Codes and Conventions of short films

By Laura Burgess

I have watched many short films and have comprised a list which I can refer to when

planning and filming my final piece.

I have analysed three of the best short films, below this post on my blog.

• Short films usually focus on a key issue and how the characters cope with them rather than a

story.• Short films usually have just one or two

characters and there will most likely be a central protagonist who will remain centre frame

throughout the film. Most of the short films I watched only had the one character focused on,

for example Mud Boy, where the central character was the Mina, who discovered her little

brother body in her garden. There were four other characters in the film, Jamie, mum, dad

and the police woman.

• Most short films have a twist to the storyline; this is most likely because the

films are so short that without a twist in the story it would simply not be interesting.

• Short films use point of view shots to help communicate the characters life the way

the character would see it.

• Voice overs are very popular choice for verbal sound in short films because it is

faster and easier to communicate the story through narration.

• A short film tends to be between five to thirty minutes long. Mine will be 5 minutes exactly to comply with the mark scheme.

• Most short films seem to focus on characters who are under the age of 25

because short films are fairly modern and the producers have to think about their

target audience and make their film appeal to them.

• Short films tend not to have lot of speech choosing instead to communicate the story through visual substance and soundtrack/

sound effects. This helps to get the audience thinking and to make them feel

more involved.