How to Make a Short Film That Sells

In many ways, making a short film can be a lot harder than making a feature film. With a feature film you have lots of time to get your story across to the audience, there really is no limit to how long a feature film can be. That is not a luxury the short filmmaker has. A short film is typically around 10 min or less in length, but can be as long as 35 min. It can be very difficult to get your story across in such a short amount of time.

Follow the tips below to make sure that your short film stands out from the crowd, and shows off your filmmaking skills in the best possible light.

Make Your Short Film Unique, Be Original

You need to look at your short film as your calling card. You need to make a short film that people are going to remember, talk about, and more importantly write about. If you're really serious about this you need to make a short film that will stand out from the crowd.

Every year thousands of short films are made and entered into film festivals, don't let your film be one of the ones that gets forgotten or worse, rejected. The short film that stands out from the pack is sure to get the attention of the many people who can help you sell your short and launch your career in the film business. Agents, producers, managers, and festival programmers are always on the look out for new talent, particularly those who can make a short film that gets into the top 10 world film festivals.

Be yourself, don't copy other people. make a short film around something that interests you, or something that you know about. This will give you the very best chance of channelling and articulating your vision into your short film.

Don't Make it Too Long

Make sure you keep your film short! It's called that for a reason. Although a short can be anywhere up to 35 min, it's not ideal. You'd be hard pushed to find an audience who would be willing to sit through a 35 min 'short film' by a new filmmaker.

Ideally your film should be between 3 to 5 min, maximum 10 min. Particularly if you want your film to become a viral hit.

Make Sure Your Sound is Top Notch

I cannot stress how important it is to have proper sound on your film. In many ways, it's more important than the camerawork. That may sound strange, considering that film is a visual medium. But people are far less forgiving of bad sound than they are of shoddy camera work. Bad sound can kill any chances of your short being accepting into film festivals or being sold for broadcast.

Make sure you have your sound recorded professionally. You can get people to work on your short film for free, so there really is no excuse not to have this done correctly.

Credits

Keep the credits simple. Keep the credits short. The last thing an audience wants is to watch a minute worth of credits or more for a film that is under 10 min. Check your ego in at the door, if it doesn't fit the film, leave it out.

Particularly avoid opening credits on a short film, you should hit the ground running, you need to grab the audiences attention as quickly as possible.

Budget

Don't overspend! There is a misconception that the more money spent on a film the better will be. This is untrue, all the money in the world wont make up for a bad script or bad direction. Concentrate on the story and getting the right crew. [l]