Codes and Conventions of a Short FilmJonathan Kavanagh

Characters

Characters in short films are an obvious convention of short films, within a short film it is regular to have a focus on two-three main characters at most, some even only contain one. This is in order to maintain relative depth to their personalities in the small amount of time they are able to be developed, this usually doesn’t include giving a character history (like what you might see in a feature-length film) but rather giving an example of their personalities or lifestyles in order for the audience to sympathise.

An example of a film I watched in which the characters we’re developed in an interesting manor was ‘Strangers’ (2004, Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv). In this film, the two main established characters are binary opposites; a Jewish man and a Israeli man, the narrative progresses to a point in which, although they are innate enemies, they have to ‘put aside their differences’ in order to escape from a group of skinheads. Though we only see the characters for a limited amount of time, it remains clear what kind of people they are.

TwistShort films often contain a twist so to make a lasting impression on the viewer, the majority of them do this as it maintains interest in the film while also giving the producers an important narrative device. This can be done in a variety of different ways be it in the narrative, where maybe someone abruptly dies or perhaps in the genre, where a film we might have previously thought was a horror could turn to be a comedy (like ‘December’, 2010, Andreas Pasvantis)

An example of another film in which used a genre twist is ‘Sight’ (2012, Eran May-raz) which begins relatively like a sci-fi romantic drama, in which the audience believe is intelligent yet innocent, the ending twist however is a dark turn, and as the main characters motives become more clear the film suddenly resembles more of a thriller than romance. This twist is effective as it builds on the complexity of the narrative, as through doing this the producers have presented a comment of how they believe what direction the progression of technology will take humanity.

SituationThe situation in which a short film takes place is key in the enjoyment of a film, in order for the audience to stay connected they have to be intrigued towards the progression.

One particular film in which the ‘situation’ has been developed in a manor which implores the viewer to continue watching is ‘The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon’ (2009, Richard Gale). In this film the enjoyment of the audience rests purely on the comedic value of the ridiculousness the main character finds himself within, as an ‘ancient evil’ (a key feature in a variety of famed action films like the Indiana jones and transformers franchise, among others) chooses a regular man as a target for beating to death, with a spoon. As it takes the route indicating an regular comedy turned action/horror epic and the audience are consistently left asking themselves why this is even happening.