I'm participating in a 1 minute film competition. Moreover, this is my first ever film (short or feature). Now, I wrote the first draft and it turns out to be of 2 and half pages. The rule of thumb is that 1 page = 1 minute.
Honestly, I don't think it'll take more than 1 minute with some good editing. The length of the script can be increased because of too much description and scene changes, right? The length of dialogues is pretty small and it won't take much time.
Should I make changes?
That rule of thumb is quite accurate for a feature length
script. It is not an absolute.
If you feel your two and a half page script will end up
with a finished product that fits in the competition then
there is no need to make any changes. Shoot what you
have and do the edit. The very best way to know if you
have the correct length is to go for it!
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Keep in mind you'll need ti me for credits.
If your short must not exceed 60 seconds, and you are absolutely certain that the dialogue will fit comfortably within, then go ahead and shoot. You'll be surprised how much you can trim in post without losing coherence and flow.
Credits will not be counted in that one minute 🙂
I think editing has to be really good to make it under 1 minute. I'll probably use split screen in order to save the time.
You could always do a dry run with a buddy and time it. Do what your script says and see how long it takes. You'd get a rough estimate to know if you really need to change things or not.
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Yeah, what gabs said. It's the same thing you'd do with a oral presentation right? If you need a presentation to be almost exactly five minutes exactly, you write and plan it out accordingly and most importantly you rehearse it.
And yeah navio, that one page = one minute rule of thumb is based on (in my understanding) a general average for feature length films, which is based on an average length for a script of 115 pages (or something close to that). If your script is 2 pages, it's no where near where it would take to get a similar average, so really you just have to look at your project independently and decide how long you think it will be.
Heck, I'm working on a project now and in the screenplay (this is a completely unprofessional production however) there's one paragraph describing the routine of the character. In the finished product, that one paragraph will work out to being a time lapse of around one minute. Given that it's a four page script, obviously my average will be much different from the rule of thumb that you brought up.
Rules of thumb are just there to make life easier, but they're not always viable. If you have an unusual or extraordinary project then applying a general heuristic probably won't end up being truthful in that case let alone beneficial.
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