Conventions of short films

Before starting to think about ideas for our main film we first looked at the conventions of short films in general. After watching a multitude of short films from www.shortoftheweek.com our group we saw a number of trends and patterns emerge for the short films we ourselves enjoyed and so did others (based off rating and comment feedback).

How are they structured?
This element of a short film was important for us to analysis as none of the group had any experience with making or even watching short films before and intially we struggled to understand how an idea could be condensed into such a short time and still make sense and be successful. We discovered a formula for the structure and setting of the good short films we watched.

• They are all simple stories
• They contatin twists usually occurring in the 2nd half of the film.
• They are usually focused on isolated environments however some varied in scope. The setting for us was important as we learned last year an effective setting can add so much to your film and determines what the first impression your film leaves on the audience. In many of the films we watched the setting is a character in itself. Especially in the short films  'Hotel 22' and 'The Shore'.
  In Hotel 22 the main portion of the film took place on a bus where homeless people took shelter. The camera movements were sometimes shakey to reflect the jarring movement on the bus and the close interior framing give the film a very intimate feel as we learned about the characters lives. The shore took place in rural ireland in the mountains, in a pub and by the shore. The film was about Irish heritage and the setting of this film helped bring this theme to the forefront of the audiences minds in every scene. In both films the characters interacted with the setting which is definitely something we hope to emulate with our short film.

 Some more tropes of the short films we watched are listed here also

• Don’t have too many characters as you have a short time to convey your plot and when there is too many character the story becomes muddled and hard to follow.
• Show don’t tell not too much exposition.  The plot of the film is usually told through visual narrative rather than lengthy exposition often seen in feature length films. This is because they have a much smaller time frame to tell their story and are usually more vague/ambiguous when revealing plot details.
•  For a short film the amount of characters is usually limited to 2-4, most short films rarely extend past 15 minutes and thus the little amount of characters allows for adequate development of each character and their storyline. The weaker short films I watched sometimes relied on stereotypical representations as it allows the audience to identify quicker with the characters.
•  Normal events take place in everyday situations. This allows views to relate to the film.The short films are realistic. Usually audiences find them more intriguing. Normal situations are easier and more effective in a short films. Short films often provide a problem which need to be solve by the protagonist. The protagonists struggle with the conflict and failure/success to overcome the conflict is what made the best short films interesting to watch for our group. Short films like the dark room which tried to take an experimental approach to narrative with little plot details and an unnamed protagonist left us uninterested and with the short run time this unconvential approach was rarely done successfully in the films we watched.