With a fabricated idea in your pocket, you must realize where it fits at the short films’ scenario. I must admit, there are plenty of formats to develop your concept accordingly to its potential and aspirations.
I ought to confess also that this series also follows some of the bests short films around the internet, so even if their ideas don’t please you overwhelmingly, you should spend some extra-time checking these features.
Due to the length of these articles, i’ll split them into a limited series of articles, so you better stay around for the remaining.
1. Advertising/Promo
Where the big bucks are. Somehow, every 30-sec ad you watch on TV is a short film. Some of them have a narrative, others are purely visual concept, both grow from the same idea tree and i couldn’t discard the possibility that perhaps you found an awesome way to sell Heinekens. The key to an advertisement short is that it must *suspense theme* advertise! Well, its theme must raise the viewer’s empathy to a specific product and that’s about all your boundaries, since lately there has been barely none timelimit for ads, but they shouldn’t be too long, of course. 30-sec to 3-min range is the most common.
Answer quickly: don’t you wanna buy an Intel right now? Despite that, sometimes the film doesn’t even need the brand on it, this way some great ideas find their spaces at viral promos. These films usually expose the potential of a product or a company by directly showing its capabilities. You may find several SFX companies using those to beat the drum for their job. It’s surely better than a PDF portfolio. This kind of advertising has also delivered the Nokia series of stop motions: Dot & Gulp. However, you can feel the advertising in those commercials. Now try on this one:
Nah, you won’t find the Philips logo there. It’s a viral for Philips flat screen. But possibly somewhere, a Don Draper wannabe is shouting: Let’s gestalt these bitches!
Also Check: Dulux: Let’s Colour Project; Chrysler: Imported from Detroit; Plot Device.
Short of Stories 