2. WHAT IS A SHORT FILM?
• A short film is a film which doesn’t last long enough to be
considered as a feature length film. A good short film should
have an original idea, a strong script, good acting and it has
to be kept short. A short film should be able to start with a
strong beginning; this draws the audience in, therefor wanting
to watch the rest of the film, it means that the film has caught
their attention from the start and won’t be likely to loose it.
When it comes to the beginning, lengthy introductions can
spoil this.
• A good strong script is important when creating a narrative
based short film. Compared to a feature length film, a short
film story has to be condensed and characters have to be
developed quicker than within a full length film. So as not to
develop a script which is weak and will fall at the first hurdle,
time should be taken for it to develop correctly and should be
read over by peers, so to make sure that the script works well,
as well as informs the audience correctly and draws them in
so that they want to know more.
• Also it doesn’t want to be too long and confusing otherwise
the audience will get un-interested easily. What is also needed
is strong acting, what makes so many short films bad is there
isn’t good enough acting and this lets the film down then. It
lets the film down because, the audience start to loose the
reality which they relate to within the film if the acting is bad
because they can’t focus on the story line. A key part of a
short film is it needs to be kept short, that’s what keeps the
audience attention, and if it becomes too long then it looses
their attention.
3. WHAT’S A VIRGIN?
• This short film which is only 2 minutes and 34 seconds
long, falls into the comedy genre shows us a tail of
how a mother (who is played by Kate Issit) who is of
a middle class family from the setting which is
around her, is cooking dinner in the kitchen whilst
her young daughter (Rebecca Duffy) is drawing a
picture of a rainbow, however the plot twists as the
daughter asks a question and the mother is left
stumped as too how she can answer said question.
• The question which she asks her mother is “what’s a
virgin mean?” for a mother with a young daughter,
who is at an age where she wants to know what
everything means, the little girls mum is in a state of
shock and tries to explain the awkward and simply
embarrassing question. As the scene continues the
mother continues to become more and more
flustered as she explains ‘what a virgin is’. When she
comes to the end of her explanation, he daughter
then asks the question ‘what does extra virgin
mean?’, this adds a twist onto the end of the short
film and the audience reaction is humours.
• This short film is in the humour category and its quite
relatable for audiences like parents who have
children which ask them questions everyday like
‘what does a virgin mean?’ so it becomes funny
because most people can in a way relate to it.
4. THE DESK
The Desk is an anti-bullying
short film which was written
and directed by Albert
Gonzalez Films.
This film is based in a
school where a student
who has just started
attending find it hard to fit
in, in the new school.
As he sit down in his first class he
see’s a girl who is in the same class
who he seems attracted to. He
then proceed to write his name on
the desk instead of going to the
girl and talking to her.
Once he proceeds to write
his name on the table,
there is a sequence of
shots which show him in a
darkened room where he
is staring at his phone. He
then proceeds to stare at
the girl he saw the day
before and as he is
walking he gets pushed by
another student which
leads to his books being
pushed all over the floor.
Suddenly when he thinks
that his day can’t get any
worse he see’s a message
from someone who has
wrote back to say hello.
When his class finishes, he tells
her he has to go and leaves
the desk and goes home.
When he next goes to the
class, the lesson has been
moved to another classroom
and he can’t get to the desk.
He then starts to get
disappointed as yet again he
is back to square one.
When he doesn’t feel like his
day can get any better, the
girl which helped him pick
up his books comes into his
classroom and sits next to
him, she then proceeds to
tap him on his shoulder and
gives him a note, which says
”do I know you? They then
both realise that they know
each other from writing to
each other on the desk.
5. THE ELEVATOR
• The elevator is a short film which portrays a normal
guy who walks into an elevator . This short film shows
the guy walking to the elevator and him pressing the
button for his floor. As he travels to all the different
floors more and more people start to get on. The
people who are getting on are slightly overweight
compared to the main character. The main
character then starts to get worried about the weight
that the lift can take he the see’s a man walking
towards the lift who is too big for them to all fit in
there so he decides to get out and go to the next lift
not wanting to be crushed or be in a broken lift. So he
takes the next lift. He then starts to become smug
because he thinks he can carry on peacefully to his
floor but doesn’t realise that the lift which he has
gotten into is the lift where people are going for their
swine flu injection and within the elevator everyone is
coughing and sneezing so the luck which the
character though he had, vanished when he got into
the second lift. This short film is quite short, funny and
its grabs the audiences attention to what the short
film is about in the first minute.
6. EDINBURGH FILM FESTIVAL
• Edinburgh film festival came about in 1947, this was one
of the worlds first festival, which is still running to this day.
Its one of the worlds best loved audience film festivals.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is renowned
around the world for discovering and promoting the
very best in international cinema - and for heralding and
debating changes in global filmmaking. Intimate in its
scale, ambitious in its scope, and fuelled by pure passion
for cinema in all its manifestations, EIFF seeks to spotlight
the most exciting and innovative new film talent, in a
setting steeped in history.
• Notable films premiered in recent years have included:
BRAVE, KILLER JOE, 35 SHOTS OF RUM, THE HURT LOCKER,
MOON, FISH TANK, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, SOMERS TOWN,
MAN ON WIRE, CONTROL, KNOCKED UP, RATATOUILLE,
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, TSOTSI,
BILLY ELLIOT and AMORES PERROS.
• EIFF is supported by Creative Scotland, the City of
Edinburgh Council, EventScotland, the Scottish
Government through the Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund
and the BFI. EIFF is proud to be part of the Year of
Creative Scotland, a Scottish Government initiative led
in partnership by EventScotland, VisitScotland, Creative
Scotland and VOCAL, which is spotlighting and
celebrating Scotland’s cultural and creative strengths on
a world stage.
7. LONDON SHORT FILM FESTIVAL
• The London short film festival
showcases the best UK short film-making
talent. This takes place in
January for a few weeks and the short
films are premiered at the best
selected independent cinemas
around London, with a mix of live
music and parties to celebrate.
• In 2015 the London short film festival
are opening up their festival for
international film makers. It was 2008
when it became the London short film
festival which has been growing more
and more each year bringing in new
film talent and more and more films
being submitted.
