How To Make A Short Film? 5 Golden Steps

Estimated read time 4 min read
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About How To Make A Short Film:

Growing up in a country that produces the most number of feature films in the world annually, every movie buff would’ve fantasized being a part of the industry in some way or the other. Some of them back off because of the complexity involved in the field. Most of them are forced to quit as they don’t get a platform to showcase their talent.

SHORT-FILM  making is their ticket into the industry. Short films are like the district matches which on performing well will earn you a spot in the nationals.

5 Golden Steps to make a short film

1. Choosing a script that is crisp

It is the crux of film-making. Even though the visuals might appeal to the audience, nothing can make an impact as much as a well-written script. It is important to make sure the film has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The script for a short film needs to be to the point and as short as possible. Impromptu improvisations can be made but it is advisable to stick on to the script.

2. Implementation of Storyboards

Remember comic books from our childhood? Ever wondered how it is hard to forget a comic but we easily forget textual books? The pictorial memory is often the strongest and is hard to forget and is easy to interpret by the brain. So it is important to use a storyboard which is a  panel-by-panel outline of each shot. It is advantageous as it is inexpensive and doesn’t consume much time. It helps to figure out the flow of the film. One needn’t be an artist to sketch the events as such. It is enough to do storyboards that are rough and understandable.

3. Location scouting

The visuals are not very appealing when there is no proper backdrop. Even the simplest of scenes can be made an extravagant one with the right location, hence it is important to choose the right location.

The script determines the film’s locale. But it is important to know if the location is available, accessible, etc. Hence, one must choose the location carefully.

4. Selecting the right camera

It is impossible for rookie short filmmakers to own traditional motion picture cameras. Hence, the following factors are necessary to select a camera:-

BUDGET

AVAILABILITY OF A STORAGE MEDIUM

PURPOSE OF THE SHORT FILM

It is possible to use smartphones to shoot a film but storage space poses a problem. Hence, the best option is using a Digital SLR camera which is far less expensive than a motion picture camera.

Click to watch a video on choosing the right camera

5. Editing the film

This is the most important part in film-making. Raw footage is like a stone that needs sculpting. The film is completed at this stage. Filmmakers need to be sound in editing because it decides the outcome of the film. Some software out there makes editing easy. Some of the most used editing software are Windows Live Movie Maker, Apple Macs IMOVIE, Adobe Aftereffects, Sony Vegas PRO, etc


Also read latest short film review by shortfundly:


About Shortfundly

Shortfundly is an online technology and design-focused, data-driven OTT platform company that curates and shares the best short films and stories through our global multi-platform network. Our video and editorial platform enables a global audience to easily discover, watch, and share unique stories anywhere on their desktop and mobile devices.

Our vision is to continually grow the community of short film audiences to enable a wide and accessible market reach for short films and become the leading micro-cinema/short film platform.

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