Short Film research

What is the definition of a short film?

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. It has a running time of 40 minutes or less, includes all credits and has a beginning, middle and end.

To begin with all films were short because longer films hadn't been developed by this point. Cinema audiences would go to watch films which would last up to 40 minutes. The majority of the time the films were about circus performers or people living in the streets. In 1894, the films were shown through Thomas Edison's kinetoscope where the viewer would watch the film by looking into the kinetoscope.

Short films became increasingly popular as the government used them as propaganda during war time to persuade people to join the army and work war-related jobs. From about 1910 onwards, growing audeinces and as digital recording became cheaper and easier, there was an increasing demand for longer, feature films such as  the first feature film 'Birth of a Nation' released in 1915 by D.W Griffiths. As the film industry developed and technology improved, 'shorts' were pushed aside as audiences wanted to view something different. However, short films were quicker to make so comedy short films (especially cartoons) still remained fairly popular in the 1920's.

Here is the trailer for 'Birth of a Nation' 1915:

And the first 'Charlie Chaplin' film which was made in 1914. These short films were extremely popular and I will compare the two to display why they became less and less in demand.

I think that the main reason that feature films became more popular than the shorts because it was something new and different which is what the audience desired. However, even though the Charlie Chaplin shorts were popular, the desire for something new such as a feature film was much more interesting short films had no trailers whereas 'Birth of a Nation' has one making it seem different and new.


Here is the first Mickey Mouse cartoon created in 1928:

However, short cartoon films have remained popular until this day. This may be because they are aimed at a younger audience who have a short attention span unlike adults however, there is also a 'slap-stcik' comedy element which mirrors that of 'Charlie Chaplin' therefore, it entertains adults also. As you can see in the video, Mickeys eyes widen which would be impossible to do in a feature film but because in cartoons, they are drawn animations, there is more room to expand on the comedy element by doing things that are impossible to do in real life. Mickeys eyes expand to show that he likes Minnie Mouse, it is a technique that shows the audience his emotions without any dramatic change.

In this day and age, short films are not as popular as they were when they were first introduced but they have become well known on extremely popular websites such as 'YouTube'. This is where you can watch videos posted by anyone with an account, therefore it is the perfect website to get your film noticed by your desired target audeince because when searching for videos on youtube, the viewer will only be looking to watch a short video. Moreover, they are cheaper and easier to make than feature films because they are much shorter, so there are now companies that specialise in creating short films whih get entered into film festivals to become recognised. This is probably the most effective way to get your film recognised because you will be showing your film to people who enjoy watching short films instead if trying to show your film to a national audience. I wouldn't say that short films were for a niche audience but they shouldn't be aimed towards a national audeince either.

If you follow this link, you will see that I have simply typed 'Short films' into the search box and I have thousands of videos that I am able to view:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=short+films&oq=short+films&gs_l=youtube.3..35i39j0l9.472.888.0.2457.5.3.0.1.1.0.173.340.1j2.3.0...0.0...1ac.1.mnpVjJ0Nk1o

YouTube isn't the only way to watch short films as you can access them on the BBC website, Virgin Media shorts, Film 4 shorts and many other website's similar to these. You can also watch them at cinemas before a film starts or you may choose to go to the cinema just to watch a short film, cinema's which show short films are usually showrooms rather than chain cinema's. You can also watch them on the television, on film channels or they may show them on daytime TV depending on the nature of the films. However, short films are aimed towards a niche audience and so the genre and context generally tend to be for an older audience as they need to grab the audiences attention so they may include themes such as drug abuse, strong violence and language ect so they may be shown after the watershed if they are showing on popular television channels.