Adaptation Film (2002)

The three-act structure in films helps in establishing a strong foundation ensuring that all dimensions are fully explored as act one acts as inspiration, act two as a craft while the third act as philosophy. In act three, the characters have to confront their feelings, desire, and goals ensuring they fully connect with the audience to ensure that emotional beats hit home. Adaptation is a film modified from The Orchid Thief by Susan Orleans whereby Kaufman is hired to write a screenplay. Despite Charlie feeling that the book does not have a useful narrative that can be turned into a film, he insists on ensuring a faithful adaptation of the article making the writer one of the characters (Simerka, & Weimer, 2005). To deliver something great, screenwriter gurus ensure to make Act Three, the most interesting part as this determines how well the film satisfies the audience.

In some instances, the film has to end as the payoff of a twist or great emotional release and that is why on Adaptation, despite Donald and Charlie escaping and resolving the differences, they end up having an accident where Donald dies moments later (Simerka, & Weimer, 2005). Additionally, an alligator kills Laroche before he could shoot Charlie, giving the main character a second chance whereby he ends up reconciling with his mother and later Amelia. I believe that the third act of the film was worth it since despite keeping the story moving and ensuring strong scene descriptions which keep the audience’s mind wandering, it was necessary to give a happy ending despite the occurrences. Even though the screenwriter has to be realistic a happy ending plays a significant role in instilling hope in the audience by making them believe that obstacles can be overcome (Cutting, Brunick,& DeLong, 2011). Notably, since in Adaptation the conclusion was satisfying, he can wrap up in a logical manner that completes the protagonist’s arc that is entertaining.

Reference

Simerka, B., & Weimer, C. B. (2005). Duplicitous Diegesis:” Don Quijote” and Charlie Kaufman’s” Adaptation”. Hispania, 91-100.

Cutting, J. E., Brunick, K. L., & DeLong, J. E. (2011). How act structure sculpts shot lengths and shot transitions in Hollywood film. Projections, 5(1), 1-16.