The Shorter Film

Ah, the short film. The kissing cousin of the feature film. Incest aside, this medium is something wonderful in its own right.


Let me ruminate on short things for a bit...

-They can fit in small doorways

-Their tempers are always changing

-They never have their heads up in the clouds

-There's never enough time

-They don't give you the right amount of change

Okay, back to short films:

It was a sad day when short films stopped being shown before the feature presentation in the U.S. The same unfortunate fate befell cartoons, which used to be considered theatrical shorts, fare for the entire audience. Now, apart from the excellent Pixar animated short, you have to travel to another country to indulge in a short film on the big screen.

Unless you go to a film festival, that is! Many fests either cater specifically to short films, or at least have a section dedicated to the feature's smaller brethren. The plan is to enter "Earlids" into as many festivals as funds allow, with the hope that it will be screened at such screens around the country!

The U.S. doesn't support the creation of shorts either. Other countries do, seeing it as the best way for new filmmakers to make themselves known in the industry, and thus a solid method for extending the country's own presence and representation in films. Here, there's no such funding. Many, if not most, shorts are made by college students or people waiting for their break. There is a lack of short films created purely for the purpose of making a short film. Instead, they're used as calling cards, demos, or experiments, and rarely seen as a popular source of entertainment.

Short things can be great. Take short stories for example. After two years of writing these on my blog, I'm particularly inclined to this fiction medium. There's just so much you can do when you don't have to commit to three hundred pages!

The same holds true for a short film. You can be more creative, more experimental, more daring, since, after all, the audience will only be watching for a short period of time.

If you're curious to watch some excellent short films, check out Short of the Week. They do the searching for you, so all you have to do is watch!

Thanks for reading my musings! Hopefully they weren't too long. You might even say they were...

Short.