Post 2: How To Write A Good Short Film Script

We decided as a group to continue with our film idea for our opening sequence from AS. The plot involves a girl being sexually groomed by her best friend's father, however instead of it being told from the girls point of view it is from the groomers. Our plot would point out the stages of sexual grooming showing our audience the process of spotting a victim and gaining their trust whilst appearing perfectly innocent to friends and family of the victim.

Below are links to articles I looked at and found useful, they give advice on what makes a good short film.I have also summerised what each link describes.


BBC: What makes a good short film?
There are no hard-and-fast rules as to what makes a good short film but here are a few tips that might help. An exciting and original idea, Good acting, High production values, Make it short, Strong beginning, Avoid repetition and punchline twists,Good use of style and techniques.
Helen Caldwell: What makes a good short film?
Length- around ten minutes to tell the story and grab the audiences attention. Theme-something that concerns you and that people can relate to...people like films that feature children in peril!Characters-Strong characters with clear goals, only use a few characters due to the lack of time to get to know them. Location- Use few locations that are unusual for the audience. Setting- Present day, futuristic or historic are expensive. Structure-Strong beginning, set up questions so that the audience wants to know what will happen in the next scene. Dialogue- Make everything that is said count, don't over explain things let the audience figure things out themselves.

From these articles I believe I now have a better understanding of what should go into a short film and exactly how to grab the audiences attention. Before in AS we had difficulties with the script and running out of time to film, however from reading Helen Caldwell's article I now intend to make sure our script only has the necessary details and dialogue with enough mystery to keep our audiences guessing. I also think that the BBC article was helpful as it comments on having an exciting and original idea, which due to the lack of films involving sexual grooming we discovered whilst researching our genre of films suggests we have a strong idea that has not rarely been touched upon before.