The Twilight Saga: New Moon as a Three Act Structure Film

In current Hollywood the structure of film is based on a three act structure as opposed to Classical tragedy like Shakespeare's five act plays. A three act structure consists of a beginning, middle, and ending act, each consisting of mini-climaxes called plot points at the end of each act all of which lead up to the final climax that falls into the resolution and ending of the film. This structure keeps audiences on the edge of their seats as they experience such a rollercoaster of action and drama which propel into the next act and ask a question that is to be answered later by the following act.

In the second chapter of the Twilight Saga, New Moon, The Story matches a nearly perfect model of the three act structure. The first act of the film comes to a close just about thirty minutes in when Edward ends his relationship with Bella. This serves as the initial problem in the movie that will continue to go unresolved until the end but will serve as a cause of the next two plot points and as a catalyst for the story as a whole.

The second act begins as Bella suffers through months of depression and seclusion desperately waiting for Edward to appear back in her life. In an attempt to see him, she pursues dangerous acts in which she has visions of him warning her to stop being reckless. This obsession leads her to Jacob, the friend who will fall in love with her as she uses him to help her feel better. Jacob plays a major role in the second act serving as both as an aid to the audience's curiosity about who Bella will end up with and as balance to Bella's life in a different way than Edward. This act actually has two mini climaxes that play off of eachother to shift the story into the last act. The first occurs when Jacob reveals to Bella that he is a werewolf and she suddenly loses a friend. As a result Bella "recreationally" jumps from a seaside cliff in a desperate attempt to see Edward which brings psychic Alice to her doorstep.

With Alice's return Bella learns of Edward's plan to expose himself in order to be sentenced to death by the Volturi and takes off to Italy with her to stop him. The last thirty five minutes of the film is a dramatic and anxious period of will she/won't she save him from his mistake. After about fifteen minutes of racing around the world we see Bella save Edward which catapults the story into the final twenty minutes up until the end where their relationship is reconciled.