There are certain 'rules' which traditional Hollywood films follow, however these are not always followed in short films. Todorov's narrative theory states that films have three stages: equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium. The equilibrium is when everything is normal, the disruption is when an event happens which puts the characters into a state of disequilibrium and the new equilibrium is when everything goes back to a constant state, however this may be different to the normality which existed to begin with. In short films, we often get either a smaller-scale version of this structure, or see a particular part of the structure. For example, in 'Over', chronologically we begin with a peaceful urban neighbourhood which is disrupted by a tragic event, only to go back to a state of normality in a matter of hours. In 'Tight Jeans', however, we don't really get a sense of any kind of over-arching plot as the film is just based around a conversation. Christopher Vogler's model of the 'hero's journey' is similar in many ways to this theory - this gives a list of stages which a film's protagonist goes through in a film and, again, many short films follow one or two of these stages rather than the whole thing.
Propp's character theory states that short films have eight types of characters which originate in traditional folk-lore: the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, her father, the dispatcher and the false hero. Again, short films also tend to have a few characters which follow this theory, however rarely all of them.
Short films have to develop the narrative of a film in a different way to feature films, given their limitations in length. Often, we come into a story late and leave early - for example, in 'The Fly', we begin the story at the start of the bank robbery, without getting any background for the characters or setup to this moment. The film also ends with a feeling of irresolution, at a point in the story which, for a feature film, could be the climax. Short films have to be very selective with the part of a story they choose to focus on due to their short running time. For this reason, characters are often not fully developed and short films often rely on stereotypical characters which audiences are already familiar with (for example, the getaway driver in The Fly).
Propp's character theory states that short films have eight types of characters which originate in traditional folk-lore: the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, her father, the dispatcher and the false hero. Again, short films also tend to have a few characters which follow this theory, however rarely all of them.
Short films have to develop the narrative of a film in a different way to feature films, given their limitations in length. Often, we come into a story late and leave early - for example, in 'The Fly', we begin the story at the start of the bank robbery, without getting any background for the characters or setup to this moment. The film also ends with a feeling of irresolution, at a point in the story which, for a feature film, could be the climax. Short films have to be very selective with the part of a story they choose to focus on due to their short running time. For this reason, characters are often not fully developed and short films often rely on stereotypical characters which audiences are already familiar with (for example, the getaway driver in The Fly).
Good understanding of narrative structures and how they might be adapted for short films. How will you deal with narrative structure?
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