Resources & Inspiration

Top Tips

Previous DepicT! award winners give their best advice on how to make a super short film!

Ninian Doff 2013 winner Main DepicT! Award & The Shooting People RPS Audience Award for Cool Unicorn Bruv
“Depict is the perfect creative challenge. 90 seconds to do your best means it’s not some daunting shoot but a manageable task that forces your screen writing and editing skills to be super sharp.” 

Sam Firth, 2009 winner DepicT! British Special Mention Award Winner for I.D. - “My advice is to keep it simple. The most effective films are simple ideas well told. Go and play!”

Petra Balekic, 2015 winner Random Acts Award for Impacts
”Choose a topic you’re really passionate about. Make a simple but remarkable design and summarise as much as you can.”

James Young, 2013 winner Depict British Special Mention prize for Return
“Stay true to the theme of your film, but also keep an open mind and explore alternative ways of filmmaking if it feels right. Do what you feel works best whilst also remaining open to advice (and criticism!) about how to improve your film.”

Edwin Mingard, 2017 winner British Special Mention award for Walk.

Back in 2018 Edwin shared his top tips on making a 90 second short film with entrants which still apply today.

Get the Family Involved!
Father/Daughter duo Andrew Kotting with Eden Kotting create short animated films together

FORGOTTEN THE QUEEN is a short animated film that digs into themes inspired by the life of Edith Swan Neck. Eden’s drawings and collages are brought to life by Glenn Whiting and tossed into the time-line like flotsam from a demented passion. Meantime Edith’s eyes fix on the man-shadows overhead, resplendent in their didactic belief systems and stupid hats, which seem to have blighted women since the beginning of time. King Harold would not have approved because despite the fact that time itself can touch you like a feather, stupid men keep firing their bloody arrows.

Utilise materials you have at home, much like Krissy Mahan has in her parody version of the film Carol below.

Dykeumentary

Krissy Mahan creates and shares movies that use humor to address social issues such as accessibility, gender identity, mental health, immigration, and working class post-industrial cities. A passionate idealist with a flair for the fabulous, Dykeumentary films are included in international festivals/programs and community-based/educational settings.

Jack from Rife magazine’s Smartphone Filmmaking Masterclass

Duncan Reekie

Filmmaker Duncan Reekie creates experimental short films in a DIY style, you can watch more of his films here.