temporary set back) Peak emotional moment; protagonist faces greatest challenge Protagonist evaluates what has happened
Narrative
Narrative,
story, and plot are the basic terms used when analyzing the narrative structure of a film. Although they are sometimes used interchangeably, they also have more precise meanings that can help us to draw some useful distinctions. David Bordwell and Kristin Thomas in Film Art--An Introduction《电影艺术入门》define them as follows:
Inciting Incident(引发性事件) Incident that disturbs life of protagonist Turning Point 1 Point of No Return
105-120 mins Resolution/Denouement
ACT I The Set-Up
ACT I The Set-Up
after the inciting incident, the protagonist will be driven by a new motivation to pursue a new goal. The protagonist may not take immediate action on account of the inciting incident, but will nevertheless begin a process of reflection that will lead eventually to action. Turning point 1 The role of the turning point is to catapult(猛力推出) the story in a new direction by setting up some kind of crisis for the protagonist to negotiate. The turning point differs from the inciting incident in that it is associated with some decisive actions taken by the protagonist that dramatically raises the stakes( 冒 更 大 的 风 险 ) and increases the danger level.




Narrative

Narrative refers to the way that a story is told. It is principally concerned with the way that events are organized in time and space---the way in which the scriptwriter and director take the raw elements of a story and arrange them in the most attractive and interesting way. Hollywood has developed its own set of informal principles to guide the creation of film narratives; it has also evolved a relatively welldefined structure for their organization.
Chapter 3 Narrative 叙述
Narrative

This chapter attempts to : Define the basic terms used to analyze narratives--Narrative, Story, and Plot. Describe the commonly used the Classic Three-Act Linear Structure (经典三幕式直线结构). Describe other Alternative Narrative Structures---the episodic structure and the “Hero’s Journey” structure. Describe the varieties of subplot.
Narrative



Narrative A chain of events in cause-effect relationships(因果 关系) occurring in time and space. Story All the events that we see and hear, plus all those that we infer or assume to have occurred, arranged in their presumed causal relations, chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial locations. Plot All the events that are directly presented to us, including their causal relations, chronological order, duration, frequency, and spatial locations. The key distinction is that between story and plot: Story is the viewer’s imaginary construction of all the events in the narratives---whether presented to us or not---while plot is the film’s actual presentation of certain events in the narrative.
The Classic Three-Act Linear Structure
Act
Act I
Time Function
0-30 mins
Set-up
Act II 30-90 mins Development (Conflict and
Confrontation冲突0 mins Resolution(结局) and Denouement （尾声）
The Classic Three-Act Linear Structure
The
three-act structure implies that the film can be divided into three acts. Act I would normally be expected to occupy the first quarter of the film; Act II would occupy the next half; and Act III would occupy the final quarter. Each act has a different function. For a typical two-hour Hollywood film (i.e. 120mins), the act division would be as follows: