Codes and Conventions of a short film.

By Courtney Burch.

Characters.

• There is usually only 1-3 main characters as because there is not enough time to build up any more characters background stories and because of the lack of time it allows the audience to really relate to the only few characters as they are the only focus point.

Length.

• Short films are usually anywhere between 3-20 minutes long.

• Examples:• Post It ( 7 minutes long).

Story Lines.

• Story lines are usually just about one subject by which the audience can see through a matter of conventions, because there isn’t a lot of time to create a story throughout the narrative of a short film you must make the audience understand what’s going on through the pictures and music and because of this there is limited dialogue.

Story Twist.

• To get the atmosphere really going in short films there are usually twists. For example in black button one of the main male characters has to pick a life changing decision thinking he was alive but in reality it turns out whatever decision he made was whether he was getting into heaven or hell.

Budget.

• As short films are independently made their budget is usually rather low.

Audience.• Short films usually have a niche audience as

there is not a lot of advertisement for them.