In the early days of cinema all films were short films and after a hundred years of technical advances some of the characteristics and criteria that identified short film back then are still valid up until this day, short films are defined by its length.
What makes a short film interesting is not its reduction to an indistinguishable format but above all its hybrid variety elements of early cinema live into the present. It encompasses both black and white and hand coloured films, documentaries, fiction, experimental, animation, drama and melodramas, thriller and horror films, slapstick, and comedy as well as commercials, cultural, educational and artistic films. A short film preserves the early diversity of the cinema while history has increasingly forced big screen cinema into narrowly constricted boundaries. There is no room for short films as perhaps a sub category or genre under this very narrow idea of film which only defines are of myriad cinematic possibilities. Depending on ones perspective short films instead can be viewed as coming before or being situated above or outside this historical reduction of film and cinema.
Short film thus lives on outside standardised mainstream cinema and has evolved into a kind of great white hope for all that early cinema promised in terms of aesthetic complexity and plurality of content. It is rife with potential, potential that can also be tapped, however, by feature-length film. By no means do all short films realise this potential, since they likewise can be part of the mainstream.
The feature-length fiction film with sound has dominated the movies since at least the 1920s. Standards and conventions were developed that encompass all possible aspects from artistic design to technical standards and commercial production methods, from screenplay development and shooting to distribution and modern marketing. This has all served to establish a single uniform concept of film that although it accounts for only a small excerpt of all possible options seems to stand for film as a whole. In the vernacular, the (marketing) success of this concept is revealed by expressions like true cinema or a real movie.
Short Films parades before us the broad panoply of life in every imaginable form: from boxing kangaroos, dancing cigarettes and flying hats, to trains arriving at the station and light reflected on wet asphalt, to magic tricks and fairytale journeys to the moon. It encompasses both black-and-white and hand-coloured films, documentaries, fiction, experimental films, animation, dramas and melodramas, thrillers and horror films, slapstick and comedy, as well as commercials, cultural and educational films and artist’s film.
The short form is also a medium for innovation, as
versatile as cinema itself. Looking at things from this historical perspective, we can perhaps succeed at circumventing some of the difficulties we face in defining what exactly short film is. In trying to define short film, we automatically face the dilemma that, apart from its running time, there are no precise criteria or unequivocal characteristics that apply to all short films. The definition of dilemma arises when we overlook the fact that short film is not a genre description or category but rather a generic term used ever since the early days of cinema to describe all possible forms and genres of film.
versatile as cinema itself. Looking at things from this historical perspective, we can perhaps succeed at circumventing some of the difficulties we face in defining what exactly short film is. In trying to define short film, we automatically face the dilemma that, apart from its running time, there are no precise criteria or unequivocal characteristics that apply to all short films. The definition of dilemma arises when we overlook the fact that short film is not a genre description or category but rather a generic term used ever since the early days of cinema to describe all possible forms and genres of film.
Short films can also be easily distributed via the internet. Certain websites which encourage the submission of user-created short films, such as YouTube, Openfilm, BritFilms and Newgrounds have attracted large communities of artists and viewers, whereas sites such as BBC Film Network focus on showcasing curated British shorts.
Openfilm.com is a fast-growing online community where filmmakers and film lovers around the globe discover and distribute short and independent films. Through its Advisory Board, which includes James Caan, Robert Duvall, Mark Rydell and Scott Caan, unique technology, live online chats, social network, extensive film festival database and unique member channels; Openfilm unites the best elements of the film industry in one place and provides unparalleled industry access and opportunities for short and independent filmmakers.
Short films can be classified based on storyline. There may be single, duo, triple or multi-version modes in picturizing a short film. Short films can be made to test new technologies and techniques.
