The First Act Turn | The Craft Of...

Welcome to the third installment of my latest series entitled “The Craft Of”, a crash course on traditional 3 Act Structure which the vast majority of Hollywood films released over the last several decades have utilized.
Today's episode will discuss the second of the five major plot points, The First Act Turn, which is the moment where your protagonist makes a decision, often in direct response to the inciting incident, which leads to them entering a "new world" and sets them off on their journey for the rest of the story.
NOTE: This series is not meant to rag on any particular screenwriting guide you fancy. If it works for you, stick with it. If you DO need a recommendation, go with Syd Field's "Screenplay", which I'd say is the gold standard.
Main Channel: / macabrestorytelling
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[00:00] - Intro
[00:57] - The First Act Turn
[13:02] - Outro
SPOILERS FOR:
Argo (2012)
Back To The Future (1985)
Chinatown (1974)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Game of Thrones (up until the end of Season 6)
Oldboy (2003)
The Social Network (2010)
MUSIC:
"Danse Macabre" by Kevin McLeod: • "Danse Macabre" Kevin ...
"Clubbed To Death" by Rob Dougan: • clubbed to death - Mat...
"Back To The Future (End Credits)" by Alan Silvestri: • The Back to the Future...
"Hand Covers Bruise" by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: • 01 Hand Covers Bruise...

[@brokenmug6449]

Basically you walk into Red Lobster on a stormy Wednesday evening. You sit down with your wife and two kids. The waiter comes by to take your order as you hungrily ask for the endless shrimp. 15 minutes later everybody is served. Your wife and kids ordered the endless shrimp as well. As the night morphs into inky blackness outside you all talk and laugh and eat. You eat plate after plate after plate of shrimp. After a couple hours, you and your family are stuffed. You motion to the waiter to bring the bill and look down at your plate, letting out a small chuckle. It looks like you haven't even eaten a single bit of shrimp- a curious thing since you have been gorging yourself on shrimp constantly for the better part of two hours. But before you can puzzle over this small oddity any longer, the waiter bustles over to your table and hands you the bill. As you reach over to grab the check your hand closes instead around a squishy pile of shrimp. There is no check being held out to you, just another plate of shrimp. A loud thunderclap booms outside as you look up at the waiter to ask why he brought you more shrimp instead of the check, when you are suddenly alarmed to find not the waiter, but a giant, human-sized shrimp in server attire staring blankly down at you. You spin around in your seat to see if your wife can see the shrimp waiter and are immediately frightened out of your wits. Your wife is no longer seated there next to you- only another human-sized shrimp wearing your wife's dress and hoop earrings. Numb with horror, you quickly glance across the table at your two children. They are both shrimps. You let out a yell as another thunderclap echoes across the sky and it begins to rain. You distantly register the start of the torrential downfall outside, which sounds like large hail, as you spare a sweeping glance across the restaurant. There are no humans present. There are only shrimps seated at booths, shrimps seated at tables, and even a small group of shrimps at the bar. They are all eating large platefuls of shrimp and leering at you menacingly. Your heart begins to pound in your chest like a war drum. You stumble backwards, half falling over your chair in your haste to get up. You sprint for the door and run outside into the dark stormy night. As you dash through the parking lot towards your car you feel something like a giant hot raindrop hit your face and bounce off towards the ground. Looking down you see a shrimp lying on the ground. You look out across the parking lot and see puddles of shrimp collecting in the cracks in the pavement and across the roofs of the closest cars. Another warm object strikes your head. It's literally raining shrimp. You find your car and fumble, hands shaking uncontrollably, with your keys. Finally unlocking the car you slip inside and engage the door locks. The human-sized shrimp from the restaurant are now congregating outside the front doors, staring across the parking lot at you. Their pale orange-pink bodies eerily backlit from the light streaming out from the open doors behind them. You try to cram the key into the ignition, but it folds against the ignition plate and squishes in your hand. You look down. There are no car keys, only several mangled shrimp on a keyring in your trembling hand. You punch the steering wheel in frustration accidentally setting off the car alarm. The shrimps outside the restaurant hear the noise and hungrily start to advance across the parking lot towards you. You try in vain to cram the shrimp key into the ignition but you know it is pointless. The shrimp slowly approach the car and surround it, rocking it back and forth, pressing their slimy bodies against the frame. You hear the fiberglass doors groan under the pressure as one of the rear windows shatters, spraying the backseat of the car with fragments of glass. You know there is no hope left. There is no escape. White-faced and shaking, you reach across the console and open the glovebox. Crammed under the insurance papers and a pile of napkins is the Glock 19 you always bring with you when you leave the house. You pull the gun from its holster and pause for a fraction of a second that holds an eternity. With tears streaming down your face, you put the gun to the roof of your mouth. Trying not to imagine what it feels like to die, only forcing yourself to think of your wife and kids you close your eyes. Then you pull the trigger. A singular shrimp comes zooming out of the barrel into your mouth. In your darkest hour, death itself refuses to end you. For death is not the end. There can only be shrimp- and they are endless.

[@TomEyeTheSFMguy]

Goddamn, what a story.

[@Mrkti]

What was the First Act Turn again?

[@TomEyeTheSFMguy]

@@Mrkti I'm pretty sure it's when he starts running from the shrimp.

[@warlordofbritannia]

I would have preferred a “too late, you realize that you yourself are also a shrimp” ending but the ambiguous imagery of a man trying to choke himself to death via shrimp is thematically compelling...

[@lonemotheomatshaba9640]

Now I'm off shrimp for a couple days

[@Crick1952]

That Sansa rant at the end was so cathartic

[@MacabreStorytelling]

For you and me both brother

[@viviansventures]

The Fellowship of the Ring is an interesting example where the first act turn(Frodo volunteering to take the ring to Mordor) happens roughly halfway through the movie. FotR has a notoriously slow opening, but it works because the films have always been known as a trilogy telling one story over 3 films, so spending so much time in the Shire at the start of the movie really has an impact on the overall feel of the trilogy, contrasting with The Two Towers and Return of the King and their often dreadful and intense atmosphere throughout them, and how heavily the journey weighs on Frodo in contrast to his idyllic life at the start of the movie. (It could be argued that the First Act Turn is Frodo going along with Gandalf's plan to go to Bree and meet Strider, with the Nazgul working as an antagonistic force to kickstart the plot and give the story tension even though we don't know any of what the actual plot of the movies will be at this point - perhaps some of the genius of the trilogy is that it does hold off on the actual plot exposition until halfway into the first movie while still having tension through antagonistic forces that incite the First Act Turn of FotR if it's being viewed as a singular movie, the leaving of the Shire and flight from the Nazgul).

[@luizafantin109]

Aloof, passive protagonist? Well, you know, that’s just like, your opinion, man.

[@georgecampbell9190]

Ha

[@oscarloudon2415]

Criminally underrated comment

[@gfilmer7150]

My favorite first act turn, Ragnar Lodbrok finally forming a marry band of raiders and going to Northumbria England.

[@Crick1952]

They went to have a jolly good time

[@gfilmer7150]

@@Crick1952 True, who wouldn’t?

[@AJPzaworld]

Beginnings were never my strong suit, so this video will help me out a ton. It’s been absolute P A I N. Can’t wait to see the next video, Mac!

[@Nopp3]

A beginning is a very delicate time.

[@da_man_dat_does_things9157]

Back to the Future, best movie all time. Ill click on anything with my boiii Marty in it

[@elephantpowerproductions]

While watching this, an interesting question came to mind about my favorite movie. In Captain America Civil War, there are two scenes I would consider the First Act turn to be. Either everyone talking about their thoughts and future decisions regarding the Sokovia Accords, or the scene where Steve goes to Peggy’s funeral and here’s Sharon’s motivational words that inspire him to go against the Sokovia Accords, which is then only more solidified when Bucky is framed by Helmut Zemo using precise facial prosthetics for the UN Vienna Bombing. What do you guys think?

[@victorwainaina2584]

I don't have anything smart to say about structure or story-telling. I'm just happy that I found a new essayist with whom I'm impressed and both heavily agree and disagree with on a myriad of topics.

[@sblinder1978]

I guess Sansa just forgot about the Knights of the Vale

[@victorluisvillouta4649]

Loved the video! Keep up the fantastic work! 👊🏽

[@jessehenderson2967]

You keep jumping between so many of my favorite movies im getting whiplash over here.

[@va6899]

I’m so happy that I’ve seen all of the movies talked about in this vid. It was hard avoiding spoilers in the last one by just skipping around lol.

[@ivanhunter6492]

i'm learning so much from this, Macabre

[@MacabreStorytelling]

Glad to hear!

[@jrobins5622]

Everybodys gangsta til Mac posts a new video 😎

[@etprincipalis]

You talking about the Back to the Future reminded me of that John Mulaney joke on which he re-tells the plot of the movie with the appropriate questions on the logic of it lol anyways, loving this series about 3act movie structure.

[@vividflame9246]

Keep up the great videos!

[@danielrobledo9659]

Thank you for this. Mega helpful! :)

[@travonarmstrong6093]

Never really understood how Three Act Structure was supposed to be "helpful advise" until this video. You hit the nail on the head in the beginning of this series where all the different "advice" on story structure just makes writing more frustrating than it needs to be. This has been my exact problem when trying to learn how to write my stories, so good on you man for making this video series! As a side note, what are any books on story structure that you think are good? Also, R.I.P Wun-Wu :(

[@MacabreStorytelling]

The main one I’d say is Syd Field’s Screenplay as I’d say it strikes the perfect balance between freedom and specificity.

[@wiseauserious8750]

Great stuff

[@josefdoesthings]

Your content is awesome, best of luck!

[@omarmiller314]

That mini Game of Thrones rant tho lmao

[@TulsaKanette]

your videos started showing up in my recommendations last night i just started watching them they are interesting. i like lsitenign to writing videos

[@MacabreStorytelling]

❤️

[@fishman6742]

Good to see a video without dislike

[@misslarissa6046]

The "Winkelvii"! XD

[@TurtleHouse]

Nice video once again

[@chimedemon]

12:48 perfection…

[@wolfgang4532]

AWESOME

[@LivingLikeLarry12]

Damn can't watch the video yet cause i haven't seen Chinatown yet but i just found a place to stream it guess ill be back lol

[@onyourleft5648]

50k next week damn ur killin it

[@MacabreStorytelling]

TO THE MOON!!!

[@kylefarrell25]

Blew my fn eardrums out at the end. Other than that, good video.

[@mononokehte]

NOice series

[@red_Sun24]

How is morpheus infamous? Or are we just using that as a synonym for famous now

[@Brindlebrother]

This is fvcking WAAAARRRR _[voice crack]_

[@trevorcoyle517]

Rip Wun-Wun

[@xsomeNOOBx]

"Pits women against each other" - This heavily implies manipulating a person to cause them to behave in a way against another person that is against both their interests. Comparing two people's faces in no way does that. Maybe a little tasteless, they aren't forcing or causing those women to do anything. I get it puts the faces of these women in virtual competition with each other. But this inflation of language does nothing but serve to raise emotional tempers around the subject and conflates two very different outcomes and behaviors. Even if you think both are negative it is disingenuous at best as a tactic.

[@MacabreStorytelling]

What's going on big guy?

[@xsomeNOOBx]

@@MacabreStorytelling Not much, watching a video at lunch. What's up with you?

[@TomEyeTheSFMguy]

Ey!

[@janhalouzka8582]

Can you give me some good movie recommendations?

[@MacabreStorytelling]

Pretty much any movie I discuss in this series is top tier! Otherwise it depends on what you are into.

[@helenestiernstrand6575]

1 act turn aka breaking the status quo.

[@spouwnerring]

Have BTW watched the movie Hardcore Henry?

[@MacabreStorytelling]

Never got around to it but it looks like a fun time 👍

[@spouwnerring]

@@MacabreStorytelling are you going to review it when your done watching it?

[@MacabreStorytelling]

@@spouwnerring Prob not

[@spouwnerring]

@@MacabreStorytelling do you think that movie is too simplistic to to be review worthy?

[@MacabreStorytelling]

I haven't watched it so I cannot say

[@MRJDXTRA]

Was actually just researching this. Coincidence? Probs.

[@MacabreStorytelling]

Keep telling yourself that...

[@MRJDXTRA]

@@MacabreStorytelling yo i just watched your HBO Watchmen video and i have to say you have the one of the most nuanced and balanced perspective on things i have ever seen on KZbin. Like i genuinely wish to have the skill you have with topics so when i create my own stories i don't fall into unnecessary pitfalls. (You still are human though so i know you have flaws and i ain't trying to deify you)

[@MacabreStorytelling]

@@MRJDXTRA ❤ deify away homie. Keep working at it! It definitely just takes practice. At heart I am an egomaniac.

[@senpaitm8742]

Joseph Campbell

[@gober1184]

I wish you were my high school teacher

[@chrisdawson1776]

Commenting for the algorithm

[@HannaHsOverInvested]

Yes... This.

[@LividCreature]

Love the video but I’d hate myself if I became the 667th like.. 🤘🏻

[@jacom34]

8th