What are the conventions of a short film?

Short films are based on a wide variety of narratives. The most common can be seen to be the linear narrative, which consists of all the events within the storyline being in chronological order. This is done to give the film a sense of continuity. This s

tyle of narrative can be coupled with ellipses in time, when the storyline of the film will jump forward in time, while still being able to be chronologically correct. Linear narratives can be seen in such short films as ‘Sold’ by Nadia Attia and ‘Sign Language’ by Oscar Sharp, which can be seen to also contain ellipses of time. There can also be identified a circular narrative within short film, which is when the storyline will end up back at the beginning. This can be seen in ‘Double Take’ by Toa shoppard and ‘Gravity’ by Colin Hutton. These two types of narratives can be used at the same time, as they will help to drive the storyline forward, and enable a ‘twist’ to exist within the film. Short film storylines will most likely also be open ended, meaning that there is no straight ending to the film. This can give short films a lack of resolution, as they will have no precise ending.

Short films will contain a wide range of different techniques which will give make them stand out to most other films. The most common technique that can be identified within short films is their filming with a DV camera. This shows them to have been filmed unprofessionally and gives them a sense of realism. This is used to show the actions of the short film as events that could happen in real life. This is backed up by the fact that they will be filmed within normal society, rather than a studio, to show more integration into reality so that the audience will get an insight into the life of the actor and connect with them. The result of using DV cameras will be that the film itself will be very gritty, dull and grainy, to give a point of view of how the character is seeing the world. This can best be seen in ‘for the love of’ by Chris Cheriff, where the voice over dialogue allows the audience relate to the life of the protagonist by experiencing his hardships with him. In addition to this many short films will not consist of a score to drive the narrative, but will rely on the non diegetic sound of the setting, in order to emphasize the realism style that is incorporated into them.

Titles within short films will appear at the beginning of the film. However that will normally be the main title of the film itself and will not consist of any of the other contributors to the film. The main bulk of the credits will appear at the end of the film itself and will not be followed by a score. These titles will appear very quickly, as they will not make up any part of the film itself. In some cases there may be a mid shot or long shot before the actual title is displayed itself. This is to establish to the audience who the actual protagonist is. This can be seen at the beginning of ‘double take’ by Toa Shoppard, where the protagonist is established as the main aspect of the movie. This will in turn lead the audience to focusing solely on the protagonist, allowing for a ‘twist’ to develop at the end of the film.

Short films are often a moment that is played out, but one that has a
story at its centre ¬a conflict that has to be resolved, where there's a deadline to the action, where there's a choice that a character has to make. Short films will always try to tell a story. Short films aren't an excuse to break all the rules but they are an opportunity to push the boundaries of what cinematic storytelling can do. The result of this is that, short films will consist of many different genres, in order to create a wide range of stories. The genre of a short story will normally be a associated with real life events, meaning that the genres will be accustomed with events that could happen in real life, rather than those based on fiction. Short films can be seen to incorporate a lot of thriller genre, making them Devices most commonly used in the films for this genre are suspense to help viewers become anticipated as to what will happen next, red herrings are also used mostly for plotlines which involve a mystery one.