Bruce Weber Photographer Talks About The Features Of A Good Short Film

Short films are essentially motion pictures that do not have long enough running time to be considered a feature film. They ideally are 40 minutes or less. In fact, a short film can be just 30 seconds long. To qualify as a short film at many film festivals its running time has to be less than 15 minutes. Short films can be of any genre or method/mode of filmmaking. Many people gain hands-on experience in filmmaking by making short films and eventually move to feature films. While Bruce Weber Photographer is mostly renowned for his photography career, he has also made many short films, documentaries, and feature films over the years.

Bruce Weber Photographer Underlines Few Important Aspects Of A Good Short Film

There is a lot of difference in how relationships, conflict and characters that are closely intertwined tend to be explored in a short film, in comparison to a movie with a longer length. Owing to the limited time available, the filmmaker invariably has to limit the exploration of relationships between characters. There wouldn’t be high scope of exploring character development, change, or growth in a span of 10 minutes or so. A short film needs to be more specific, and rather focus on one major conflict or goal that a character is trying to resolve. This single conflict and its associated stakes can provide the needed drama to the story.

It is vital that the conflict in the story of the short film has a satisfying payoff for the audience. The ending of a short film is quite important. The filmmaker has to make sure that its ending is coherent, satisfying and works well with the rest of the film. A certain level of complexity can be there in a short film, as long as it holds together. Short films are, in fact, uniquely suited to plot twists. A filmmaker may hit home with the main idea of their short film, and bring the conflict to a resolution at the same time. Even though for new filmmakers plot twists can be difficult to pull off in both feature and short films, it is considerably simpler to hind the latter’s payoff on a twist.

A good short film expresses one idea or concept in a complete manner without any kind of unnecessary diversions, and gets to the key point fast enough. A great aspect of making short films is that it does not bind filmmakers by market interests, target audiences, or production interference from other entities. Hence, short films can prove to be a great opportunity for filmmakers to creatively express themselves, take some risks, and experiment.

Good short movies can make an impact, take viewers on a brief but interesting journey and/or convey a mood. No matter whether the movie involves stylized vignettes or hi-energy sci-fi, if it is well conceptualized and presented, the short film will have a definite impact on the viewer in a limited time span.

Bruce Weber Photographer has made short films of teenage boxers, his beloved pet dogs, and more. People can check out his work, as well as various popular short films to gain a better understanding of how to make such short length movies.