A2 Media Short Film Industry Research

1. MatthewHawes
Short Film Research
A shortfilmcan be definedasanyfilmthatisnot longenoughto be consideredafeature lengthfilm.
Definitionfound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_film (16/09/2015)
The Academyof Motion Picture Artsand Scienceshasprovidedtheirowndefinition;anoriginal
motionpicture thathas a runningtime of 40 minutesorless,includingall credits.Also,the term
featurette wasoriginallyusedtodescribeafilmlongerthan ashort, butshorterthan a feature.
Anotherterm,whichisbecomingmore andmore rare,is shortsubject.Thisindustrytermcarriesthe
assumptionthatthe filmisplayedaspart of a feature lengthfilm, productioncompaniessuchas
Pixarstill dothis today.
One of the firstknownshortfilmswasmade in
1902 and wastitled,‘A Tripto the Moon.’
Short filmsare usuallyscreenedatlocal,national
or international festivals.Theyare alsousually
made by independentfilmmakerswithlittle tono
budgetwhatsoever. Theyare usuallyusedby
filmmakerstobroadcasttheirtalentona smaller
level,whilstattractinginvestorsorfilmstudiosto
gainfundingforlargerprojects.
Duringthe earlydays of short films,manycomedy
shortswere producedinlarge numbers,suchasCharlie Chaplin’sLittleTrampcharacter.Duringthe
same era, a purchasedticketwouldallow youtoview afeature film, severalsupportingworks,a
short comedy,a5-10 minute comedyshortanda newsreel.
Duringthe Great Depression,studiosbeganassemblingprogramchoicesof theirownandallowing
little choice tothe cinemaowner.The packagescentredona mainand supportingfeature,acartoon
and notmuch else.Asthe popularityfordouble featuresraised,2-reelshortswentintodecline.An
example of thiswouldbe Laurel andHardy’s Hal Roach, whichlaunchedthe pairintofeature length
films.
Movingintothe modernera,studiossuchas PixarandDreamWorksstill screenashort before a
feature film.Shortsare alsousuallyairedasa fillerwhenafeature filmdoesn’tfitwithinthe
broadcast schedule.The firstTV channel solelydedicatedtoshortfilmswaslaunchedNovember26
2008 and iscalledShortsTV.
Tropfestclaimstobe the world'slargestshortfilmfestival.Tropfestsnow take place inAustralia,
Arabia,the US and elsewhere.Originatingin1993, Tropfestisoftencreditedasbeing partially
responsible forthe recentpopularityof shortfilmsinternationally.
Short shortsare sometimesclassedinacategoryof theirown. The International Festival of Very
Shorts,basedinParis,regularlyshowshortfilmslessthan3minutesinlength.Filminute,whichisan
international filmfestival,onlyshowshortsthatare one minute or lessinlength.

2. MatthewHawes