ABSTRACT
Whatever threat one chooses to write about (personal, societal or cosmic), Act One is always moving toward the revelation of that threat, which often begins as a secret, something disguised or hidden away. Given that basic template, there are numerous ways of proceeding. The threat can be revealed to the audience, but not to the protagonist(s) – often the case in ‘slasher’ films, where the killer is picking off victims with no one aware of what is going on. Conversely, the protagonists can consciously follow clues that lead them into danger (as in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956). Another alternative: the protagonists and the audience are unaware or uncertain of the danger that’s approaching, until it closes in. This kind of reveal is sometimes called a ‘slow burn’ – and is seen to chilling effect in The House of the Devil (2009). A variant of the slow burn gives us an unexpected and sudden jolt – followed by a return to seeming normality, as tension builds (one example being Takashi Miike’s Audition, 1999). In Act One, something happens – that ‘something’ being the problem (often not recognized as such, at first) that will have to be confronted and solved, in Acts Two and Three.
