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Not trying to be a party pooper here, but IMHO, the other thread "Simply Recommended" is better titled. This one is called "greatest SS shorts of all time" yet most of the people posting are fairly new and have only read newer shorts and is mostly mentioning those... I don't see how that is the greatest of all time.
"Simply Recommended", IMO, is not a very good title at all. Recommended what? Someone glancing at that would have no idea what it's about. Recommended can mean anything.
I wanted to focus on shorts. That includes general discussion about them, and people listing examples of favorites. The title was just meant to get attention and encourage people to post some examples of their favorite shorts here. I would love to get lists of the old shorts here. Maybe we can transfer some links from that thread. Seems to be no harm in the idea. I wasn't aware of the other thread, which no one has posted in for over a year.
Shorts. That's all I wanted in this one. If no one contributes, not the end of the world.
I didn't start reading shorts until the Feb 2011 OWC. Though I've certainly read a lot since then, a staggering number have been posted here over the years. I definitely have developed a fondness for them, and also appreciate how early on the learning curve I am as far as [i]what a great short should look like.
I'm gonna be the outcast here and say I place a heavy rating of shorts I read, or write, on filmability. Why the fuck do people learn this format, write in this fashion, if they're going to write such an over-the-top budgetted story???
Yes, yes, anything can happen on film.... For a major studio!!! To me its pointless to write a high budget short. "If the story's good, just write it." Bullshit! If the stories good and the budget would be ridiculous, go write a fucking short story. If you aspire to see real people act out your lines and speak your words, tailor the fucken budget.
I've read many a great shorts here that no filmaker would want to even attempt. Call me a sell-out, a cop-out, whatever... It gives me no greater pleasure then to see my script acted out. THAT is why I write screenplays. Many of the best writers around here should concentrate on writing short stories IMO and give up this format unless their dream is to truly see their work on film.
Thank you for pointing that out Chuff, that works better. I should have hit the link, I just read the post. My bad.
I started this because I wanted to read the older shorts you mentioned. If there was already a thread for this, I would have just gone to it. So I was hoping people would simply post links here. I was also hoping for some discussion on shorts technique and theory. Which happened, though I would love more.
Then, after I started the thread, I got a message from a member saying two things: a) this was a great idea, and that I should try to list some scripts near the top. So I modified my post to do that.
And b) that the old guard would probably be very unhappy and try to kill this.
That was the message I got about 5 minutes after the thread was started, before anyone posted, before I was told about the Recommend link.
I have since received other messages saying the like the thread. But it's not my call. I just wanted to learn more about shorts through discussion, and through seeing classic shorts here I was unaware of.
James, thanks for joining the discussion. Those are the kind of opinions I think we're looking for.
I really am not sure why my quote is there though. Are you talking about my work? If you are talking about the Station, it is true, that could not be filmed on low budget. But that took one day out of my life to write. The other stuff I attempt is, as you advise, aimed at very low budget. I'm not sure what you're angry about. I haven't really written anything I expect to see filmed anyway. I'm have been more just trying to learn how to write.
Pia, I must be guilty of being very unclear in what I'm saying, and maybe that all stems from the title of the thread, so maybe that could have been better worded.
I simply wanted a list of great SS shorts, for my own personal use, so I could read and learn; and I wanted a little discussion on how best to construct shorts, whether shorts should be treated like smaller features or something different.
I thought perhaps others might be interested in the same. People could each have their own list. Might be useful to us.
I never conceived it would in any way be controversial or lead to arguments.
No one has PM'd me any suggestions on a short to read.
If I could have not had to post shorts here, and got away with it, and just used links others put, I would have. But I realized at some point that was selfish. So I posted some examples of shorts I do know about. And I made clear that I only know a small sample, and I am very inexperienced when it comes to evaluating.
The PMs I received were just in support of the thread and the idea behind it. I did not say you were unhappy, or happy...I have no idea. I hope you're happy.
I hope that clears it up. Maybe we're better off just deleting the d@mn thread. Not worth the aggravation.
Just retitle it great shorts at SS. The greatest of all time is bad since I have read maybe near 1000 by now and I realize how many great ones I've read that are not being mentioned.
Why don't I mention them? I can't remember the titles....
I tell you what: if Pia posts 5 of her favorite shorts, ones not already mentioned, I will change the name. And Bert, you are correct, I didn't know I could do that. I thought only a moderator could.
I think the point of art is to present a theme. That is to say, to share with the world an opinion that will have some impact on the way they think or act.
In short stories or short film we generally accomplish this by the resolution of a conflict which, upon examination, points to our theme. Failing that, we present a situation, or an object in a situation, and convey an attitude towards that situation or object.
So, if we want to explain to the world that it is important to plan for the future, we tell the story (in script form) of the ant and the grasshopper (the grasshopper plays all summer while the ants work to gather food for the winter, the grasshopper laughs at the ants for refusing to abandon their food-gathering to play with him, when winter comes the ants live an easy life underground and the grasshopper dies).
Or, for the real arthouse types, perhaps we make a film that consists of nothing but a man digging a grave, and at the very end of the sequence, he gets into it and lays down. No conflict, per se, but if done effectively it could convey an attitude.
Or maybe we just sit on a still image of a city skyline, but the soundtrack consists entirely of cows mooing. Or maybe, we start on the city and the soundtrack is filled with unpleasant, discordant noises, and then we pan over to nature and now the soundtrack is pleasant and concordant.
Obvious ideas. My point, though, is that I think the one criterion of a short film is that it conveys a theme, and I think that that is always accomplished through one of the two methods that I mentioned in my second paragraph above.
I agree with Heretic (Polanski aside!). It seems pretty evident that a short is essentially a microcosm of a feature script - just condense the standard structure. This question delves deeper into what is a story and how is it told.
Arthouse films work when the audience and crew haven't disappeared up their arses.
I'm gonna be the outcast here and say I place a heavy rating of shorts I read, or write, on filmability. Why the fuck do people learn this format, write in this fashion, if they're going to write such an over-the-top budgetted story???
Yes, yes, anything can happen on film.... For a major studio!!! To me its pointless to write a high budget short. "If the story's good, just write it." Bullshit! If the stories good and the budget would be ridiculous, go write a fucking short story. If you aspire to see real people act out your lines and speak your words, tailor the fucken budget.
I've read many a great shorts here that no filmaker would want to even attempt. Call me a sell-out, a cop-out, whatever... It gives me no greater pleasure then to see my script acted out. THAT is why I write screenplays. Many of the best writers around here should concentrate on writing short stories IMO and give up this format unless their dream is to truly see their work on film.
James
I think you do have to be careful with budget in this day and age. What's really impossible to a few talented filmmakers with a bit of time, some VFX training and a few green sheets?
Ultimately standards are getting higher all the time..the days of filmmakers making it with a low budget flick like Clerks may be gone...it's like a different era of filmmaking altogether. A lot of the filmmakers getting snapped up now are making Hollywood style Epics in their bedrooms.