STORY DESIGN IN THE SHORT FICTION FILM

Richard Raskin, 2011

raskin@imv.au.dk

http://imv.au.dk/~raskin/

EXAMPLE

STORYTELLING PARAMETERS
1. character-focus character-interaction

THE WAR IS OVER

letting the viewer know whose story is being told, yet keeping the main
character interacting with others; once we know whose story it is, we
have a home base within the film; at the same time, only interaction
can provide the vitality needed to capture and hold our interest;

Nina Mimica
(Italy, 1997)
7 min

2. causality choice
making cause and effect relationships central to the story, but having
the causality flow from the main character's deliberate choices; main
characters who make things happen are more interesting to the viewer
than are characters things happen to.

3. consistency surprise
keeping behavior consistent with each characters definition, yet utterly
unpredictable; unlike longer narratives, the short fiction film is not good
at depicting any characters transformation; while the situation at the
end of the film differs from that at the start, the characters remain
essentially the same

4. image sound
designing the action in such a way that it is as interesting to the ear as
to the eye; sound, in particular, should be an integral part of the action
rather than simply an auditory backdrop for the action; characters can
produce sounds and react to sounds; sounds can trigger events or can
in themselves constitute events

LA GUERRA FINITA

KOM
Marianne Olsen
Ulrichsen
(Norway, 1995)
4.5 min

EATING OUT
Pl Sletaune
(Norway, 1993)
7 min

THE JOURNEY
MATKA

Pirjo Hokkanen
(Finland, 1983)
9 min.

5. character object and dcor

STAIRCASE

having characters interact with meaningful objects and with their

physical setting, both of which are given important storytelling
functions; embedding the inner lives of characters in the physical
world; subjectivity and interiority balanced by external, material things

Hanna Andersson,
Karin Arrhenius
(Sweden, 2004)
5 min

FEM TRAPPOR

6. simplicity depth

DERAILMENT

keeping the story simple enough to be habitable by the viewer; stories

that are too complex or detailed hold the viewer at a distance;
simplicity can best enable the viewer to enter the story and to explore
and construct its meanings from within

AVSPORING

7. economy wholeness
balancing the trimming away of all superfluous moments and detail so
that the film is a concentrated distillation, with the viewers need to
experience the film as a whole that is richly textured and teeming with
life; only dwelling on characters faces (eyes) takes precedence over
cutting to the bone; importance of closural strategies

Unni Straume
(Norway, 1993)
7 min

SUNDAY
John Lawlor
(Ireland, 1989)
8 min

For further discussion, see Richard Raskin, The Art of the Short Fiction Film (McFarland, 2002); On pacing in
the short fiction Film, Journal of Media Practice, vol. 7, no. 2 (2006), pp. 159-61; "Story design in the short
fiction film," in Elliot Groves Raindance Writers' Lab (London: Focal Press, 2008), pp. 119-125; and any issue
of Short Film Studies http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=191/