Hoe long is too long.

[LaurenceJ]

I am in the process of making a film. I wanted to make it a short film so that it would have more chance of being entered for compitions and festivals. I am, however, having trouble getting the all the storey in. What is the maximum length for a film to still be considered short?
Please Help.
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[Littlerich]

I didn't know there was a set time limit on films... Even short ones...

I guess you should aim to fit all your story in, and make your film.
Don't worry about the final length of it. Even if it's half an hour, it's still (I.M.O) classified as a "short" film...

At the end of the day, if you are worrid about the length before you've been out and shot anything, then you're gonna get nowhere!
Plan as much as you can, shoot lots and cut all the crap parts out in editing.
THEN you will know how long your film will be.

Hope this helps.

------------------
KEEP FOCUSED!
Little Rich.
http://go.to/littlerich
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[chemical82]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica, sans serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Littlerich:
I didn't know there was a set time limit on films... Even short ones...

I guess you should aim to fit all your story in, and make your film.
Don't worry about the final length of it. Even if it's half an hour, it's still (I.M.O) classified as a "short" film...

At the end of the day, if you are worrid about the length before you've been out and shot anything, then you're gonna get nowhere!
Plan as much as you can, shoot lots and cut all the crap parts out in editing.
THEN you will know how long your film will be.

Hope this helps.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I heard from my film school teacher short films can range from 10 to 30 minutes max

[miker]

What a bizarre thread.

A short film is generally a 'first act', which is why so many shorts have 'stingers', ie crappy twists. This would be the turning point if it were developed into a feature. Note I say generally, even first acts can be broken down into three sub-acts, cos the three act structure rules, like it or loathe it. It's like the golden segment ratio thingy in art and design.

Anyway, if you're having trouble fitting your story into a dictated length then restructure the story in the edit. You can always release a special edition when you're famous.

[eastriver]

I have made two "shorts" (for some reason the term short really annoys me). One was just short of 20 mins and one was about 8. As littlerich says you should always shoot tonnes more footage anyway so shoot the full version of your script. I guarantee when you look at it in the edit you'll cut a load of crap dialogue.