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so you're trying to write a short film
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there's a lot of bad information out
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there about writing short films when
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people want to write movies one of the
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common pieces of advice is watch movies
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but that doesn't really work with short
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films short films are their own breed
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they are written and made for all
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different reasons many times it's for a
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director or cinematographer to show off
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their ability or maybe the short is
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really just an ad for something and
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sometimes the writers seemingly abandon
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what they know about writing dramatic
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narratives when they go to write a short
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film in this video I want to change all
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of that I want to give you a clear
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understanding of how you can write a
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strong dramatic narrative in a short
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film let's begin first off I want to
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debunk a few myths surrounding writing
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short films myth 1 short films are too
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short to be deeply meaningful and
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dramatic this is completely wrong short
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films can absolutely be meaningful and
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dramatic if you focus on building them
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on fundamental story elements myth 2
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there isn't enough time to set up the
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story many writers believe they have to
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skip having any set up in their short
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film
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because they only have a few pages to
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work with this is not true setup is
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necessary to a story even if you start
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right in the middle of the action the
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audience is going to need to know what's
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going on who people are and why the
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action is happening if they don't learn
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these things quickly they will disengage
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from the story myth 3 stunning
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cinematography woody dialog and cool
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concepts will create a good short film
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even if the story isn't good this is
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absolutely wrong yet I see this in short
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films all the time even in a short film
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the story is still the core element
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audiences will always grow bored quickly
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if there's no story at the core even if
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the film looks gorgeous
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however rather than simply showing you
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an example and explaining why that
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example works I want to take a short
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film that already exists and
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reconstructed from the ground up
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like you would be doing when writing
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your short
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the short film I'm going to use is
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stutterer now I want to make it clear
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that I did not make this film this short
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film was written and directed by
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Benjamin Cleary I am using this short
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film to build an example of a good
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process you can adopt to create a short
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film that has a strong dramatic
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narrative stutterer is linked below but
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this might actually work better if
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you've never seen it before also and I'm
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only going to say this once this is not
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the only way to build a story or a short
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film take what's helpful leave what
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isn't this isn't a formula this is an
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examination of why stories work to help
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you write your own story the writer may
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not have used this exact method to build
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this short film however this process is
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one that has been extremely beneficial
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to me and hopefully will be beneficial
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to you as well let's begin with finding
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an idea ideas can be all sorts of things
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they can be a scene a character a line
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of dialogue a concept or a philosophical
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idea that you want to examine for this
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short film let's start with a very
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simple idea the story is about a man who
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stutters this is a good place to start
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we now have a concept we don't have our
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story yet but we have the beginning of
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an idea now we can move on to building
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our main character and what they believe
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just like a longer form story a short
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film needs philosophical ethical or
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moral dilemmas this is why we become
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invested in characters it's not about
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their ability to solve problems or the
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fact that they are in danger it's about
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what the characters believe and the
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actions they take because of those
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beliefs that engage us with the story
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it's good to start by building out the
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main character the person that your
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story will revolve around there may be
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many characters in your story but
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usually there will be one character that
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pushes the story forward more than
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anyone else in this story our main
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character is a man who stutters his name
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is Greenwood Greenwood stutter is an
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external problem but this isn't where
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the conflict of the story is we need to
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give Greenwood some
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Lys what does he believe about his
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stutter that holds him back in life we
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need to answer this question so we can
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begin to build strong story conflict but
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this is hard to figure out without
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knowing what the character once and why
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they want it so let's talk about what
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Greenwood wants Greenwood wants to be in
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love okay this is a start but let's go
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deeper than that
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Greenwood wants a deep intimate
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relationship with someone this is a
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strong desire now that we know what
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Greenwood once we can talk more about
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what he believes what beliefs does
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Greenwood hold that will stop him from
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getting what he wants we have the
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characters want and this major external
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obstacle we can use these together to
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help build out Greenwoods philosophical
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beliefs and the philosophical conflict
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Greenwood believes that his stutter will
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stop him from connecting deeply with
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others he feels disconnected from the
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world and believes his stutter will
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always hold him back he is wallowing in
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self-pity so now we have our central
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character and the central idea behind
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the story these are the guiding ideas of
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almost every great dramatic story a
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character struggling with their own
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beliefs as they come into conflict with
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the world now that we have an
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understanding of what the story is about
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philosophically we can begin building
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the other characters in the story okay
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so this is a love story
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Greenwood wants to find a deep intimate
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relationship so he needs a love interest
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now we bring in Ellie Ellie is green
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with love interest but she can't just be
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the love interest why because that's not
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what the story is about the story falls
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flat if Ellie is simply the love
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interest because then she wouldn't be
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adding to the philosophical conflict
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she should hold beliefs that oppose
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Greenwoods Ellie accepts herself for who
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she is Ellie is willing to be open and
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honest Ellie is not wallowing in
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self-pity these are the beliefs that
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Greenwood must accept
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and now Greenwood and Ellie's beliefs
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are in conflict if this is the case then
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we need to see proof of Ellie's
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acceptance of these ideas Ellie needs to
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have an external problem just like
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Greenwood but we don't know what it is
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yet we'll come back to this now we have
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two major characters but let's add one
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more Greenwoods father Greenwood
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shouldn't have a father in the story for
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no reason this character should also add
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to the philosophical conflict Greenwood
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now has evidence of someone in his life
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that accepts him for who he is this is
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how the father character adds to the
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philosophical conflict so now we have
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our concept our philosophical conflict
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and our characters now we need to think
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about how we can structure a story in a
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way that is dramatic interesting and
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pressures our main character in the best
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way possible let's look at a narrative
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structure short films aren't any more
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difficult to write than feature films
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however some people get confused because
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they try to apply structural formulas
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and rules that only work with
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feature-length screenplays too short
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films as a storyteller and writer you
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should be focusing on the fundamental
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elements of how a story works and that's
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why I want to structure this short film
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using Dan Harmon's story circle the
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story circle is a great tool because it
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isn't constricted by a certain length of
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time rather than existing to hit certain
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beats on certain pages of a feature film
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the story circle focuses on the
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fundamental elements of the story the
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story circle breaks down into four
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quarters and four points which create a
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dramatic story number one the character
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is in a zone of comfort number two but
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they want something number three they
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enter an unfamiliar situation number
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four they adapt to it number five they
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get what they wanted number six they pay
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a heavy price for it number seven they
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return to their familiar situation
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number eight having changed
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I've talked extensively about the story
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circle in my previous videos because I
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believe it is the best structural tool
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for the screenwriter
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because it moves away from screenwriting
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formulas and focuses on the innate
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natural elements of a dramatic story for
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an in-depth look at the different ways
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the story circle can be helpful to a
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screenwriter check out my video on story
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structure linked below so we already
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have the first two points on the story
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circle we have a character Greenwood and
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we know what he wants to be in a deep
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intimate relationship and we also know
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what holds him back his beliefs about
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his stutter now let's look at point
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three we need to place Greenwood into an
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unfamiliar situation this is where Ellie
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fits in the unfamiliar situation needs
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to specifically challenge Greenwoods
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beliefs
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this short film uses the fact that
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Greenwood and Ellie have been chatting
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online for six months and now Ellie is
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in London and wants to meet this is a
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great unfamiliar situation for Greenwood
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to get what he wants it will mean
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confronting his deeply held beliefs this
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is a fantastic dilemma what will
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Greenwood do so now we moved to for
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Greenwood must adapt to this new
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situation now that we know who Greenwood
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is we understand how he would react at
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first he simply doesn't want to respond
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he wants to go on the date yet he
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doesn't want to reveal that he has a
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stutter he wants connection but feels
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completely constricted now let's move to
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five the character gets what they want
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Greenwood should decide to meet this is
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what he wants no matter how scared he is
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he does want this so he takes a chance
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[Music]
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by some chance still want to meet me I'd
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love to meet you
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however at 6:00 Greenwood will pay for
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this one of the biggest important
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elements of a good drama is that
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characters action must be challenged
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characters heading towards what they
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want or getting what they want should
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always come at a cost
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this keeps the conflict heightened and
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the story moving forward so Ellie will
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agree to meet because this is who she is
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she is one who has accepted herself and
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is willing to take a chance however now
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that Ellie has agreed to meet Greenwoods
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walls are going to have to come down he
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won't be able to hide now we go to seven
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return to a familiar situation so this
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is where a lot of people get caught up
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they are confused as to what the return
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is sometimes it can be a little will
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return to a place sometimes it can be a
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return to the balance before the
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conflict began and that's what I want to
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focus on here the return is bringing the
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philosophical conflict to its breaking
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point and reaching catharsis Greenwood
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must go to meet Ellie this is the
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biggest challenge to his beliefs
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if this goes poorly he will retreat back
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into his old beliefs however if it goes
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well then he may become a changed person
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if the goal is to push the drama as hard
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as we can then it must seem like there's
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no way this can go well and then when it
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does go well the audience is relieved
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and experiences catharsis not just
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because a date went well but because the
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philosophical ideas of self-acceptance
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honesty and risk-taking are confirmed by
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the story so now we need to build our
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ending remember when we were building
00:12:20
the character of Ellie we never gave her
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an external obstacle that she has
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already conquered to show her
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philosophical beliefs so let's do that
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now when Greenwood goes to the date he
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must realize that Ellie is someone who
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has her own problems yet has accepted
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herself and is willing to be honest and
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because this is a love story and we want
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the ending to resonate Ellie's external
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problem should complement Greenwoods
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external problem as if they were made to
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be together
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so if Greenwood can't speak then maybe
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Ellie shouldn't be able to hear and this
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is how this short film builds attending
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Greenwood can't speak but he realizes
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that Ellie is deaf and then at number 8
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Greenwood has changed being honest and
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taking a risk worked in his favor he
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will accept Ellie for who she is and she
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will do the same for him green woods
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beliefs have radically shifted so now we
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have the core of the story but this
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isn't everything
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we haven't actually written it out
00:13:21
figured out dialogue made stylistic
00:13:24
choices and so on but this is our
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foundation everything that comes after
00:13:29
this point will be built on a strong
00:13:31
foundation because the core elements of
00:13:33
a dramatic story are here now was this
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easier than what the story building
00:13:38
process is actually like yes of course
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having the finished product and being
00:13:43
able to work backwards is always easier
00:13:45
when ideas come to us they are usually
00:13:48
messier than this and your story will go
00:13:50
through multiple drafts however I wanted
00:13:53
to do this so that you have a framework
00:13:55
that helps you get through the hard work
00:13:57
of building the core of your story now
00:14:02
that we have the core I want to do some
00:14:04
analysis on how Benjamin Cleary the
00:14:06
writer and director actually brings
00:14:08
these elements together hello that can
00:14:14
you hear me
00:14:14
so the first thing we see in here is a
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man with a stutter struggling to speak
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on the phone hi my name is Greenwood
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thirty seconds into the short we know
00:14:25
who our main character is we know his
00:14:26
name and we know his major external
00:14:29
problem already from this we can assume
00:14:31
that his stutter is something that he
00:14:33
feels holds him back in life then we see
00:14:36
Greenwood practicing sign language this
00:14:39
further shows us that his stutter is a
00:14:41
major element in his life that he wants
00:14:43
to overcome it also becomes part of his
00:14:46
character and a bit of setup for the end
00:14:49
of the story when he finally meets Ellie
00:14:51
one minute into the short we see
00:14:53
Greenwood on hold with a company we can
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see that Greenwood fears these
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situations that many people would
00:14:59
consider easy and that his stutter seems
00:15:01
to be constantly on his mind thank you
00:15:06
for holding your call is important to us
00:15:08
now we go to the scene where Greenwood
00:15:11
messages back and forth with Ellie again
00:15:13
this isn't just because Greenwood needs
00:15:16
a love interest this accomplishes two
00:15:18
major things one it shows us that Ellie
00:15:21
and Greenwood have been in an online
00:15:23
relationship for six months and two it
00:15:26
shows us that Greenwood wants to be with
00:15:27
this girl in real life whether he is
00:15:30
consciously thinking about it or not in
00:15:32
the next scene we see the Greenwood is a
00:15:35
typographer which doesn't really add to
00:15:37
or take away from the core of the story
00:15:40
it's more of a stylistic choice then we
00:15:43
go to this snap judgment scene snap
00:15:47
judgment 1224 which happens a couple
00:15:50
more times over the course of the short
00:15:51
these sorts of moments are where you as
00:15:54
the writer begin to decide how you want
00:15:56
your story to feel moments like these
00:15:58
are character moments where we stop and
00:16:01
learn about Greenwood now we meet
00:16:03
Greenwoods father Greenwood tells an
00:16:06
interesting quote to his father the way
00:16:08
his father reacts after Greenwood
00:16:10
recites the quote tells us a lot about
00:16:12
who this man is
00:16:14
I like that one we see that he accepts
00:16:19
Greenwood he is not judging him or angry
00:16:22
with him for having a stutter he simply
00:16:24
accepts him and like I explained before
00:16:27
this is his philosophical role in the
00:16:30
story this also shows that it is not
00:16:32
enough that Greenwoods father accepts
00:16:34
Greenwood for who he is
00:16:35
Greenwood must learn to accept himself
00:16:39
this is also the first time we sit with
00:16:42
Greenwood as he says a full sentence
00:16:44
this scene helps us empathize and
00:16:46
understand how difficult it can be for
00:16:48
him to speak mmm
00:16:53
musics pleasure the human soul it
00:17:05
experiences from hunting now we enter
00:17:14
the unfamiliar situation Ellie asks to
00:17:17
meet in person let's talk about why this
00:17:20
moment works when Greenwood reads this
00:17:23
message he gets scared and we get scared
00:17:26
for him as the audience the fear and the
00:17:29
audience's mind isn't it's going to be
00:17:31
hard for him to speak on the date the
00:17:33
fear in the audience's mind is she won't
00:17:36
want to be with him after she realizes
00:17:38
that he has a stutter and those two are
00:17:41
very different things one is simply
00:17:43
about an external problem
00:17:45
the second is about what Greenwood and
00:17:47
the audience believe do you see the
00:17:50
difference that difference is everything
00:17:53
if you don't nail that no one will care
00:17:56
about your story
00:17:57
no one will care about simple external
00:17:59
obstacles they only care about how your
00:18:02
characters beliefs come into conflict in
00:18:04
the story so now we go to another scene
00:18:08
with green woods father talking on the
00:18:10
phone with a company from the beginning
00:18:14
[Music]
00:18:16
this adds to the shame that Greenwood
00:18:18
feels if he can't even operate as an
00:18:21
independent person then how can he
00:18:23
function in a relationship the internal
00:18:26
voice he uses to judge other people
00:18:28
exists because he judges himself
00:18:31
Greenwood decides to follow his current
00:18:33
beliefs he tries to find a way to skip
00:18:36
meeting with Ellie okay hey oh sorry
00:18:40
only getting back to you now amazing
00:18:43
that you're in London I'd love to meet
00:18:45
with you but the thing is my bloody
00:18:47
cousins are visiting and my but then
00:18:52
Greenwood makes a decision he decides to
00:18:55
meet with Ellie
00:18:56
he quickly writes a message and hit Send
00:18:58
this is his biggest move towards getting
00:19:01
what he wants eight minutes into the
00:19:05
short Greenwood tries to break up an
00:19:07
intense argument between a couple and
00:19:09
gets beaten up for it this shows us
00:19:12
another moment of how his stutter holds
00:19:14
him back in different situations
00:19:17
now Greenwood does one of his snap
00:19:20
judgments on himself and in this scene
00:19:22
he states the philosophical conflict
00:19:25
that has been at the center for the
00:19:26
entire story snap judgment 1226
00:19:31
reclusive typographer invisible to the
00:19:34
naked eye communication skills in an
00:19:38
infant Excel was in the art of self-pity
00:19:41
and then Ellie finally responds and is
00:19:44
still willing to meet with Greenwood
00:19:46
which is exactly what Greenwood wants
00:19:48
and also the scariest thing that could
00:19:51
happen
00:19:51
Greenwood prepares for the date this is
00:19:55
where the short film ties in a scene
00:19:56
where Greenwood gets beaten listen to
00:19:59
Greenwoods thoughts she feels like a
00:20:00
first date I know this is a cosmetic
00:20:02
surgery oh yes we had a little bit of
00:20:04
work on Greenwood is still trying to
00:20:06
cling on to his old beliefs he is still
00:20:09
trying to think up a convenient lie
00:20:11
rather than be honest this adds to the
00:20:14
conflict as Greenwood heads to the date
00:20:16
and then the climax
00:20:19
Ellie is deaf which isn't just a reveal
00:20:22
for the sake of being a reveal this
00:20:25
reveal has a major impact on the
00:20:27
philosophical console
00:20:28
in the story that's what makes the
00:20:30
reveal impactful Greenwoods external
00:20:33
problem isn't a problem at all he is
00:20:35
able to be honest with her about his
00:20:37
stutter she will accept him for who he
00:20:39
is and he will do the same for her in
00:20:44
every scene of this short film Greenwood
00:20:47
is dealing with his external flaw and
00:20:49
his internal limiting beliefs sometimes
00:20:52
that conflict feels big like trying to
00:20:54
intervene in the couple's argument
00:20:56
sometimes that conflict feels small like
00:20:59
Greenwood sitting by himself thinking
00:21:01
either way Greenwood is constantly being
00:21:04
pressed by what he believes and how
00:21:06
those beliefs shape his life this is a
00:21:09
fantastic short film it has strong
00:21:12
philosophical conflict good structure
00:21:14
and an ending that works perfectly while
00:21:17
this is a case study there's a lot of
00:21:19
elements that you can apply to stories
00:21:21
that are not in this genre when you look
00:21:25
back at the process we covered hopefully
00:21:27
you can see how these ideas can work
00:21:29
with all sorts of stories with all sorts
00:21:31
of lengths and genres and by
00:21:34
understanding those fundamental elements
00:21:36
of story you can write your short film
00:21:38
as a strong narrative drama hello I hope
00:21:44
you liked the video for an in-depth dive
00:21:46
at the different concepts I've covered
00:21:48
in this video I recommend you check out
00:21:50
my screenwriting playlist linked on the
00:21:52
screen now also hit that subscribe
00:21:54
button and if you're a writer looking
00:21:56
for a place to share ideas give and
00:21:58
receive criticism and simply talk about
00:22:00
writing then I recommend checking out
00:22:02
the Facebook group linked below thanks
00:22:05
for watching
00:22:07
[Music]
