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1. Codes and conventions of short films
Research and Planning

2. Budget
 One code and convention of a short film is a small
budget, the reason that short films commonly have a
small budget is due to the directors being mainly
independent which means they will not have
sufficient funds to product a high budget film. They
normally cut their budget down by having minimal
locations and characters.

3. Length
Another code and convention of a short film is length,
it is quite self-explanatory as short films tend to be
short. The maximum length of a short film is 30
minutes however they are typically around 5-10
minutes.

4. Characters
 Short films tend to have only two or three main
characters. One of the obvious reasons for this is the
budget. Another reason that there are few main
characters is because short films aren’t long enough
to be able to create a deep background for the
characters. This means that the audience must
quickly relate to the characters to be more engaged
with the film.
 There is normally a lot of detail put into designing
characters that the audience can relate to. The lead
character normally is shown to develop throughout
the film to become another character.

5. Narrative Twist
 Short films commonly contain a ‘twist’ this is a way to
make short films more interesting for the viewer.
Considering that short films are short it is very
important that the short film is able to engage the
audience and keep their attention.

6. Audience expectation (Twist Cont)
 The audience expectations are what the actual
audience of the short film expects to see inside of a
film. They assume what is going to happen except
the ideas never do happen. Short films try to break
what the audience is thinking about the film to
completely twist it and have a different ending to
what they would have thought.

7. Situation
 Short films usually take an every day situation that
the audience can all relate to and then ‘flip it on its
head’ so the audience can relate to the situation
however will be intrigued as well.

8. Circular Narrative
 The story would start with something happening, for
example a person could be climbing up a mountain,
and then at the end of the short film, they could be
climbing up the same mountain. The story ends in
the same place that it began. The circular narrative is
something that is at the start and at the end with a
logical middle to show how this would happen.