Shorts format

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Hiya'll,I know that there are a few of you who ahev been involved with short animation and alike.I am now doing four shorts anuimated episodes for project-SI and I have hit the wall. My problem is not much of the format side, but to tell A LOT of story within a very limited time of action. We are talking six to ten minute shorts.I could use some advise on this, or maybe some ideas on books that handles these issues.Are there any special story techniques that I should adopt?Vidar NilsenIt all begins here www.project-si.com

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@reader1.panix.com:
[nq:1]Hiya'll, I know that there are a few of you who ahev been involved with short animation and alike. I ... or maybe some ideas on books that handles these issues. Are there any special story techniques that I should adopt?[/nq]
Ugh! Sowwy bout da typos! lol

Vidar Nilsen
It all starts here www.project-si.com

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Short is a film/movie just like a feature film. It just runs for a shorter time. I just posted about it on the TriggerStreet.com forum under the heading "Short film 101"
A story is a story no matter how long or short. You got to have plot points and such that you would have in a feature film.

Regards,
Jay Bala.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hiya'll, I know that there are a few of you who have been involved with short animation and the like. ... or maybe some ideas on books that handle these issues. Are there any special story techniques that I should adopt?[/nq]
As somewone who used to watch a LOT of short films (five years working in a film school) I can tell you that there are two (mutually exclusive) script problems that turn up commonly. First is trying to tell too much story for the time alloted, and second is trying to tell too little story for the time alloted.
Ten minutes is not a feature film, and you need to do more than get information across - you need to engage the audience's interest and entertain them. The more story you're trying to tell, the leaner you have to be, which means sub-plots and extraneous characters are going to be distractions rather than texture, for instance.

Some of the best lean-and-mean short storytelling was the original Twilight Zone TV series, which (I think) is now available on DVD. Watch it. Study it. Each episode was 22:30 long - more than twice as long as your target maximum - and all featured opening narration to set up the story, so they could start in the middle. Most also glossed over incerdible coincidences and plot holes, and all were supernatural in nature, so sometimes a godlike power could just make stuff happen that wouldn't make sense in a more conventional story.

Also worth noting, many were structured like a joke rather than like a story. Instead of the more traditional three-act structure, they were more along the lines of set-up/punchline.
For what it's worth.

Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary
Steven

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[nq:1]Hiya'll, I know that there are a few of you who ahev been involved with short animation and alike. I ... or maybe some ideas on books that handles these issues. Are there any special story techniques that I should adopt?[/nq]
Vidar,
I have a killer book on short film writing, if you can get through the somewhat academic style:
Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters by Linda Cowgill.
I haven't written a short film in ages, and I never did master the art of the reversal ending (i.e. Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge etc).

GOOD LUCK!
Mysti

Shorts format

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