Gordy Hoffman created a screenplay contest in 1998 and funded it through the eyes of an aspiring screenwriter. In 1999, there were 384 script submissions for Gordy's contest; and in 2013 there have been 3391 entries. This is a massive step up and the prizes available have also crept up to a staggering $15,000 for the Winner of the 2015 Competition. Four Finalists will receive $2,500 each. The entry fee varies in price depending on which competition you would like to enter for, it ranges from $35 - $70; This is a very reasonable price (especially if you win!).
I watched a couple of 10 minute short films to get a good idea of what you can do in 10 minutes. I found that you can tell quite a story in just 10 minutes and that is just what I plan to do.
The first short film I watched was called "Vicky and Sam" The short film is based on 3 people who are writing a short film in which 2 characters fall in love and you get to see their relationship progress and grow with every line that the writer writes - Shortly after, the writers realise that as they write things, it happens. The loved up couple is broken apart by the mistakes made by the writers and the relationship crumbles.
This short film incorporates some fantastic camera movements and scenes in which I've taken some inspiration from and used in my own short film. Each 'Cut away' scene shows very little but tells a big story. Seeing as my short film is intended to be a comedy, I can't use all of the mechanics from "Vicky and Sam"
The Second short film was less of a 10 minute short and more of several short films from one person on YouTube. Thomas "TomSka" Ridgewell is a very talented film maker and found his way to fame via the video publishing site that we all know and love, YouTube! He started posting his content that he was creating at University and went on to create his own short films with some of his friends. I particularly took inspiration from his short film titled, "Needles" In this short film Tom is suspicious of a 'Time Stopper' and he is convinced that he is messing with him. After some comedic back and forth we find out that there was a 'Time Stopper' after all. This particular short film is where I gained the inspiration for the comedy aspect for my own and I'm really glad that I have chosen this one.
I have thought long and hard about what kind of audience that I want to market my short film to. I looked at the short films listed above and they all seem to contain content that an older teenager would understand, a 15-20 year old would be the target audience in the ones listed so I certainly think that's what I'll go for. Having said that, I would like my short film to contain humor that my target audience might not entirely get, so I guess in that case, my secondary audience would be perhaps fathers and older gentlemen who may have perhaps seen the texts in which I reference.
I want the characters in my short film to have such a relationship that they can almost predict what each person is about to say. Similar to The Inbetweeners the conversation style is fantastic and each character has their moment. Billy Liar was suggested to me as a film that I should take inspiration from as it incorporates the fantasy in our heads with real life, which is something else I want to have in my short film.
In the picture above we can see that three characters have been created within the first page and we are given s short description on each. Each description contains outer presence, inner presence and context.
In the first section we can see that MARTHA is introduced as another face in the crowd and we get a little bit of inner presence from this and some context of the location around her from the sentence above.
TISH is introduced with a heavy amount of inner presence, it tells us that she is always late and her home is a mess; again we have more inner presence and context.
Ah the theme! I was really considering having a gritty, action bank robbery type film in which the characters are... One sandwich short of a picnic; but after looking at my influences and target audience, I decided that it would be best to modernise my short film and make it relatable.
Choosing the locations for my short film are most probably the hardest thing to do because I can't necessarily have a film crew and talent to a location which is a bit out of the way for some people - I needed locations in which people could reliably get to and be the best that they possibly can.
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