Movie Essays and Reviews

2008-Feb-20 - Short films deserve more recognition.

Many people have lists and lists of favorite feature films, but few have lists of favorite short films. In fact, if someone doesn't personally know another film-maker, chances are they haven't seen many short films to begin with. This is a shame, as many budding film-makers focus on shorts before they tackle features. There is little market for short-films, and there is also no demand.

Older generations of film-makers didn't have to make short-films, but presently, the general steps towards making a feature include making a good short. Festivals include the only collection of people that both watch and respect short films. Film-makers have the opportunity to make short films, send them to festivals, hopefully win awards and recognition from people at the festival, and use their contacts and acclaim to secure backing for a feature film. Festivals are a good place to see these shorts, but going to a festival isn't exactly as simple as going to the theater or renting a film on Netflix. Recently, certain festivals have put shorts on their websites. The Sundance Film Festival has all of their shorts on their website, and the Haydenfilms festival is dedicated entirely to short films, letting viewers vote on the best. There are also some short film collections that you can rent or buy, such as the Cinema 16 series. Things are slowly getting better, and short films are slowly finding a wider audience and more acknowledgment, but more can be done.

When in a theater before a movie starts, often the time is spent scrolling silly "Movie Trivia!" before the commercials and trailers kick in. These are somewhat amusing, but end up being repeated seven or eight times before the "pre-show countdown" even gets begins. Rather then waste a huge amount of time on this, time is better spent showing a short film before each movie, or even better, before the trailers. It could be treated the same way as these slides, with the theater lights still on, that way whoever wants to pay attention to it can do so. This would expose people to many more short films, and they could see what an art it is to captivate the audiences and hook them in for 10 minutes rather than an hour and a half. Spending that much time on character development, it is easy for an audience to care and be into what's happening. For short films, it's harder, and in turn, the result can be much more interesting. With the short attention-span of the YouTube generation, it even seems like a better idea to show something short rather than something long. Audiences might even feel like they're getting more bang for their buck by getting a short film or two along with their feature presentation.

It wouldn't be too much of a problem, that is, getting rid of the IMDB trivia slides, as it doesn't hold any advertisements. The only thing it really advertises is other contemporary movies, but ones that people already are well aware of. If advertising was such a concern, though, a scrolling advertisement could be at the bottom of the shorts, out of everyone's way. This would make both sides happy.

It's a far off dream, though, as huge AMC theaters would never adopt this policy. It's hard to wonder what would stop them from doing it, as no harm is being done, but it requires a certain degree of care that huge theaters don't have the capacity to even fathom (just look at those ticket prices!). The big guys at the helm don't really care about what's being shown (though if effort was put into having advertisements run during the short, they'd probably be more interested). However, there's no reason for the smaller indie theaters not to adopt this policy. Places like the IFC Theater in NYC already do it, and other places such as the Clearview Cinemas (who seem smaller run and give off an attitude that they care about what they show) have little reason to not want to do it.

Young film-makers spend a lot of their time watching and being influenced by features, when they should be watching shorts. Since it is rarely in their power to produce a feature, they make a slew of shorts, but having a vast knowledge of features doesn't always translate well when trying to make a short. Often, film-makers end up making shorts that feel like mini features or trailers. This isn't their fault, though. Because shorts are so hard to come by, they have no choice but to turn to what's available to them. If there was an easier access to good short films, or any at all, the quality of the output and even the output itself would grow tremendously.

These brief-timed movies should be taken just as seriously as features are. As stated above, it is easier to get an audience to feel for a character or for the whole piece when given plenty of time to do it. It's much more difficult when you only have ten minutes to work with. That said, though, it isn't easy making a feature completely engrossing and enjoyable without filler. There is no doubt that a feature would spend more time in someone's head than a short, simply because more time is invested into a feature film. This is the same problem with short stories and even poems- they go by too quickly, and a special kind of effort should be put into these forms of art to get into peoples' minds quickly and remain there. Making a ten minute film that remains in peoples' minds right after they see it isn't a breeze; it's hard work.

That's not to discredit making one, though. Making a short is not only creating art but it's also a good exercise for directors. Creating a short and making it interesting and enjoyable for the entire duration of it will teach the director to carry this same mindset over to their feature. This would ensure that the feature doesn't end up having a few great scenes with the rest being filler (which is often the case nowadays).

Short films have taken a back seat for far too long. Not only are they great entertainment and display what people can do in such a short amount of time, they're also a great exercise for directors and future film-makers. As of now, though, short films are looked down upon as merely being exercises for film-makers in school. Some progression is being made, such as putting shorts on the Cinema 16 series and showing them before features like at the IFC Center. There are even films that get together directors to all make short films with a certain theme, these films like Paris J'etaime and Lumiere & Company are all a collection of short films place after one another, all keeping a certain theme or style. Even so, these are just small steps. The best shorts should get just as much recognition as the best features do, rather than being at the beginning of awards shows and the like. Short films serve a purpose other than securing directors a chair in the next big feature. They should be respected and easier to see.

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Includes film essays and reviews written by Chris Bell.

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