Why Your Short Film Needs a Title at The Start

Put your title at the front of your film

Here at Escape Studios we make a lot of short films, many of which go on to win festival awards.  Yet one simple element is surprisingly often missing: an opening title.  

While some experimental pieces intentionally dive straight into the action, most short films benefit from displaying their title right at the beginning.  Here’s why your title should be at the start of your film. 

Why Movie Posters Need Taglines

Short films need posters (also known as "One Sheets"), and posters need taglines. A great tagline encapsulates what the film is about, and makes the viewer want to see more.  

A great tag line (like the one for Ghostbusters on the left) is witty, short, and punchy, and makes the audience feel a sense of anticipation about the film.  

Stuck for a great tagline for your movie poster? Ask ChatGPT. Type in what your story is about, ask for ten taglines; then pick the one you like most. You don't need tell anyone you asked a bot (and I promise I won't tell either). 

Why Writers Need Screen Credit

Don't forget to credit the writer 

The screen credit most commonly neglected by our student filmmakers is that of writer. Why should this be? Probably because, as animators and visual effects artists, our students tend to think visually, not in terms of language or story.  

But, however your film is imagined, it always starts with a story.  And whoever conceived that story should be credited as the writer.  

The writer credit is one of the key roles on a film, just as important as the director and producer. Why? Because in the end, it's all about telling a story.  

How to Get Screen Credits Right

Get your screen credits right

Screen Credits are important to get right.  Don't leave people out, and don't mis-spell their names.

Most important - be sure to credit all the key roles on your film.  Credit for the key heads of department should go to one person.  There should be only be one director, and usually one producer and one writer. 

If you need to credit someone else, give them a title such Associate Producer or Assistant Director. Extra writers can be credited under "Additional Story".  Make sure you credit (at least) the following roles; Director, Director of Photography (DoP), Producer, Writer, Editor, Art Director, VFX Supervisor, Animation Director (or Head of Animation), CG Supervisor.  

Why We Make Multiple Short Films

Father's Blade

For our Animation and VFX students at Escape Studios, creating multiple short films in a limited timeframe is a powerful way to develop skills, discover unique visual styles, and build a portfolio of polished work.  

While a longer year-long project might seem like an ideal opportunity to polish one film to perfection, here is why producing several short films can be a much more valuable learning experience:

Understanding the Rule of Thirds

What is the Rule of Thirds?  It is a "rule of thumb" for composing visual images.  The Rule of Thirds proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.  In the simplest terms, try to avoid staging your character dead centre in the middle of the screen.

Is There Really No CG in The Movies?

CGI Aircraft

You may have noticed a recent trend: filmmakers claiming that they shot everything "practical"
and "on camera", without using digital effects. 

But is this right? Are they being truthful?

In this blog post, compositing tutor Sokratis Synitos explores the truth behind the Studio PR.

Yay! My Project Got Picked! What Now?

What comes Next ?

So you've pitched a project at Escape Studios and - hurrah! - your project got selected.  What happens next?

Generally, students who pitch a an idea and have it selected then go on to direct the project.  However, it is important to understand what directing a project means - and what is does not mean.

Group work is all about harmonious collaboration to ensure success - and avoid the pitfalls of failure. 

Storyboarding for People Who Can't Draw

For all our students storyboarding their short films we're recommending the video above by Russell Hasenauer titled "Storyboarding for People Who Can't Draw". It's a useful video because it helps to explain how the storyboarding process can be achieved even by students who don't draw well, or lack confidence in their drawing. Storyboarding is not chiefly about drawing - it's about how you juxtapose shots to tell a story, ideally clearly and simply.  Storyboarding is a vital part of the film-making process, and one which all our students need to learn. 

Escape Studios "60-90 Second Challenge"

60-90 Second Challenge

Here at Escape Studios we're announcing "The 60-90 Second Challenge" for all our students. The Challenge is aimed at all our students who are interested in pitching ideas and telling stories. 

Why 60-90 Seconds? Because that is the optimum length for the short films made at Escape Studios. It may not sound like a lot of time to tell a story, but many of our most successful film projects, such as Jerich0, Seeker and Quarantine Chorus have been under two minutes long.

60-90 Seconds is the perfect length for our short stories because it allows our animators to focus on quality over quantity. 

Why Animators Need Grammelot

What is Grammelot? And why do animators need it? Sometimes you want your characters to speak, but what they are actually saying isn't really that important.  Much more significant is the tone, and what that tone tells us about the character doing the speaking.  Think of the adults in the old Charlie Brown feature films; they spoke in a dreary unintelligible monotone.  We didn't know what they were saying, but we didn't need to - their tone of voice told us everything we needed to know.  And the content of their speech was far less important than what the Peanuts' kids had to say.

Key Creative Roles on a Short Animated Film

 

What are the key creative roles on a short animated film? Or, simply put, what are the jobs that absolutely have to get done in order to finish the project?  In this short video we explore the key roles that we believe must be filled in order to achieve success.

All About "The Art of The Title"

artofthetitle.com

Part of making any film is thinking about titles, and typography.  A good title sets the tone and style for the forthcoming film.

For all our students working on titles and title sequences for their short films, we recommend visiting theartofthetitle.com, a website dedicated entirely to the art and craft of movie titles.

Why Animators Need Sound Design

A sound designer at work

Animators need sound design. If you're working on a short film, sound design is a necessary part of the animatic you will put together to test out your work. 

Sound design includes voices, narration, sound effects (such as foley), and music. 

How these get combined together is part of the art and craft of film-making, and must be done before animation begins. 

How to Make a Short Animated Film

 

Above is a short video on How to Make a Short Animated Film, recorded a few years ago, and the first step in a long series of videos and blog posts about the process of animation film-making.  Below, gathered in one place, is a record of some of the most useful blog posts we have published over the last few years, divided up by category: Development & Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production.  If you're embarking for the first time on the making of an animated short, this resource is a good place to begin. 

Royalty-Free Music at Bensound

One question that animators often ask when making a short film, or compiling their demo reel, is where to get Royalty Free Music - either for free, or at low prices. 

One very useful resource that we recommend is Bensound. At Bensound.com you can download royalty free stock music for animation, YouTube and multimedia projects.

Why You Should Test Your Rig in Close Up

Low poly spider "Raa" animated by Alex Southcombe

There are many many free rigs and sets now available to students on an educational or freeware license for use in short films, creating a wide variety of creative choices for student film-makers.  

But not all rigs are created equal, and many problems only become evident when the film calls for a close-up, such as this image of the spider "Raa" shown on the left. 

The Making of "Alma"

"Alma" is the first fully motion capture CG short film created at Escape Studios.  In this video above, the key members of the team explain how the short film was put together.  The MoCap performance was recorded at Escape Studios on a Xsens Awinda MoCap suit, supplied by Escape Studios' tutor and cinematographer Clement Gharini.  "Alma" was completed by students on our MA in Animation, directed by Rola Hafez and produced by Emmanouil Zervoudakis.

How Animators Work With Composers

Original music composition helps to lift our student films to a professional level, as our students learn to collaborate with composers and sound designers to push the level of quality of our film projects.

An original score also helps to avoid problems with copyright music, which can be a barrier to entry in film festival competitions.

So, how do our students work with composers to get the best possible results? 

Why Animators Must View Shots in Continuity

Jerich0 - excellent shot continuity

Animators working on short film projects can easily get tunnel vision - just focusing on their own shot. The cure for this is always to cut your scene into the main edit, and then view the shot in continuity.  This way, you get a feel for how the shot plays in relation to the other shots in the film.

Animators are commonly assigned to work on single shots on a project, which means there will be another shot, animated by another animator, on either side of theirs.

These shots must play together in continuity, meaning that there must be a smooth flow from one to another. The character's pose at the end of Shot 1 should be the same pose in Shot 2, or else the shots won't "hook up".