"Midpoint" of a story ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
What do you all structure in as a story midpoint, assuming a story with a happy resolved ending? The midpoint is of course the point of no return, easier for the hero to go forward than back to their ordinary life. But do you structure the midpoint as a low point, a setback, or as a false high point (progress) to mirror the 'dark night of the soul' (setback) turning point to come when Act II transitions into Act III?

In Black Snyder's method, he talks about the MIDPOINT being a false high point to mirror the Setback (Dark Night of the Soul, All is Lost). But for example as I watched Die Hard 2 the other night, the midpoint and the setback turning points were all negative, not mirror opposites as Snyder might have led me to believe.

I am structuring a supernatural mystery thriller, wondering if my midpoint should be a point of not return on an uptick or a downtick, or does it matter, as long as it is something to propels the protagonist to decide to go forward rather than backward? Thank you in advance for all comments, replies, feedback, suggestions, thoughts.
:)randall
 
A lot of times for me the midpoint is when the protagonist clashes directly with the antagonist for the first time. Sort of the moment where the hero comes face to face with his enemy and realizes what he's up against. How that gets resolved should be up to the needs of the individual story. One of the reasons I responded negatively to Snyder's book is that he goes beyond providing a framework and telling you HOW to shape your story, and tells you WHAT should be in your story.
 
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I like that notion of protag clashing with antag for first time.

Another midpoint definition that strikes me is something I like from software called Contour (Mariner Software) that shapes the first half of the story with Hero as Wanderer (reactive), then the second half of the story with Hero as Warrior (proactive).
 
Also, that clash doesn't need to be with a literal antagonist. It can be with whatever force -- physical, emotional, environmental -- that is antagonizing the protagonist.
 
In the screenplay I'm working on finishing to shoot this summer, the midpoint is a literal point of no return where the protagonist realizes that he cannot walk away from what he's doing because he's created something that can't just be "undone." It's bigger than him now, so he lacks the power to pull the plug. Something like Simone, that's a great example of a film I love that I modeled parts of this after.

It's not a high point, however, it's actually a very unease point. He wants to quit. He has to have a friend basically lay the cards on the table for him and make him realize -- sorry, too late! Then he uneasily rolls with it and figures, ok, well I'm stuck doing this. He is not very happy about it honestly. The high point comes a bit later, when he has settled in more, convinced himself that what he's doing is fine, and has become complacent about his lie (now he believes he won't be caught in it, he's too comfortable), and he's reaping the benefits. That's his artificial high point, not the midpoint of the story.

I don't think it makes much sense for the point of no return to be also an artificial high point. That doesn't really work with most stories, it's illogical. The point of no return is not really a good thing usually, lol.
 
From Kate Wright's material:

Structure

Structure is form. Screenplay structure is invisible form. Syd Field, who is internationally recognized for his landmark book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, defines screenplay form in three-act structure better than anyone else, which is why his work is widely respected among professionals:


The Set-up establishes the main character and dramatic situation.



The Act I Plot Point features the main character’s primary story decision, in opposition to the antagonist.



The Mid-Point is the moment when the main character is forced into the antagonist’s world, thereby redefining the story premise, this time by the antagonist.



The Act II Plot Point is the lowest point in the story where the main character has been defeated by the antagonist and lost his motivation.



The Ending is the last ten pages, wherein the main character realizes a deeper understanding of his struggle, and summons up the courage to defeat the antagonist.
 
There has to be a low point, that point of no return. No more reluctance, the main character must move forward.
 
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From Kate Wright's material:

Structure

Structure is form. Screenplay structure is invisible form. Syd Field, who is internationally recognized for his landmark book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, defines screenplay form in three-act structure better than anyone else, which is why his work is widely respected among professionals:


The Mid-Point is the moment when the main character is forced into the antagonist’s world, thereby redefining the story premise, this time by the antagonist.
Click to expand...

With such a definition, it is not really a 'mid' point, in the sense of the 'middle of the film', since for most films by the time 'act I' transitions to 'act II', the protagonist's world is irrevokably tipped, whether the protagonist knows it or not.

If 'mid point' means 'somewhere between film beginning and film end'... sure... but that's not particularlly useful for talking about 'structure'.

Personally I don't know if the 'act' structure fits film at all... The 'act' structure is derived from theater, where inbetween acts, the stage would be redressed. These were specific, well defined, points in the play text.

With film the concept of 'act' is pretty fuzzy by anyone's standards, and as such, may be useless baggage. Even the use of 'scene' which had a stage play antecedent, is some times problematic, especially with intercutting.
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
I am structuring a supernatural mystery thriller, wondering if my midpoint should be a point of not return on an uptick or a downtick, or does it matter, as long as it is something to propels the protagonist to decide to go forward rather than backward? Thank you in advance for all comments, replies, feedback, suggestions, thoughts.
:)randall
Click to expand...

In sort of an odd coincidence, in a post by Craig Mazin on his forum, he uses "Shrek", as mentioned by Russio/Elliott in one of their 'www.wordplayer.com' articles, as an example.

Shrek initially is an individual who does not want company, appears to be 'happy' with his lonely life, and resents the encrouchement caused by external forces. His 'only' reason for taking up the cause of getting the Princess, is to return to that state.

If the theme of 'Shrek' is "Life is better with someone one loves, than alone", then there is a constant vacilation between this theme, and Shrek's original 'happy alone' state.

In fact, as I recall, at the end of the movie returns to his alone state... only to find out that it is not what it use to be, now that he's 'found' Fiona...

That revelation comes 'incredibly' late to Shrek, relative to Acts I, II, and III (ok maybe at that point is the 'official' transition to III...)

So, if the 'hero' going 'forward' is some sort of structure point... and the theme of "Shrek" is 'Life with love is worth the chance of pain', then Shrek only makes that decision irrevokeably 5-10 minutes before the end of the film.
 
The mid point of a screenplay is usually a big twist that shifts the plot goal in the middle of Act 2 to keep the story from dragging on one plot goal. In Hero Journey plot points, the middle is where the hero hits bottom and gives up during a death type moment. The hero may have a revelation after death moment leading to big character arc changes and goal shifts or new solutions. The reluctant hero moment where they are not sure about doing the plot goal usually happens in Act 1 before leaving what is familiar or home.

A recent great mid point twist is in the movie Moon now out on DVD. (Spoiler alert) During the first half of the film the main character is getting ready to go home after several years mining on the moon alone. The big midpoint twist is when he discovers that he is a clone and gets replaced every time he wears out or gets hurt. The second half of the film is him figuring out what to do about his other clones and situation.

In Avatar the first half of the movie shows the main character working for the military to get the natives to move from the tree they want to dig under. The big mid point twist is when the lead guy decides he would rather go native and changes his plot goal to helping them. Often times character arcs hit the top of their big change at the mid point where the character changes 180 degrees from military man to tree hugger in this case, or in Moon from miner to clone.

In Star Wars Luke starts out with a plot goal to deliver the droid R2D2 to the rebel base planet with the secret plans. The mid point twist is when they decide they have to also help destroy the Deathstar themselves. Plot goals shift into a new action track.

Not all stories have a great mid point plot twist, but they should shift the focus of the plot and goals to keep the story moving in a fresh direction. Act 2 starts to drag with just one plot goal the whole time. Modern movie stories have lots more twists then older ones too so these are getting harder to see sometimes.
 
I like Batutta's comment. But, a midpoint changes in significance from story to story. One example of a midpoint that helped me was Breach. In that story, the midpoint is where the protagonist realizes the full scope of the problem. The person he's investigating isn't just involved in petty crimes and obsessions, he's a spy for the Soviets, has helped kill numerous Americans, and is extremely dangerous.

I think twists tend to lend themselves well to midpoints. At least when they're not beefing up an Act II climax!
 
I was thinking about this, and looked to see if the film GLORY had a significant change at the midpoint.

For the first half, the black regiment is told that they won't see any combat, and that it is a symbolic unit.

Near the midpoint, they get their first orders to move off base and join the war effort. That's a pretty significant change, and it was inevitable, of course. Any thoughts?
 
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