Most short films keep there character count as low as possible, 2 or 3 at the most due to the fact there isn't a lot of time to develop these characters in a short film. The further the development of a character the more invested an audience member becomes in the character. This causes the audience member to be more effected by a short film. I follow this convention knowing that to many characters makes a confusing and a times pointless short film as you take nothing from it. Shown below are my two characters, Annabelle played by Chloe Manley and Hannah played by Amy Shelmerdine.
Short Films only have a short amount of time to create an effect on the audience oppose to the 90 minutes normal movies have so some short films use twists to shock the audience and effectively put the message across. This convention I found far to enticing not to use the way some short films like 'About a girl' and 'Spider' can leave me thinking about the film for three hours after the credits shows me how effective this convention is and I wanted to have a go at it. The twist is created by creating a predictable narrative lulling the audience into a false security and then pull the rug from under the audience with a shocking revelation or sometimes fatal event. Below is an image of the car crash which creates the shock twist.
Short film directors are usually independent meaning the budget is usually very low and can only support having two actors in a few locations. A lot of actors usually do short films to get there name out there and not for the money so will perform for free. I had to follow this convention as I didn't have the money to put behind it but the film ended up looking more real because it was set in a simple neighbourhood like the one most viewers live in.
Length-
Short Films are between 5 and 35 minutes long and shorter than 5 minutes it would not be able to expand a story long enough and longer than 35 minutes it would be a feature length film. My film had to be 5 minutes as it has to fit the A2 criteria but I did follow this convention.
Situation-
Most short films have a low budget and want to engage with there audience so usually use an everyday situation that the everyday viewer can relate to then flip it on it's head through a twist ending or an unforeseen revelation. This convention was used in my piece, Hara-Kiri as I turn the everyday goings on of a teenage girl into a dark and unfortunate series of events.
Todorov-
Todorov's theory of Equilibrium is typically applied to short films beginning with a form of equilibrium where everything is normal then an event causes a problem throwing the narrative into disequilibrium finally the protagonist fixes the disequilibrium bring back the equilibrium which is somehow different from before. I did not follow this convention as my film had a message behind it about media today and by ending my film with disequilibrium the message is put across in a much more devastating and shocking way.
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