How to Make a Short Film Scorsese Would Love

A short film is a motion picture that runs under 40 minutes and tells a complete story within a limited timeframe. To make a short film, you have to focus on a single idea, character, or conflict so it delivers impact quickly. Creators, media students, NGOs, welfare organizations and brands use short films to showcase creativity, experiment with styles, and share powerful messages.

And, how long is a short film?

Industry standards define a short film as running between 5 and 40 minutes.

• The most common length for narrative short films is around 10 to 15 minutes.
• Film festivals often set their own limits, usually between 20 and 40 minutes.
• Vertical short films (9:16 format) for TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts and other short form video platforms usually last 1 to 3 minutes.

How much does it cost to make a short film?

• Low-budget indie shorts cost between $500 and $2,000.
• Professional, crew-based short films can exceed $10,000.
• AI-generated short films cost under $70.

Note: I have calculated these cost ranges considering equipment, actors, locations, editing, and music rights.

How to make a good short film

How to Make a Short Film

You can make a short film choosing either of the two popular ways:

• make a short film with AI
• make a short film with tradition methods like casting actors, finding locations and spending on filming equipment.

Option 1 – AI-Assisted Short Films

With AI, you can start by writing your script, then break it down into prompts for scenes, settings, and characters.

With [AI filmmaking tools] like ImagineArt, you can easily generate visuals and short clips to convey the message of your short film.

Once you have your scenes, stitch them together in the [Video Editor], add the movie name, your production business logo, voiceovers and music.

For character consistency, ImagineArt gives you two options:

• Train your own character model and use it across your movie.
• Or create movie scenes from images to maintain continuity.

Option 2 – Traditional Methods

The traditional filmmaking route starts with ideation, scriptwriting and storyboarding. Then goes casting actors, securing locations, filming with equipment, and editing post-production.

If I compare, traditional movie-making, even for short films is time-consuming and requires a higher budget because you have to cast actors, create music and navigate other logistics like permissions, schedules, and crew management.

Step-By-Step Guide to Make Short Films with AI

Step 1. Script & Concept

Write a short script, outline your concept, and create a simple storyboard. Your storyboard can be images created in the AI image generator and you can use models that work well for character consistency, artistic and cinematic images, and realistic images.

Step 2. Scenes & Prompts

Break the story into scenes: this is where you continuously refer your storyboard images.

Then write prompts for each scene. The best AI video models for filmmaking are Google Veo 3 fast and Ultra, Runway Act-Two, PixVerse V5 and Hailuo AI for animated movies.

How to make a short film with AI

Step 3. Sound: Music and Voiceovers

For the sound part as well, ImagineArt gives filmmakers two options: you can generate songs, AI music, covers and mashups in the AI music generator within the ImagineArt window; or, you can create your own and upload in the video editor. So for reference, traditional music and voiceovers are costly and time-taking when you compare against AI-generated music.

Step 4. Polish the Short Film

Open Video Editor and choose short film scenes you have created. Maintain sequence. Then add the movie title, your production business logo, credits, music and you are done. Download in MP4 and this movie is ready to release!

How to Make an Animated Short Film

So for animated short films, you’ll have to first choose the style of animation. You can pick from hand-drawn or digital animation or from AI animation tools: this choice completely depends on your budget and investment priorities.

How to make an animated short film

How do short films and AI movies make money?

Film festivals and competitions are still a reliable way to earn and many offer cash prizes or grants for standout shorts. You have to, however, following specific guidelines or themes to qualify for such films.

Brand sponsorships are another route and the most lucrative one, I would say! Companies fund short films as part of their marketing stunts, in exchange for subtle product placement or co-branding.

With ad monetization on YouTube or TikTok, you earn directly from views, especially if your short film gains viral traction.

Streaming platforms, say Netflix, and niche distributors also license short films, giving you a direct payout or ongoing royalties.

And finally, crowdfunding and Patreon-style memberships allow creators to build a community that financially supports their AI or indie film projects: but such platforms now charge a solid commission.

How to Write a Short Film

The best way to begin making your short film is with a prompt or core idea.

This prompt could be as simple as a “what if” scenario: what if a child found a mysterious letter, or what if two strangers kept meeting on the same train?

From this seed, you can grow a complete story. Decide on the theme, mood, or emotional journey you want your short film to convey, since shorts rely heavily on one strong concept rather than multiple subplots.

Once you have the idea, build your characters and setting. Even in a 2- or 3-minute film, the audience should quickly understand who the characters are and what motivates them.

Give them a clear conflict to face, whether internal (emotions, choices) or external (situations, relationships).

Define your setting: it could be a busy street, a childhood bedroom, or a surreal animated world, because short films rely on strong visual storytelling.

Now, how to write a script for a short film?

From there, create a short script. Keep the dialogues minimal and powerful; in many short films, body language and visuals do more of the storytelling than words.

Think in terms of scenes rather than chapters: each scene should move the story forward toward a resolution or twist.

Once your script is ready, you can transform it into prompts inside ImagineArt while breaking each scene into visual instructions so the AI can generate cinematic moments for your story.

How many pages is a short film script?

A short film script is usually 5–15 pages long, since one page roughly equals one minute of screen time. Micro-shorts can be just 1–2 pages, and festival-ready shorts sometimes extend up to 40 pages.

Short Film Ideas

A good short film story is simple yet powerful and focuses on one clear idea or conflict. Keep characters relatable and aim for an ending that surprises or moves the audience.

Check these 45 short film ideas and pick the one you love.

You can find an epic short film idea by deciding either of these things first:

style: you want to make a realistic or cinematic short film, or an animated one like silent short film, kawaii, chibi, ghibli etc.

genre: you want to make a scary or spooky movie, a funny and comedy short film, a fantasy or gothic one and so on.

duration: you can make a short film of 2, 3, 5 or 10 minutes or a complete 40-minute.

character: you want to write a story about a child, a teenager, a teacher, a bartender, a friendly shark, a female ghost or a male gynae!

setting: you want your film set in a school, a room, an office, a deserted island, a coffee house, an ocean etc.

Already have an epic idea?

How to make a short film by yourself?

You can make a short film yourself, independently with:

• An AI filmmaking tool like ImagineArt or Google Flow
• An AI video generator like Google Veo 3
• A strong script where you have divided scenes into prompts.
• A video editing software like .
• Background music or AI-generated soundtracks to set the mood.
• AI voiceovers or simple recorded narration for dialogue.
• Minimal locations and a small cast (1–2 characters is ideal).
• Consistent characters created by training a model or reusing images across scenes.

How to get funding for a short film?

As a filmmaker, media student, marketing professional or even a total beginner planning to make a short film, you have multiple avenues to fund your first movie.

Based on your teacher or student profile working or researching in a specific field, you can get film grants for movies if you have a strong message.

Crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon also frequently host film-funding posts.

If your message, story or the overall concept works around a specific product or service, for example fitness or therapy, you can even seek pre-release brand sponsorships. This is the easiest, quickest and lucrative if you plan on pursuing filmmaking.

Another option is to first make a short film with AI and monetize through YouTube/TikTok and festivals.

AI Filmmaking Tools

AI has completely reshaped how creators make short films. From generating scripts and visuals to animating characters and stitching everything together, these tools give you speed, affordability, and creativity. Here are some of the best options you can use:

1. ImagineArt

ImagineArt is an all-in-one creative suite, say a powerful AI movie maker for AI filmmakers because it has film-caliber AI image and video generators like Imagen 3, Runway Act-Two, Hailuo and Google Veo 3 and free, built-in video editor where you put together your AI short film scenes and add music, logo, voiceover, etc.

2. Google Veo 3: Fast and Ultra

Google Veo 3 creates cinematic, high-quality video clips from text and images, while Google Flow gives your fast, flexible storytelling and real-time visual generation. Both of these tools available on platforms like ImagineArt are great for creators who want to make short films.

3. Runway Act-Two and Aleph

Runway Aleph is one of the most popular AI video generation tools for text-to-video and image-to-video. It’s great for narrative short films with its clean, cinematic outputs. Runway Act-Two's best AI filmmaking feature is performance animation. In your short film, you can capture movements and full performances, say overall body language like expressions, dance, music and apply them to your AI characters.

4. Kling 2.1 End Frame

Kling 2.1 End Frame works great for animated short films and cinematic motion. You can generate smooth video transitions with professional polish via newest “end frame” feature.

Make your first stunning short film with ImagineArt

Ready to create a ground-breaking movie that has beautiful characters, impactful story and cinematic scenes? Start with a strong concept, create prompts for scenes: everything in ImagineArt. Plus, show it to the community super motivated to support artists and filmmakers. Be part of our film festival.