What are the things to be kept in mind before writing a short film?

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Steps to develop a story



Digitization has made it really easy for young aspiring film-makers to make short films with available resources. Introduction of small digital cameras like DSLRs and mirror-less cameras in late 2000 has opened up gates for those who were struggling to make films earlier. today everything has become so easy that anybody can make a film if he or she has got a camera. But, listen folks, there is one more thing and it is the most important aspect when we talk about making a film i.e., A good story.

I know, most of the people out there find it really hard to find a good story to start with. there are a few techniques that might help you conceptualize an idea for your next film.
    
                                                    

Don't worry we are here to help you.


Step 1: Select A Genre


In my coaching work and my group classes, we begin by getting a sense of the genre of the story we want to tell, for example, one student is writing an animated comedy in the style of the Toy Story series, and another student is writing a drama about a young girl rebelling in East Germany during the 60s.  Of course, genres often overlap, for example, a thriller will usually also have some kind of love story as a subplot, but for our purposes, the first step is to define the main genre of your story.  For a detailed list of genres, you can refer to my book, The 4 Magic Questions of Screenwriting.




Step 2: Select Your Main Character and Your Villain or Obstacle

Instead of focusing on your main character, who you probably know fairly well, consider that he or she most likely is not driving the story unless it’s a revenge tale or a crime story. Most heroes and heroines are trying to hold their lives in place and maintain the Status Quo. Your obstacle or villain, however, is trying to change things, usually for their own gain. For example, in the film, The Godfather, Vito is trying to keep his family together, while Barzini is trying to take over and destroy Vito’s empire. But Vito is not the main character of the movie -- it’s Michael, who is trying to live a life free from the family entirely. It is not until Vito is shot that Michael can become an active hero when he has to step in to save him.

Step 3: Define The Plot

Using my writing method, we can use the main character’s hopes and dreams to design a simple plot that will allow you to expand and develop the story as you go, so as to prevent unnecessary revision. I have found that if you work plot first as opposed to designing character and plot together, you can often build a story that is hard to revise, as the character’s nature has not been considered seriously enough. 

Using an example of The Godfather, Michael’s dream is to live a life separate from the family, and in the end, he is sucked back into it.  By knowing this much about your own story, you can then build a plot that is character driven and well structured. By defining the character’s journey through his or her dream, you will open the possibility of creating something that is very good and also is easy to fix.

This was the basic structure of the workshop, and everyone who attended left with an outline and scenes.  The problem, now that they have licked the usual struggles, is the really big question: Is my story good enough?

Good luck !

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