The Short Context Past One
To begin this research objective, I must be able to understand why people choose to enter the short film industry as well as why they would want to go to the trouble of making one. A key part of this is to be able to identify the strengths and advantages of the short format as well as the weaknesses and limitations and what can be applied to make a successful short film. I will conclude by looking at who the audacious are for short films. To help me gather information, I have read the following six articles:
Why Short Films Are Still Thriving
How Short Films Make Money
Written by: Katharine Schwab Published: 26th February 2016
Written By: Elliot Grove Published by: 23rd May 2016
Britain enters the golden era of the short film Written by: Sarah Morrison Published: 19th February 2012
Witty or Gritty? What ingredients make the best short films? Written by: Saptarchi Ray Published: 14th January 2014
How to Actually Make a Successful Short Film (Without Film Festivals or “Going Viral� Written by: Dean Silvers & Tyler Silvers Published: 21st October 2015
The long history of short films Written by: Rebecca Davis Published: 18th April 2010
Why Short Films Are Still Thriving Analysis & Summary
In this article the opening point refers to a short from the directing team Daniels titles Puppets and goes onto explain the originality of the piece. It was this originality that sets up the viewers’ expectations within the time period of less than three minutes. The short acts as a prime example to how the most engaging and innovational stories are being told through the short format. A definition by the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences said that any film under 40 minutes enters this genre despite its uncertainty in reaching a profit as only few shorts attain the thousands of views a viral video could receive in hours. Although this, the article states that the internet is quickly becoming a solid platform where film-makers can distribute their work and receive recognition. With this, short films are becoming more vibrant and an original format amongst the main stream industry.
Although the exciting reboot of short films, it does not eliminate the problem that film-makers struggle to make money off their work. However, it forces those wanting to enter the industry to take risks and therefore develop key skills. Short films are also being well recognised at film festivals, the Palm Springs International ShortFest is the largest showcase of short films on the continent, followed by the Sydney located TropFest that claims to be the biggest short film festival in the world. However, despite the recognition at festivals, short films typically doesn't attract any large audiences, including the mainstream culture. Although, with the lack of audience, it saves the short from getting rained by the mainstream culture, as supported by Richard Brody who points out that, “ good short films don't get the attention they deserve.� The audiences they do receive are the people who actually going to look for them.
The article explains that the lack of views and interest regarding the short format on platforms such as Youtube os down to the derogatory stigma around the shorts. In a day an ages where social media platforms are filled with short-form videos such as memes, music videos and vlogs, nobody has time for a contemporary piece of film. This point alone makes it harder for shorts to stand out. However this will not stop film-makers in taking advantage of the platform and communities to opportunity to create a short themselves.
How Short Films Make Money Analysis & Summary
This article written by Elliot Grove claims that short films are the laboratory of cinema, a home where film-makers test their ideas and learn skills. The new digital revolution has made the production cost drastically lower and the demand for short films have never been this high in demand, but few are actually paying for it. New digital forms are desperate for high quality short films that can be distributed through their services, therefore building them a prestige for their service.
The beginning step to any film-maker who gets accepted into any major film festivals is a wave of new offers and opportunities from new websites. From this, film-makers can get well paid work in advertisement, including music videos. It proves the point that by getting recognised by high profile festivals such as Raindance really gets your profile noticed. Thirdly, the aim of making living out of making short films isn’t a realistic idea `amongst filmmakers. It is more suited to act as a concept idea for something further, for example, a web series.
“Can short films make their filmmakers make money?�
How to Actually Make a Successful Short Film (Without Film Festivals or “Going Viral”) Analysis & Summary A study from Adweek showed that the average length of the most popular videos on Youtube was around 2 minutes and 54 seconds. From this, Wistia reported that the average 30 seconds video or shorter was viewed 80%o of the way however a 10 - 20 minutes video received less that 50% and for any video longer than 45 minutes, the percentage fell to 30%.
The writers of this article begin with stating the fact that those who are reading the article have either been thinking about making a short film or have either trued and failed. Filmmakers put everything into their works, only to have no one watch it and for it to not reach a festivals. But according to Dean and Tyler Silver, you can turn it around.
This current generation is in the midst of a ‘digital-entertainment revolution’ and content is everywhere, constantly being consumed. With this, it is easy to overlook the majority of content as we typically want something that is quick and easy to watch. A result of this is that the audiences attention span grows shorter, which doesn’t sit well with the audiences preference or quick videos.
They say that when producing a short, you must create something that tis structurally together, emotive and relevant. It jus stand out in story, concept and characters in a small narrative window. However, a short film doesn’t have to be noticed by a festival to become successful. By doing successful ‘target marketing’, a short should be able to identified an audience, as well as finding selected agents and production companies etc. Although this, no professional company will work with your short unless you have a bigger idea of where it might lead to. That is the most beneficial aspect to shorts; they act a concept idea for something bigger and are cheap to make with cost effective technology.
Britain enters the golden era of the short
The article opens with the statement that Britain's audience for shorts has never been bigger, among that we have entered a ‘golden era’. The digital progress predominately lies with the advances in film-making and the internet revolution. With this, shorts now have the opportunity to deliver concise stories, integrated with issues and widely established world problems. Most importantly of all, audiences across the country are eager for new, high quality content.
“Just over 20% of shorts in the total Sundance Film Festival selection were UK - made in 2012, while last year, the figure was 6%”
Festivals such as Brief Encounters and the London Short Film Festival received more submissions last year to date.
The main question this article tackles is, what do we ultimately want from shorts? There are many areas to think about where this is concerned as we could be looking for an intense narrative or a strictly emotive story that forces us too connect with what we are seeing; both o which generate different emotional responses. Ray argues that possibly a short should set the mood and does it have to be gritty and harrowing in order for it to be taken seriously.
Witty or Gritty? What ingredients make the best short films?
What do we want from shorts? She goes onto explain that being shown shorts with a dark, melancholy atmosphere over and over again effected her mood until the short ‘Release The Flying Monkeys’ was screened with lifted the mood.
The Long History of Short Films From the very beginning of film, all content was short as audience were very contented in witnessing a technological triumph. However, as the 20th century started film became longer. Before, audiences were shown “one-shot “actuality” or “interest” films” mostly depicting everyday scenes. The best known for this was mainly the Lumière brothers’ Arrival of a Train as La Ciotat where audiences were reportedly left fleeing in horror as the train cam towards them. Although this, ti sparked interest as nobody had seen it before. As the early 1900s came, new improvements to recording and editing technology arrived, allowing film-makers to produce longer, multi-shot films. From 1910 and onwards studio competition and audience demand prompted film-makers to make their films longer.
Feature length films, however, were seen as more respectable than shorts purely because of them complexity and length. They were preferred over the theatre due to its narratives and drew in a higher paying, middle class crowd
The juxtaposition between the escapism from Hollywood pictures and the informative nature of shorts in that decade made shorts unpopular during the 50’s and 60’s. However, despite their lack of popularity in commercial cinemas, they became respected and favour by visual artists. It seemed to argue what art actually was, which may have been the reason why many unconventional artists were interested and embraced the culture; this included Surrealists.
The revolutionary landmark decade for short film-making was down to the introduction of light-weigh and affordable technology. This lead to a wave of film-makers creating content as it was easy, cheap and affordable and took less time than a feature.
Any clue given about why people might go to the trouble of making short films? Someone may go to the trouble of making a short film because in this current age, social media platforms are revitalising the short format and therefore making it more vibrant and creative to produce content in and most importantly an original medium in the mainstream industry. Due to the lack of profits, by entering the short film industry, the person is opening themselves up to the skill if risk - taking and the subculture in which you can be rewarded and recognised for original works in a particular genre. Shorts often enriches the person with a strong training ground for those wanting to become filmmakers. The demand for short films has never been higher, meaning that filmmakers have an open opportunity to make content as it is being widely consumed by audience.
The strengths and advantages of the short format The main strength of the short format would be that no matter what, a short will develop your film making skills as well as the ability to build a narrative. As well as this, you learn how to use these skills effectively as the time you have to capture the interest of the audience is very short. As short can be used as a device to progress the person onto something bigger, for example a web series or a feature film. This was seen with the film Whiplash as it began as a concept idea in the form of a short. This can lead onto building a more professional reputation in the industry as your become more and more experienced in developing your ideas. If the short gets recognised by a well known film festival such as Raindance it can beneficial for the persons career in filmmaking and level of popularity regarding the short. Also it builds up the reputation for future projects they may undergo. The weaknesses and limitations of the short format Due to the most popular platform for the short to be published on to be Youtube, it means that the success of the story depends on the viewers attention and interest of the product in the first minute. this means that if they are not interested, they are more likely to click off. In some cases, a lot of time, money and effort can be put into a short film for it to not be received well, if at all. With this, the efforts of those on the project are potentially wasted as the short will not get them anywhere if it is not watched by an audience. There seems to be a derogatory stigma around the making of a short film as those who see them being uploaded to places such as Youtube, typically think that it is just a piece of 'unnecessary' art and therefore do not understand the issues or problems the short may be representing.
Ingredients that make a really successful short film Perhaps the most beneficial way of making a successful short film is rather than going to festivals or using social media platforms such as Youtube, to do ‘targeted marketing.’ From this method, you would be able to fully understand what your audience wants to see, therefore making the process more successful. To boost success, it is very helpful to provide not only a summary but a plan of your future ideas revolving around your short. This is because those you approach are more likely to invest in an idea that has future potential. A key part of the process to make your film successful is the dedication to contacting agents, production companies, managers, sales reps, film institutes, producers, junior agents, assistants, actors, casting directors etc. The most easiest way to become successful is to show the audience something that they have simply not seen before. The first ever motion films were shown around 1884 through Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope although the best-known film of this time was the Lumière brothers’ Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat in 1895. The audience apparently fled in terror, but the film sparked interest and fascination therefore making it successful. Who are the audience for short films? In this current age the demand for the short format has never been higher. New platforms such as blogs, major media companies and brands are all in need for exceptional quality short films that can be distributed to increase their reputation and earn them an opportunity to traffic their social media. This means that one of the main audiences for shorts are corporations that are in need of them representing their services.