The shortest shorts you’ve ever seen 🎬

Get your head out of the gutter, I’m talking short films.

A couple weeks ago I posted this video about a filmmaking challenge I undertook: telling a story in only 3 shots. Then I challenged viewers to try making their own short films in only 3 shots.

I didn’t expect so many submissions!

The great thing is, not only are these films quick to make, they’re also quick to watch – most are under a minute long.

So check out some of my favorite 3-shot micro films created by viewers and members of my online film school Wrapped in 30 Days.

The OG films

This all started last month when I ran a contest in the Wrapped community:

Make a film running :30 seconds or less, consisting of only 3 shots, that tells a story with some kind of impact.

Production value didn’t matter, I’d judge the films only by their storytelling.

The winner would get a MusicBed small business subscription (worth $1200!), and I sent out smaller prizes for 2nd and 3rd place.

We had a bunch of submissions and a lot of fun all round, but here were the winning films:

🥉 3rd Place (a tie!):

Glenn Lawrence, “One Push”

Howie McCormick, “Adrift”

🥈 2nd Place:

Keysi from Ghettoplex⁠⁠, “Poison Promotion”

🏆 1st Place:

Andy Decramer, “Erinya.Main”

Each of these films have their own strengths, but I was impressed that Andy managed to create a sci-fi world, 2 desperate characters, and high stakes in only 3 quick shots – it got my mind engaged and filling in the gaps of the story. I loved it!

YouTube submissions

My video proposing this challenge went up 9 days ago as I type this, but already there are 10 films submitted! Some were even posted that first day 😮 I love to see it.

Here are some favorites:

I love the economy of storytelling in the first shot of this one, very clever.

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Death was a common theme of many of these 3-shot films.

Here’s another one that had the best production value of any submitted, love the transitions between shots particularly.

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This one limited itself to tight shots that suggest the fuller world, but we actually see barely any of it. Despite that it sets up 2 (actually 3) characters and even includes a twist 👏👏

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More 3-shot films!

Want to see the rest?

I made this playlist on YouTube with all the submissions – I’ll add more as they come in.

Want to take on this challenge? Do it!

It’s a great exercise to challenge your economy of storytelling.

And tag me in the description of your YouTube upload! I’ll add yours to the playlist and will probably revisit this challenge in the future for another video.

Maybe it’ll even become an annual challenge… 🤔

Favorites this week:

🍿 Movie: Eddington

Late to the party here, but man, I loved this. It might make you feel pretty gross by the end of it, but I feel like that’s the price of admission for an Ari Aster movie. This is now my 2nd favorite of his films (after Hereditary).

🍿 Movie: Bugonia

Want MORE conspiracies? I don’t know how Lanthimos makes such good films so quickly one after another, but I’ve been thinking about this one for days after seeing it.

Mostly I’ve been thinking how great Jesse Plemons is. He and Emma Stone carried this film so (seemingly) effortlessly.

📚 Book: Hard Drive (Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire)​

This biography about Bill Gates and the rise of Microsoft was written back in ‘92 and has lots of candid takes on the younger, pre-billionaire, whiz-kid version of Bill. As something of a computer nerd myself, it was fun learning about the development of these machines and how brilliant, petulant, and obnoxious Gates was in this era.

My favorite parts of the book are the stories about being “hard core”. Bill was hyper-competitive, and with everything he did he tended to do it to the max. When it came to computers, he had endless energy and enthusiasm. He would regularly fall asleep at his computer working into the early morning hours programming, only to wake up and immediately resume typing. He’d get meals served to him at the computer, and was usually in dire need of a shower.

As he transitioned into his ultimate role of running the business rather than typing code himself, he expected the same hard core ethos of everyone at the company. That means taking luxuries like weekends, vacations, and clocking out at reasonable hours were all harshly judged. Sounds like a super shitty place to work! But I’m sure being at the forefront of the computer revolution was an intoxicating feeling for the bright college grads they’d typically recruit (harder to be hard core when you’re married with kids after all).

Also, I love the title.

📱 App: FilmConvert Nitrate (Black Friday sale)​

50% off! Shouting this plug-in out because their Black Friday sale is usually their lowest prices of the year, and it’s running NOW. Save 40% on everything they offer, PLUS another 10% with my link here (or just enter code STANDARD at checkout).

I’ve used FilmConvert to color my last handful of shorts and it’s been a lifesaver. Give your footage filmic character instantly with their film stock emulations, customizable real-time film grain, and color correction tools that are fine tuned to your specific camera’s sensor. The Hazy and Halation add-ons are also clutch.

Let’s make some movies.

-Kent