THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE
Most films have a specific structure that they follow which helps to form the way the story is told. Films can be structured into three different 'Acts'.
Act One introduces the characters and sets up the story/plot of the film. Something significant needs to happen at the end of Act One in order to change the course of the story.
Act Two is the main body of the story. It explores the significant event at the end of Act One and shows how the characters are affected by this event and the possible outcomes they face. At the end of this act another significant event should occur in order to resolve the plot of the film.
Act Three resolves the story and tells us the outcome, ensuring that the audience is left with an understanding of what the film is about, tying up the loose ends of the plot into one conclusion.
ZOMBIELAND
Zombieland is a comedy/horror/thriller about a student trying to reach his family in Ohio whilst surviving the Zombie apocalypse. On his way he meets a tough guy and a pair of sisters and forms an alliance in order to survive.
In Act One of Zombieland we are introduced to the main character, Columbus. We are also given background knowledge on the cause of the Zombie Apocalypse, a mutated disease that spread to the human population. He then meets Tallahassee, a seemingly tough guy with a weird obsession to find the last Twinkie. The pair are then introduce to two sisters and together they form an unlikely alliance.
Upon finding out that Ohio has been destroyed and his family are most likely dead, Columbus reluctantly decides to join the others on their journey to California. This is the significant event that brings the film into Act Two, as the group now have a specific task to achieve.
Act Two follows the journey of the group on their way to California, where the sisters are travelling to find an amusement park, an area that is supposedly free from zombies. After a series of events the eldest sister, Wichita, becomes attracted to Columbus and leaves with her sister in fear of attachment.
The sisters reach the amusement park, turning on all the lights and attracting nearby zombies. At the same time Columbus convinces Tallahassee to go after the girls and save them.
Act Three shows Columbus and Tallahassee luring the zombies away from the sister, who are trapped on a ride. Successfully killing the zombies and saving the girls Wichita (Who is revealed to actually be called Krista) kisses Columbus and the youngest sister, Little Rock, hands Tallahassee a Twinkie. The group then leaves together.
THE OTHERS
The Others is a drama/horror/mystery/thriller about a woman who lives in an old house with her two children who become convinced that their family home is haunted.
In Act One we are introduced to Grace and her two photosensitive children Anne and Nicholas, who live together in the country in the immediate aftermath of World War 2. After their previous servants leave without a trace she employs three new servants, teaching them the strict rules that must be followed to ensure her children's safety.
Act Two shows a series of odd events, such as a door slamming and the piano being played in an empty locked room which makes Grace fear that they are not alone. Anne, believing the intruders are a family of ghosts, is scolded by her mother for scaring her brother and is punished. Grace finds a 'book of the dead' which shows mourning portraits from the 19th century, and convinced something unholy is in the house she ventures out in the fog to find the local vicar to bless the house. Outside she discovers her husband Charles, who she believed had died in the war and takes him back to the house.
Grace later attacks Anne, believing she has been possessed. Anne then tells her father, who after an argument with Grace leaves the house.
In Act Three Nicholas and Anne leave the house in search of their father, and stumble across the hidden graves of the three servants who follow them back to the house. At the same time Grace finds the book of the dead, finding the servants inside she runs to protect her children, threatening the servants with a shotgun.
Running upstairs they find the elderly woman frequently seen by Anne who is acting as a medium in a seance. The woman declares that Anne and Nicholas were killed by their mother and that they are in fact the ghosts. Grace breaks down, remembering her outburst of psychosis, smothering her children after going insane, then out of guilt killing herself.
Making peace with the servants, Grace and her family look onwards as the family living in the house leave, before declaring that the house is theres.
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