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How to Structure a Short Film – A guide by Ian Kennedy

How to Structure a Short Film – A guide by Ian Kennedy

Feature films tend to get most of the glory among filmmakers, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore short film as a medium! In a new series of Insights articles, Ian Kennedy looks at the benefits of writing in this format. Here, we take a look at how to structure a short film.

In the first article in this series, we looked at why you would want to write a short film – but once you’ve decided to do so, what’s the next stage? There are a lot of advantages to making a short, but how are you supposed to fit a story into such a short number of pages? Well, before you start coming up with ideas, you might actually want to think about how to structure a short film first…

Two vs Three-Act Structure

When writing a feature film, a classic three-act structure is usually the way to go. It basically looks like this:

  • Act 1 – Setup. Here you introduce your characters and world, and get the story rolling.
  • Act 2 – Conflict. This is where most of the story happens, and where things stand in the way of the protagonist getting what they want.
  • Act 3 – Resolution. The characters must overcome the final hurdle, defeat their enemies, and win the day… or lose it.

So for example, in Star Wars, Act 1 sees Luke Skywalker on his home planet of Tatooine, Act 2 has him trying to rescue Princess Leia from the Death Star, and in Act 3 he must defeat the Empire once and for all.

When writing a short film, it’s still a good idea to aim for this structure – but there’s also another alternative. For short films, you can also use a structure that only has two acts – a structure that doesn’t work for a longer film at all! A story with a two-act structure is quite simple, since it has the same basic structure as a joke:

  • Act 1 – Setup…
  • Act 2 – Punchline!

In a two-act structure, you basically cut out the middle. You make a promise to the audience in the first act, and then fulfil that promise in the second – this has the advantage of asking them to connect the dots between the two themselves, which makes them involved and ultimately rewards them for being invested.

But whichever structure you use, the real key to writing a successful short is to trust your audience that you don’t have to explain everything to them. Use our unconscious knowledge and expectations to shortcut as much exposition and world-class building as possible.

So in conclusion, when making a short film, you need to match your concept to the structure. You don’t have to use three acts in short format because there’s another option; if your concept is something simple that functions like a joke, with a setup and a punchline, then two acts will also work. And above all, let the audience fill in the bits of the story there’s not enough time for, so that you can keep your short screenplay… well, short!

Take a look at our other Writing Insights articles here for great hints and tips on crafting your scripts!

WriteMovies Writing Tips: Writing Beyond the First Page

WriteMovies Writing Tips: Writing Beyond the First Page

These WriteMovies Writing Tips will help with your struggles to go beyond the first part of the script – the stumbling block can often be going further..

“They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited ‘first chapters’. I have indeed written many” J. R. R. Tolkien.

The idea, the first page, that first act can all come so easy to use, but the stumbling block can quite often be going further. Every story has a beginning, middle and end, but we never anticipate that the middle will be the tough part – yet it is. As writers, we may know where our story starts and where it ends, but getting from A to B can be difficult.

But don’t stop writing – keep pushing forward. If you don’t know what to write next we suggest two options:

  1. Go back to your outline, or create one if you haven’t already. Some don’t need one, but it’s so helpful to have one.
  2. Write what you DO know is going to happen, then fill in the blanks later. This might not be the most conventional work around, but if this helps you finish that script then what does it matter!

Use this for motivation this Monday to finish that script that never got past the first ten pages, or that book that is only a chapter old – then take a chance on it and enter it in the Spring 2017 Contest

 

Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.

© WriteMovies 2017

Example Studio Coverage: PULP FICTION

Example Studio Coverage: PULP FICTION

Trainees Example Studio Coverage

“This non-linear format could be disorienting for audiences and hence hard to follow, especially seeing as this format is not regularly used. However, each story is distinctly separated from the other with the use of title cards, so any immediate confusion should be dismissed fairly quickly…” Extracts from a script report by our trainee Jamie White, based on a reading of the Quentin Tarantino script PULP FICTION: CLICK HERE

TITLE: PULP FICTION            LOCALE: Los Angeles

AUTHOR: Quentin Tarantino      SETTING: Urban

GENRE:            Primary: Crime
Secondary:
Drama

 

Character Breakdown


Vincent Vega
: (20/30s) White (M). A cocky young mob hitman who works for Marcellus Wallace.

Jules Winnfield: (20/30s) Black (M). Mob hitman for Marcellus Wallace and Vincent’s partner in crime.

Marcellus Wallace: (40s) Black (M). A very big, powerful and intimidating man. A crime Kingpin who has a lot of control in L.A.

Mia: (20/30s) White (F). Mischievous and often doesn’t take things seriously. Almost childish. She is the precious wife of Marcellus Wallace.

Butch: (26) White (M). Professional boxer, a well-built guy, having killed an opponent during a match. He is deep in love with his French paramour, Fabien.

Pumpkin: (20s) British, white (M). A young man from Britain with an ability to sweet-talk. He is over-confident when it comes to robberies but still wary of things that can go wrong. Boyfriend to Honey Bunny.

Honey Bunny: (20s) White (F). An emotional, hysterical at times, young woman. She is madly in love with Pumpkin with whom she robs various establishments with.

Winston Wolf: (50s/60s)(M). A smooth talking, tuxedo wearing gentleman. He is a “fixer.” He solves problems for Marcellus Wallace that require his special set of skills and efficiency.

 

Logline An anthology of four different stories, told from four different perspectives, set in the crime thriving suburbs of Los Angeles.

 

Synopsis

PROLOGUE/EPILOGUE: A young couple (HONEY BUNNY(f)/PUMPKIN(f)) are talking in a coffee shop and then, suddenly, they engage in holding the place up. VINCENT and JULES are there. They have recently got back from an apartment where they killed a few men and survived certain death. Jules manages to calmly defuse the situation without killing anyone (he is a changed man after everything that’s happened). Honey Bunny and Pumpkin are let go with what cash they already have and Jules and Vincent promptly leave.

STORY 1, “VINCENT VEGA AND MARCELLUS WALLACE’S WIFE”- Set after the Prologue/Epilogue. Vincent is tasked with looking after MIA, the wife of MARCELLUS WALLACE, a crime kingpin and his boss. Vincent meets Mia at the Wallace house and they leave soon after. They go to a 60s diner for food and dancing. They have a great time and are comfortable around one another. Back at the Wallace residence, Mia finds the heroin Vincent bought at his dealer’s (LANCE) place earlier and sniffs it like cocaine. Vincent then takes her now lifeless body to the Lance’s place. At Lance’s, they find an adrenaline shot and amateurishly inject it into Mia’s heart. She screams but is ok now. Vincent takes her back home and they agree to NEVER tell Marcellus about this.

STORY 2.”THE GOLD WATCH”- A 5 year-old Butch is told a long story about his father from an army friend and is given a watch. Back in the present Butch is eager to leave the area where he just had a boxing match; his opponent is dead and Marcellus is not happy about it. Butch learns of this in a taxi ride. Later he is eager to collect his winnings and run away with FABIEN. Butch arrives at a motel where Fabien is. They’re in love and plan to run away. The next morning they prepare to catch a train but Butch can’t find his watch, which he finds infuriating and scares Fabien. Butch goes back to his seemingly untouched apartment to grab his watch. He finds it but someone is there. Vincent comes out of the bathroom and Butch shoots and kills him with a silenced gun. After leaving, Burch runs into (literally) Marcellus and totals his car. A dazed Marcellus runs after Butch and they enter a pawnshop. The pawnbroker keeps the two of them hostage. The broker has a friend come over and they bring out their pet gimp. The two take Marcellus away. Butch manages to get free and incapacitate the gimp. He then goes to free Marcellus, killing one of the perverts and Marcellus takes care of the other. The two reach a mutual agreement. They’re cool. This allows Butch to leave town with Fabien just as they planned.

STORY 3. ”JULES, VINCENT, JIMMIE AND THE WOLF” – Carrying on from Jules and Vincent’s prologue and their miraculous survival. The have taken one of the young men from the apartment with them, but Vincent accidentally kills him in the car. The car is covered in blood. Jules calls his friend, JIMMIE, for help. Jimmie is not pleased with the situation. They have an hour and a half to sort this out before his wife gets home. Jules calls Marcellus who sends the Wolf, a fixer. He whips Jules and Vincent into shape as they clean the car, move the body to the trunk and change out of their bloody clothes, all before Jimmie’s wife gets home. They take the body to a local tow truck business to dispose of. Mr. Wolf leaves with his girlfriend after Jules and Vincent thank him. The two men then decide to go get breakfast. This leads into the Prologue/Epilogue at the coffee shop.

 

Comments

The linear chronology of the story is as such: JULES/VINCENT PROLOGUE – STORY 3 – PROLOGUE/EPILOGUE (in the coffee shop) – STORY 1 – STORY 2. This non-linear format could be disorienting for audiences and hence hard to follow, especially seeing as this format is not regularly used. However, each story is distinctly separated from the other with the use of title cards, so any immediate confusion should be dismissed fairly quickly.

Character development, even when a non-linear plot is used, must still make sense. For the most part, this applies to Vincent Vega as he appears in each story (although very briefly in some.) He doesn’t develop a huge amount but that is not to say the development is wrong or poor. In fact, it fits in well with his character arc as a whole leading to his ultimate demise.

After Jules and Vincent survive the apartment shooting they act very differently. Jules wants to retire from this business and leave it all behind; he obviously doesn’t want to die this way. Vincent, on the other hand, thinks Jules is making too much out of this and carries on with his work. After the epilogue (chronologically) Jules does not appear again and presumably lives and retires, Vincent carries on with his work and is inevitably killed. This is a nice piece of irony and duality. One man leaves when he can and survives, the other continues and lives. The way in which Vincent dies is also reminiscent from the apartment shooting. He and Jules survive a man shooting at them after coming out of a bathroom, but after he comes out of a bathroom, he is the one who dies…

This anthology style of story-telling has been successfully achieved by the SIN CITY movies, the first of which nearly made quadruple its budget. MOVIE 43 was another anthology film and made over five times what it cost to make. The anthology format allows for an ensemble cast that will only appear for brief portions of the film, allowing for less payment per actor…

This is a very rich story with a great chance of excelling at the box-office and worthy of a recommendation.

 

To see the full industry-standard format we use for Studio Coverage, either commission your own (CLICK HERE) based on the script you submit, or purchase The Confidential Studio Manual to get the inside track on how the industry will really assess and process your script (CLICK HERE)!

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