Story Outline/Act Structure

Recall: Act Structure in Segments

Before I organize the story of my film in the ‘act structure’ format, I wanted to clarify that this film doesn’t have a structure to begin with. The story itself is a continuously loop from beginning to end, with cuts so rapid that any structure is almost unclear. Actions from every version of the same character in the film carry the plot towards the end; the actions are the story. There is no real conflict, no resolution (it’s open-ended), and no separate acts to begin with. But for the sake of the assignment, here is a glimpse at what my film would look like if it was formatted as a three act structure.

ACT I:

In the first act, our protagonist is waking up in a dark alley, covered in glass with blood soaking the forehead. Our protagonist’s vision is blurry, but the foggy vision clears up after introducing the present-day version of the protagonist, or TWO. Two wakes up, and fixes the blurry vision issue by putting a pair of glasses on. The film cuts back to One, who sits up from off the ground while shaking off small shards of glass; One then sees a pistol, and after grabbing and studying it, sets it back on the ground. The film cuts back to Two, who is sitting by the bedside, and after standing up Two starts walking.

ACT II:

In the second act, as Two continues to walk, the film cuts to the past version of the protagonist, or THREE. Three walks at relatively the same pace as Two, reaches the end of the study and sits in a chair below a desk. The desk has an assortment of papers scattered on it. There is one blank page that stands out from the others, and Three decides to examine it. The film cuts to One, who stands up and is immediately cut off by Three’s current action of studying the page. The film cuts to One, who is still unable to remember what is or had happened. One then notices someone next to him face down on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding the body. The film cuts to Three, who puts the page back on the desk. After a few short moments of thought, Three slides the chair away from the desk. The film then cuts to the future version of the protagonist, or FOUR. Four is seated in a similar fashion that of Three’s. Four removes a tablet from a jacket, and skims through a message that’s displayed.

ACT III:

In the third act, the film cuts back to One, who is panicked from hearing people in the distance closing in on the location. One is forced to pick the side arm off of the ground. The film cuts to Four, who puts the tablet back in the jacket pocket, and cuts back to One who is also tucking the weapon in the jacket. One is entranced by the identity by looking through the corpse’s wallet. The ID has a red X on it. The film cuts to Four, who reaches for a tracker and turns it on; One hears a small beeping sound, and turns to find and object with a blinking red LED on the back of the jacket. The film cuts back to Four, who stands and removes a side arm from the jacket after hearing the confirmation noise. One grabs the side arm from his/her jacket, loads it, and sprints forward. Four walks forward. Shots are heard from behind One, to continues to run in the opposite direction.