Three Act Structure

   My personal favorite film, The Shawshank Redemption, can fit this three act structure rather well. It is interesting to look into a film you are very familiar with, and when you once thought of it as one solid unit, you now can break it up to see the three acts in the film. Here is my take on that the three acts are.
   The first act starts with the beginning of the film when Andy Dufresne is sentenced to Shawshank Penitentiary. Although when Andy starts out at prison he can't handle it, in this first act we see him slowly get used to life at Shawshank, mainly because of his growing friendship with another inmate, Red. The first act goes through a few events that happen to Andy at the prison, there are quite a few important moments in this first act, but I would say that the mini-climax is the death of Brooks. Because he is let out of Shawshank but can't handle the real world that changed without him, Brooks takes his own life, which leads into the second act.
   The second act shows Andy helping out the warden and guards with their taxes, and in turn is able to get a decent prison library for the inmates. In this act Andy does some important things, for instance when he plays the opera song on the speakers in the prison. But the main climax in this act would have to be the death of Tommy. Because his character comes in and is very hopeful of being able to prove that Andy didn't kill his wife. This eventually leads to the warden killing him, which sets off Andy into the next act.
   The third act of the film is basically from Andy's escape to the end of the picture. It is hard to say which events in this act are the most important, but I would have to say that the mini-climax is when the warden commits suicide due to Andy showing the outside world what kind of crook is running the prison. In the end Andy and Red are reunited, which is a perfect ending to this great film.
   I wouldn't say that these acts that I chose perfectly fit Dr. Ramirez-Burg's timing that he related to the changing of acts. Because this film is so long is one reason, but I did notice that the first and third acts of The Shawshank Redemption seem to be quite a bit longer than Dr. Ramirez-Burg anticipates, but from my eyes this is the three acts of this film.