I would throw in a few additional points that weren't covered..
#1 Plan
every shot and
stick to the plan.
There's always some cool idea that comes up while on set, and that's great if:
a) you have time to do it without compromising the other planned shots, and
b) it will help tell the story.
Condition
a is pretty self explanatory.. you're already on a tight schedule, if you don't have time to get everything shot that's planned for and you start shooting other things that aren't part of that plan your shoot becomes longer.
Condition
b is just logic.. If you're not shooting something that helps tell the story, why are you shooting it? Because it's "cool"? There's no time to do stuff just because it seems cool, if it doesn't move the story forward, don't do it.
#2 Shoot for
the edit
This goes hand in hand with point #1. When planning the shots, plan how they will cut together, then shoot it that way. This makes the edit a lot less work, and that's important since you're not going to have a lot of time to play around in the editing session.
Additionally it will leave you with more time to focus on the often overlooked elements that will make the whole thing look better.
If you plan every shot, shoot every shot in the plan, and the plan was designed around how things will cut together, the edit is just a matter of putting the puzzle pieces back together, virtually no thought or significant effort involved. That means the edit will go quickly and you'll have plenty of time for color grading, and a killer audio mix.
#3 Keep the story
small.
You're working on a very short schedule, you don't have time to run all over town to several locations.
Furthermore, you're shooting a
SHORT. It's not a feature film, it's not a feature length story crammed into 5 minutes, it's a short. A situation, an anecdote, a vignette, a story fragment...
Get to the point, avoid the extra fluff. You don't have time to show someone get up, walk across the room, flick a light switch, grab the newspaper, etc etc etc...
Get into the story as late as possible, and get back out as soon as possible.
A short for this kind of competition isn't going to really fit the 3-act formula, it's more like a one act, and if it's a one act it should be like act 3 of a feature... a whole bunch has already happened prior to the camera being trained on the actor in the first scene of your short, and the entire time you're moving ahead at full speed toward the ending.
Can you do a bigger story within the short timeframe you've got to work with and the length requirements? Sure... but the films that do well don't try to tell too much of a story, they center around a situation or an incident, get into the story as late as possible, and get out as quick as possible.
#4 Keep the cast small
Much like keeping the story small, you'll have an easier time if you keep the cast small.
Getting all the people where they need to be at the right time will be easier since you'll have less people to worry about.
Getting all the proper coverage of the characters will take less time, so you'll have less shots on your shot list.
You'll have a stronger story, centered on one or two characters, not a big group who we don't have time to introduce, get to know, and decide to love or hate.
Of course, feel free to ignore my suggestions, but I've been involved in 5 or 6 of these competitions, and have also judged them, so my insight is from a slightly different perspective than your average competitor..
