Film Short Research

What is a short film/History/genre/styles/typical features

• A short film is a brief film that shows a story in a small length of time. Short films were actual the starting of films, as in the early 1880s when films started it was only short films being produced. As then the film reel would not be able to hold much information. In todays world short films are being produced by many people. With the access of youtube, in which people can create short videos it is ideal for making short films. Short films can cover all genres, and many different styles are made from this. Whether it is made by claymation of animation there are many styles that can be produced. A Typical feature of a short film will have a dilemma or a task to achieve with the protagonist trying to achieve it. In short films they typically will not cover more than 2 characters, because of the length of the film, and it would be harder to create a connection with the audience if there were many characters.

Why Make them?

• Short films are usually made by aspiring students who are wanting to show there skills. On Youtube there are many examples of students work, as it is free to get your short film shown to the public. Also short films are often made to present a message, which will leave the audience in a questionable state. On Youtube people can actually make a living by producing short films. Short films are often shown to show of the talent of the maker to become more alluring to other bigger companies. Short films can also be a taster as to the film they are about to watch. Short films are used to show another story from a minor character from another film, main producers who do this are Pixar.

Funding

• On youtube if your videos get enough views, usually In the figures of the tens of thousands of views you can apply to become a partner, in which the more viewers and subscribers you get, the more money you will generate. This works as before the video starts advertisement is shown which generates money to youtube, in which they can then fund partners. The more views the more money, the more money the more better quality videos, in which will attract more audience’s in which more money will generate. There are many different institutions that support funds in the UK, including the British film institute, The BBC and Channel 4. Channel 4 do a lot of work in funding new films and new ideas particularly.

Success

• The golden rules of short films is to have only maximum of 3 main characters in which there story is shown. This is so that we receive the characterisation of the character, and can understand there personality, if there is more we tend to loose interest. The story needs to clear and brief. There needs to be no complexity of it but have a message or/ and a dilemma that the character is showing and how it may be resolved or not. It needs to be able to capture the audience no matter how short and present the ideas well.

Distribution/exhibition

• The most cheapest way to distribute short films is by using Youtube as its main way of working is by using videos from the public in which attracts attention. In a way by the audience putting on these videos its actually a form of advertising for Youtube. There are many different film festivals that show the ideas of aspiring film makers, in which gives them attention. A lot of the time short films are shown before a feature film in a cinema, this will be linked with the feature film as it will be the same producer as it will be them funding it. But with these short films they can really only be about 7 minutes long as the cinema have to screen other films and if the short film and the film together comes to 3 hours long they can really on make 3 sales a day, which is bad for business they could have had more sales.

Audience

• Short films are often viewed by the general public. It will only be a selected few, and it will not be viewed by mainstream people but indie people who want to see new films and ideas done by normal people not just big conglomerates. People who are into the future of film and seeing new film makers will see it, people who love to watch film. Also established employers may go to watch short films to see new film makers to employ. A lot of the time animators put there short films online so that they can be spotted by big companies such as Disney.

Examples

• One short film I have studied is the short film ‘Partly Cloudy’ The Genre for this is animation but splits into hybrids. It’s aimed for children but goes from the idea of ‘where do I come from?’ and it goes of the story of that the stork brought you. The story is from this, and that we are made from the clouds. Most of the clouds create friendly creatures such as cats and dogs, but there is one cloud that creates the more vicious creatures such as sharks and alligators. This cloud and the stork that has to deliver these creatures are our main characters. It shows the hard job that the stork has to do but shows how sad and in pain he is. His friend the cloud is sorry for him but this is what he creates. This is the dilemma in which then the stork goes to another cloud in which his original cloud gets up set as he thinks the stork thinks he is to good for him. In which the stork comes back with armour to do the task in which the matter is resolved. The film maker is pixar in which has much funding to do this as they are apart of a big conglomerate and they specialise in making animation films. The own logo is from a short film, as Pixar are a prime example of how they started out small and now are the leading animation company

Inspiration

• Pixar have been inspiration into making a short film. Also I love the minute films website as they compact a whole story into a short minute. I think through this in my own work I may only have no more than 2 minutes. When creating it I’m going to do a simple story, in which the genre will be comedy. As much I am inspired by Pixar I don’t have the resources to create a high quality animated short film however I may use a fictional character. I want a story that will be humorous but a character we can relate to and understand his problems, I think instead of having a resolving conclusion I’m going to leave it at a sudden end, but still have the comedy element

Why are short films so popular now?

• Short films are so popular as they create a short story which really captures the audience or a message that they have portrayed over. There just a short burst of fun or give a big burst of what the genre does. It really gives a short burst of fun that can actually be more memorable than a big movie