In this week’s lectorial, we were given an introduction into narrative. The example that was used in class was a documentary called, Mistaken For Strangers directed by Tom Beringer to explain the three act structure. I’ve watched documentaries here and there, but I never really thought that the three act structure can actually be applied to it. Or maybe I haven’t expanded my documentary collection.

Beringer choosing to join his brother’s band on tour and document it can be considered the first act. And the fact that he doesn’t really know how to make a film, it immediately poses the question of ‘can he do it?’, thus arousing curiosity in viewers. He then gets fired after an incident on tour which is actually quite a pivotal point as it can be seen as a complication in the film, and I guess you can also consider as the climax to some extent. It meant that he wouldn’t be able to finish the film he intended to create. However, that all changes when the tension between him and his brother is resolved and he ends up finishing the film anyway.

I guess the reason I never really thought that you can apply the three act structure to documentaries is because sometimes you can’t easily pick out these elements as you would in a narrative film. So I definitely found it interesting when a documentary was used to apply this structure.