Telling a story in 6 minutes or less!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I actually wrote 5 1/2 pages for LoveFest (silent film all action and no dialog). The first cut was 14 minutes. Between cutting a whole lot out and ramping the speed up (mimicking 16fps played back at 24fps) I just barely got it down to 6:00, but I'm well aware that the film suffered as a result.

Need to be more careful on my next fest film as somehow I don't think accelerating dialog footage is going to work out too well. (Well, unless I do a drugs film)

This is something you learn as you go I find. Eventually you learn to do it well.

There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to fit 5.5 pages into a five or six minute short. A 5 page script definitely shouldn't have been running at 14 minutes. IMHO.

That's what's great about these Fest's. They make you focus on telling a complete story withing the time limit. Not an easy task.

Mike

I bet it's an issue of not breaking it into paragraphs / skipping lines for every shot. The script was all action. 5 pages of block text describing action could easily run 15 minutes or much, much more.

To get to the 1 minute per page average, which again is an average which works better averaging out over 90 or 120 mins / pages you've gotta be in exactly correct form. Which is not just tabs and margins but also making the script a good vertical read and skipping lines (double space) between every shot / new idea.

So ...

Ledbetter turns the sink's knob but nothing comes out - at
first.

Then the pipes chug, the walls shake, and a single spat of
brown sludge ejaculates from the faucet.

He picks up a nearly empty bottle of bourbon, pours some
over the paste on his toothbrush and gives his teeth a good
once over.

Not ...

Ledbetter turns the sink's knob but nothing comes out - at
first. Then the pipes chug, the walls shake, and a single
spat of brown sludge ejaculates from the faucet. He picks
up a nearly empty bottle of bourbon, pours some over the
paste on his toothbrush and gives his teeth a good once over.

If it takes time to do or time to look at it should take up space on the page, which makes for a clearer, better read that's more like watching a film anyway.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I bet it's an issue of not breaking it into paragraphs / skipping lines for every shot. The script was all action. 5 pages of block text describing action could easily run 15 minutes or much, much more.

I've read plenty of scripts made into features and on average they run a page a minute. Give or take a few. I've never seen a 30 page script turned into a feature. Doesn't mean they don't exist.

I think turning a 5 page script into a 14 minute movie shows that something is off a tad. Unless as you say it was filled to the brim with action. Was this the case? Maybe.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Gohanto]

Yes it was all action. By the nature of silent film.

There were a few blocks of text that could've been broken up though.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

One example of what I'm talking about...

The script with scene descriptions for The Silence of the Lambs is longer than the running time of the movie.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Mobie540]

Whenever I write a script, I get very descriptive when opening a scene or describing a character. My timefest shoot script is 8 solid pages. The final cut came in around 5:30 min to include credits. So I don't think there is hard fast rules with a minute per page.

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Whenever I write a script, I get very descriptive when opening a scene or describing a character. My timefest shoot script is 8 solid pages. The final cut came in around 5:30 min to include credits. So I don't think there is hard fast rules with a minute per page.

I agree. Every director is different and the theory of one minute per page is more of a ballpark. That's why I originally said "give or take" depending on the director and the script.

As JDS mentioned, heavy action filled scripts can run much longer.

Also, some directors can make shots with nothing being said last forever. While others cut to the chase. It's really a style thing in some ways.

So. Has anyone watched the movies that I linked from last Fest? If you haven't seen them you should.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Duff]

My script was 9 pages, and I'll make 6 minute mark without cutting anything. Then again, my scripts are mainly fast-paced dialogue.

 

[Heather]

That would do it. I think we were at 6:00 without cutting too.