How not to make a short film
- 1. HOW NOT TO MAKE A SHORT FILM A step by step guide of how to make a short film more effective
- 2. The Shorter the Better A short film can be anything from a number of minutes to forty five minutes in length. Make your short film script as short as possible because the shorter the film, the less costly it will be to produce. It has to be cheap but shouldn’t look cheap. Plus, if you want to get your short into a festival, then keep it to no more than ten minutes, which is usually 7-8 pages maximum. Why? Because if your short film is longer, it will eat up a longer slot and festivals love to play as many shorts as possible! You can also create real emotion in just a few minutes. It is also a great idea to question your target audience for example when we presented a questionnaire to our chosen viewers we found out the appropriate length that would be suitable and efficient for both us and our audience being around 5-7 minutes. 1. DON’T MAKE IT TOO LONG
- 3. There are many clichés in short films. Avoid stereotypes unless you have a fresh slant on them. That’s what The Descendent does. In this short film a couple of bewildered hit men actually have to kill a seemingly cute little boy and one of them gets cold feet until he realizes that the child is a supernatural being who terrifies his mother. Write what you’re familiar with and what resonates with you rather than writing something you borrowed from other films. Don’t shy away from small stories, short formats are the perfect vehicle for them and you won’t often get the opportunity to tell small stories as a professional writer. It’s good to watch as many short films as possible. There is no replacement for knowing what is out there, and knowing what you as an audience (as well as a writer) think and feel about it. When proposing ideas for my own film I often opted to watching other short films of similar genre so I could follow the key representations and ideologies without being cliché. 2. DON’T ADD CLICHÉS
- 4. Tell a Story You should always try to tell a compelling story. Beware of ideas that are concept-driven or just aim at breaking all the rules for the sake of breaking rules. Short films are a great opportunity to push the boundaries of what cinematic storytelling can do, yet they must still engage your audience emotionally. As a rule of thumb, unless it is extremely brief a short film should have a hero with a goal and an obstacle/antagonist in the way. Short films are also a great away to advertise certain topics for educational value, you can use these topics e.g. bullying to base the narrative around the subject you want to inform the viewer about. When producing my own short film I will constantly be using the same aspect as Vladimir props narrative theory e.g. the villain being our protagonist’s illness 3. PERFECT THE NARRATIVE
- 5. Make It Visual “Film is a visual medium”. “Show, don’t tell.” Those are the golden rules of screenwriting the top directors keep telling us. Yet it’s astonishing to see how talky most scripts are. Film is about telling stories in pictures, which is the most economical way of telling a story – and when you make a short film, economy is everything. Create visual backstories for your characters. Externalize through visual images their temperament, their profession, their status, etc. Some of the most effective of short films are the ones with little to no dialog. It is also very important that you need to beware of the concept that too much action can take place in not a enough time which ultimately becomes expensive but also less effective and you loose the audience’s attention. 4. BALANCE DIALOG TO ACTION
- 6. The best short films are often a single moment that is played out, but one that has a story at its heart, which is a conflict that has to be resolved, where there’s a dilemma at stake and a choice that the protagonist has to make. Strive to add a deadline, or ticking clock. It is not necessary but it will add some tension to your short film. For example in my own short film suspense is created by silence. 5. DON’T RUIN THE SINGLE MOMENT
- 7. Engage Since you have so little time to make an impression the impact of scene one is crucial, just as it is crucial to hook the reader in the first couple of pages in a book. What is the world of the film? Do we root for the main character? Does the world and story of the film feel authentic? The ending is also essential as it’s rare to truly feel moved at the end of a short, so work towards a meaningful, satisfying ending. For instance although its inevitable that the main character at some stage is going to pass away we do not sadden this issue at the end of the film but actually create a satisfying ending by having her fulfill her only wish. 6. DON’T LOOSE THE VIEWERS
- 8. Lighting There is nothing worse than when you watch a film and you cant actually see what’s taking place, this often occurs when a dramatic dark scene isn't properly executed and you cant actually see what’s going on in scene. To avoid this plan your lighting in correlation to the setting, mood and the amount of natural lighting that is present either due to the weather or time of day and most importantly your narrative. Lighting is great in either uplifting mood in a certain shot but also to emphasise emotion and sadness, try taking test shots before shooting so you don’t have to retake any shots which is eating valuable filming and editing time. 7. THE AUDIENCE CAN’T SEE
- 9. Sound Sound is crucial it explains feelings, thoughts and views which is why its so important that you get the right balance between not being too quiet and not too loud. When sound is too quiet and you up the volume it can automatically sound crackly and inconsistent. Before shooting have a sound check to test the volume and accuracy of where it needs to be placed in order for the dialog to sound clear, it is very easy to ruin the film by having inconsistent sound. 8. THE AUDIENCE CAN’T HEAR