Narrative structure in short film: An analysis of four Turkish films screened at the Cannes Film Festival

Cinema started with short films, which have been kept outside of the movie theaters because of the introduction of feature-length films. Although short films have been kept out of the cinema industry it always remained within film art. Recent developments in digital technology enabled short film making to become widespread. On the contrary, theoretical studies in the field of short films are very limited. The purpose of this research is to analyze the narrative structure of successful Turkish short films. Regarding this purpose firstly, in the context of narrative structure determined the elements of filmic narrative structure and explained in detail. Afterwards the use of these elements within the field of short film has been examined within the general narrative structure of films and the specific structure of short films. Finally, with the narrative structure analysis of the four sample films, constitution of narrative structure in short film has been presented. Keywords: Cinema, Turkish short film, feature-length film, digital technology, narrative structure, story, discourse, film analysis