Why I Suck at Making Short Films

Published on July 3, 2018

Pre-Production

collaboration, Scenario writting, Short Film, Storytelling, We need you

Welcome guys to an unusual Creative Tuesday. In this weeks video we are giving personal tips on how to write a scenario. We failed a lot at making short films and out of this failure we learned so much. So that’s why we want to share our experience with you. But we are also asking for your help. Recently Film riot brought out a short movie named ‘Ballistic’, which was visually stunning. This sparked the old short movie bug within Cinecom. But we know from ourselves that we are terrible writers. So you can probably already hear us coming. We need your help and writers talent. We want to collaborate with one of you guys and make a short movie with you!

If you wanna check out the short films mentioned in the video above, you can check them out in this playlist.

How it works?

Well you need to send a video with an introduction of yourself and a short synopsis of your story. You’ll also need to include a long written synopsis (max one page), so we can really get in the mood of your story. And of course we are going to need some personal information, to get to know you and so we can contact you. That were all the technical things you need to know, now let’s see what you can make.

What is the story about?

You can write about everything you can imagine. Just keep in mind that we are a small team and we don’t have the biggest budget. We have a big studio at hand and can build sets, so that’s something you can definitely use in your scenario. But what we can’t do is 3D model stuff like robots, futuristic animals and such. So my tip to you is keep it simple and really focus on the story. Like the famous saying ‘less is more’.

Scenario Tips

Most films are written with the 3 act structure. This exists out of act 1, the setup. This means you get to know the main characters, their relationships and the world they live in. In this act the protagonist also goes through an on-screen incident, that he tries to resolve. This often lead to a more dramatic situation, which is called the turning point. after this the second act starts, the confrontation or the rising action. In this act the protagonist attempts to resolve the problem, he finds himself in a worsening situation. He now needs to learn a new skill to overcome his problems. The last And third act is the resolution. In this act all the plots and subplots are resolved. Here you have the climax, the scene in which the main tensions are brought to their most intense point and all the questions are being answered.

This is a short explanation how the three act structure works. You can really recognize it in a lot of movies. We also have found a really handy and fun tool for storytelling. It’s a periodic table for scenarios, if you are interested definitely check it out.

Skillshare

In our courses on Skillshare we explain the basics of filmmaking, everything you need to know to start making films. You’ll learn how to work with Premiere Pro and the ins and outs of your camera. And if you join our filmmaking community on skillshare, you get 2 months for free!

BENQ

A 4K UHD monitor that offers extraordinary clarity of fine details and depth of subtle textures optimized for visually intensive work in animation, visual effects, graphics, and photos.