I recently came across this hilarious video (apparently it\u2019s now famous and has been featured on The Tonight Show) and wanted to give a little insight into why I think it\u2019s the perfect short film, from a screenwriting perspective.<\/p>\n\n
You can watch it here: https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/kf6pnUbg-3Y?feature=share<\/a><\/p>\n\n Any screenwriter out there knows that writing a good short film isn\u2019t necessarily easier than writing a feature film. The beauty of short films is that you don\u2019t have to bother with setting up your characters throughout the first twelve pages of the script (until the first plot point kicks in). You can throw your audience right into the middle of a situation. The format gives you a lot of freedom to mess around with unstructured, non-linear storytelling, narrative loops, or other artistic\/creative forms of unfolding. Most short films don\u2019t make money. They\u2019re not produced for commercial reasons, and therefore producers are usually willing to take more risks. That doesn\u2019t mean the result should be less successful, and one difficulty with short films is certainly to find a really good ending. In addition to that, there are a couple of universal storytelling elements that make any film better and more successful with viewers, when included. <\/p>\n\n Let\u2019s briefly recall how things traditionally work in a feature film: There is usually a hero and a villain. The hero is typically a sympathetic person suffering from undeserved misfortune (therefore often a physical or psychological orphan). He\/she usually encounters a problem (inciting incident) that raises a central question that \u2013 after some debate with naysayers \u2013 finally throws him\/her out of his comfort zone, so he\/she can set out into the world to find answers and solve the problem. At first everything goes well, he\/she meets allies, encounters his\/her love interest, but then the villains close in, our hero fights and fails miserably, and after psychological death and resurrection, makes his\/her final push to victory. The central question is answered and the film is over. <\/p>\n\n Let\u2019s now take a look at the video: First of all, who is the hero in the story? You might think it\u2019s the girl, and the villain would be Emmanuel, the emu. But I think the opposite is the case. Heroes ask questions, villains make arguments, each representing opposite sides of the same moral, psychological or intellectual argument. The emu suffers undeserved misfortune (strictly from a screenwriting standpoint, I\u2019m sure he has a very good life on the farm) because he has to live in captivity and in a system of human \u201cmorality\u201d that makes no sense to him. Picking at things is his natural instinct after all. He immediately wins our empathy for that reason. <\/p>\n\n The enemy is the girl (again, strictly from a screenwriting point of view, of course she is adorable and only means well) who makes arguments and tries to keep our hero within the confines of her moral beliefs, delivering Oscar-worthy lines such as \u201cWe\u2019re not choosing violence today!\u201d and \u201cMake smart choices!\u201d Ultimately, she wants to prevent our hero from asking bigger questions. <\/p>\n\n So far, so good. But the really brilliant thing about the video is that it contains a CENTRAL QUESTION for the audience that encompasses all three components necessary for a story to be successful: <\/p>\n\n It means a lot to the hero. Generally speaking: Can the hero overcome his inner resistance (or perceived weaknesses) to leave his comfort zone and achieve his goal? In the video, the emu struggles with the temptation to examine the camera. He has an aspiration to break out of the restrictive system of rules in which he lives, to look behind things and gain new knowledge, to expand his horizons, to discover truth and to go one step further than all the other animals on the farm. He wants to explore the bigger picture, something every hero must do. <\/p>\n\n It means a lot to a few people. Generally speaking: Can the hero conquer his love interest or repair his relationship with his family or loved ones? In the video, we start wondering if Emmanuel will get a grip on the relationship with his owner. Will he have to disappoint her first in order to prove that he is smarter than she thought? Will he have to face any consequences? Will he win back her love? His actions have a great impact on the relationship with the girl. <\/p>\n\n It means a lot to many people. Generally speaking: The system, the society, the universe in which the hero moves. The higher good that is threatened by negative consequences if he fails. In the video, the physical component is the audience for which the farm videos are intended, the further production of the videos, the education of the people, the successful continuation of the entire farm show. That\u2019s what is at stake. <\/p>\n\n All of these three components are contained in the central question of the video. This is what makes \u201cthe story\u201d so powerful and a guaranteed audience hit. The perfect short film. <\/p>\n\n But what about the ending? In an ideal feature film, the hero would create synthesis between his personal thesis and the villain\u2019s antithesis: \u201cYes, cameras have to be explored, but in a smart way, and without using violence, because the farm show is eventually beneficial to all animals on the farm\u201d. In the case of the video, the ending remains open, and it\u2019s left to the viewer\u2019s imagination how the story goes on. Open endings are a common choice for short films and usually work very well. <\/p>\n\n There are a few other popular variations for short film endings that I can think of off the top of my head, and I\u2019m supplementing each here with an example of what they might have looked like in the video if a screenwriter had conceived them, just for fun:<\/p>\n\n a) A classic twist b) An epilogue c) A meta-level added (respectively a \u201cwaking up to a greater reality\u201d) WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS FOR AN ALTERNATE ENDING? To all the screenwriters and creative minds out there, drop me your thoughts in the comments section below. I look forward to it! <\/p>\n\n More information:<\/p>\n\n Read this article on LinkedIn.<\/a><\/p>\n\n1) The SPIRITUAL component<\/h2>\n\n
2) The EMOTIONAL component<\/h2>\n\n
3) The PHYSICAL component<\/h2>\n\n