2. Twist
Short films nearly always include a twist and this is because this keeps the audience
interested, it is also the moment in the film where the films message is rounded off and
finalised and sometimes this means that it changes drastically at the end to what the
audience may have assumed it was at the start of the film. Often without a twist a short
film is boring and dull because the narrative and the message of the film become
predictable and do not surprise the audience.
For example in the short film ‘Slip of the Tongue’ the twist is placed when the girl snaps
and her ignoring reaction changes to one of rage and righteousness. When she openly lays
down her views to the man with aggression. This change of pace and twist in the narrative
engages the audience and ensures that the scenes hold their attention throughout the
entire short film.
This is the moment (picture above) when the girl decides not to ignore the man any longer
but to take her views to him with a burning anger, which can be seen here through her
facial expressions. (This moment is the twist).
3. Characters
• Most short films only have 2-3 characters in them; this keeps the set up and
filming of the piece simple and saves Tim, e and money. In addition short films are
normally between 3-5 minutes long and therefore I as the director would have no
time to build up the audience’s knowledge of the character (their history etc.) or
create a back-story. If too many characters are introduced in a short space of time
it may also confuse the audience so that they cannot get a clear sense of the plot.
• One example of this is the short film tick tock in this short film there are only three
characters all whom are the protagonists and only a scattering of extras where
used for maybe 2-3 seconds in this piece . These two characters remain in shot
most of the time in the film up until the end of the piece where the focus is on the
male in the grey t-shirt.
• As you can see 2 of the 3 main characters are in shot in the part of the short film
and they remain in shot for an extended period only until the 3 character joins
them. No extras are introduced at this point and when they are later on there
presence is only very brief saving the director time and resources. Also by not
having any extras in key scenes such as this one it means that none of the focus is
taken away from the most important characters in the piece.
4. Budget
• Short films often have small budgets due to the independent nature
of the production of these short films. This can be easily observed
just by looking at the short film, there are never an excess of extras
or very expensive props. Short films maintain a low budget by using
a few locations and only a few actors throughout the piece. This
keeps costs low and therefore are large budget is not needed.
• For example the very short film ‘Loop’ only has one location and
only has 2 actors involved in it. This allowed the film makers to keep
costs down and therefore allowed them to have a small budget.
• This actor in shot is the protagonist and other than him in this piece
there is in fact only one another actor who is an extra and this
keeps processes such as casting, short and cheap. Once again
keeping processes like these cheap allows the budget to be low.
5. Budget 2
• When I make my own short film using these
process to keep the budgets down:
• I will keep the number of characters down to
save time and money in filming
• I will use a simple locations
• Used a maximum of 3 locations
• Attempt to get actors for free
6. Situation
• For the audience to be engaged in my short film the narrative or
storyline has to be interesting and has to grab their attention and
hold it for the duration of the piece. A good way to do this is to take
an everyday situation that all audience members would have
encountered and flip it in a way that will keep the audience
interested.
• For example in Happy Sushi, the narrative starts of about a wobbly
table leg, this is a common situation in which people have been in
and therefore the audience instantly relate to this. However the
film makers change this later on sop that it is not a situation that
people have been in such as the match box being alive. This is also
an example of how a twist can be used but it does clearly show how
a normally situation can gain the audience attention and then the
sudden change of situation keeps the audience interested.
7. Props
Props can be highly useful for a director of a short
film. Their use is often subtle but vital in the creation
of impact within a piece. The use of expensive props
is kept to a minimum in order for a filmmaker to
keep to their budget. For example in black hole
where the props where kept simple through the use
of a piece of paper as the main prop, a story was
built around this prop and this allowed the budget of
the film to be kept low and the filming to remain a
relatively easy process.
