Three Act Structure.
In all films there has to be a general structure to the story, the most essential elements being a beginning, middle and end but not necessarily in that order. A recent film I have watched which shows this is ‘You Again’. The film is set out with a traditional layout of beginning, middle, end - establish, crisis, resolve.
The beginning of the film lays out the general outline for the story which in this case is Kristen Bell’s character Marni who returns home for her brothers wedding only to find out he is marrying her school bully Joanna, played by Oudette Yustman. Marni is determined to show her brother the real person he is choosing to marry and sets out to reveal Joanna’s real personality.
The story then develops onto the crisis or the middle outline of the film. This is when Marni is setting out to destroy her brother and Joanna’s relationship, while at the same time is failing and becoming more and more like her geeky persona she carried around with her at high school. In all her efforts to expose Joanna to her brother Marni succeeds in showing him the real girl Joanna was in school and breaks them up while at the same time loosing her brothers trust and possibly his friendship.
This is when the crisis starts to become resolved moving onto the end of the story. Marni realizes that Joanna has changed since school and sets out to regain her brother’s trust and get the couple back together. Like most love stories Marni succeeds in her efforts and even finds a love of her own with her brothers best friend.
This story is a perfect example of a three act structure in films as each elements are laid out clearly to the viewer and gains easy viewing and a comedic effect of the film. The technique of laying out films into three parts I believe is essential in film making as it allows the viewers to follow easily and become more captured by the creative elements of the story lines.
Digital Storytelling.
Harry potter is a prime example of a film that uses multiple platforms and extended forms to engage its audiences. Not only being a highly successful film series it also stems from the award winning J K Rowling story books, it has several video games, toys, fancy dress and collectables only to mention a few. It’s the clever marketing and production that enables the brand to engage a wide range of audiences drawing them into the whole Harry Potter production. The different platforms associated with the film helps engage a wider range of audience attracting everyone from young children to elderly adults creating its own wide and dynamic fan base. It is from these different forms of storytelling that keeps a high interest within the subject and ensures wide global publicity gaining a higher viewing rate.
