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Act (theater)
An act is a major division of a theatrical work, including a play, film, opera, ballet, or musical theatre, consisting of one or more scenes. The term can either refer to a conscious division placed within a work by a playwright (usually itself made up of multiple scenes) or a unit of analysis for dividing a dramatic work into sequences. The word ''act'' can also be used for major sections of other entertainment, such as variety shows, television programs, music hall performances, cabaret, and literature. Acts and scenes An act is a part of a play defined by elements such as rising action, climax, and resolution. A scene normally represents actions happening in one place at one time and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a blackout, or a brief emptying of the stage. The elements that create the plot of a play and divide it into acts include the exposition, which sets up the rest of the story by giving basic information. Another element is the inciting incid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. It is the oldest form of drama, though live theatre has now been joined by modern recorded forms. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. Places, normally buildings, where performances regularly take place are also called "theatres" (or "theaters"), as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows tec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Climax (narrative)
The climax () or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element. Anticlimax An anticlimax is a disappointing event after events that were full of excitement. See also * Dramatic structure * Literary element * Climax as a rhetorical device References Plot (narrative) {{Lit-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelianism, Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science. Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira (ancient city), Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical Greece, Classical period. His father, Nicomachus (father of Aristotle), Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At around eighteen years old, he joined Plato's Platonic Academy, Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty seven (). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or before a commercial break in a television programme. A cliffhanger is intended to incentivize the audience to return to see how the characters resolve the dilemma. Some serials end with the caveat, "To Be Continued" or "The End?" In serial films and Television show, television series, the following episode sometimes begins with a recap sequence. Cliffhangers were used as literary devices in several works of the Middle Ages with ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ending on a cliffhanger each night. Cliffhangers appeared as an element of the Victorian era serial novel that emerged in the 1840s, with many associating the form with Charles Dickens, a pioneer of the serial publication of narrative fiction.Grossman, Jonathan H. (2012). ''Charles Dick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same fictional universe as an earlier work, usually chronologically following the events of that work. In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear repeatedly. The difference between more than one sequel and a series is somewhat arbitrary. Sequels are attractive to creators and publishers because there is less risk involved in returning to a story with known popularity rather than developing new and untested characters and settings. Audiences are sometimes eager for more stories about popular characters or settings, making the production of sequels financially appealing. In film, sequels are very common. There are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dramatic Structure
Story structure or narrative structure is the recognizable or comprehensible way in which a narrative's different elements are unified, including in a particularly chosen order and sometimes specifically referring to the ordering of the plot: the narrative series of events, though this can vary based on culture. In a play or work of theatre especially, this can be called dramatic structure, which is presented in audiovisual form. Story structure can vary by culture and by location. The following is an overview of various story structures and components that might be considered. Definition Story is a sequence of events, which can be true or fictitious, that appear in prose, verse or script, designed to amuse or inform an audience. Story structure is a way to organize the story's elements into a recognizable sequence. It has been shown to influence how the brain organizes information. Story structures can vary culture to culture and throughout history. The same named story stru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three-act Structure
The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts ( acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution. Syd Field described it in his 1979 book ''Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting''. Dramatic question As the story moves along, the plot usually progresses in such a way as to pose a ''yes'' or ''no'' question, the major dramatic question. For example, ''Will the boy get the girl? Will the hero save the day? Will the detective solve the mystery? Will the criminal be caught by law enforcement and brought to justice? Will the protagonist be murdered by the fugitive?'' This question must be answered in the climax of the story. The answer is often ''yes''; ''no''; ''maybe''; ''yes, but...''; or ''no, and what's more...'' Structure The first act is usually used for exposition, to establish the main characters, their relationships, and the world they live in. Later in the first act, a dynamic, on-sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crisis
A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when they occur abruptly, with little or no warning. More loosely, a crisis is a testing time for an emergency. Etymology The English word ''crisis'' was borrowed from the Latin, which in turn was borrowed from the Greek ''krisis'' 'discrimination, decision, crisis'.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1893''s.v.'' 'crisis'/ref> The noun is derived from the verb ''krinō'', which means 'distinguish, choose, decide'. In English, ''crisis'' was first used in a medical context, for the time in the development of a disease when a change indicates either recovery or death, that is, a turning-point. It was also used for a major change in the development of a disease. By the mid- seventeenth century, it took on the figurative meaning of a "vitally i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Major Dramatic Question
The three-act structure is a model used in narrative fiction that divides a story into three parts ( acts), often called the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution. Syd Field described it in his 1979 book ''Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting''. Dramatic question As the story moves along, the plot usually progresses in such a way as to pose a ''yes'' or ''no'' question, the major dramatic question. For example, ''Will the boy get the girl? Will the hero save the day? Will the detective solve the mystery? Will the criminal be caught by law enforcement and brought to justice? Will the protagonist be murdered by the fugitive?'' This question must be answered in the climax of the story. The answer is often ''yes''; ''no''; ''maybe''; ''yes, but...''; or ''no, and what's more...'' Structure The first act is usually used for exposition, to establish the main characters, their relationships, and the world they live in. Later in the first act, a dynamic, on-scr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inciting Incident
In a literary work, film, or other narrative, the plot is the mapping of events in which each one (except the final) affects at least one other through the principle of cause-and-effect. The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a selective collection of events from a narrative, all linked by the connector "and so". Simple plots, such as in a traditional ballad, can be linearly sequenced, but plots can form complex interwoven structures, with each part sometimes referred to as a subplot. Plot is similar in meaning to the term ''storyline''. In the narrative sense, the term highlights important points which have consequences within the story, according to American science fiction writer Ansen Dibell. The premise sets up the plot, the characters take part in events, while the setting is not only part of, but also influences, the final story. An can convolute the plot based on a misunderstanding. The term ''plot'' can also serve as a verb, as part of the craft of writing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (genre), thriller, novel, etc.). Narratives can be presented through a sequence of written or spoken words, through still or moving images, or through any combination of these. The word derives from the Latin verb ''narrare'' ("to tell"), which is derived from the adjective ''gnarus'' ("knowing or skilled"). Historically preceding the noun, the adjective "narrative" means "characterized by or relating to a story or storytelling". Narrative is expressed in all mediums of human creativity, art, and entertainment, including public speaking, speech, literature, theatre, dance, music and song, comics, journalism, animation, video (including film and television), video games, radio program, radio, game, structured and play (activity), unstructu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exposition (narrative)
Narrative exposition, now often simply exposition, is the insertion of background information within a story or narrative. This information can be about the setting, characters' backstories, prior plot events, historical context, etc. In literature, exposition appears in the form of expository writing embedded within the narrative. Infodumping An ''information dump'' (more commonly now, '' infodump'') is a large drop of information by the author to provide background they deem necessary to continue the plot. This is ill-advised in narrative and is even worse when used in dialogue. There are cases where an information dump can work, but in many instances it slows down the plot or breaks immersion for the readers. Exposition works best when the author provides only the bare minimum of surface information and allows the readers to discover as they go. Indirect exposition/incluing ''Indirect exposition'', sometimes called , is a technique of worldbuilding in which the reade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
