Short films have a set of specific set of features that need to be utilised. As is evident in the name a short film needs to be shorter in length than a feature film. The length is usually between two and ten minutes. Though the length is a theme it is not the most important convention of the short film genre. There are other features that are more integral to the ideology of a short film.
More importantly a short film has a very strong and clear controlling idea. This is the one thing that must be clearly at the forefront of the short film throughout.
Aswell as this there is usually a very small cast of characters often only one or two. It is easier to follow just one story in the shorter timeframe rather than peeling off for different people's journeys in feature films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The protagonist remains allmost exclusively in the centre of the screen in the short film.
A regular occurance in a short film is that the ending is shocking and suprising. This is necessary because the audience of short films are likely to watch a lot of other media products from a range of institutions. If a certain short film is to leave an impact on the viewer it will need a shocking twist to engage the audience and force them to feel an emotion. If in a shorter length production an audience is unanomously upset or angry or ammused then it can be deemed as sucessful.
Voiceovers are common practice in short films. They are often used in shorter production as apposed to diolouge. It can be the voice of a narrator speaking over actions like for example in Tim Burton's Vincent. Or it could be the voice of the central protagonist voicing over their own action perhaps in the present or even speaking in heinsight in the past tense.
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