Digital storytelling is the modern expression of the ancient art of storytelling. Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights.Scripting
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Excerpted from "Writing
the Showcase Short" by Ron Suppa, The Business of Screenwriting column
in Creative Screenwriting magazine, May/June 2002. |
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| Although Mr. Suppa is writing for professional screenwriters, this excerpt succinctly captures many important considerations for the short storytelling approach we will be exploring. | |
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Maybe the most important, if obvious, of all: a short film is not a short feature film. It is the length most appropriate for the theme, subject matter, or character(s) explored. You can just cut down that old spec script to size. Originality is prized about all else. |
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Short films can and should take risks. The budget is less, the purpose more defines, the appeal does not have to be universal. Unlikeable, even abhorrent, main characters are possible... Structure cane be manipulated. Use the freedom inherent in this noncommercial medium. |
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Short films are highly focused. The premise should easily fit into a sentence. One main character, in main conflict, sometimes revolving around only one incident. Taking on too much is a sure recipe for disaster. |
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The mark of a well-scripted short film is fresh characterization, inventive visuals, proper pacing, and a quick, satisfying ending that hits your audience in the guy. ...Your contribution can still shine if the film is possessed of a clear narrative thrust that marks the writer as a skilled storyteller. |
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The context should be a rich one, the setting metaphorical, the climax satisfying or disturbing, but never without emotional impact. By having the external work reflect the internal struggle of the characters, the audience gets a bigger emotional bang in less time. |
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Conflict choice, commitments and action define character, in the short as well as the feature film. The staples of old-fashioned storytelling still hold—a strongly drawn main characters facing a difficulty moral quandary, ultimately resolved through motivated action (or a unique twist on same). |
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Because of the shorter length, use screen time judiciously. Each scene should carry tone, plot, and character. Visual setups, payoffs, and leaps in action are preferable to dialogue-heavy exposition or plot development. Wherever possible, remove dialogue and replace with action or visual exposition. If you do have a dialogue-based short script, set the verbal style from the start and offset it by adding clever, creative visual elements to the backdrop of the screen. |
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If you are writing, for example, a fifteen minute film, ask yourself, What are the ten to fifteen shorts that will tell the entire story for you? Strong juxtaposition of powerful images will not only save screen time and allow you to tell a much richer story in shorter time, it will result in a much tighter pace and structure and will allow the film to tell its story with as few images as possible. |
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9.
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Use sound, music, and image to full advantage. These are often mistakenly labeled as production tools, but particularly in a short, the writer must utilize them as a primary means of storytelling, not just as icing on the cake. |
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10.
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Short scripts need a 100% solid, workable structure. There is no room for slack, meandering, or bare expository scenes in your story. Take out everything you don't absolutely need. Grab the audience immediately, hold them the entire way, and resolve the story as economically as possible. Write is long and condense it to a quick inventive setup, with carefully planned cuts to move the story along and the cleverest, most surprising resolution you can devise. Leave the audience feeling lucky that they've been on a short roller-coaster ride which ended much too quickly. |
