Codes and conventions of a short film (by Kirsty Guy)

A short film is a motion picture which runs for no longer than forty minutes. They follow a simple story line which is easy for the audience to understand, but this may be portrayed in an advanced, creative way. 

One convention of a short film is the number of characters within the production; this is usually no more than three. For example, there may be a protagonist, an antagonist and a major character. This is because there is not enough time to create a whole background history on each of the characters.

Along with this, another convention is, just like the majority of full films, there is a twist to the story. This creates a more exciting and interesting product for the audience. Having a twist means that the audience are more likely to want to watch it as they will be intrigued to know what is coming up. It also makes the product  more unpredictable and therefore less like anything that has already featured in a film from the past.

The budget of a short film is often low because directors and producers are not back by international or industry based companies. Actors are willing to work for free as they aren't needed as much as actors from a full length film, and the directors do not need to find "stunt-men" as bigger stunts are not conventionally featured.