3 Act Story Telling - Slumdog Millionare

[Michael lee]

The Hook
The story starts out immediately with a question; did the protagonist win because of cheating, destiny, honest, or all of the above? Then there is a dull, suspicious scene where a person gets slapped, but the screen suddenly turns into a jeopardy show where everyone is cheering – why did the person get tortured while he is standing in the center of the show smiling?

The Complication
With the torture scene continued, the protagonist is asked of why he, a slumdog, is winning over 10 million rupees while famous professors and people never went past 600 thousand rupees. It was very confusing of when they suddenly talked about such a big number of money and why the protagonist is tortured by the police for it.

The Call To Action
Suddenly a flashback with lots of kids playing on an airport ground, with other people calling the protagonists’ name. They are being chased by gaurds but are having fun. This is the beginning of the focus, where the movie talks about the protagonist’s past life and explain about the cheating of the game show.

End of Act One Plot Point
The protagonist is sitting in the police department to answer the officer’s question, which is the present time for the protagonist.

MidPoint
The Protagonist is winning more and more money on the game show – and his flashbacks become more and more violent and intense.

Act Two, Part Two
The Protagonist is being caught after the rest of the game show, being suspected of cheating. He is being tortured and asked, while he himself has lost almost everything – his loved one, his brother, and his mother.

Hero’s Recovery
The protagonist has a hope of at least saving the girl he loves, and so he joins the game show, which is where the “beginning” begins.

The Ticking Clock
The girl he loves needs to get her cell phone as quick as possible so she can help the protagonist answer a question that can let them win 600 million rupees.

The Big Showdown
Then the protagonist guesses the answer of the 600 million rupee question, challenging the antagonist sitting in front of him which is the creator of the game show.

Fade Out
When the protagonist wins all the money, he and his loved one reunites and the story ends. All the protagonist’s memories, present, and events are all said, which the movie ends to answer the question asked in the beginning of the story: It was destiny that made him win.