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How long should a short film be?

H

harmonica44

I have some screenplays I wanted to direct myself to break into the business. But in order to get funding for that, I thought I should shoot some short films and send them into film festivals, so they can judge what I got. I was thinking of taking the ideas from some of my scripts and condensing them into short film stories.

There is one I am doing so far and it is nine pages, so it will transfer to probably about 10-12 minutes of film because there is some action scenes that will translate longer while filming. So is that a long enough length to be considered worthy, at the festivals, or do I have to make it longer? Thanks.
 
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There is no standard length. Tell your story. If it's 2 minutes, then it's 2 minutes. If it takes 20-30 minutes to make the audience care enough about the characters to see them go through hell, then it's 20-30 minutes.

This could not be more subjective.

I will say this though, if it's a comedy - the shorter the better. Festivals tend to not like to program shorts over 20 minutes unless they are really really really kick ass. That's 2-4 other movies they could program.
 
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Agreed, it's as long as it needs to be.

If there are certain festivals you want to enter, check their requirements. One might say under 45 minutes is a short, another under 59, etc....

Again, the shorter it is the more likely it'll be programmed in.
 
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A story is what it is, some you can tell in 5 minutes, some take 35, some take 3 hours. That being said, you give a short (for film festival purposes) a serious headwind if you go over 15 minutes. It has to EXTRA good for them to devote that much time in a shorts block to one film. It can be overcome, and I have to a degree with my long ass shorts, but just be aware of it. longer is NOT necessarily better when it comes to shorts.
 
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I agree with everyone above - the story will take as long as it will take.

Now, here comes the big however... A large percentage of festivals tend to favor shorts of eight (8) minutes or less (some favor five or less) and features of 90 minutes or less. I've worked on some very, very nice shorts that were 14 to 22 minutes that didn't get into any festivals, and a few mediocre shorts under eight minutes that got into several. The supposed reasoning is that you can show more shorts per screening; or two or three features per evening.

And yes, I'm sure that people will point out numerous exceptions, but that's the point; they are exceptional. They have excellent everything - writing, production values, acting, sound, cinematography, etc.

So if your specific goal is festivals you may want to keep those length criteria on mind.
 
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Thanks that helps a lot. After I finish my first short I think I'll make another, to built a portfolio. I have written some feature length scripts but I need funding to direct them myself, plus I want some experience to improve on my skills as a director first.

So I can take the idea from another one of my scripts and condense it down to a short film. The idea is about a terrorist group that is committing a series of attacks on the city, bringing it to it's knees. But since I am reducing it a short though, there won't be much time for the terrorists to be caught in an interesting way. Once the series of attacks happens and the city is in chaos, I will have to have the main characters find out where they are, very easily and conveniently and have them caught kinda conveniently too. Is this as bad idea for a short? Or will critics at the festivals understand, since it's a short there is not much time to create much of a story?

The thing that stands out is the theme of the terrorists as the motive for their crimes and their MO has never been done in a movie before. So the theme is more important than the climax in my opinion but will they see that, since there is really not much time to flesh that out?
 
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If you think your short is going to be ten minutes, make sure it's nine.

I'm not just being silly- the festivals that are going to be looking at that film are going to be requiring 10 mins and under. You got over ten minutes then you're looking at the much longer shorts festivals and your film will be too short for them. Keep yourself under ten minutes and you avoid the festival hinterland.

That's some pragmatic rather than artistic advice.
 
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If a story, like the one you talked about^, seems to fit together as a feature, it probably isn't best to gut it into a short. Maybe you could take a key scene from it as a short? Taking a whole plot and trying to dumb it down and cram it into a few minutes just doesn't seem right to me and I have a feeling the end result will be weak.

And btw, cool idea about the attacks on the city, but how do you plan on executing it? This is your first ever production right? Your movie seems pretty "large-scale" and for it to come together well, I assume its going to take crap loads of money right? (costumes, gun props, you'll have to film in the city so permits, police need to be present, etc.) Sure you want to get into something so ambitious for a first effort?
 
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I side w/ Alcove...the average attention span is finite.. if you serve a short, make it quick and powerful 7 - 9 minutes tops, but if the story requires longer give it what it needs. I think the short films that make the best impact do it 8 min + or -..


I am working on a short and it came close to 20 - 25 minutes, I figured it was too long to get good reception as a short so I re-engineered it to be a feature. My goal is to rehash it and deliver it 90 minutes with the proper cadence of a feature. I shall endeavor to deliver the story structure in a way fitting for a feature.
 
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that1guyy said:
If a story, like the one you talked about^, seems to fit together as a feature, it probably isn't best to gut it into a short. Maybe you could take a key scene from it as a short? Taking a whole plot and trying to dumb it down and cram it into a few minutes just doesn't seem right to me and I have a feeling the end result will be weak.

And btw, cool idea about the attacks on the city, but how do you plan on executing it? This is your first ever production right? Your movie seems pretty "large-scale" and for it to come together well, I assume its going to take crap loads of money right? (costumes, gun props, you'll have to film in the city so permits, police need to be present, etc.) Sure you want to get into something so ambitious for a first effort?
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I didn't intend on this being my first effort. I am making another short right now. I wrote a short film script and another feature film script which I would wanna do as my first feature, if the opportunity was given to me. This other terrorism plot one would be a bigger effort if I had more a little more money from other movies. But as far doing my own short films to get my foot in the door, and get funding for a feature, I have run out of ideas. I thought if I take this terrorism plot of mine (my best idea, even my friends say so), and turn it into a short, that it would be a much better received short, because of the original themes.

I would have to have police present and all that, but I have written a lot of the unfinished script in a way, where the police would be kept on the sidelines from the main protagonist, as much as they could be. Not sure how I would execute that still, but it is a short for the future, and maybe if the short gets me funding I could remake it into a feature, with much more plot.

I could take a key scene or something like that, and shoot that as a short as was suggested, but won't the critics and producers at the festivals think that it's not a whole story though and just one scene? I mean shorts usually are required to have a beginning, a middle and a conclusion of sorts.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I could take a key scene or something like that, and shoot that as a short as was suggested, but won't the critics and producers at the festivals think that it's not a whole story though and just one scene? I mean shorts usually are required to have a beginning, a middle and a conclusion of sorts.
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This.

However, if you want to give it a shot, then write it. You'll have a better idea about the requirements of your story once you write it. There is no harm in trying ;)
 
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Gauranteed unpopular answer

85 minutes. 30 seconds, 3.5 minutes.

It depends on the result you want. I usually start with my core crew discussing multiple projects, then we pick the one that most closely fits the time frame that is marketable.

For example, if we want to produce a 1 hour nature documentary, we find a theme that fits well into 43:30. This way if the film succeeds, it is in a format that CAN be purchased.

I worked for a while with the #1 channel on youtube, Machinima.com. I kept turning in these 20 minute films. One day the guy calls me and says, uhh, Nate, maybe we should have mentioned that on youtube, only 10% or so make it past the 3 minute mark. So for a youtube destination, I'd try for 3-4 minutes.

Take a 32 minute film of the same quality, and you'll have 10x the difficulty in seeing a final sale. Why? Becuase it doesn't fit into any time slots available for broadcast.

If you want to release a DVD, go for 85 minimum. I can't think of anyone out there that rents 16 minute films. Maybe us here on the board, but thats 300 people out of 300 million. You can do better if you adapt your creativity to accepted commercial formats.

If all you care about is creativity, and aren't concerned with marketability, then cut the time to fit your imagination, as suggested above.

Showtime or HBO will buy documentaries at just under 1 hour, because they have no commercials. Last I heard they pay about 25k a showing.

MTV will sometimes buy very short films, in their constant struggle to seem hip and experimental.
 
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