Short films have become quite popular in recent years and with the world’s economy scraping the metaphorical barrel we’ve been forced to create cheaper and more cost effective ways to do the things we love. Short films are a great way of getting a story across with next to no money, and with popular video sharing sites such as YouTube, Mutinee and Vimeo being free to use by anyone it is no wonder that the film industry recognises short films to be just as popular as Hollywood blockbusters in some cases.
Money isn’t the only defining reason to short films becoming a huge hit among all generations. Short films are, for the names sake, rather short in length which means it does not take up a lot of the audiences’ time. We live in a fast and busy world so taking time out to book a ticket for a movie in your local cinema and sitting down for 2 hours to watch it can be quite off-putting. Short films are totally free to watch but usually get help from crowd funding and film festivals to make and showcase their work.
Short films also have more depth; they have to get a whole story across in no more than around 15 minutes without seeming like they’re just blasting through a plot at lightning speed. A lot of the awards winning short films have very simple but extremely powerful subjects to convey, you don’t need a long or complicated storyline to tug at the hearts of the people watching the film. These kind of film are also more personal to everyday life, with blockbusters you tend to see highly non fictional material that is tilting towards the ridiculous. They convey real life problems and for the most part will use real stories from people who have been through it. You can get short films that are animated and are non-fictional but it is much harder for them to get good recognition.
High end movie stars have all at some point been involved in short films, but nowadays it is actually quite encouraged for top of the range stars to appear and star in their own short films at the peak of their career. With a growing number of short film festivals you can be sure that you’re film will be seen by the masses, YouTube is still the number one video sharing network but the best websites to look for short films specifically are Vimeo and Mutinee. These two are specifically designed to showcase peoples work in the best way possible and gives you the opportunity to discuss your work with filmmakers and film lovers from all over the world. It doesn’t matter who you are, anyone can become a filmmaker and that is my favourite point about independent films and short films in general. The beauty of it is that you can only be judged on the film you make and nothing more, everybody is a somebody.
About the Author:
Article contributed by Perl Watson. Based in Worthing, she loves to write on various topics.