Micro shorts are having a quiet rise within the festival world. Programmers like them because they slot neatly into blocks, audiences enjoy them because they hit fast, and filmmakers are starting to realise they can work as powerful calling cards.

Toni Hipwell’s atmospheric horror short, The Lure, is a strong example. At roughly ninety seconds, it travelled to more than eighty festivals and achieved an acceptance rate most filmmakers only dream of.

The film centres on a fisherman looking for a peaceful night by the water. Before long, he discovers he might not be alone. Hipwell calls it an "espresso shot of horror", something sharp, self-contained and satisfying.

"I think of it as an espresso shot of horror. A really sharp, short, satisfying little gulp."

The idea came partly from watching friends succeed with micro shorts and partly from a desire to shake off habits formed on longer projects. After years spent on a complex effects-driven film, Hipwell wanted the opposite: something conceived, shot and finished with real speed. From idea to completion, The Lure took six months. The shoot took six hours.

Crafting a Micro Short with Real Scale

Despite the size, the filmmaking was anything but casual. Hipwell teaches at the University of Salford and used the project to test the ARRI Mini LF in the field. Shooting open gate gave the film a striking, John Carpenter inspired look, with bold blue moonlight balanced against warm practicals from the fisherman’s campsite.

Although it looks simple on screen, the lighting setup was surprisingly involved. A large diffused source provided stylised moonlight, warm bulbs were swapped into the practical lanterns, and additional soft fill kept the image rich without revealing the artificial lighting. The intention was that none of this should be visible to the audience, and it is not.

The edit demanded the most discipline. Hipwell has a natural instinct to let scenes breathe, but in a micro short every second has a cost. The first assembly was already running too long, which forced a rethink. The team focused on what the viewer needed to understand first, how long each beat needed to land and when it was time to move on. Despite the strict runtime, the final piece still has space and tension. It never feels rushed.

Sound design became the secret weapon. With almost no dialogue and no music, small details had to carry the story. Hipwell became obsessive about chair creaks, breaths, the hum of the lure and the final sonic sting. Every moment needed a clear purpose. In larger projects, sound is often allowed to sit in the background. Here, it replaced entire layers of storytelling.

A few scripted ideas were dropped during the process. The team had considered showing sparks flying from the crushed lure, suggesting a mechanical origin, and even toyed with the idea of a UFO style beam. Both were abandoned because they felt less interesting. Leaving the truth unexplained gave the film a stronger sense of mystery and made it far more engaging for audiences.

When the film was finished, there was uncertainty about how festivals would react. Micro shorts are sometimes treated as novelties and can be overlooked. The opposite happened. The early response was the strongest Hipwell had ever had. There was a long run of selections before the first rejection arrived, which created the confidence to aim higher. Rather than limiting submissions to genre festivals, the team pushed into BAFTA and Oscar qualifying events, and wider cultural festivals such as Galway.

The practical challenge, however, was cost. Festival submissions add up quickly, and most filmmakers know the feeling of burning through a budget far sooner than expected. Hipwell was close to the tipping point before discovering the CenterFrame Festival Fund. This allowed the team to keep submitting and, importantly, to attend more screenings. In the end, the film reached eighty four festivals on roughly one hundred and fifty submissions, landing an acceptance rate of around sixty to seventy percent. For context, most strong shorts sit closer to thirty to forty.

Looking Ahead

Hipwell is now developing a feature, as well as a new horror short with a Viking twist. The motivation to keep getting back on set is very real. Anyone who has taken a break from directing will recognise that feeling of needing to make something again before too much time passes.

For emerging filmmakers, The Lure is a reminder that very short films are not lesser films. They can be crafted with care, they can travel widely, and they can open doors. A micro short will not replace the need for longer work, but it can be the thing that gets someone to watch everything else you make.

If you want to see what all the discussion is about, The Lure is now available to watch on CenterFrame.

NATHAN HAINES

Co-Founder & Filmmaker | CenterFrame Team

Check his profile on CenterFrame