Paperman

I love short films.  I know... shocker.  But I think with the current trend of moviemakers cranking out three hour movies on a regular basis, this becomes a really interesting topic.  When you're sitting through a three hour long film, do you honestly remember everything that happened in the film?  No.  You're left with an overall impression.

A good short film can have just as much of an impact on you as a movie.  Sometimes more so.  They're also a really good way to explore how to write short stories.  You don't need $10 million in explosions to make a moving story line.

So I thought I would do a few blog posts exploring some of my favorite short films and what we can learn from them.  Before reading further you must first watch this cute little love story (in honor of Valentine's Day):  http://mashable.com/2013/01/30/paperman/

Awww... cute, right?  From a storytelling perspective I really admire how little we actually know about the two main characters.  We know in the first second of the film that he's bored with life/job.  We also learn they she's a little shy and that they're both lonely.  And that's all the information the viewer really needs to feel connected to them as characters.

Hours of backstory or character development are simply not needed.  In being aware of the select pieces of information that truly matter, the viewer can fill in the rest of the details for themselves.

So let's discuss... what other storytelling techniques can you pull from this film?

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