[Figure 19] Examine the arc of intensity of existing songs and short films.

A story's arc of intensity is an important pacing element to consider. Does your story start off gently, build to a climax and then rapidly return to tranquility? Or does it start off with an explosive action sequence, then mellow out for a while before exploding again at the end? If you plotted most feature films into an intensity graph, you'd see many hills and valleys, while short films generally have simpler arcs. Your film's arc of intensity doesn't necessarily have to rise continuously to be dramatic and entertaining. It can start high and then gradually diminish, or perhaps go up and down like a roller coaster. Just make sure it is not altogether flat. Study classical music pieces and rock songs for potentially interesting intensity arcs (see Figure 19).

The Short Story
Short stories are everywhere. Examples include segmented Saturday morning cartoons, narrative music videos, comic books, live action or animated short films, 22-minute sitcoms, children's picture books, multi-paneled comic strips, video game opening sequences, narrative television commercials, story poems and songs. These are all formats to examine with regard to short-form storytelling ingredients and structure.

Long-Form versus Short-Form Stories
So far, many of the story concept examples we've been providing fall under the category of the long-form narrative, which includes novels and feature films. The most obvious distinction between these and the short-form story is, of course, length. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a short film is less than 40 minutes in length. As we mentioned before, most short animated films are less than 15 minutes long. We recommend a maximum of about seven minutes, but we suggest you aim for three or four minutes, especially if you are working alone.

Length, however, is not the only distinction between short- and long-form narratives. The concepts we've discussed in this chapter regarding plot, character, setting, conflict, genre and style apply similarly to both formats; but the main differences lie in complexity, structure and pacing. The trick is focus, economy and efficiency.

Variations on Long-Form Story Structures
Many popular full-length story structures are simply not appropriate for a short story. However, variations on long-form structures are often quite effective. For instance, you might be able to fit most of the story beats of the hero's journey into a 15- or 30-minute short; however, anything less will require significant pruning of the complete formula. Omitting selected beats or just using a small section are appropriate ways to successfully compress the hero's journey, as in the student films, AP2000, Recycle Bein' and Sarah from Supinfocom.