Short Film Format

What is a short Film?

SHORT FILM = A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. Although no consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits". (Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_film)

•  Different from feature film as shorter, fewer characters and explores ideas in a more concentrated form without dragging something out or wasting time
• Often made my inexperienced filmakers to gain experience

Why do short films exist?

An interview with Richard Raskin, Editor of Short Film Studies
 

Jerry Seinfeld once said: ‘If I wanted a long, boring story with no point to it, I

have my life.’ When short films are at their best, they are the exact opposite of

‘a long, boring story with no point to it.’ I love brief narratives that are rich in

texture, saturated with meaning and tell their stories without wasting a moment

on filler of any kind. It is widely known that the short film is the poetry of filmmaking,

and the other quote I’d like to share is the most relevant definition of

poetry I have ever seen. A Chinese master said: ‘The writer’s message is like rice.

When you write prose, you cook the rice. When you write poetry, you turn the

rice into rice wine.’ The best short films are pure rice wine – so concentrated and

intoxicating that they take our breath away, while mediocre shorts that seem to

go on forever, tediously belabouring their story, are like cooked rice. The great

short films tell more in as little as four or seven minutes than many feature films.

And the form is much freer, much less subject to formulaic storytelling patterns

and conventions.  (https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/MediaManager/File/filmcatalogue(web).pdf)

 

 

 

What are the audience's expectations?

 

• The audience expect short and saturated stories that convey and interesting and meaningful narrative in a shorter amount of time than a feature film . They expect a shocking or intriguing Act 1 which grabs their attention.
• Fewer characters
• Fairly simple storylines
• Plot twist - creative or emotional
• Auteur style
• Todorov or Three Act Structure

(https://www.slideshare.net/tds14/codes-conventions-of-short-films)
(https://naomishortfilm.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/codes-conventions-of-short-film/)