The Beats of Act Two

What is Act Two

Act two is the biggest piece of the movie and is divided into six beats. The point of act two is to drive the plot further and start to show the changes in the character, that was mentioned in act one. This point of the act is to expand on the conflict, and to allow the characters small challenges, that start to help them grow. This is also used to show how the plot might get wrapped up in act three. The beats of act two are the b-story, fun and games, midpoint, bad guys close in, all is lost, and dark night of the soul.

The B-Story

Coming out of act one, this is the first beat in act two. The idea is to introduce a secondary smaller story, that is going to help propel the story. In many movies this is introducing the romance to the story, and how does this romance effect the story. The Super Marios Bros Movie's B-story is the introduction of Mario and Peach. In this scene Mario realizes that he like Peach. This leads to later having an impact on what Mario does in the story. The B-story's goal is to define the protagonists' struggles, or relationships.

The Fun and Games Beat

This beat is exactly how it sounds. It is fun and lighthearted part of the film before the movie starts to get intense. In Ant-Man, this is where Scott starts to learn about his suit and start figuring out what he can do. This is often the fun and games section of most hero films. This section is usually where the movie gets all the parts for the trailers, and movie posters. This is where the audience ultimately decide if they enjoy the film or not, and most people's favorite scenes from movies come from this part.

Midpoint

This is where the film makes a dramatic shift. The training is over, and things begin to get serious. In The Lego Movie, this is when President Business crashes the meeting of the master builders and captures many of them. The stakes in the film are now raised, and the characters have to hurry in order to save the day. This beat begins to add tension in the film, and the stakes get raised higher.

Bad Guys Close In

This beat is inching towards the climax and the stakes are being raised. The antagonist begins to gain on the main characters, and the odds seem against the protagonist. In Beauty and the Beast, this moment is when the town is literally closing in on the Beast's castle. Belle cannot get to him and the staff is trying to figure out how they can make it out of this. This beat begins to cause the protagonist to lose all hope which leads them to the all is lost beat.

The All is Lost and Dark Night of the Soul Beats

These are two separate beats, but they relate so closely together that we are going to look at them together. The All is lost beat is where the character feels no hope anymore. The antagonist has all but won, and there seems to be nothing left for the character to do. The dark night of the soul is what the character does from this feeling of hope and despair. Do they decide to rise to the challenge and continue, or cave in. In Spiderman: Homecoming, this scene is when Peter Parker is buried underneath the rubble because of Liz's dad. He feels completely hopeless. The dark night of the soul is when is starts to think about himself, and change happens.

The Importance of Act Two

Act two is the majority of the film and is importance because this is where you show the audience how the character begins to change, and how they begin to figure out how to stop the villain. Without this section of the movie there is no movie to watch, because this is where most of the magic and storytelling happens.