FREE Film School: Understanding Story Structure
When creating a story from scratch, or even adapting an existing story, most writers will use a narrative structure.
But what do I mean by a structure? Isn’t writing a story just about opening your laptop, booting up some form of writing software and typing the story that’s in your head?
Nearly all professional writers use some form of structuring method when writing and this method usually comes into play well before writing a draft. This is the same for screenwriters, stage play writers or novel writers. Heck, even people writing adverts, articles, speeches or essays use a structure.
This article will have a structure too. I don’t have to think about it too much, these days, as I have a lot of writing experience. But I am well aware that the beginning of this article needs to introduce what the article is about, for example.
Imagine if this article started at the end. Imagine the first words you read were, “Well, that’s the basics of how the 3 Act Structure works”. I expect you would’ve been very confused had you been greeted with those words.
So that’s one reason why we need to think about structure. Because structure helps the audience understand the story.
Story Map
The structure of a story is like a map of the events within the story. Simply put, it’s what happens and when it happens in your story.
My basic understanding of article structure is that not only should I introduce you to the subject but I should also put that introduction at the start. That probably seems obvious, but it’s worth reminding yourself when you come to write a screenplay, long or short.
On the other hand (just to complicate things again) all stories are structures within structures. Because, for example, there’s the historical timeline of a story and then there’s the way you present it in your version of the story. Therefore, story structure isn’t just what happens in the story, but also what happens outside the perimeter of the story.
For example, what happened to your main character before the story starts? What is his or her “backstory”? What brought them to this place where you are now about to begin telling their story?
Story Writing is Editing
As filmmakers, when do we start to edit our film?
Answer: the very second we begin thinking about the story.
You know, if you decided to tell a story and put in every single detail no matter how trivial, your story would have an almost infinite length. For example, if you decided to depict the birth of your main character, to include every detail you’d have to depict the birth of the character’s parents. And their parents. And the midwife. Plus the midwife’s parents…
And so on. And on and on. Until your story is made up of every detail of the entire history of humankind. The only way to prevent this happening is to edit the story into a manageable length.
Therefore, as soon we start to think about a story we are actually thinking about structure. Because we start to think about where our story will begin and where it ends. And all the stuff that goes on in the middle.
Beginning, Middle & End
Yes, stories naturally have a beginning, middle and end. Which is probably why the 3 act structure is one of the most used in popular storytelling (and filmmaking). In the past, a 5 act structure has been employed by many dramatists, including William Shakespeare.
In fact, the word “acts” when talking about screenplays is left over from theatre. When playwrights needed to include breaks in the action. Often this was used to allow the scenery or costumes to be changed. But, as playwriting developed, this practical need for breaks began to define the story itself, in a positive way.
Each act is a mini story, with it’s own beginning middle and end. Which led playwrights to build each act to a climax, often leaving the audience with some kind of cliffhanger. Just like the end of a soap opera episode.
By doing this, it’s likely playwrights discovered they could keep the audience gripped while they took a break to change costume and move scenery. If a playwright does this well, the audience aren’t going anywhere in the act break. Less so, a playwright who ends an act in the middle of the action or with the act ending on a “happy ever after” moment.
So, while scene and costume changes began as an awkward moment, they ended up helping writers to build stories around structures. And now we can see that story structure is born out of practical necessity. First of all, the need to limit the story to a usable length. Secondly, to create pauses in the action.
One Act Structure
Story analysts such as Robert McKee have recently written about the rise of the 1 act film.
“A one-act telling… accumulates pressure gradually, often exclusively within the protagonist’s psychological and emotional life, and usually ends on a quiet release.” Robert McKee
McKee says that films such as Sean Baker’s The Florida Project span “only one movement with no major turnings”. What does he mean? That there’s no defined beginning, middle and end?
In a way, yes. However, I would say films like The Florida Project do have a beginning, middle and end, it’s just much more subtle. Well, they have to begin and end, and something has to happen in the middle, right?
However, there’s probably less obvious difference between the 3 sections. In a 3 act story, something big and momentous must happen at the end of Act 1 which takes the main character in a new direction. And again at the end of Act 2. A 3 act structure, therefore, is a bit of an unrealistic exaggeration of life.
On the other hand, the 1 act structure helps to create a less artificial feeling where humans are humans and life is complicated and messy. It should be no shock then that a film that depicts a level of social realism does so by avoiding artificial structures which would undermine the (almost) documentary style of the film.
One, Three or Five Acts?
We can see then that there’s perhaps a progression from 5 acts (in Shakespeare’s day, 16th-17th century), to 3 acts (the Hero’s Journey loved by Hollywood in the 20th-21st century, and used in films like Star Wars), to 1 act (or, rather, no act?) which is used to depict a closer-to-real-life sensibility.
We can see then that a 3 act Hero’s Journey creates a story more like a fairytale. The Hero’s Journey usually has a point of no return, somewhere in the middle, where the hero’s act closes the door to a return to their old life for good. But how often does that happen to us in reality? Very rarely. And that’s why the hero’s journey lends itself to films which are escapist fantasy.
Those of us trapped in our own reality seek to watch films about hero’s escaping their situation and building a different life. On the other hand, films about those people trapped in their own reality (like The Florida Project) turn to the 1 act structure for added authenticity. Indeed, The Florida Project is about people whose only escape is sometimes through Hero’s Journey films and therefore it’s no surprise that the final scene of that film takes place in Walt Disney World.
FREE Film School Exercise
So how can you use this knowledge to teach yourself to be a professional filmmaker? Well, if you are working on any stories currently, you can think about the structure: does it have one? Does it need one?
Does the structure you have fit the intended feeling of the story? If you are making a “larger than life” type film, do you need to exaggerate further the end of act turning points? But if you intend your story to be more social realism, are the end of act moments too big and inauthentic?
Perhaps you’re not working on a story right now. In that case, you can always analyse existing films to see how they work. If nothing else, you will continue developing your ability to think like a filmmaker. It’s always preferable to mix that in with actual filmmaking. But FREE Film School means going at your own speed, so it’s entirely up to you.
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