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Short film clichés we should let die

Kent L

4 years, 8 months ago - Kent L

I put together a list of the biggest short film cliches I've seen from 20 years making/watching shorts, and from the film festival circuit. Don't put these in your short films, I beg you.

https://youtu.be/pMrle6XLZxI

Do you know of any cliches that I missed?

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Andrew Ionides

4 years, 8 months ago - Andrew Ionides

Excellent video! I'm guilty of using a couple of these but you live and learn (not to sound cliched!).

Incidentally, one cliche-visual I see in films generally, short and feature, is the 'Christ' pose. Usually happens if a character sacrifices themselves or is having blissful moment to music.

Kent L

4 years, 8 months ago - Kent L

Thanks! And yeah that's one that probably feels more subtle/clever to the filmmaker than it does to the audience.

Vikas Vasudeva

4 years, 8 months ago - Vikas Vasudeva

Very interesting Kent!

Vikas Vasudeva

4 years, 8 months ago - Vikas Vasudeva

Also what made me laugh was the bit about sad parts - sometimes as actors you really want to express and feel the emotions, and hope to connect to the audience. But you are right the audience also wants to be entertained, not just traumatised!!!

Kent L

4 years, 8 months ago - Kent L

Thanks! It's a really hard challenge to surprise the audience without losing them. There's so many movies and TV shows that every type of scene has been done before, we just have to push ourselves a little more to put a fresh twist on them.