The movie The Village (2004), by M. Night Shyamalan, shows an example of the 3 Act structure of how films are narrated and produced.
In the first act, which runs about the first 30 minutes, introduces the characters and the situation. The setting is in a small isolated village in Pennsylvania, where the people of the community all help out with everyday tasks to keep the village running. Everything seems to be ordinary until the mentioning of “those we don’t speak of,” which are beasts that live in the outside surrounding woods of the village. There is almost an eerie feeling to the village when one of the main characters, Lucius Hunt, breaks the boundary and travels into the forbidden woods. The mini-climax occurs when “those we don’t speak of” come into the village and leave threatening marks on the doors and skin the livestock.
In the second act, which is about 60 minutes long, the viewer learns that “those we don’t speak of” are harmful and pose a threat. Another threat that arises is when Lucius Hunt asks Ivy Walker, the main female character, to marry him. This causes Noah Percy to become jealous, because he is also in love with Ivy. Noah, however, suffers from a learning disability, and isn’t able to cope with this new idea. The storyline gets even more complex when Noah stabs Lucius and almost kills him. The mini-climax of act two happens when Ivy asks to go through the forbidden woods and travel to the nearest town to get medicine to help try and save Lucius. During this part the viewer learns the secret of the village, that the elders have been trying to hide. The elders are actually “those we don’t speak of” and dress up as beasts of the woods and scare the other villagers. They do this in order to try and prevent everyone from going to the towns, because they considerer the modern world to be a dangerous place. Since Ivy is blind they allow her to go through the woods since she will not be considered a threat to the beasts. Her father tells Ivy about the beasts and how they are fake and give her directions on how to get to the nearest town.
Act 3, which is also about 30 minutes long, starts off with Ivy traveling through the woods. During this act is the main climax. The viewer thinks that everything is fine until Ivy comes into contact with “those we don’t speak of.” She is alarmed by this, since she was told they were not real. Unknown to her, Noah stole on of the costumes and pretended to be one, but since Ivy is blind she couldn’t tell it was him. At this point in the movie, one wonders if she will survive or not, because Noah is chasing her and trying to attack. However, she ends up killing him and finally making it to the town, where she receives the medicine. The movie ends with Ivy making it back to the village with the medicine, and Noah is saved.
So through the use of the 3 act structure the plot describes the introduction in the 1st act, the complications in the 2nd act, and then the climax and resolution in the 3rd act. This style allows for a well prepared and thought out story line, that effectively shows the viewer the intended plot.
Watch the trailer of The Village here!
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