The Third Act Twist | The Craft Of...

[@dantheman627]

Finally it's over, now I can rest on grateful internet, with everyone now being able to know how to make good stories.

[@Danny81887]

You DO know he has one more episode in the series, right?

[@dantheman627]

Ohh it's not over, fine I'll wait for peace to come to the internet

[@okdthefmv]

I too have learned much about storytelling from this channel. The James Bond videos were great in pointing out the strength and flaws of the series

[@eZU4nQsWN9pAGsU38aHj]

I think you should go forth and with a movie NOW and totally bonk the ending because that video ain’t out yet 😁

[@andrewgetto4110]

Hey man, I’m the lead narrative designer at a Russian game development studio, and I’ve made it obligatory for my writers to follow your structure and watch your videos. Sick of the 300-page-long 28-steps-save-the-rat bullshit, so cheers and keep up the good work!

[@MacabreStorytelling]

💓

[@Necroxion]

Man, I remember when our literature professor had us read "Save the Cat" as homework ...we were pre-med students, so obviously none of us read it Prof: okay did anyone read it? Class: Prof: no? Good. It's bullshit.

[@mdd4296]

Every structure are tools, the 3 act is just too popular for its own good, it turns into a cult. Add in business executive's endless appetite for profit and cutting corner, and we arrive at this point.

[@ajiththomas2465]

Hey Andrew, I also recommend Dan Harmon's Story Circle structure idea, as I think it distills practically all story structure down to its bare essentials and it's more simplified and universal than the Hero's Journey, which tends to be unwieldy and awkward to use when trying to analyze works of fiction that don't inherently have adventure in them. Plus, the Story Circle is pretty damn versatile, where you can use it for everything from writing a scene to writing the whole story using the Story Circle. It's not so much as a superior story structure scheme so much as a supplementary structural paradigm to help with writing each scene in each Act in a Three Act Structure. Just a thought.

[@joeprado3614]

This series has been my most anticipated YT content since it started. Whenever I watch, I get ideas for plot-points and events in my own stories that really help to flesh them out and bring them to life. The only other thing that has been able to consistently inspire me this much was a John Truby‘s The Anatomy of Story. I’m very grateful Mac, looking forward to the conclusion. In the meantime I’m going to go rewatch the series from the beginning.

[@LeonWick526]

Unforgiven is one of my favorite examples of the 3rd act twist. Partly because it leads to one of the best showdowns in a western film.

[@MrJoakyfran]

I saw Encanto a few days ago and this video perfectly explains my biggest problem with the movie. The main conflict gets resolved with a change of heart from the abuela that comes out of nowhere and could easily have been explained if she just met with Bruno before finding Maribel and thus realizing the error of her ways.

[@eugeneimbangyorteza]

EXACTLY I KNOW RIGHT

[@ladyheavdev]

That's what I said!!!! Alma had a mood whiplash out of nowhere for plot convenience lol.

[@ajiththomas2465]

Eh, not really. The thing is that Mirabel was uniquely suited to be the one to change the Abuela's mind and heart. One, even if Abuela had met with Bruno, without that change of mind, the decade of emotional baggage, neglect, and awkwardness would've made reconciliation unlikely and untenable. Mirabel is at least one degree separated from that decade-long emotional baggage, so the chances of being able to change the heart of Abuela are bigger with her than with meeting Bruno alone. That's not even taking into account that Bruno would almost never have left his Room Between The Walls without Mirabel's persistence and words to help him get over his crippling self-doubt and develop the courage to step outside of the prison he made for himself. Two, Mirabel was never given a Gift, just like Abuela. They are the only 2 Madrigals born without a Gift and who we know have felt envious of the Gifted Madrigals as well. So there's a connection between Abuela and Mirabel that wouldn't be there if it was a conversation between Abuela and any other Madrigal in that situation. The fact that Abuela can see a lot of herself in Mirabel plays a large part as to why she gets a change of heart from Mirabel's words and convictions. Three, Mirabel has consistently been shown to being a proactive stubborn go-getter and a very empathetic person. Her Stubbornness and Empathy are her two most defining traits. There's a reason why all the other Madrigals open up to her about their repressed emotional issues and why one of Mirabel's establishing characterization moments is her empathetically communicating with 5 year old cousin Antonio Madrigal under the bed, giving him some emotional support and a pep talk to ease his fears of possibly not manifesting a Gift during his upcoming Gifting Ceremony and reassuring him that everything will be alright. Her Empathy is Mirabel's greatest power. And her Stubbornness is pretty well established throughout the film as well. She's pretty much the only Madrigal who's head-strong enough to actually challenge Abuela whereas pretty much every other Madrigal family member, both born and married into, tend to generally defer to Abuela. Stubbornness and Empathy are 2 big traits that Mirabel shares with Abuela and a large part of Abuela's development is about relaxing her rigid Stubbornness and relearning her Empathy for her family. Seeing a mirror to herself in Mirabel, grieving at the River, is what ultimately brings about the realization of the error of her ways and her change of heart. So no, in Encanto, the Abuela's change of heart doesn't come out of nowhere and it couldn't have easily been explained if she had just met with Bruno before finding Maribel and thus realizing the error of her ways. Mirabel is uniquely suited and established as being the only one who could change Abuela Alma's mind because of their large amount of similarities to each other and it's her persistence and presence that drives forward Bruno's development and Abuela's development and serves as the sword that cuts through the Gordian knot of their emotional baggage, leading to Abuela and her son Bruno reconciling. Abuela realizing the error of her ways and having her change of heart and subsequent reconciliation with Bruno only comes about because of her finding Mirabel and having her developmental change finalized and completed. *Fin.*

[@ladyheavdev]

@@ajiththomas2465 That doesn't really prove it didn't come out of nowhere, but I respect your opinion regardless.

[@diddo9338]

i call this moment "the death of the ego or all is lost" but there is another "twist" not mentioned here, which blake synder calls "the high tower surprise" that I think is more akin to m. night's work and those kind of twists at the very end of movies

[@thankyoujodi]

Keep it up macabro! Excited for the finale!!

[@reubenthompson2854]

Even though I've only been a Macabro for a few weeks I've loved your videos on mental health and masculinity and watched then multiple times keep it up

[@MacabreStorytelling]

❤

[@elephantpowerproductions]

So…The Craft of…returns…MACABROS STAND UP!

[@alexanderjay4892]

I think a video talking about video game writing in general could be interesting

[@nikagogibedashvili6476]

Check Lessons from the screenplay video about The Last of Us

[@ajiththomas2465]

Writing on Games, People Make Games, and Jacob Geller are 3 absolutely stellar resources about video game writing. And while they can be hit-or-miss sometimes, Extra Credits has a veritable catalogue of great vide game writing videos as well.

[@wheniwasaweelad902]

Love this series. It has inspired me to start writing again. You are the Man, the legend and the Hero.

[@asifnewazmohammad9603]

Probably the best series on KZbin about storytelling.

[@nicolemalone9256]

I'm honestly scared to watch your departed video. I still love it despite it's flaws and I'm terrified that there is some glaringly obvious factor, staring me in the face, that ill never be able to come back from

[@nikagogibedashvili6476]

Been here since your original video on The Departed (second one on the channel). While I still do enjoy the movie, must admit almost all of your points stand tall.

[@ZendikarMage42750]

So glad this series is back! Can't wait for the next one

[@osmanyousif7849]

2:16 Yeah, I know I mentioned this before with your last “The Craft Of….” video, but I think think we can agree that Infernal Affairs did everything way better than The Departed did, for it’s third act twist. Rewatching your video on your review of those movies as well as this video, is probably why I wish The Departed’s actual third act twist was either as you mentioned: 1. Billy keeps his cool when he sees the envelope and once he gets his money and his identity back he tells anyone that knows he’s a cop what he knows about Colin from the envelope he found, without tipping Colin off. 2. Remove the whole “envelope plot-line”(since as you mentioned how it was super pointless) and have Billy meet with the “so-called lawyer” with the “so-called tapes” that Frank had left under his will for Billy. Billy listens to one of them and putting together how similar Colin’s voice sounds exactly like who he was back on his phone call and meeting with him in the police department, he figures out that Colin’s the mole.

[@arthurmorgan98]

Could you do a video about shutter island? Thanks for the video

[@timnimets1021]

Great essay! As always, enjoyed watching. Please, make a video about why you hate "The Departed". I watched the movie when in my teenage years, and it made such an impact on my immature brain that it was movie number 1 for me. Would be very interesting to hear the other opinion about it

[@osmanyousif7849]

There already is a video on why he hates The Departed. Just check out Macabre’s channel and go to all his oldest videos where he explains why.

[@timnimets1021]

@@osmanyousif7849 thanks man! I must've missed it

[@admtpasi]

Anybody got a link for the Departed video? I can't find it

[@musicandmagic909]

Thank you very much for this series

[@guilherme8829]

Great video. To me it seems like the "Dark Night of the Soul" beat from Save the Cat, where the protagonist has the epiphany.

[@flushfries5633]

Another good one is in Taxi Driver where Travis bails on killing the senator and instead goes and kills the pimps

[@artenkey7645]

Just a commentary for youtube algorithms, keep up the good work and stuff

[@MacabreStorytelling]

💓

[@popeyesailorman3544]

Did you do a video on why you dislike the departed? It seems to be a universally loved movie and I would be interested on why you dislike it! Thanks great video again

[@MacabreStorytelling]

I did, but I am actually going to do "redux" version of said video as looking back I am not very happy with my original review.

[@popeyesailorman3544]

@@MacabreStorytelling my bad I should have looked back in the channel before asking! Either way I am excited for the new review

[@BirdsElopeWithTheSun09]

Great video as always, love this series.

[@josiahbarefoot7564]

Fav ficton youtuber since mrbtongue disappeared. Keep it up man

[@eZU4nQsWN9pAGsU38aHj]

Always looking forward to videos from absolute gigachad Macabre! I’ll join your Patreon once I’ve come up with a clever username you have to read out loud in one of your videos 😄

[@corro202]

Awesome video.

[@ladystoneheart8155]

Great shit, as always

[@TomEyeTheSFMguy]

Have you ever looked at a coen brothers movie? I feel like you should do a video on true grit (2010).

[@MistyTheFangirlyLady]

I'm seeing quite a bit of Vince Vaughn in this series. Not complaining though. This series is great! Can't wait for the video on the Climax!

[@GordonFreemanlvr]

Love your work as always great video.

[@rid71k]

Yessssss. Thank you man.

[@orionh5535]

Oh my gawd, im a tomato!

[@warlordofbritannia]

Say what you will about Departed’s 3rd Act Twist seeming tacked on, it’s what comes after that makes even less sense and seems to break the entire movie up to that point…it’s like when a movie has to stretch another 20 min to make actual feature length, but the Departed was already more than two hours at that point! Imagine if the last shot was actually Cop Leo seeing and picking up the envelope and realizing Cop Matt Damon was the rat along-that would be both more grounded in the reality of the previous two hours, purposefully and directly ambiguous (as opposed to the actual last three or four scenes) and not dissimilar to other famous mob media, like The Godfather and the Sopranos Anyways, I remember this weird sort of urban legend/conspiracy theory that The Departed was supposed to be an underhand way for the FBI or reveal how Whitey Bulger died; remember, in 2006 people thought the long since disappeared Bulger had “departed” from this mortal coil, it was only a few years later they found him out in Santa Monica…‘‘twas a bit silly of course, and I don’t think anyone took it much more seriously than stories about Great Uncle Teddy being involved in JFK’s assassination or whatever…

[@warlordofbritannia]

Maybe the real Third Act Twist was seeing this video in my sub box?

[@sweetneko1257]

Your irrational hatred towards one of my favourite Scorsese movies will always amuse me

[@LibertyRapsher]

Good analysis... Minor nit pick if you could call it that but using an over top comedy example to draw a correlation to twist in other examples that have a degree of grounding in character realism, while it makes the point, it's not an ideal example. Comedies certainly have there challenges in other ways, but a comedy doesn't have to earn a twist, they could pull a rabbit out their ass on a dime.

[@mattbessette7432]

Snyder calls this moment “Break Into Three,” and he calls THIS the moment when act 3 starts. But it looks like you’re saying act 3 starts with the low point. Which is it? Am I just splitting hairs here?

[@hillsman9199]

Unforgiven is the best Clint Eastwood movie, change my mind.

[@MacabreStorytelling]

Don’t have to because you are correct

[@Disdain7133]

Macabros?

[@celebalert5616]

The Departed rules though

[@MacabreStorytelling]

no

[@celebalert5616]

@@MacabreStorytelling yes it does actually

[@MacabreStorytelling]

@@celebalert5616 naw

[@celebalert5616]

@@MacabreStorytelling well I'm gonna watch it one day because it looks badass and if it really is bad I guess you called it 🤷‍♂️

[@spouwnerring]

So what do we call a twist that happens at the end of the movie instead of being revealed at the end of the 2nd act?

[@MacabreStorytelling]

Just a twist ending

[@spouwnerring]

@@MacabreStorytelling will you be making a video on that subject as well? If you already did could plz post the link of the video?

[@mgs2014]

Where is the climax video bro??

[@vitorafmonteiro]

...that's what she said?

[@JunebugPresents]

If you’re going to express your hatred for something, you should at least express your reasons for hating as well.

[@MacabreStorytelling]

@@JunebugPresents got a whole other video on it brah

[@Imbalanxd]

third act redirect

[@toiletsponge]

How dare you hate The Departed

[@michaelhegwood9977]

I hope this video is actually about how he stole this video or something, that would be a third act twist.

[@ErinJeanette]

Did you really say you hate the departed? Blocked and reported

[@rheno03]

What a pity excuse to say "i f... hated The departed but i already made the thumbnail". I LMAO 🤣🤣🤣.. Why did start with that if you hated that movie sooi much... Or maybe🙄🙄 just try to be honest here and say it's a f.... famous movie, i still dont like it, but these ohter movies most of the people don't know about... You lost me there, mate.

[@MacabreStorytelling]

You okay homie?