Post 6: What makes a good short film ?

As this was our first ever making of a short film our school organised for Becky Knapp, a short film expert to attend a triple lesson we had and give us three lessons on what makes a good short film.



She began by showing us a variety of short films that she had worked on. After watching them we were told that short films vary depending on the length of them. If the films length is less than 5 minutes, it will normally have a 'jokey' plot and very stereotypical characters who don't elaborate on their character much if at all. Films that lasted between 5-12 minutes would have a more original plot and the characters would go through a journey of some sort. If the short film went from 12-30 minutes there would be more than one storyline and the characters would be unique and have multiple traits. We were told that directors, producers and script writers use short films as a stepping stone into to main feature length industry. To quote Becky Knapp- 'Short films are a show case of talent'.



She provided us with many scripts, some of which she herself has worked on. Two of the scripts she left were 'Donna' and 'Does God play football?'. When reading through these scripts I took a big liking to 'Does God play football?' as I liked the simplistic innocence to the main character and how his imagination and reality are quite different and how the voice over gives such a innocent insight into his character. By giving us these scripts we also had the layout for what our scripts should look like.
I was also very interested in 'On a life's edge'. I was really intrigued as to how you as an audience watching it make the assumption that the two main characters are police officers because of their behaviour. However the twist at the end makes the audience realise that they aren't police officers, but they are angels helping people through purgatory.



We were told that or target audience would be very narrow, as it is mainly film critics, short film festival audiences and media/ film students who watch short films therefore when creating our short film we were advised to try to appeal to that audience by making our genre of choice possibly one that is regularly viewed within that narrow audience. Becky also told us that when she reviews a script (especially first drafts) as well as many critics, they find that many of them try to put in too much information and have trouble conveying all that information in a short amount of time.




After Becky Knapps very helpful lesson I decided that I required a little bit more information as to what makes a good short film. I used the Internet and was amazed as to how much information there was on how to make a good short film.

The BBC at the time was doing a special review of short films and had written an article on what makes a good short film. http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/introduction/what-makes-a-good-short
They broke what makes a good short film down into 8 different sections to which I will briefly explain:

1. An exciting and original idea: They advise that you should try to avoid cliche ideas and a way to get a original idea is to watch many more short films. They also talk about how you can draw inspiration from everyday things such as newspapers, television and even personal experiences.


2. A strong script: In this section they confirmed what Becky said in that many scripts are packed too much with information and that a way to get a condensed script is to get as much feedback as possible.


3. Good acting: This would be a vital piece of information as you don't want to cast someone who is terrible at acting as you want the acting to convey the messages you are trying to give across. If you have a bad actor it can ruin your perfectly good short film.


4. High production values: This is where you have to ensure that even though your filming a short film you need to make sure sound, camera work, lighting and editing are of the best quality. They go on to say that too many films are ruined by bad quality.


5. Keeping it short: This was basically a reminder that even though we are making short films the longer you make it the harder it is to keep the audiences attention.


6. Strong beginning: To grab your audiences attention you have to make the beginning as interesting and engaging as possible. There is very little point in making all the engaging parts of the film at the end as the audience wont grasp it and not be as interested as they could be.


7. Avoid repetition and punchline twists: They stressed that it is important not to become repetitive and that comedy is difficult to use in short films. I was then advised that if I was going to do comedy that I shouldn't leave the punchline until the end and that I should make them short and snappy.


8. Exciting techniques and style: By using exciting techniques and style I can give my script a more interesting twist as it will add effect to the story and make the overall story much more interesting.

By using Becky Knapps knowledge and the advice by the BBC I had a through understanding as to what makes a good short film and applied this knowledge to my own script writting.