Screenwriting gurus have been outlining the ideal story structure since before
the days of Aristotle.
And there's about as many story shapes as there are actual stories.
But there are some trends that show up almost universally.
And we're taking a look at the moments they have in common.
These are our picks for the top five plot points of all time.
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Depending on how you want to define a story, whether as a journey, a challenge,
an attempt at a goal, or just a series of events,
it still needs something to kick it off.
Think of it as an invitation, as a doorway that opens, a kick in the ass,
or a last straw.
In 'Fellowship of the Ring', this is a surprise disappearance
in a mysterious ring, nobody's locked into anything yet, but a seed has been planted.
It's 'Citizen Kane' saying, "Rosebud" and raising the question of its meaning.
It's a dog being chased by a helicopter in 'The Thing'.
It's a rumor of a dead boy by the train tracks in 'Stand By Me'.
It's a holographic cry for help in 'Star Wars',
an errant stage light falling onto a house, an unexpected loss,
an opportunity to become a gangster, the real "Mrs Mulray" threatening to sue.
It's frequently referred to as the inciting incident.
And for our first pick,
our favorite inciting incident goes to 'The Social Network'.
- You are probably going to be a very successful computer person.
But you're gonna go through life thinking that girls don't like you because
you're a nerd.
And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true.
It'll be because you're an asshole.
- Although this inciting incident is subtler than most, have no doubt about it,
"Sorkin" and "Fincher" set up "Eisenberg's" breakup as
the source of everything that happens after.
It's the jet fuel that's ignited propelling him all the way to Facebook,
lawsuits, and the very last frame.
It insights him to everything he does next.
He walks, runs away feeling utterly abandoned and
worthless and small, as if he will never be someone people want to be around.
It is the event through which all following events are possible, but
he's not committed just yet, he still has to take action.
It's just that after "Erica's" biting last words ringing in his ears,
he finally has every reason to.
(Sound) - If the inciting incident is a question,
next up, we're looking at the answer.
And if the story is going to go anywhere, which you can be pretty sure it will,
since a few suits already threw a cool couple hundred million at it,
that answer is yes.
Whether the protagonist wants it to be or not.
In fact, much of the time they definitely don't.
They've probably given a few nos already.
But this time, they don't, or won't, or can't.
If the first act was about getting them on to their journey,
this is where it crosses into the second act, which is the journey proper.
This is the moment that the main conflict of the story begins in earnest.
'The Fellowship of the Ring', it's where "Frodo" and
"Sam" actually set off with the ring.
It's not just the potential for an adventure, it's the adventure itself.
But it's also the tornado in 'The Wizard of Oz'.
The first repeated morning of 'Groundhog Day'.
Becoming "Dorothy" for the first time, in 'Tootsie'.
A second 'Not Guilty' booking a night at the 'Bates Motel'.
Or a strongly worded threat.
However, for our second pick,
we don't think there's a clearer first-act break imaginable than in 'The Matrix'.
- This is your last chance.
After this, there is no turning back.
You take the blue pill, the story ends,
you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and
I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
- 'The Matrix' has all the key elements of a perfect first-act break,
an offer, an opportunity, a choice, and
then a doorway into a new world with no turning back.
"Neo's" red pill pick irrevocably changes everything about the story.
It's a shift from his first act goal of learning the truth, which he accomplishes
by taking the red pill, to his second act goal of becoming the one.
And the border between those two journeys is right here.
But this wasn't his first opportunity.
>From the very beginning when he's invited or incited to follow the white rabbit,
"Neo" turns down a few opportunities to break into the second act.
But, by this point, he's seen enough, been through enough and
reached his breaking point where he can stay in this world no longer.
And he makes the decision, takes the red pill and
breaks into the rest of the story.
After we break into the second act, we get to live there for a while,
often a long while.
And this is the real meat of the story where (Bleep) gets rough, and
you get to see the characters really struggle and try, and often, fail.
Suddenly, "Frodo" and "Sam" have to actually get somewhere with a half
a dozen Nazgul on their tail, and it's no easy feat.
They're not just talking about it, they're living it, and usually you see characters
head in one direction, hit a couple set backs before finding their way through.
However, at a certain point they'll usually hit a major setback that flips
the whole story on it's head.
Something changes dramatically.
Succeeding will be a whole lot harder than they initially thought it would, and
it involves a totally different goal than we might have imagined.
This is getting to Rivendale, realizing the ring isn't safe there and
that they're going to have to go all the way to Mordor to drop it into
the fires of Mount Doom to destroy it.
This is generally referred to as the midpoint.
It's a feature of a lot of stories that often comes about halfway through
the second act, breaking it into two relatively clear halves.
Some of our favorite tectonic midpoint shifts include and alien bursting out of
a chest to announce its infestation, a shark attack that hits to close to home.
A gone girl who's not so gone after all.
The announcement to a problem to Houston,
or the realization that you wanted to keep your memories after all.
But or favorite midpoint, that belongs to 'Back to the Future'.
- "Marty", have you interacted with anyone else today besides me?
- Yeah, well, I might have sort of bumped into my parents.
- Great, Scott!
Let me see that photograph again of your brother.
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Just as I thought, this proves my theory.
Look at your brother.
- "Marty's" act break sees him escaping back in time.
And his second act, so far, has him working to get back to his home time,
which while straight-forward,
is definitely interesting enough to sustain our attention.
But then he sees his family picture and realizes that his interference has
endangered his very existence and the whole mission changes.
All of a sudden he doesn't just have to worry about getting back to the future,
he has to worry about getting his parents back together, too.
Everything has pivoted around the mid-point.
He has to completely reformulate his goals and strategies for
the remainder of the plot.
Which shakes the entire film up, keeps the second act fresh and
adds a brilliant complication at just the right time to keep it challenging,
complicated, and interesting.
Eventually the story has to head towards a finish.
In the second act the character struggled and tried with at least two different
major sub-conflicts but they haven't solved the problem yet.
And things are looking bleak.
They've exhausted all their options with the second act strategies and
it looks like they might fail.
Final path of success becomes apparent.
Often they've made enough mistakes and
learned enough by them to get their plan just about dialed.
It's "Frodo's" Galadrial assisted realization that the fellowship cannot
hold and that he will eventually have to find his way alone.
"Andy's" escape with the ark drives the story into the third act.
As does the murder of "Andy's" only connection to his exoneration.
The appearance of "Clarence the Angel", the revelation of the "Predator's"
weakness, and the turn back to the citadel all steer us toward the final showdown.
Our favorite, though, is in 'Casablanca'.
- Go ahead and shoot me, you'll be doing me a favor.
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- The day you left Paris,
if you knew what I went through.
If you knew how much I loved you, how much I still love you.
- Up to this point "Rick" has put himself first and everyone else last.
He's jaded, steeled, an eternal pragmatist.
We get hints that he wasn't always this way, that he'd hardened from some past
trauma and that it was "Ilsa" who was part of the hardening.
So when she comes to him with a gun we see the culmination of both of their second
act goals.
Hers to escape 'Casablanca' at any costs and his to stay uninvolved.
But she finds she can't kill him, and he learns it's because she still loves him.
And suddenly he adopts a new goal to get "Lazlo" on the plane and
have "Ilsa" stay with him.
And she does too.
It's an incredibly similar kind of shift to the mid point, where new information or
problems complicate their earlier plans and force them to reformulate.
But the difference is that it puts them directly on the collision to the final
encounter.
It's a road to a new solution, not just a new problem.
Without "Ilsa's" attempt and failure, "Rick" doesn't find out the truth.
And without finding out the truth, the story has nowhere else to go.
But in this one instant, we are propelled to the finish.
For better or worse, the die is cast.
Of course, if everything were as simple as just setting a final heading and
then walking the path, the third act would be very boring indeed.
But it's not boring, and it comes with its own obstacles and
hopefully the greatest struggle yet.
A moment where the protagonist hits an obstacle they didn't expect or
at least one they weren't fully prepared for.
This if often called the third act twist.
In 'Fellowship of the Ring' this is "Boromir" and
his grabby hands forcing "Frodo" to set out before even he was ready,
launching us into the final Urukai battle climax that gets him and "Sam" free.
It's "Rocky" knocking down "Creed" and proving that it's an actual fight.
Or a young "Adonis Creed" standing up and proving the same.
It's the loaded gun at the roof standoff in 'The Game'.
The spoiler that everyone who's anyone already knows from 'The Sixth Sense'.
It's "Angel Eyes" showing up to a graveyard Mexican Standoff in 'The Good,
The Bad and The Ugly'.
And it's our number one pick that "Clarice" is at the wrong house that just
so happens to be the right house in 'The Silence of the Lambs'.
- (Noise) Coming.
(Sound) - We're going in.
(Sound) - Good afternoon, sorry to bother you.
I'm looking for "Mrs. Lipman's" family.
(Sound) - FBI, everybody get down!
(Sound) Get on the ground now!
- No, the "Lipmans" don't live here anymore.
- Excuse me sir, I really need to speak with you.
- (Noise) Clear!
Clear!
- What's the problem, officer?
- Well, I'm investigating the death of "Fredrica Bimmel".
- There's no one here, "Jack".
- "Clarice".
- "Clarice's" journey to find "Buffalo Bill" has been a long one,
with many obstacles along the way.
And while he's eluded her thus far, she finally makes a breakthrough discovery.
The story breaks into act three when she realizes that "Buffalo Bill" was a tailor
who knew his first victim.
She narrows in on him.
He is within reach, all that's left is the doing.
But she gets one thing wrong.
She shows up at the house of a man who is not someone who knew "Buffalo Bill",
but is "Buffalo Bill" himself, and
her colleagues are in the wrong place to help her.
Suddenly she's thrust into a house,
a basement the dark all alone with the killer.
And while her third act got her in the right place, finding the killer,
she still has the one final wrinkle of actually apprehending him and
it will be no easy task.
It is the last big turn in a film full of them,
which is why it's one of our favorite plat point of all time.
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So what do you think?
Did we leave out some of your favorite plot points?
Dislike any of our picks?
Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe for
more Cinefix move lists.
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