A woman’s face is shown in close-up. Her left eyelids are prized apart, and a razor blade swiftly slid across her exposed eyeball. This typically gasp-inducing moment from Luis Buñuel’s classic art-house shocker Un chien andalou (1929) has become one of the most famous scenes in cinema history.
The movie itself is a bold collaboration between Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, and a benchmark in surrealist cinema. But most importantly, says the producer and more recently director Stephen Woolley, Un chien andalou is first and foremost a short film, lasting only 16 minutes. “It still packs an undeniably visceral punch,” says Woolley, “And it does so in the short-film format.”
On the eve of the fourth annual British Short Screenplay Competition, he is banging the drum for the art of short film-making. “The skills that you need to write a short screenplay, dealing with plot, character and pacing, are very similar to those employed in writing a full feature script,” says Woolley, who serves on the competition’s judging panel (other members include Kenneth Branagh and Alan Parker). “I executive-produced Shane Meadows’s first feature, 24/7, after I had seen his short film, Where’s the Money, Ronnie? I sit on these juries to spot upcoming talent.”
The competition was established by the independent producer Arif Hussein to provide an exhibition platform and a foot in the industry door for aspiring film-makers (the first prize is to have the short produced, in association with the National Film and Television School).
But Hussein is also keen to dispel the notion that short films are merely audition reels for future feature film-makers. “They are an art form in themselves,” he says. “With the commercials they shoot established film-makers like Ridley Scott and John Woo are still making short films, even at this stage in their careers.”
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And furthermore, adds the competition judge Nik Powell (the producer of the highly praised Little Voice), when you consider the ever-increasing popularity of short-film websites (such as Atomfilms.com) plus the profusion of short-film festivals around the globe, you’re ultimately talking about a revolution.
“The short film is having a rebirth because of these new exhibition spaces,” says Powell. “There’s a whole subculture of people out there who are making short films quickly and cheaply. And the creativity that’s out there will eventually make its way into the British film industry.”
But before we man the filmic barricades, show-reels under arms, there’s the minor matter of a short screenplay to write. And the format, by its very brevity (in this case, from five to 15 minutes long), can be difficult to master. Powell says that sometimes the scripts can be a bit too “high-concept” for their own good — or what Woolley refers to, with typical producer’s candour, as “the I woke up and it was all a dream” script syndrome.
As with their feature-length counterparts, there isn’t any easy formula for writing a great short screenplay, says Hussein — adding obliquely, but perhaps revealingly: “All the scripts that have won so far have been a complete story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Like a mini feature.”
Woolley suggests that, obviously, the winning screenplay should have something that’s cinematic in it. “You have to have a general appreciation of the screenplay as a cinematic form,” he says.
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However, getting specific about subject matter, he cautions that after years of sitting on panels and festival juries he has spotted the classic short-film pitfall. “Everyone seems to think that they should do something about their childhood, or about a child. I know that you want to put your own experiences into something so it can be hard to avoid. But it becomes slightly repetitive when you have all these slow-moving images of beautiful children. Unless you have something burning to say it can be something of a turn-off.” You have been warned.
What you win and how to enter
This year’s winning writer will be invited to the British Independent Film Awards ceremony to be held in London later this year. The script will be made by Kaos Films with a professional cast and crew.
Runner-up prizes Ten runners-up will receive Movie Magic screen writing software. The first runner-up will receive the full suite — Screenwriter 2000, Dramatica Pro and Story View, worth £700. Nine others will receive Screenwriter 2000, worth £250.
The deadline for entries is Friday, May 27. Winners will be announced by July 29.
ENTRY RULES Entry confirms acceptance of rules and regulations: they can be found at www.kaosfilms.co.uk