Developing Story Ideas, 3rd Edition

20 Thirty-Minute Original Fiction

An effective short fiction film is a potent and economical way to establish your abilities. Like a full-length work it demands a plot, characters, situations, style, and a substantial thematic purpose. Three classic shorts you can find on YouTube will dispel any doubts you may have about this. In Norman McClaren’s classic pixillation (stop-frame animation) film Neighbours (Canada, 1952), two identical householders repose in their adjoining yards. When a flower springs up between them, they compete almost to the death for whose side of the fence it belongs. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (France, 1962) the American Civil War is the backdrop for Robert Enrico’s haunting adaptation of an Ambrose Bierce short ...