Short Film Structure — Story in Three Minutes

Assessment 1 — Short Film + Production Portfolio

Independently or in a small team, produce a 3–4 minute short film with a full production portfolio. The reflective report focuses on the role(s) you undertook, the collaborative and creative decisions, and how health and safety was integrated throughout.

Weeks 11–14

• Risk assessment
• Script
• Storyboard
• Shot list
• Final film (3–4 minutes)
• 750-word reflective report

• Adhere to H&S protocols throughout
• Harvard referencing in the reflective report
• File upload by Week 14, Sun 23:59

• LO1 — Structure a 3–4 minute short with a complete arc.
• LO2 — Cut your own script to fit a runtime.
• LO3 — Defend your structure choices in a workshop pitch.

• The short as one idea, not a compressed feature
• Openings that commit — first image, first line
• One protagonist, one want, one obstacle
• Endings that turn, not resolve
• The page-a-minute rule (and when to break it)

1. 01

   One-line the film

   Write your short in a single sentence. If it needs two, the film needs cutting.

2. 02

   Beat sheet in 6

   Six beats: opening image, inciting incident, complication, turn, climax, final image.

3. 03

   Runtime pass

   Read the script aloud with a stopwatch. Cut every second over 4 minutes.

4. 04

   First-image rewrite

   Rewrite your first image to be visual and specific. No dialogue in the first 30 seconds.

5. 05

   Pitch and defend

   Three-minute pitch to the group. Take one question per beat, revise on the fly.

• Shorts that are feature-openings in disguise.
• Dialogue on the first page instead of an image.
• Endings that explain — trust the audience to feel it.

This is the final script rehearsal before Assessment 1 goes into production. The draft you leave with is the one you shoot.