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Lesson 7
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Madeleine’s 4 Act Structure
What did you learn doing this assignment?
I’m not sure yet if the 4-act structure from one point of view works for this story because it’s a farce and everybody’s story is intertwined with each other’s. Because all of them have the same desire “to be alone” – the conflict is spread out over several persons and they all hit the beats at one point but not all of them hit all the beats.
Concept: The members of a dysfunctional family want to avoid spending Christmas together only to pursue their hidden lives and involuntary encounter each other at the family’s pied à terre.
Main conflict: The family escapes each other only to discover each other truly.
Act 1:
Opening: The family member suffers when they have to spend Christmas together.
Inciting Incident: Everybody has an excuse to leave early.
Turning Point: Robert discovers that his daughter Anna uses the pied à terre to spend time with her lover.
Act 2:
New plan: His wife Martha comes to the apartment to commit suicide.
Plan in action: His daughter Anna was pregnant from her lover and loses the baby.
Midpoint Turning Point: Robert’s lover and colleague actually wants to become dean.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: Robert has to admit that Anna is not his daughter but Will’s.
New plan: Robert realizes that Pierre has not problem with Anna’s lifestyle.e
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Robert realizes that even the big gangster Carlos has a better appreciation of family than his family does.
Act 4:
Final plan: Robert discovers that his son Nick has a girlfriend who he does not dare to introduce to his family.
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Robert suffers a heart attack when he realizes that his son deals with drugs.
Resolution: All the family members sing together a Christmas song.
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Adite’s 4 act structure
What I learned: Keeping the focus on the key conflict (though there could be multiple minor conflicts going on in the story) helps build a solid structure.
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Lesson 7
Griff’s 4-Act Structure.
What I learned doing this assignment: The brainstorming process can lead to multiple story directions that must eventually be corralled.
Concept: Rami, a reclusive software developer, buys a
house on the edge of a suburban neighborhood. Main Conflict: Kim and Jo, the next door neighbors, are
rowdy losers who won’t leave Rami alone.Act 1:
Opening: Renovations begin at the house next door to
Kim and Jo. Kim has no luck satisfying his curiosity about the new owner.
The crew are tight-lipped and keep the place locked up.
Inciting Incident: Rami, the new owner, doesn’t even
make an appearance until the work is finished and the movers arrive with expensive
anvil cases but no furniture. Turning Point: Rami is not friendly and has no
interest in interacting with Kim and Jo. Kim is now suspicious.Act 2:
<div>New plan: Kim and his wannabe cop buddy Byron hatch a
plan to find out what’s going on. Jo agrees to distract Rami by creating a
sexy diversion. Plan in action: Kim and Byron break in while Rami is busy
ogling Jo. Getting inside the house is very easy. Too easy. Midpoint Turning Point: Kim and Byron discover a dizzying
installation of electronic equipment inside. They also realize that a sophisticated
security system has probably caught them in the act of breaking and entering.
</div>Act 3:
Rethink everything: Rami never mentions the break-in. He acts as if nothing happened.
New plan: Kim’s suspicion shifts to Jo. They have a big
fight and Jo takes refuge at Rami’s.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Kim and
Byron confront Rami about Jo, who won’t agree to go back home. Things turn
violent, and Rami is injured in the confusion. Kim and Byron succeed in
removing Jo from the house.Act 4:
Final plan: All is quiet at Rami’s. Have they killed him?
Jo is restrained and locked in a room. They can’t call the police and Jo
will certainly reveal the truth. Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Kim and
Byron explain the situation and Jo agrees to go next door to check on
Rami. When she doesn’t come back they go investigate, walking into a booby
trap – Rami has rigged the house to blow up!
Resolution: Recovering from his burns in the hospital,
Kim is interviewed by the police. Jo and Rami are presumed to have
perished in the fire. A package arrives at the hospital for Kim,
containing a video game featuring Rami and Jo and includes the security cam footage of Kim and
Byron’s break-in antics. -
Lesson 7
Cindi’s 4 act structure outline
What I learned doing this assignment: creating an outline is the best way to make sure the structure is correct.
Concept: a nurse on the night shift of a psycho hospital discovers she’s not alone in the building when the power goes out and she is automatically locked in a room with a psycho janitor who she must trust to take them through the creepy basement to a secret escape route.
Main conflict: the psycho janitor is a serial killer who tries to persuade the nurse to come with him into the secret hallways and rooms of an old hospital.
Act 1:
Opening: A nurse agrees to work the overnight shift at the nurses station at a psych hospital.
Inciting incident: The nurse realizes she’s not alone. Someone in the shadows is messing with her head by throwing papers on her desk, moving things when she’s not looking, etc.
Turning point: The nurse peeks around in some of the hallways and runs face-to-face with the psycho janitor.
Act 2:
New plan: The nurse sees the psycho janitor’s name on his work badge. She nonchalantly looks him up in the files. and discovers he is a serial killer. To gain his trust, she tries to remain calm and tries to strike up friendly small talk with the psycho janitor.
Plan in action: The nurse tries to figure out a way to get away from him. She could steal his keys or drug him. He is unpredictable, paranoid, defensive and has an explosive temper. He’s difficult to communicate with.
Midpoint Turning point: The lights suddenly go out. (possibly he messed with the system.) Dim backup generator lights come on.
Act 3:
Rethink everything: She walks around and discovers since the power went out, the doors automatically lock from the inside so she can’t get out of the nurse station area.
New plan: Psycho janitor toys with a knife. (maybe by mistake he jabs the knife into something that makes noxious fumes poor through the vents.)
Turning point – huge failure: Psycho janitor sees her struggle to open a box/package. He offers to help open it and stabs wildly at the box with his knife.
Act 4:
Final plan: The noxious fumes cause them to choke and gag. It’s important that they both get out of the building. The psycho janitor with his explosive temper, tries to persuade the nurse to come with him to escape through the secret inner passages of this building. He has the keys to get through the doors. He won’t give the keys up they are attached to his belt. He knows how to get around the building since he’s the janitor. The scared nurse has no choice but to go with him.
Climax/ultimate expression of conflict: He takes her through the dark winding hallways of the hospital basement. They enter a room that turns out to be a lab where the director of the hospital is doing illegal experiments on the patients. There are several patients who are in different stages of an experimental project.
Resolution: The nurse and the psycho janitor run off through another winding hallway and out a door that leads to the back parking lot. The Director shoots at them as they run.
The nurse and psycho janitor run out into the parking lot, and meet police and authorities ready to arrest the Director for performing illegal procedures at the hospital.
Reveal/Twist: Both the nurse and the psycho janitor are working undercover with authorities/FBI to catch the Director, who they suspected of doing illegal procedures on patients.
The nurse and the psycho janitor did not know that each other was working undercover.
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