Interesting quotes regarding story telling within short films

"The freedom of the short film relative to the long film lies in the possibilities of using metaphor and other literary devices to tell the story. This is a luxury not available in the comercially driven, realism-oriented long film. Indeed, one of our major points about the short film is its linkages to other literary forms"(Introduction xv)

"Often the story will unfold around a choice that presents itself to the character who never returns to his or her former state. And closure is attained by virtue of making or avoiding that choice."(Introduction xv)

"The catalytic event that would begin the action of the film, which could be viewed as the beginning of act II, must come much more quickly than a quarter of the way into the film. Indeed in the short film, if we use the long-form act proportion or three act structure, one finds that both act I and act II are very short because to set up the story (Act I) must be fast."(Introduction xvi)

* Cooper, Pat; Dancyger, Ken. Writing the short film. 1st edition (Focal Press, USA, 1994)