Tool · free
Narrative Arc Plotter
Map your story to a proven structure. Place beats on a tension curve.
How it works
Three steps to your cut.
Write your beats
One line each.
Pick a structure
Three-act, hero, Freytag, STC, kishōtenketsu.
See the curve
Beats snap to the structure.
Refine and ship
Drag until rising action rises.
Features · on-set
What makes it different.
5 structures supported
Toggle between them.
Tension curve visualised
Flat sections surface.
Beat-to-curve snapping
Order-driven placement.
Compare structures
Same beats, different shape.
PDF export
For the writers room.
Free
No signup.
Head to head
VideoCue vs Index cards on a wall
Ready · roll camera
Try Narrative Arc Plotter free
No signup. No watermark. Use it as often as you need.
Open the toolFAQ
Everything you need to know.
Related tools
Glossary
Your first cut
is on us.
Guide
What it does
Maps story beats onto a chosen structure - three-act, hero's journey, Freytag, Save the Cat, or kishōtenketsu - and visualises the tension curve. Drag beats up or down to balance acts. Toggle structures to see how the same story fits a different shape. Useful when something feels off and you can't name what.
Why creators use it
A standalone utility is the right shape for one notch in a creator's workflow. You don't open the full VideoCue app to do this one small thing; you bookmark the tool, paste your input, and move on. That's the bet: tools that respect your time get used. Tools that demand a signup get ignored.
This particular utility is built for the moment you need it: fast in, fast out, no watermark, no upsell. It's a free notch in the larger VideoCue ecosystem - built by editors for editors, kept genuinely lightweight, and stable enough to belong in your daily workflow.
How it fits the workflow
Pre-production tools establish the visual world (mood boards, character sheets, style guides). Writing tools shape the language (word counters, voiceover estimators). Compose tools format the package (aspect, chapters, metadata). Each is small. None pretends to be a full editing suite. Their power emerges when they snap together - your mood board palette flows into your image prompts, your shot list mirrors your storyboard, your transcript translates into your second-language SRT.
This tool is one of those snap-points. Use it on its own when that's enough. Use it next to its siblings when the project demands more. Either way, it costs nothing and waits on no signup.
When to graduate to the paid VideoCue app
The free tools are utilities. The paid app is an end-to-end AI video studio - script, voice, footage, render, publish - that uses the same vocabulary as these tools but ties them into a single project surface. If you find yourself stringing five tools together for every video, you're ready to try the full app.