Conventions of short films

Conventions of short films 

In order to create an effective short film for the A2 year; I researched into the conventions of a short film. I found that the difference in feature length films is that it allows the directors and producers to build up various characters and explore each individually, however, short films have very limited time to even explore one character in an elaborate detail and therefore relies deeply on cinematography and mise-en-scene. Taking this into account during the production of my short film will allow us to focus on one character in-particular.

The Plots Conventions:Short films are typically verisimilitude to everyday life as the audience can immediately address the situation in the short film and therefore allows the director to focus on the story line rather than building up to the situation. In short films an 'every-man' may be presented so that the audience can identify with them, for example in a short film a character may be late for work and this is an everyday identifiable situation all members of the audience can experience.  However, as the short film aims to entertain or educate an audience there is typically a twist which makes the short plot more intriguing. For example, in the short film 'The hole', it features an everyday situation of a man at work doing daily tasks, then suddenly a black hole appears on a piece of paper allowing the short to become entertaining with no dialogue. The audience are placed into an everyday situation and then the verisimilitude of it is cleverly interrupted. I want to subvert this and create a plot that is unlike everyday life and is exciting and entertaining for the audience.

Endings of a short: A convention of  a short film ending may be that it is ambiguous and open for each individual to make their own interpretation, it can often come in the form of a suspenseful cliff hanger where it leaves the audience wanting more or it may end with questions unanswered. I aim to create a short that is both ambiguous and leaves the audience wanting to know more. For example in the short film 'She said. she said', it is left open as to whether the lesbian couple reconnect after their divorce settlement as they flirt under the table during the settlement.




Themes: Another convention of short films is a presentation of morals, these morals can both entertain and educate an audience. It may be the sole purpose of a short film, for example, The Black hole has the message of greed and power. It is a subtle and entertaining way to suggest that we must not let greed and power cloud our judgement. I researched into other short films with a subtle yet entertaining moral. The film is called 'The Breaks', the short film features a teenager who has a winning bottle cap which will gift him 100,000 dollars, he excitedly takes it to the local store where the shop clerk takes it, catches a flight to the collection point only to have it stolen by the flight attendants. The bottle cap turns out to be a fake, created to prank the teenager from the opening scene. The moral of the short is to not steal and to not prank friends as it can create an adverse effect on a series of people.




Sound: The sound used in short films is effective as the sound, including music and diegetic and non diegetic sound can make or break a film, especially a short. The sound effects in shorts can be used to create a sense of realism, for example footsteps. In the short film, Awake, the sound of the waves transports the audience into the scene with the protagonist as it is what we expect to hear in that environment. As we begin to follow the protagonist throughout his day and listening to his voice over, we want to know what is happening and why he is alone, he picks up Gnome statue and sarcastic music is used to evoke a sense of humor in the fact he has taken a Gnome for a walk along the beach, it encourages the audience to respond and laugh.




Effects:Within short films there is a lack of budget to use high tech cameras and elaborate CGI and effects such as explosions and therefore the cinematography is usually simple, yet effective. They may use a standard camcorder or SLR and a tripod to ensure a consistent level of shots. Short films may also include a voice over or narration to give the audience background information quickly that is essential in order to understand the short a character. For example, this technique is used in the short 'Run' to explain the protagonists background and to explain the events that take place in the film. It allows us to wonder what the voice over will say next and gives us an insight into the character to understand them more. The voice over in 'Run' is a narration style and allows the audience to understand that the protagonist has met a couple and has seemingly made friends with them,  the protagonist talks as if his horrific actions are normal despite the conflict scenes the audience views. In the production of my short film I will use a voice over of the protagonists voice to explain to the audience what is taking place, it will also give us more time to present the opening scene quickly but effectively due to the time limit we have.

Symbolism:Symbols may be used to subtly indicate to the audience the genre of the film and to create a certain expectation for the short film, the director may place a false symbol in the short in order to create an element of suprise in a form of a twist. For example in the short film, 'Lovefield'. a symbol of a black crow perched on top of a creaking wooden sign is used to elicit a sense of death, perhaps a foreshadowing of what is to come. It is a quick way to establish the genre and what follows the opening scene of the crow is a farmer acting suspicious, he has a revealing tattoo of a skull which again indicates a sense of death and misleads the audience and makes the audience suspicious of the farmer based on the way he looks which is why it is an effective suprise when the farmer helps the girl in the short, it has the moral of don't judge a book by it cover.





Budget:An obvious convention of a short is that they are low budget as the time frame is not as costly as a feature length film and are typically created for competition purposes or film festival purposes by aspiring directors and producers, In The Black Hole there is only one actor which indicates it is low budget and is a convention of a short film to typically focus on one to three characters. You can expect to view short films on the internet, the most common source being YouTube as it has a free uploading and subscription service and has the potential to reach thousands despite the short film genre being niche. 

Within short films it is easier for directors to apply the Tzvetan Todorovs theory of equilibrium as within each scene the steps of the theory can be played out. 

Todorovs theory steps:

Equilibrium

Disequilibrium

Recognition of disequilibrium 

Attempt to repair the damage 

A return of restoration or new equilibrium