How to Write a Short Film Script
How to Write a Short Film
"You took four minutes of my life and I want them back. Oh I'd only waste them anyway." ---Hans Moleman from The Simpsons.
There's no great secret on how to write a short film, but most rookies make the mistake of taking too long to set up too many "great" scenes. As one great writer said you have to "kill your darlings" in order to write a screenplay. Here are some tips to get through your "terrible" first ordeal.
1) Take a Comedy Improv Class: Coming from an improv director, this might seemed like biased information. However, one of the great things improv teaches us is how to quickly create and, when necessary, abandon ideas for the next one.
For instance, I might walk out onto stage with my scene partner miming that I'm carrying a box. In my mind's eye, the box is full of computer parts and I'm going to start a scene about two coworkers. However, before I can say anything, my scene partner turns to me and says a line of dialogue that indicates we're a couple and that we're on a date in a movie theater. My box has now transformed into a tub of popcorn and just like a thousand other improv guys, I roll with the change and continue with the scene as if that's what I had originally intended. I don't agonize over the loss of my "box of computer parts" scene.
If you really want to start a scene at the doorway of your main character's house, but it's quicker to move things along by starting it in his kitchen, you have to go with the quicker version. It's just that simple. Don't agonize over it. There will be another project where you can do your "great" door step scene.
2) Use the Comic Book Opening: Again, biased information from a guy who also writes comic books. In superhero comics, the editors urge you to start the first page which a big action sequence, then flashback to explain it later. It draws the reader in.
This sort of literary device can work in a short film. If you start in the middle of the character's conflict, you can quickly summarize the story in flashback and draw the audience right into the action. It will save you lots of time, collapsing Act I and Act II together and driving it right into Act III.
3) The Economy of Language: Common sense says don't use ten words when you can say it one. Don't create five scenes, cut it down to one. Essentially, if you follow the three act format for a five minute movie, Act I should be about 90 seconds, Act II should be about 2.5 minutes and Act III should be about one minute.
Again another improv lesson, an improv scene is very much like a screenplay. Instead of three acts, you have three moves or beats. The first move sets up the attitude, the second move establishes the game and the third move pushes the game off the cliff. Each new move must be bigger than the previous one. For instance, if I start a scene I might decide my character hates sugar, so in the first move I throw away all my candy. In the second move I establish the game by destroying all the sugar at my local coffee shop. We've now established a pattern of destruction related to sugar. In the final move, I set fire to a field of sugar cane. Small moves to big.
4) Start at the End: Another format is to start at the end. So in the sugar example, I start in a flaming field of sugar cane, then go back to explain how I got there. The film is essentially told in flashbacks that are the highlights of past events. Since they are only highlights, I can jump to the important points without any set up in between.
5) Make Assumptions: This goes back to the economy of language and it's another improv lesson. If your characters already know things, they don't have to explain them. For instance, if the characters already know that the zombies attacking can only be killed by a head shot they don't have to say, "We have to hit them in the head! It's the only thing that kills them!" Assume they already know that and then imply that knowledge through their actions. "Karla swings the bat striking the zombie in the arm and knocking it off. It still lurches forward. She smashes it in the head and it falls dead."
6) Showing is Usually Faster Than Telling: In the zombie example, showing is faster than telling. Film is a visual medium, so you want to show rather than tell as a rule. (Although that's not always the case in the example of tips 2 and 4.) Hopefully, your actors can convey the emotions, expressions and actions that will get across more information than a narration. On short films which usually have no budget, finding actors that convey a lot in just an expression is a difficult task.
7) Audition and Rehearse: You may think you can throw your friends in front of a camera because the movie is short and there isn't a lot of dialogue, but this is usually when you need even better actors. You may be stuck with whoever you can get on your non-existent budget.
The next best thing to having professional actors is to rehearse as much as you can before the shoot. Even non-actors can feel a degree of comfort delivering lines if they've already practiced them.
8) Keep it Simple: Short films are rarely complicated. As long as it's not absolutely crucial to your story: one location is better than three, two characters are better than five, etc.
9) Imply with Images and Sound: When you're really looking to shave a few seconds here and there, you can shave off time by using sound and images to imply. You can eliminate a shot of the city by implying it with a sound effect in the opening of the film. You can imply the character is going to sleep simply by showing a shot of the lights going out in his apartment. Keys or words on the screen can also do this: "The Next Day...", "Meanwhile" and "Later". You will find these transition keys in many short films.
10) Use Transitions: Dissolves show the passage of time. Transitional wipes can show a change of location. Fading to black shows an end of a scene. You don't have time to show characters waiting in a short film so cut to the chase with a well-placed transition.
Irish filmmaker Dermont Tynan has his take on creating a short film here:
http://www.claddagh.ie/forum/script.html.
The BFI has an extensive website on the subject:
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tours/shortfilm/tour2.html
You should also see short films. There are dozens of places on the Internet to see short films. One of them is run by Kevin Spacey and its called Triggerstreet.com.
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