![]() There are three major differences between the short film and longer cinematic narratives. There is no proper term in English for that longer form, which in Scandinavia is called a novellefilm. The novellefilm is essentially a miniature feature film, while the short film is an art form in its own right and with a much freer form of storytelling. Often the short film is confused with a much longer form, running about 25 to 40 minutes, which is the preferred format for graduation films at most film schools. When I talk about the short film, I mean a film that typically runs less than 10 minutes. Can you tell me more about these narrative models you’ve developed?īefore I can say more about the narrative model, I have to prevent a major misunderstanding. I have a low boredom threshold and films running, for example, six or seven minutes are just right for me. Jerry Seinfeld once said: “If I wanted a long boring story with no point to it, I’ve got my life”. In any event it’s a niche I am happy with, and I get to give seminars on short-film storytelling at festivals and film schools.Ī whole other way of answering your question would be to say I love narratives that are very short and meaningful. Sometimes I get the impression that I am the only one. Very few academics are passionately interested in the short film. But one finally took shape, and it seems to be working quite well. It took a number of years and a lot of trial and error to develop a viable model. So I had to develop my own narrative model that could pin down what was specific to short-film storytelling, without being formulaic or restrictive of the students’ creativity, and help catch beginner mistakes. But most books on screenwriting deal with feature-film storytelling, and the only books focused on the short film at that time were uninspiring and not very useful. ![]() ![]() And before long, I realised fiction was what they wanted to work with the most, and so did I. When I began teaching hands-on courses in film production in the mid 1980s, it was clear the only formats my students could manage to produce within a one-semester course were short films of one kind or another. Why the short film? Why have you devoted so much time and energy into understanding this form? No sounds right now except for my tapping on the keyboard. The apartment is bright even on a rainy day like this one. I’m in an apartment in the very centre of Aarhus, overlooking a canal and sidewalk cafés. ![]() Musicbed: Would you mind describing your surroundings? Where are you at the moment? Raskin to explain his theories and models to us in a bit more detail, and what he told us has changed the way we see films. A form that doesn’t require dialogue, character arcs, or even conflict - the very things we thought storytelling was all about. Raskin realized a short film isn’t merely a condensed version of a feature, but rather a different narrative form altogether. Raskin make short films, teach short films, and speak around the world at conferences about short films, but he also edits an academic journal about short films called, appropriately, Short Film Studies.Īfter spending so much time with the form, Dr. Richard Raskin, a professor at Aarhus University in Denmark, and one of the most brilliant and active short-film theorists in the world. For the past few weeks, we’ve been trading emails with Dr. What makes a short film a short film? If you asked us a month ago, we might have told you that a short film’s defining characteristic is, well, its shortness. But not anymore. ![]()
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