My Short Film - Initial Thoughts

In terms of narrative structure, I think they can always be adapted for short film relatively heavily as entire sections such as the 'set-up,' or 'resolution,' can be completely cut or altered, in order to drive the story more efficiently. For example in the short film Arrival, we were never shown the outcome after the main characters internal conflict, therefore I may decide to go past the set-up section and go straight into the confrontation.


The acclaimed French director Godard once said; "A story has a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order." I completely agree with this as the short film Over inspired me to look into the idea of a non-linear narrative. Whatever technique or structure I need to use, what I really want is to tell a good, well written story with an interesting or likeable character in the centre of everything.




I have had several ideas for my short film including:

• A telepathic girl who can hear peoples thoughts and make them see things that aren't there.
• A nervous young girl preparing for an important musical performance.
• A thriller in which mysterious black boxes keep appearing near a troubled protagonist.
• A serious short inspired by true events based in a hospital.

I think that the initial idea would be extremely complex to execute, and I would have to think a lot about how I would show these supernatural abilities via micro-elements. A simple story done well is more appealing to me, so if I were to stick with this idea I think it would just be hearing peoples thoughts.




The musical performance idea is not as appealing as the others, some ideas are just too obvious and predictable. Although, in my mind I wanted to experiment with using mise-en-scene to suggest things about the main character, similar to the use of the bike to imply the dead father in Echo. I was considering have a picture of the girls dad in her wallet so that the audience realise that she is performing musically to make her (musical) father proud, giving emotional weight to the story.




I do find the disillusionment/super-uncanny plot of my third idea incredibly appealing, as my some of my favourite films have these kinds of plots (The Truman Show and The Shining).

I thoroughly enjoy the style of the character arc in these films, as its almost as if the audience already knows what going to happen to the protagonist at the start of the film, but still watches in anticipation of witnessing the plot unravel in front of them. I would have to think about how I would incorporate this style into my own short if I were to follow the stimulus of a black box appearing mysteriously. I would need a satisfying payoff, but I think this idea is the one I personally feel the most comfortable with, as it is in the psycho-thriller genre which I love and feel that I would know how to build tension throughout a story.