1) As a series of 8 3-part reels, where each reel breaks down to "beginning, middle, end." So you've got 8 small arcs, each of which leads to the next.
2) In terms of the Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" idea...google this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth.
Or watch Star Wars. Or read most "journey" fairy tales.
Here's my crib notes below:
I - DEPARTURE.
-Home culture (aka stasis)
-Call to Adventure (aka inciting incident)
-Refusal of Call
-Supernatural Aid (item or person who helps hero step into unknown)
-Crossing First Threshold
II - INITIATION
-Road of Trials (hero is tested, found vulnerable, but finds part of herself she didn't know existed...some of the traditional trials include things like "brother battle," "dragon battle," "abduction/sea journey/night journey," "belly of the whale" where faces greatest fear, "sacred marriage," "ritual death or dismemberment," )
-Meeting Soul Mate (meets an ideal, sees possibility)
-Overcoming Temptation (something, someone (emissary) tries to stop journey. Persuades, misleads, whatever)
-Viewing Whole Picture (adds a spiritual element to the journey -- our hero is willing to accept what's required)
-Treasure/Goal (hero sees how goal will be accomplished...mission is completed)
III THE RETURN
-Refusal to Return (hero would rather live in enlightenment than go where the gift may not be accepted)
-Chase (the hero flees to protect the gift or treasure)
-Rescue (the hero is unable to save himself. Has to accept help)
-Crossing Return Threshold (hero faces evil or its leader -- "home isn't a place but a state of mind")
-Master of Two Worlds (hero figures out how to live in ideal and real world, how to live with the knowledge gained in the journey)
Freedom
3) False Problem (Inciting Incident), False Solution (Act One Break), Real Problem (Midpoint), Realization/Epiphany (Act II Break), Climax, Denoument
Courtesy of Alex Smith. Says he:
Movies claim a finite chunk of time. A movie begins when it begins because that is when the protagonist encounters a key problem. This is the inciting incident, or what Campbell calls the "call to action." It launches everything.
The inciting incident is an external event that changes the character's life.
It introduces the false problem.
Why is it a false problem? Because the protagonist misidentifies the problem, or what's missing in his or her life.
The rest of the movie is about the character having a hard time getting what he or she wants. Usually this is due to some combination of the following:
1) The character doesn't know his or her "major malfunction"
2) The character doesn't know that he or she is really the problem.
3) The character doesn't know what he or she really needs.
In good stories, somebody usually has to make a 180 degree turn.
At the end of Act One, the character finds the false solution. The false solution is usually external, and takes the protagonist to a threshold or point of no return. It doesn't solve the problem, but now there's no going back ever. The character, and his or her world, is irrevocably changed.
Then the protagonist crosses the threshold, and there's a big shock -- things on the other side are not as she thought they would be...whatever the false solution was doesn't fix what was wrong. This leads to a dim recognition of the real problem...a "wow, shit, that didn't work out very well." The false solution, which has proved no good, causes a lot of new problems, and things spiral out of control with a lot of external consequences.
Then the transgression -- a bad choice. This failing leads to a serious rupture, or devastation. Probably the audience sees just how bad this is. Usually the protagonist won't -- he's too deep in it, and digging, to see the forest for the trees.
ACT TWO
In the first half of act two, the protagonist spends a lot of time running into situations naively or blindly, making stupid decisions and making things worse. At this point, the viewer is usually ahead of the protagonist. We anticipate the real solution, and are afraid the character won't see it in time. We're waiting for the moment when the character is forced to face what he's done to himself and the movie.
This leads to the inevitable breaking point, or the movie's midpoint. It's where the character gets a clue, and becomes fully aware of the real problem in himself. Realizes what it is he or she lacks, that the problem isn't with the world, it's with him. The midpoint is the "who am I?" moment -- and the moment where the protagonist catches up to the audience -- he, and we, realize he's gotta change.
But of course, the protagonist has now spent half the moving screwing up the external world, so the second half of Act Two is spent repairing the external, which won't wait. Meanwhile, the protagonist also has to redefine his search, in order to make movement toward solving the real problem. Things are going from bad to worse, even as our protagonist is trying to get a handle on the internal problem.
By now, we're in the big gloom. Everything's wrong, and we wish we were back at the start. Will the protagonist make it? But wait, is that the protagonist realizing her mistakes, and getting an f'ing clue? We're rooting for her, but our heart is breaking.
At the Act 2 to 3 break, ONLY the character can make the difference.
ACT THREE
This is where the protagonist acts out who he's become. Often, the real solution here is the false problem reversed (wanted to leave home, realizes solution is to stay home)
It's here that the character moves ahead of the movie, and ahead of US, facing his or her biggest fear and amazing us with how far he's come. He admits his own failings and actually deals with him. She makes a decision that could change or end lives. He purposely makes his own life hell in order to succeed on a higher moral leve.
In act three, our protagonist takes the actions he realized, at the end of act two, that he needed to take. He uses his newfound wisdom (from the "real solution" moment) to succeed at the moment of the story's climax. The real solution allows the protagonist to succeed in the moment of climax.
Then: celebration! The Real solution allows for redemption from the earlier transgression. The rest of the act is taking care of business, having returned to self in a new way.
4) Absence, Devastation, Return, Retribution, Wedding
5) In terms of ARISTOTLE'S POETICS.
Note: If you have "B" and "C" stories in a movie, they have to push back into the "A" story (see "A Play is Like a River" post...it works the same way).
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