short film conventions report

Short Film Conventions

In comparison to lengthy films, short films contain conventions that only apply to short films exclusively. This report identifies and explains the conventions found in short films. I observed several short films (all of them were different genres) to find and list conventions that have been used, and why it it is different to long films: The films I looked at were Finley (horror/comedy), About a girl (drama), and Connected (Psychological).

About a girl

The film 'About a girl' is a short film drama created in 2001 by Brian Percival. The film contains segments that transition from the present to the past several times while a young teenage girl monologues.

The film contains conventions that reveal a lot of information about the characters in a short amount of time to make the audience attached: this is often only shown in short films, as lengthy films have more time to add character development and in more depth.

Throughout the entire short film, the girl is shown monologuing, talking about her family and issues about them that come across as problematic to her: For example, the only time she spends with her dad is when she has to watch him play football. This is one of the examples of character development within this short film, along with the many that make the audience feel attached to the main character.

The build up of character development is important when creating a short film, as it changes the outcome of the audience's feelings when they reach the end of the film - a film that reveals nothing about a character will make the audience feel nothing for them as an outcome.

Finley

Finley is a short horror / comedy film that tells the story of an iconic horror killer that is typically seen in hollywood horror movies, except there is a twist: Finley is a bad killer that struggles to murder his targets. Finley is inspired by the iconic killer Chucky.

This 25 minute long short horror / comedy film contains conventions that are often shown in horror movies. An example of this is the build up of tension early on in the film with a fake jumpscare to give a false sense of security to the characters and audience. At this stage, it can be mentioned that this adds to their character development.

Another convention that is often seen more in horror films is a small cast and a small location: Finley has 4 main characters including the killer itself that takes place in an average looking home. This is a positive and effective convention to use in a short film, as it remains in that one location throughout the 25 minute time frame and makes the film easy to follow. A large cast and a large location (or several locations) being shown in a short time would become confusing and too much for the audience to follow along.

As well as long horror films, short horror films contain creepy and ominous sounding ambience playing to create suspense and tension. This includes mysterious and scary music that start of quiet and not as intense until something is revealed. For example: when Finley is shown staring at a character and the music becomes very intense. The chase begins and the music becomes louder and terrifying.

When creating a horror / comedy film, a convention to consider is to include an unexpected plot twist that differentiates to classic horror movies. For example, in Finley, the major plot twist is that Finley helps the 3 main characters by killing the people that broke in.