Story Structure in Film. The Multi-Level Model (PDF)

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Film Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, language: English, abstract: For new writers, an understanding of story structure is essential.

Yet, today, this is almost impossible due to the enormous variety of conflicting theories and views. The scene is filled with controversy and confusion. Three act, five act, nine act, no act... which is it? How does it matter? What will it get you? Writers need to get on with the important work of writing great stories.

This essay is intended to get a handle, once and for all, on story structure. So much has already been written on the subject that the new writer investigating her/his craft is confronted with literally hundreds of volumes of conflicting information and theory, ranging from authorities proclaiming structure as "God" to others arguing that structure is a myth. It is interesting how the subject has begun to take on the trappings of religion. The "guru" fervor has reached an all-time high.

In order to deal with all the confusion, we'll have to go to some effort to lay a foundation, before advancing an approach to story structure that applies to the length and breadth of storytelling. From there, the rest of the text is devoted to testing the idea against some of the most well-discussed, "structure-less" films in cinema history.