When working within a short run time there can be a powerful temptation to throw the conventions of story to the wind. But a good short film demands consideration of the most fundamental rule in all storytelling: a story is about someone who wants something, and takes action against obstacles to get it.
Start With a Character
A good many short films are begun with a premise, not a character. And the premise is often too big for a short form narrative, requiring a lot of time to set up. The finished film emerges as little more than several minutes of exposition, frequently with a twist ending that the filmmakers hope is surprising enough to justify such a long set-up. You can find hundreds of films like this on YouTube, few of them really connecting with an audience.
The best place to start is with a character. Establish what that character wants, and what prevents them from getting it. A killer premise is great, but you've got to find a way to draw the audience into that premise on an empathetic level, and the best way to do that is through a clearly motivated character.
Example: " Balbezit ", written by Iris Huizinga. Not in any way a complex premise: a man wants his soccer ball back. Yet it is immediately engaging, even if you don't speak the language.
Structure Your Story
It's difficult to fit three acts of a story into a few minutes. So difficult that a lot of short film writers give up, and allow their scripts to become a series of gags or beats without any real form. This can be funny but it rarely leads to a compelling narrative. Shorts like this often come off more like improv sketches than films.
Structure is every bit as important in a short as in a feature or a television episode. Whether your format is thirty minutes or thirty seconds, focus on the established principles of set-up, turning points, rising action, climax, and resolution. Even if you have to compress an act to a single beat, these stages are the backbone of story.
Example: " Presto ", written by Doug Sweetland. A series of gags, to be sure, but take careful note of the turning points in the action and the escalating tension as the magician grows increasingly frantic. There are three complete acts here, all within a five minute short. Note the simple yet compelling motivations of the characters as well.
Writing is Rewriting
Ironically, there are a great many short films that are far too long. With a short it is doubly important to go back into your first draft and look for the little efficiencies that never occur to you the first time through.
Two scenes could be one, five lines of dialogue could be two. Something expressed through a dialogue exchange could have been expressed instead through a simple visual. There are always ways to make a short script shorter, and you can't be afraid to tear it apart and find them.
Remember the Basics
A short film, like any other piece of narrative, is a story. The short format is not an excuse to set aside the fundamentals of what makes a story work. Because shorts are generally less commercially motivated than features or television there is certainly room to be a bit experimental. But truly engaging an audience requires a solid foundation of a simple, tightly focused and structured story.
