Tips for writing a 5 minute short film?

M

Mr. Durden

Active member
I need some tips on how to write a 5 minute short film and keep the audience interested throughout.

I have some ideas and such buts its hard for me to create an entire begging middle and end in only 5 minutes.

Any suggestions?






Ps. It HAS to be 5 minutes.
 
Don't compare chronological time to screen time. Watch some well written cartoons like "One Froggy Evening". (You know... building demolition guy finds singing frog in cornerstone of building and thinks he'll strike it rich, but frog only sings for him! )
 
it helps to have a story going in. once you develop the story youd be surprised how much easier it is than you would initially think.
 
One of the most helpful peices of advice I've been given so far is this: Come late, leave early. When you're writing a short, you don't need a ton of backstory. You don't need a drawn out ending. Come in where your story really kicks off, and get out as soon as you've told it (the story).
 
First off, the CONCEPT/IDEA/PREMISE needs to be great.

Secondly, you need to break down the story into your time limit, so if it's 5 pgs, then 2pgs for act one, 2pgs for act two, 1pg for act three. You get the idea.

Write great characters, that are memorable.

Write wicked dialogue, that leaps off the page.

Re-write, re-write, edit, and re-write.

Oh, also helps to have a great title as well.

And that's pretty much it.

It's pretty much the same effort that goes into writing a feature lenght screenplay.

EJ
 
nice. well good luck mr. durden. make sure you post the film when you are finished.

and not to incite a riot but a short does not have to follow the three-act structure of a feature if it is not conducive to your story. follow your instincts on this.
 
It's funny that it's even neccesary to give advice like - have a good idea, write good dialogue, create good characters but so many film makers don't seem to think these are important.

The script is just as important with a short as it is with a feature. What isn't important is a careful weave of sub plots or as stated above a deep backstory.

If you want tips then some rules I stick too are as follows

1 Keep it simple - you want a character, give him a goal, decide what gets in his way.

2 remember it's OK to steal - I need not go into a debate on Tarantino taking ideas from other movies - everyone does it. Adapt a scene from shakespear. Find the narative in a pop song and dramatise it. Takea story your grandad bored you with and set it in your surroundings.

3 Remember the idea isn't everything. It's all about character change through conflict. No matter how good your idea and it's eventual execution on film/video if you haven't any conflict then you haven't any drama and your audience will be left thinking "nice film but I don't get it"

4 Digital video is cheap but electronic words are free. Write, rewrite, put to one side then go back and rewrite again. Then get some feedback from other writers, listen to their coments then rewrite again.

5 Cut it. The first editing is done on page. Before you comit to shooting make sure every word of dialogue, every piece of action, indeed every scene earns it's place. Not only does and extra minute or two add cost and difficulty to your shooting but it waters down the drama and punch of a short film.

If you really can't think of something then rule 2 is everything. Don't look for inspiration else were just take someone else's idea and rewrite it. By the time you are half way through you'll have had so many ideas for changes it won't be that other project anymore.
 
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One final point - build in limitations.

easiest script writing experiences I've had have been for competitions or college assignments when we were strickly limited.

Things like limiting scenes to two rooms inan apartment and only two characters cut down your choices and this makes it easier to choose.

Don't get bogged down in genre make things interesting (and inspiring) for yourself by cutting down your options and getting certain elements set in stone before thinking about your story.

Not how I normally write I admit but has proved very useful inthe past.
 
the build in limitations is great advice.

at school they will give you a set and say. make a one minute short. its a little challenging but fun. make sure you write a five-minute short that is plausible to shoot. i remember reading one on this website that has a cataclysmic nuclear bomb explosion in it. i told him that may be a little hard to create o na shoe string budget. much like a due date work backwards from your budget.
 
Within a day or two, all the entries for Horrorfest will be ready for downloading. The time limit on them is six minutes. You could spend a couple of days watching them, see what you like and what works. You should then get a pretty good feel of the structure of a five minute short, based on what you feel works in Horrorfest.
 
If you are going to write and produce your five minute short, ask yourself
these questions first before you write:

1. What locations are available to you? - producing your own film limits what
locations you will use, interior/exterior, etc.

2. How many actors are at my disposal? - because you have to put it together
you may not want to work with more than 1-3 actors on the whole.

3. What genre do you like the most? - process of eilmination, do you like horror
or drama (maybe you picked drama), then you ask, drama or comedy, comedy or
action, action or suspense, action or romcom... when you have one genre that
you choose more than once, then you have a winner.

By answering the top three questions you will then be able to write a short.
This is the formula I used for the Black Angel. I discovered first the genre,
which was chosen for me. I discovered how many actors the director wanted
to work with. I then discovered what locations were at his disposal.

Viola - a story was born.
 
Zoom in on a small piece in a big story. Ex: A kid has come to school with guns. people died. Your movie starts the day after and you follow a guy/girl as they make a life changeing decision as a direct result of that happening at the school. It could be she knew someone that got shot and meet their parents.
It al result in her starting to relate to her father again.

1.An introduction to the story.

2.One conflict

3. A decision.

Good luck!
 
and not to incite a riot but a short does not have to follow the three-act structure of a feature if it is not conducive to your story. follow your instincts on this.
Click to expand...

While a short that perhaps features just one long scene might not have a first act, second and third... it does have a beginning, middle and end. Which is a fancy way of saying first, second and third act :)

EJ
 
Sometimes, due to the time limitation, it is easier to think of a short in terms of setup/punchline rather than Act1/Act2/Act3.

This is more in the line of how a joke is laid out. Setup the situation, then end with the punchline/twist/unexpected ending.

Just my $0.01 9/10 :)
 
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