Short films can be found almost anywhere, and almost every director has made ones that are rarely seen or talked about. When you think about it, it’s strange. We talk about cinema (that is, feature films) and television.
Mean Girls was recently released on TikTok in 23 unique pieces and subscriptions to the platform have skyrocketed.
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- What is a short film?
- Why do people like to watch short films?
- Where can you watch short films?
- What is the future of short films?
What is a short film?
This could be because no one really knows what a short film is. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that awards the Oscars, which include three for short films (animated, live action and documentary), a short film cannot last more than 40 minutes, credits included.
That’s about the length of an episode of a TV drama after commercials, while a nominated short film could, in theory, be the length of an Instagram Reel.
Why do people like to watch short films?
There’s something special about seeing a sleek, fitted short that’s precisely the length it’s supposed to be, rather than inflated to an arbitrary length. Topics that would be brutal in their entirety (for example, palliative care, as in 2019’s Oscar-nominated End Game) are not only bearable but also moving in 40 minutes.
Jokes and punchlines work well in shorts, as they don’t require much exposition or character development. (Those of us who grew up watching Pixar cartoons are well aware of this.)
Short films allow filmmakers the freedom to take risks and play, in part because audiences might handle experimentation or irritation better if they know it won’t take up their entire afternoon.
Where can you watch short films?
Right now, you no doubt have easy access to some world-class shorts. Netflix, like other streaming services, has a separate “Short Films” genre category under “Films” that includes several documentaries but also scripted fiction and animated films. The Internet is simply flooded with short videos, whether on YouTube or some specialized site.
What is the future of short films?
If anything positive can come from the streaming revolution, it may (or could have) come from developing an audience and market for short films. That would help expand the range of voices, points of view, stories, styles and creative visions that we find.
Film students, aspiring artists asking for cash, filmmakers who want to test out a concept or technique, and directors from underrepresented regions and groups who can’t get backing from a major studio or investors often start with short films. .
With an audience and enough interest, that could lead to more work, not simply directing a big-budget film, but telling other stories that work better in shorter lengths.
Streaming providers have a long way to go before they can convince people to watch the shorts. However, in a world where so much attention is paid to relatively short-form entertainment (think TikTok Mean Girls), this can’t be rocket science. Who says a movie has to have a certain length?
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Source: vtt.edu.vn