Media Studies: Writing a Short Film

Before I began to write my short story ideas, I first decided to research how to write a short film, as well as other narrative methods of writing. Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in London and other major cities globally. I found an article on the Rain dance website which gives users advice on how to write a short film. I decided to base the way I wrote my film idea following the rules set within the article, this is because I thought that perhaps since this article was shown on such a formidable website, then it would allow me to create a storyline of a worthy standard.

Click Here for Article

Ernest Hemingway “The first draft of anything is s***.”

While researching short films I found this interesting quote from 20th Century American writer Ernest Hemingway, I think this quote is referring to the point that an initial idea can always be improved upon. Therefore after I wrote a first draft,  I reviewed it for myself and also allowed for peer assessment so I could make any changes that didn't make sense. After this I split up my story into "Beginning, Middle and End" as this allowed me to get a better understanding of the story sequence itself and so I could piece it together myself and edit any section of the story arch I didn't like with ease.

Strangely enough, a film that inspired my storyline was infact that of the 1983 film "Scarface". The morals behind this film, which mainly focuses on the power of money and greed leading to negative equilibriums is a factor that I wanted to show in my film, be it in a more universal, friendly format.

I then tried to find story lines and movies very similar to my own, those that preferably contained a "twist" at the end as that is what I had planned from the beginning of my story since initially coming up with the idea, this is because twists are in my opinion excellent ways to end films as they conclude the film as well as creating a focal point for the audience to think about after the film ends. Films with twists that I found included "Se7en" and "Shutter Island" both of which gained critical acclaim.

This research led to the main development of my story, I attempted to write a short film that provided good storytelling and that didn't follow the main short film clichés such as those stated in the article. The reason I chose a game of chance themed story is because I felt that this would be a unique plot that hasn't been explored and the fact that it's possible that this story could actually happen adds to the realism of the narrative which allowed me to be able to build up the idea in my head and easily translate it onto my blog work.