If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

Act 3

In Act 3, characters sacrifice wants for needs, overcoming obstacles, completing arcs, and demonstrating growth. They fight for what's important to them, ultimately expressing the movie's theme. The resolution should bring a logical, emotional, and sometimes surprising end that ties the story together.

Want to join the conversation?

  • marcimus pink style avatar for user Fish
    I know this video talks about wrapping up your story, but what if you want to make a sequel. Would you still solve all of the problems, or leave some open?
    (29 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • starky tree style avatar for user Lucía Sáez
      At the end of the film, you must wrap your story to make the audience not feel cheated. However, the world is still not perfect and the characters are still flawed. Even though they learned an important lesson, they still have more to learn. Even if you're not making a sequel, you shouldn't leave all problems solved because you would create an unbelievable and unsatisfying ending.
      (23 votes)
  • piceratops tree style avatar for user Sajee Rankiripathirana
    Does the end of Act 3 has to be satisfying? What if the story has a sad ending where the Protagonist dies?
    (10 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user supergirl78.dg
      You can do a sad story, too.
      They're just saying you want to have an ending that leaves you with a strong feeling. You don't want to have a big adventure that makes the audience expect something big to happen, and then it's just like, "Oh, the bad guy got away. Well, I guess i'll just go have lunch now."
      (16 votes)
  • leafers tree style avatar for user ayemail18
    is it good to say the theme straight out in the story at one point in time maybe in not such an obvious way
    (4 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • leafers seedling style avatar for user Flore Baten
      I think that depends on the story, on your theme and on how you want to say it. For example: in a romantic story you can have one of the characters confess their love and say something like "love is about .... ". Or in a fantasy story you can have your hero give an epic speech to his troops in which he reminds them what is really important or something. So I believe you can say the theme straight out, but you have to be carefull with it. Don't rub it in. If you write your story well enough, your readers must be able to figure out what the theme is by themselves, without you straight out saying it.
      Don't say the theme just to make sure your readers get it. But if you want to say it because you think it fits in the story, it makes the story better, then go for it!
      (5 votes)
  • male robot donald style avatar for user Bluestribe13
    In the format of Transformers at the end of the movie when they kill off all the Villains (very easily) people still fell cheated so how would this problem be solved?
    (4 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user salyerk
    i am nine i like anime i draw anime i BREATHE anime.
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • sneak peak blue style avatar for user Kaze Haibara 🔛
    spoilers for Toy Story 4 ahead don't say i didn't warn you

    i feel like the ending of Toy Story 4 was also very surprising and quite honestly very emotional. Woody's whole aim in the movie is to be there for Bonnie, but by the end of the movie he pulls a Captain America on us and leaves his friends to be with Bo Peep. i wasn't expecting that, and i almost cried with the ending when Woody and Buzz finished the movie saying "To infinity.." "..and beyond"
    i'm still crying :'}

    upvote if you cried
    (4 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user salyerk
    also i watch my hero acedemia but i dont get why peoplev ship bakugo and midoriya? very confusing.
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user Sarah Lewis
    So a story structure is basically what I've learned in school? We learned that there is the introduction, then rising action, then climax, then falling action, and finally the resolution. It does sound like it to me...
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user meyers.nikolas
    imagine the incredables get divorced
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • starky ultimate style avatar for user Xfodude
    At , does the character have to see the error in their ways? For example, in the movie WallE, did WallE do anything he realized was incorrect? Does a movie become uninteresting if the main character does not see the error?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user E7y1
      Well not WallE but the people (or robots) around him, It's a story that a humble little robot can change the world, he showed everyone that work has a reward you can't just chill on a chair with games all your life. WallE didn't see error in his ways but risked everything for others. Then again I could be wrong.
      (2 votes)

Video transcript

- By the time we hit act three, the story is now careening towards a final crisis, the inevitable climax. This is the most intense moment of the film for the protagonist, who should be in danger of losing everything they value most. Hopefully, the audience is on the edge of their seats. The choices your character has made in act one and act two were driven by their wants, but now they face their ultimate test. Are they ready to accept their needs and make choices they weren't capable of making in act one? For example, near the end of Finding Nemo, Marlin has found Nemo. This was his want and what's been driving him throughout the entire movie. But now, Dory, his companion and friend, is caught in a fishing net. This is the crisis. All Marlin wants to do is take Nemo home and keep him safe, but he knows that they have to save Dory, and that Nemo has the best chance of doing that. Marlin needs to let Nemo go and trust that he'll be okay. After the climax, the characters and the world return to a calmer place, perhaps a more complete or better version of themselves. We call this the resolution. In Finding Nemo, this comes after Nemo frees Dory from the net. We return to the reef to see a new version of Marlin, trusting and confident, letting Nemo swim off to school and checking in with his new shark friends. Let's get some thoughts on act three from our Pixar friends. - In act three, the character sacrifices their wants for their needs. They've seen the error of their ways and now it's just about demonstrating the change. - And you should have put your character through a lot of tests, and you should be able to show that your character has learned something, learned something that exhibits your theme, I mean the reason you decided to make this story in the first place. - Where theme and moral comes into this in act three is in the course of act two, your character has learned what's most important. In the course of act three, they're fighting for that important thing, and that usually is the theme of your movie that they're fighting for. So in Incredibles, in act three he's fighting for his family to be able to stay together to survive and to be able to become this super family. - It's important in a three act film to understand that you don't really know how well your first and second act are working until you see everything together. The last thing you want an audience to feel is that they've been cheated after going through two acts of a movie. - My personal feeling is that it should just really feel satisfying on many levels. You should feel like, oh, they fixed the big problem with the world. Oh, they've fixed the personal problem with themselves. Oh, they've vanquished the bad guys, things like that. And just sets the world right, and so you can walk out of the theater feeling, oh, that was wonderful and I learned something. - You can have a well-structured story and have a very logical conclusion at the end of act three, that you have overcome the obstacle, you foiled the villain, everything adds up. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a satisfying resolution. To have it be a satisfying resolution, it needs to be emotional. It is the end of your character's emotional arc. So in Up, the resolution is when Carl not only chooses that he'll still be friends with this boy, Russell, but he shows up for Russell's scout ceremony, and he's the one to pin the badge on Russell's sash. And that symbolizes, I will remain present in this boy's life. This kid is now family to me. - In act three, a film should be resolved. Sometimes that resolution comes with a surprise and the audience did not expect that ending at all, but it can be satisfying. - I love the resolution of Toy Story 3 because there's a surprise, there's an unexpected ending. Throughout the whole movie, Woody has felt like there's an either/or situation. Either I stay true to my kid, Andy, and go with him to college and sit on a shelf and lose my best friends, the other toys, or I betray Andy and I disappear with the other toys. And he finds the solution right at the end. When he comes up with the idea of having Andy donate all the toys together to Bonnie, and the surprise is that Woody put himself in the box. He has found the third way. He's found a way to be with his friends, and still let Andy be the one to make the choice to pass him on. That was such a surprising organic and really emotional resolution. - In summary, the third act is where we pull everything together. The characters have overcome their obstacles. Their arcs are now complete. The theme has been clearly expressed, and we've brought the story to a logical and emotional, sometimes unexpected conclusion. In this next exercise, you'll have a chance to identify the critical components of act three in your favorite films as well as develop a third act for your story.