Film Appreciation - Organization Of The Cause To Effect Plot

The action is often set into motion by an inciting incident. This is an event that lets the audience know what form the conflict will take.
There follows a period of rising tension, (Aristotle called this "the raveling"). This is a series of episodes, individual scenes in which conflict begins to heighten and complications develop. Frequently, this takes the form of a series of scenes in which the tension gradually increases. In extremely tense plots these sequences are often be intersperced with comic relief (to break the tension).
When the conflict is aproaching its height, a crisis occurs - this is a turning point, an event that makes the resolution of the films conflict inevitable.
This is followed by the film's climax which occurs when the basic conflict is actually resolved.
This is generally followed by the denouement, a short wrap up scene in which any loose ends of plot and character are tied up or resolved, (Aristotle called this "the unraveling".