Thoughts on the art & craft of short-filmmaking
Members of the ScreenACT team attended the SNOWYfest International Film Festival over the weekend of 16-18 June in Thredbo. It served as a reminder of the most important element for a great short film, or any film for that matter - the story itself.
New filmmakers just starting out often get frustrated about competing with filmmakers that have access to all the best equipment, but no matter what the production values of your film, it is the story that has to shine through! You can hire the best actors and top of the line crew and equipment, but without a good story, the film will fail! And telling a story in only 5 or 30 minutes is a hard ask of anyone - often harder than writing a feature script. Many short films show great promise only to let the audience down in the final scene. Nail the story in a short film and see where it takes you.
The winner of the SNOWYfest Best Film category was Binta & the Great Idea, an example of a beautiful story told exceptionally well. Entered by a Spanish filmmaker, the film was the festival's first international winner and the organisers of SNOWYfest say it is probably the best short film they have ever seen. The judges obviously agreed.
A mistake that aspiring filmmakers sometimes make is to attend a festival screening simply to watch their own film screened and to gauge people's reaction to their work. While it is a fundamental lesson in short filmmaking to see how an independent audience reacts to your work, it is equally, if not more, important to the ongoing development of your craft and skills to watch as many quality short films as you can. If you are not immersing yourself in the craft and taking the opportunity to learn from other filmmakers, how do you expect to develop as a filmmaker?
Robert McKee, screenwriter and author of Story, says much the same in his world-renowned Story Seminar. He recommends developing the craft of scriptwriting by reading as many of the great screenplays as you can get your hands on and learning/developing the craft from them. Many classic screenplays like Casablanca and Chinatown can be purchased or simply downloaded from the internet. Given the regard for McKee's work, ScreenACT included Story as part of the prize for Best Script sponsored by ScreenACT at the recent CIT FAT Awards.
So, for anyone who wants to be a great short filmmaker or thinks they already are one, remember: Don't be complacent about your work, but look at it with a critical eye in the context of the work of others. See how your work stands up against work from as wide a region as possible. Take every opportunity to watch short films, from all over the world. There are some amazing short films out there, from which you can learn all sorts of techniques to take your own work from good to great. And most importantly, the story is the key.
If you are interested in developing your skills in scriptwriting, try contacting the ACT Writers Centre (www.actwriters.org.au) or Australian Writers Guild (www.awg.com.au) for information on where to start.
New filmmakers just starting out often get frustrated about competing with filmmakers that have access to all the best equipment, but no matter what the production values of your film, it is the story that has to shine through! You can hire the best actors and top of the line crew and equipment, but without a good story, the film will fail! And telling a story in only 5 or 30 minutes is a hard ask of anyone - often harder than writing a feature script. Many short films show great promise only to let the audience down in the final scene. Nail the story in a short film and see where it takes you.
The winner of the SNOWYfest Best Film category was Binta & the Great Idea, an example of a beautiful story told exceptionally well. Entered by a Spanish filmmaker, the film was the festival's first international winner and the organisers of SNOWYfest say it is probably the best short film they have ever seen. The judges obviously agreed.
A mistake that aspiring filmmakers sometimes make is to attend a festival screening simply to watch their own film screened and to gauge people's reaction to their work. While it is a fundamental lesson in short filmmaking to see how an independent audience reacts to your work, it is equally, if not more, important to the ongoing development of your craft and skills to watch as many quality short films as you can. If you are not immersing yourself in the craft and taking the opportunity to learn from other filmmakers, how do you expect to develop as a filmmaker?
Robert McKee, screenwriter and author of Story, says much the same in his world-renowned Story Seminar. He recommends developing the craft of scriptwriting by reading as many of the great screenplays as you can get your hands on and learning/developing the craft from them. Many classic screenplays like Casablanca and Chinatown can be purchased or simply downloaded from the internet. Given the regard for McKee's work, ScreenACT included Story as part of the prize for Best Script sponsored by ScreenACT at the recent CIT FAT Awards.
So, for anyone who wants to be a great short filmmaker or thinks they already are one, remember: Don't be complacent about your work, but look at it with a critical eye in the context of the work of others. See how your work stands up against work from as wide a region as possible. Take every opportunity to watch short films, from all over the world. There are some amazing short films out there, from which you can learn all sorts of techniques to take your own work from good to great. And most importantly, the story is the key.
If you are interested in developing your skills in scriptwriting, try contacting the ACT Writers Centre (www.actwriters.org.au) or Australian Writers Guild (www.awg.com.au) for information on where to start.