Investigating Different Narrative Conventions In Short Film

Characters
Due to the length of a short film there isn't enough time to create a in-depth back story for each character. The majority of short films only consist of 2 or 3 main characters for the audience to create bonds with. For our short film we need to make sure not to implement to many characters otherwise it could start to get a little confusing. 

Plot Twist

Short films almost always contain a plot twist as a means to make the story line more interesting. Since they are generally not long enough to create an in depth plot, the forceful plot twist speeds up the whole process leaving the viewer to thoughtfully contemplate the narrative. Narrative Enigmas act along side plot twists as a means to invite interest into the narrative. This was a big element that we had been aware of prior to this project. We plan to have a load of different plot twists and narrative enigmas.

Unconventional story telling
The narrative usually incorporates underlying themes.

Situation
Short films usually take an everyday situation that the viewers can relate to and then completely flip it. A perfect example of this would be the Biting Elbows The Stamped where an everyday 9 to 5 day job turns into action packed parade of death.


Budget
Short films predominantly have low budgets mainly because they lack funding. In order to keep the film budget low they will typically choose as few locations as possible, and keeping the cast as few as possible. 



Length
Short film are as the name suggests 'short'. Usually with a max length of 35 minuets but generally are 5-10 minuets. 
 Examples
 2 + 2 was 6:52 minutes long, Biting Elbows was 7:55.


Todorov
Todorov's Theory of equilibrium is typically applied to short films. Stating that a state of equillibirum is initially obtain, then lost