A short film maker is confused about the making a short film when he doesn’t have a short film script idea or when he has a lot of short film ideas. My case was the latter one. I didn’t have any camera and I wasn’t ready to rent one. I wanted to buy one for myself and learn it first. So, until the time I wasn’t having any camera I kept writing short film scripts. And, now when I have the camera, I was confused which short film idea to choose and which one to leave as all looked equally good to me with a lot of potentials. Here are the parameters on which I judged my each script and finally decided about the first short film idea I was going to make a short film on. Watch the movie from the link below and then read the article to know how I decided on that script.
I had an action short film script, musical, sci-fi, horror, romantic and motivational. These topics have that potential and can come out really well if made on a good budget. But, I picked musical short film script I had written. It is a one-character-based short film. Luckily, I had two of my friends working in the music field for the past couple of years and I thought it would be best if I could use their talents in my musical short film. When I approached them, they readily accepted my offer. They were already working in the music field, so they had the instruments. Eventually, making a musical short film worked best for me because it was in the budget and a musical short film requires real music and not the samples for which my friends were available. This cut down my budget way down and still I was going to have pro quality music for my short film.
2. Locations
See as per your short film script the locations you need. See if you have to compromise a lot on the locations to make it fit in your budget. If the budgeted location is compromising your movie quality then stack that short script idea for a while, until you have the budget to shoot it in the proper location. Choose an idea that can be shot best in the locations available to you. My musical short film isn’t a larger than life movie. My idea was to present the best short film I could in the budget I have and to approach sponsors/investors for the next film who can arrange me the locations I need for my future short films.
3. Cast
As I mentioned earlier, my musical short film is a single-character driven movie. I didn’t have to worry about the multiple actors. I asked the same friend who was playing the theme music for the movie to act in it also. The pressure is less on your shoulders if you are already working with people who already know the ins and outs of general acting. My friend was not an actor by any chance. It was my job as a scriptwriter and director to detail him in every manner so that he delivers the right expressions in the scene. As it was a musical short film and he was musician already, it helped him to gel with the situation pretty well. That connection of him with music eased my job.
4. Property or Props
Props could be an important asset to the short film based on the script and sometimes they are there to fill the surrounding to give the feel of the scene. In my case, I needed regular things as my character was an average Joe in the beginning of the movie. I pretty much had everything I needed. Also, read with which equipment I shot my short film. When I finally saw my short film scripts based on the budget I was on, locations I have, cast and properties I needed, I chose my musical short film because all the other scripts needed a bit more budget, better locations, multiple casts and specific prop pieces which we weren’t able to get as it was my first short film. Once we are in this game, we are going to increase our budget, move to better locations, and have multiple characters. I hope these parameters will help you choosing the first short film script idea for your short film as these parameters helped me. Write – Shoot – Edit – Repeat!
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