The Art of Storytelling

An introduction to narrative structures from Aristotle to Hollywood.

•The three act structure. (Aristotle)

•The five act structure. (Gustav Freytag)

•The eight sequence structure. (Frank Daniels)

•Creative Task.

Aristotle (384-322 BCE), Greek philosopher.

The Three-Act Structure

The first act contains the exposition, introduces the characters and setting, and ends with an inciting incident.

The second act is called confrontation, it complicates the problem created by the inciting incident, frustrating the protagonist’s efforts.

The third act contains the denouement, the final resolution or clarification of the dramatic or narrative plot.

Gustav Freytag (1816 – 1895) was a German dramatist.

The Five-Act Structure

1st ActExposition

2nd ActConfrontation

3rd ActResolution

Seq.2Seq.1 Seq.3 Seq.4 Seq.5 Seq.6 Seq.7 Seq.8

Status Quo

Conflict starts

Inciting

Incident

Main TensionRising Action

1st clima

x

2nd clima

x

Conflict resolve

d

The 8-Sequence Structure

The Sack

Elli came upon a frowning woman walking along the road to town. "What's wrong?" she asked.

The woman held up a tattered bag and moaned, "All that I own in this wide world barely fills this miserable, wretched sack."

"Too bad," said Elli, and with that, she snatched the bag from the woman's hands and ran down the road with it.

Having lost everything, the woman burst into tears and, more miserable than before, continued walking. Meanwhile, Elli quickly ran around the bend and placed the woman's sack in the middle of the road where she would have to come upon it.

When the woman saw her bag sitting in the road before her, she laughed with joy, and shouted, "My sack! I thought I'd lost you!"

Watching through the bushes, Elli chuckled. "Well, that's one way to make someone happy!"

Elli came upon a frowning woman walking along the road to town. "What's wrong?" she asked.

The woman held up a tattered bag and moaned, "All that I own in this wide world barely fills this miserable, wretched sack."

"Too bad," said Elli, and with that, she snatched the bag from the woman's hands and ran down the road with it.

Having lost everything, the woman burst into tears and, more miserable than before, continued walking. Meanwhile, Elli quickly ran around the bend and placed the woman's sack in the middle of the road where she would have to come upon it.

When the woman saw her bag sitting in the road before her, she laughed with joy, and shouted, "My sack! I thought I'd lost you!"

Watching through the bushes, Elli chuckled. "Well, that's one way to make someone happy!"

Task:

Reveal this story’s dramatic structure.

Elli came upon a frowning woman walking along the road to town. "What's wrong?" she asked.

The woman held up a tattered bag and moaned, "All that I own in this wide world barely fills this miserable, wretched sack."

"Too bad," said Elli, and with that, she snatched the bag from the woman's hands and ran down the road with it.

Having lost everything, the woman burst into tears and, more miserable than before, continued walking. Meanwhile, Elli quickly ran around the bend and placed the woman's sack in the middle of the road where she would have to come upon it.

When the woman saw her bag sitting in the road before her, she laughed with joy, and shouted, "My sack! I thought I'd lost you!"

Watching through the bushes, Elli chuckled. "Well, that's one way to make someone happy!"

ExpositionExposition

Inciting Inciting IncidentIncident

ResolutionResolution

2nd Climax2nd Climax

1st Climax1st Climax

Rising ActionRising Action

Task:

1. Form groups of 3 (Elli, woman and one choreographer/director.

2. Stage the story “The Sack” as a short and non-verbal dance piece.