After seeing the comment, myself and Lily Vosper proceeded to send him a message asking for any advice on how to create an original short. The message is shown below:
Hello,
We are currently doing A-level Media Studies and for our practical work we have to create a short film that lasts 5 minutes. We were wondering if you had any advice on how to go about creating and/or writing a short film that is fairly simple to produce as we have a very low budget. We also have a passion for filmmaking and want to work in the industry when we leave sixth form so we want to make sure that our short film is the best that it can be.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Evie Calaby & Lily Vosper
We are currently doing A-level Media Studies and for our practical work we have to create a short film that lasts 5 minutes. We were wondering if you had any advice on how to go about creating and/or writing a short film that is fairly simple to produce as we have a very low budget. We also have a passion for filmmaking and want to work in the industry when we leave sixth form so we want to make sure that our short film is the best that it can be.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Evie Calaby & Lily Vosper
Fergus replied quickly with the following message:
Hi Evie and Lily,
That sounds great.
I haven't done that many short films, though I have done quite a bit of TV writing over the last few years. I think some of the same rules apply, like...
The key to good films and low budgets is planning.
Only film what you'll need, and remember that people like stories about people. Spend time making your characters interesting. Make us care about them, even if we don't like them.
Don't set out to write a five minute film. Start writing a half hour and edit edit edit the script until you've got down to five minutes. Like I said, I went from four minutes down to one and ditched a lot of stuff. But what was left worked really well.
Remember that you have much more than just words to use. We used looks, reactions, movement and even the hand-written note to get the information across. Make every shot work as hard as it can.
If you get the opportunity, there is one pretty good book you could look at. 'Rebel Without A Crew', by Robert Rodriguez (who made 'Sin City' and 'Spy Kids'), where he describes making his first feature. It's pretty good nuts and bolts stuff.
Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. Let me know if I can help with anything else, and keep me posted.
All the best,
Fergus Mitchell
That sounds great.
I haven't done that many short films, though I have done quite a bit of TV writing over the last few years. I think some of the same rules apply, like...
The key to good films and low budgets is planning.
Only film what you'll need, and remember that people like stories about people. Spend time making your characters interesting. Make us care about them, even if we don't like them.
Don't set out to write a five minute film. Start writing a half hour and edit edit edit the script until you've got down to five minutes. Like I said, I went from four minutes down to one and ditched a lot of stuff. But what was left worked really well.
Remember that you have much more than just words to use. We used looks, reactions, movement and even the hand-written note to get the information across. Make every shot work as hard as it can.
If you get the opportunity, there is one pretty good book you could look at. 'Rebel Without A Crew', by Robert Rodriguez (who made 'Sin City' and 'Spy Kids'), where he describes making his first feature. It's pretty good nuts and bolts stuff.
Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. Let me know if I can help with anything else, and keep me posted.
All the best,
Fergus Mitchell
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