Conventions
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This document discusses conventions of short films that the author plans to follow for their own short film. It covers typical elements of short films like having few characters, simple narratives with twists, low budgets, lengths of 5-15 minutes, and familiar settings/situations. The author analyzes how their short film will adhere to these conventions, such as using a limited number of student characters, keeping the narrative straightforward yet complex, including a thought-provoking twist, having no budget, clocking in at around 5 minutes, and being set in a typical home environment.
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Conventions
- 2. •Few characters •Narrative •Twist(s) to the story •Budget •Length •Situation/setting I plan to follow most of these conventions if not all them. As short films are different to feature lengths I feel like following the convention is the best way to go because if I am introduce some parts of my audience to shorts films then I shouldn’t throw them of the mains parts of most short films.
- 3. Characters. Short films tend to only have a few characters, sometimes they have just one character. The emphasise in many short films is the characterisation of their characters. Characters are an essential to a short film, even if they aren’t human, like in Kiwi or The life and death of a Pumpkin. Short films rely on characters to provide the narrative and emotion. Many short films are emotional and having a limited amount of character means that the audience can create a bond with that character and even relate to them. This helps make the message and film very effective. With short films often they purpose is to provoke thoughts and emotions, not just make money and advertise like feature lengths films. Characterisation and representation is key to this. Short films don’t have the time for deep and lengthy background so limiting the amount of characters in a short films assures a better relationship between the audience and the characters I will work hard on my characterisation because I want the audience to feel certain emotions within the film; where without liking the characters it may not be as effective as I want it to be. My characters are students which my audience can relate to because my target audience is mainly students. The middle class artsy audience I am appealing to can also relate because most likely they were university students in the past.
- 4. Narrative. Narratives of short films conventionally are fairly simple because they do not have the same amount of time to fit lots of complex plots into the story. However many short films have something in the narrative that separates them from just a short versions of the normal films that we see. For example That Girl is Mime, starring Martin Freeman is completely in silence using mime the tell the story. This is an usually way tell a story is modern film with the exception of The Artist. Even in a short film Todorov’s theory of Equilibrium is applicable. Most short films will start by showing the normal (equilibrium), then a problem/event occurs (disequilibrium) and finally a new equilibrium is installed by fixing the problem. Shorts films can often differ from the recognisable form of a narrative because they tend to have more creative freedom. This allows them to experiment with certain norms of narratives. Maybe by rearranging the order of events or such things like that. I will try to keep the narrative simple but the idea of my film is rather complex. Using another form of media to tell my narrative is slightly complex but by using easily recognisable aspects of the media the audience will be able to relate to my film and narrative.
- 5. Twists. Short films often contain twists, just like a movie. However these twists can be more daring due to the creative freedom that short films have. Twists are important because they make the short films interesting which may be hard to do with a short amount of time. The twist normally contain some sort of message for the audience to think about or it will evoke certain emotions for the audience to feel.The twist in Kiwi is that the bird is doing what he’s doing so he can finally feel like he’s flying but he has to die to feel this. This twist evokes emotions and is very effective. My short film will also have a twist that I am hoping will evoke emotions in my audience but will also make them think about what we view life as and what it might really be.
- 6. Budget. Short films tend to not have a big budget, unless they are endorsed by a big company like Pixar’s animated shorts or Marvel’s introductions in the minor characters. These tend to be viewed along side the company big films. For the rest of the short films industry budgets are limited and so what they can do in their film is also limited. However as they don’t spend a lot on money to begin with, making a profit, or even any money at all, is not an issue. This is what allows short films to have creative freedom. Limited budgets mean that sometimes directors and makers of short film have to be resourceful and clever about how to get the message or narrative of their films to the audience. For example if the film requires certain props then they have to make do with what they have and maybe even write to accommodate this. Sometimes this can make for some interesting effects. Pixar’s award wining short film, Geri’s Game. My short film will have virtually no budget. However my film doesn’t require much in the ways of props, costumes and film equipment so the budget is no an issue. This is conventional and the way I want my film to be anyway.
- 7. Length. Short films are exactly what the suggest they are; short. Some are only seconds long, like the popular YouTube challenge; The 5 second week. Some are longer and can be up to 1 hour long. People might think that this isn’t short but in comparison to the 2 hours+ that movies have it is. Most short films tend to be between 5 and 15 minutes long. My short film is following this convention as it is a sure fire way to let the audience know that they are watching a short film. My film will aimed to be around the 5 minute mark.
- 8. Situation/setting. Short films conventionally take place in settings that are familiar to the audience; offices, streets, homes, schools etc. The location tend not to change to much because the length of the films don’t allow for much scene changes and the audience can get familiarised better with less locations. The situations that happen within short films are also normal everyday situations which the audience will be familiar with. Even the disequilibrium can be familiar everyday problems. The twists are normally the thing that is more out of place but not always. Pixar’s For the birds is an example of a situation and setting that is familiar to the audience. We often see birds sitting on telephone wires in groups. The disequilibrium is out of place slightly with this massive bird causing problems. My short film is going to be conventional with this as I am using a standard looking home. However my main situation isn’t so conventional with the idea of someone being following by sitcom like events. However these events will be recognisable by the audience because sitcoms commonly use them and they are based on real events that happen to people everyday.