Before shooting and planning our short film, we have to establish the different codes and conventions. Short films must contain a narrative of some sort and contain a constructive format which the story must be explained.
Most short films usually trail one character throughout; however there are typically other external characters helping to precede the storyline and helping to create different meanings to the audience. External characters can have a negative effect on the plotline and end up being damaging towards the initial meaning. These characters are usually connected to the main protagonist in a low level way, however can end up having a positive effect on them.
Short films must contain some kind of plot, the audience needs something to follow and keep them interested, because of this, the majority of short films do not contain any sub-plots as this would distract the audience from the main focus, fore the time is limited and brief. The short time span not only limits any kind of sub-plot, but means the main plot needs to have a “shocker factor”, the climax needs to be something un-expected and un-predictable that will leave the audience thinking. A vast majority of Directors choose to use the message in a disturbing manner that will stick with the viewer. An example of this is the short film “About a Girl”, About a Girl is about a twelve year old girl who talks about her family life. The majority of the film is all focused on her and doesn’t really have much significance to it, however in the last 30 seconds of the film we see the young girl throw a plastic bag into the canal, the bag contains a dead baby representing that the girl, or her mum (We never find out who) can’t look after this baby. I think this is a very shocking and disturbing concept which leaves the audience unnerved.
Another convention of a short film is flashbacks; flashbacks don’t have to be used and do not appear often, however when used they are extremely affective. Flashbacks are a positive way to explain the plot in a short amount of time, they can bring external characters to support the focus character and they give the audience some background information quickly. However flashbacks only appear occasionally because they can also wander off from the main plot and cause confusion and uncertainty. The main convention of a short film is to keep the plot simple; the short time span limits the plot and should therefore be kept simple. The only complexity about the plot should be the climax, the shocker, although even then the notion must not be too confusing as the audience have got to understand what is happening.
Nearly all feature length films contain Equilibrium (The start of a film where everything is normal) Disequilibrium (The middle of a film where something goes wrong e.g. someone dies etc.) and the new equilibrium (The end of a film where everything is back to normal but there’s something different). Some short films do also contain this structure by “Todorov” however most do not. A lot of short films often start with the disequilibrium or follow a different theory altogether, either way it is clear that short films do not have to follow the typical beginning, middle and end that most feature length films have to abide by.
Locations in a short film are incredible important as they help deliver understanding to the audience and the character in the film. The location is often a well recognised place that people can relate to; this is because settings and locations are all a part of the mise en scene of the film and can influence the audience’s views. This leads on to stereotypes within short films, using stereotypes is a quick way to develop a certain view for something. Everyone views films differently so if the Director wants to send out a specific view the easiest way is to stereotype. The director can stereotype through their selection of mise en scene, for example if the film was set in Essex the audience would automatically assume that everyone in the short film fell under the “stereotype” of Essex etc. As well as this the director chooses what iconography will be present in the shots which all contribute to people’s views on the characters.
Overall a short film must contain a simple plot with a shock factor, one main focus character, possible other sub characters, good locations that can influence the plot line and the characters and carefully planned mise en scene that boosts the audiences understanding of the storyline.
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