This week’s first reading was an extract from Michael Rabiger’s Directing the Documentary 5th Edition, (2009). The main focus of it was the three-act structure. According to the text, the three-act structure is “an invaluable tool for organizing story elements today”, (Directing the Documentary, Michael Rabiger, 2009). Basically, it’s a template for story writers to follow when writing out their plot.

In cinema today, almost every film follows this structure. It’s mostly obvious in superhero movies, due to their straightforwardness (I’m not saying it’s a bad thing), but when you really think about it, it’s difficult to think about one that doesn’t follow it. Even complex movies with deep ideas go back to this template. Some story writers try to disguise the structure through use of non-linear timelines. Memento, for example, is a very complex movie, which is shown in a non-linear timeline, but if you piece it all back together into one linear story, you’ll find that it still has each of the three acts.

After reading through this text, I sat at my desk for a bit attempting to think up ways to write a story that doesn’t exactly follow this structure while still not being an overly interpretive art house, but I just couldn’t think of anything. Maybe I’m just not smart enough (yet?)