Research into short films

There are three noticeable differences between mainstream cinematic films and short films, these are;

• Length of film (time)
• Amount of dialogue
• Number of characters

A mainstream film is typically around 120minutes long, whereas a short film typically lasts between 1-15minutes. The amount of dialogue in a short film is noticeably less than that of a mainstream film. The same goes for the number of characters. Although there are these differences, mainstream and short films have many similarities. All films have a narrative structure of exposition/climax/resolution, characters, (though these may be animals or inanimate objects, not necessarily people), genres, themes and a soundtrack.

Short films tend to focus on two types of structure, showcase or cause.

A showcase film gives everyone involved, from directors to actors, a chance to showcase their talent. A “Cause” film is based on a topic or subject the director feels particularly passionate about, for example, poverty or animal cruelty. “Cause” films are made to make the audience think about the particular topic and somehow act upon what they have seen. “Cause” films also demonstrate people’s views and morals on a particular subject; they tend to gravitate towards short film form because the viewer is able to understand and perceive more information and be more affected by the intensity of the text in a short film than they are in a longer, mainstream film. It has also been said that “short films are to mainstream films as poetry is to a novel.”

The History of Short Films and the Film Industry

          Before 1910, all films were deemed as “short”. Over the years technology improved drastically and film makers were able to fit a lot more film onto a celluloid reel than they were in previous years, enabling the films to be longer. It has been said that the first film ever produced was a 20 second moving image of a train. When it was first shown in cinemas, the audience were afraid of the images, believing that the train was moving towards them. Going to the cinema and watching moving images was a new experience for the public. Early short films tended to favour the genres of comedy, animation and even the news. In the early days of cinema, when film companies were fighting to get there products shown in cinemas, two films would be shown. First would be the “B” movie, which would only be 60 minutes long and then straight after the “A” movie of 120 minutes would be screened. The film making industry expanded rapidly along with technological advancements. This allowed competition within the industry to form and soon there were many studios, production companies and distributors fighting to be the best in the business. As film technology developed, so did the language, structure and images of film. Films started being made all over the world featuring different languages and cultures. Numerous genres and sub-genres also began to appear, ranging from romantic comedies to science fiction. The audience began to gain knowledge and experience from the many genres of film and the growth of technology and support from the audience has made the film industry, from short films to feature films, into a multi- million pound industry.