I find the midpoint of a script is a hard nut to crack. Getting to it in a timely fashion can be hard--that first half of act two can go SO long. And once you're there, I find it can be hard to pivot correctly.
For me, that's a big part of what the midpoint is: a pivot. Something very significant happens which takes the character's journey and quest in a direction that feels distinctively new. In a lot of my scripts, what comes after the pivot can seem a lot like what came before. And that's a big problem. It means I'm probably getting repetitive and losing the audience. When you change direction, if it feels organic to the story it can be a real jump start for the audience, something new and also hopefully something unexpected, something that shakes them free of whatever confidence they have about where things are going.
So yeah, you want that midpoint to really mark a new endeavor. In ENCANTO, this is the moment where Mirabel learns that Bruno had a vision of her destroying the family. She spent the prior half of the act just trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and now it's gotten much more personal and worrisome. Having the midpoint become a more specific problem/dilemma for Mirabal, it's such a great choice. The stakes are higher and more personal. In a sense that's the trick of the midpoint; you want to shift gears, but you don't want to lose focus on your protagonist. That's how it's different than the start of the act, really; here you want to zero in harder on them. You want it all to get even more personal.
But ENCANTO is the rare film that figures out how to use that idea of a pivot not just at the midpoint of the act, but at the start of what I'd call each of the four main units, which are.
MIRABEL INVESTIGATES WHAT IS UP WITH THE HOUSE; FROM LUISA SHE LEARNS ABOUT LUISA'S SECRET FEARS (CREATING PROBLEMS) AND ALSO GETS TOLD TO CHECK OUT BRUNO'S TOWER.
MIRABEL INVESTIGATES THE TOWER THEN HER FAMILY'S EXPERIENCES WITH HIM AND LEARNS HE PREDICTED SHE WOULD RUIN EVERYTHING.
MIRABEL TRIES TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO STOP THE PREDICTION AND ENDS UP LEARNING FROM BRUNO THAT SHE CAN ALSO SAVE THE FAMILY IF SHE HUGS IT OUT WITH ISABELA.
MIRABEL FIXES THINGS WITH ISABELLA BUT ENDS UP FREEING HER IN WAYS THAT ENRAGE HER GRANDMOTHER, WHICH CAUSES THE HOUSE TO SHATTER AND SHE CAN'T SAVE THE MAGIC CANDLE.
Each of those units follows from the last, but at the same time they're each pretty different--in the first Mirabel is like a detective with her family; in the second she's like an archaeologist (and also again with her family, but different family members); in the third she meets the infamous Bruno and fights to convince him to tell her a way to save everything; in the fourth she's on her quest proper to save everything. There's very much a sense of the story constantly changing; just as you pin it down it becomes something else.
In fact at times you almost feel like you'd like to spend more time in a unit, particularly for me the quest proper. It all moves along so briskly. But leaving them wanting more or not quite being able to pin the script down, these are good things. Far better that than the opposite.
For me being able to do this is a lot about having a great outline, and thinking of the script in terms of distinct chunks of which each act is made, the kind of thing I laid out yesterday.
Not every script can pivot quite so much between units, have that shaggy dog sense a bit without the audience going what exactly is this I'm watching. But when you see someone nail it like ENCANTO does, man it is satisfying.
