My Rode Reel: A Competition of Shorts

    Making a film for a festival is intimidating. For me, I didn't know where to start. And unfortunately, this meant that I ended up trapping myself into a corner. What I did was go backwards. I started with the question: what would a film festival want? And while it's not a bad thing to ask yourself, it shouldn't be the reason you decide to write anything. Because then your writing isn't yours, it's what you think other people want it to be.
    And then there was the issue of "ten minutes." Ten minutes was the hypothetical limit. To me, that was not nearly enough time to express a whole story. But I suppose that's why it makes the perfect challenge. Ten minutes. Ten minutes to tell an entire story. To the unexperienced, that seems impossible. To the foolish, that seems too easy. But to the truly skilled, that was just enough.

   My Rode Reel was a competition set up in partnership with the Rode microphone company. The rules dictated a short film, that had to use one of their branded mics, and a behind the scenes video. They had nine winners, all who received an insanely decked out cinema package. The categories stood as: Judges' choice, People's choice, Behind the Scenes, Cinematography, Soundtrack, Documentary,  Sound Design, Non-English, and Location. The film above is the Judge's pick.
   But the reason I point any of this out is because of the content that came out from this challenge. Hundreds of entries popped up from all around the world: all of which told a story in under ten minutes. Just when you thought you saw something you were positive would win, another video pushed its way to the front.
    And that why you should check out these films from the website. Because these are people who can tell a story. It doesn't take a lot to add things, but it takes a lot to know what needs to scrapped. The above movie, The Tale of Benjamin Sawyer is a perfect example of this practice. While it's not perfect, and relies heavily on exposition to get its story through the backstory (something arguably needed), it shows that even five minutes can begin and end and entire story. The behind the scenes themselves show just the process that its director, Ronnie Bingaman, had to go through to do this. And his is not the only film that should be looked at. All of the winner's have a remarkable twist on storytelling that begs to ask the question: if they can do it, can you? And hopefully that answer is yes.

   Te minutes used to seem like too little. But regardless of whether our stories go beyond or below, it's a limit that shouldn't be looked at lightly. Ten minutes is more than enough to tell a story. If anything, it's an art.

How To Make The Perfect Sundance Film

That's right, by the time you finish reading this article you will be ready to dominate the Sundance scene.

Okay, not exactly. But Ted Hope (CEO of Fandor and author of Hope for Film) has shared his advice on how he got his films into Sundance.... all twenty-three of them. Not only that, but his films have won the Grand Jury prizes three times. That's the big kahuna of prizes at Sundance.

He even understands our modern short attention span and broke down his advice into 10 easy to follow steps. For extra measure, I've added pictures to extend your attention.

1. The protagonist

Center the story around an everyday person, someone the audience can identify with (not a wealthy or an evil type).

2. The plot

The protagonist needs to go through a serious arc, suffer hardship, and then come to some understanding that the audience didn’t expect.

3. Be bold

Show risk-taking in the filmmaking. Make it feel like it may all fall apart, but then save it at the last moment: People should say, “It’s bold.”

4. Be disciplined

If you can’t be bold, be disciplined. If it doesn’t fit the form, cut it out.

5. Own your aesthetic

Embrace, even flaunt, your aesthetic and the limits of your aesthetic. Don’t be ashamed of your limitations. Own your choices.

6. Engage bigger issues

The story has to be bigger than the movie itself and should deal with issues of either class conflict, gender conflict, sexual conflict, or other political issues. How do you comment on the world at large while still examining the minute and particular?

7. Cast

You need to cast a few stars or soon-to-be stars, so it should be an ensemble piece that covers generational conflict. You have the old-name actor you’re bringing back and the up-and-comer whom no one had seen yet, along with actors who can move from TV into feature films.

8. Shock value

It needs some moment of audacity, the kind of thing that people will talk about and that might even shock the uninitiated.

9. The right mix

Have a sense of humor about great tragedy— or find the tragedy in the hilarious. Embrace the cocktail; make it at least feel fresh.

10. Leave them wanting more

Shorter is better; 90 minutes is the new 120 (today, 80 is the new 90). No one ever says, "I wish it had been longer" when they leave the theater.

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The following was an excerpt from Hope's new book, "Hope For Film: From the Frontline of the Independent Cinema Revolutions", also featured in a blog post on nofilmschool.com. I found this post particularly interesting and insightful, and hopefully you find it helpful too as you write your new Sundance film :)