1. Film Short Research

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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