Short Films

What is a short ?

A short film is any film that is not long enough to be classed as a feature length film. A short film can be any length of time but commonly they last between 5 and 15 minutes. Like any film, a short film takes a lengthy time to plan, film and edit but are normally made on a very low budget . Both amateurs and professionals make short films that are often screened at film festivals across the nation. The production companies are normally small unlike a feature length film that have large and in some cases famous production companies who have marketing and distribution companies working alongside them to advertise and distribute the film. YouTube and Future Shorts are famous websites that allows non-profit film makers to upload their short films to enable a wider audience to view them rather than just those who are at a film festival.

We have decided to make a short film as we have no budget and a short amount of time to prepare, write, film, edit and publish our short film.

Here are three examples of short films.

December

The first impression the audience gets from this short film is that the genre of the short to follow is of the thriller kind; however within the last 30 seconds the actual theme throughout the film is revealed -  Christmas. This is the use of misleading the audience and puts them in an uncomfortable position and unstable state of mind only for it to be changed to the complete opposite. The connotations of a wooded area, a man wearing dark clothing and the time of day all suggest that the short will be a thriller. However when it is revealed that it is Christmas time the low key lighting changes to high key lighting to give the impression that the mood has changed.  There are 46 edits throughout this short, but it is difficult to count them exactly because of the point of view shot that is used to narrate the story. 

The Black Hole

When you first play this short you feel like it wont be very interesting or gripping because it starts in a boring setting and you cant really tell what genre the short is going to fall into. This perception then changes after around 40 seconds it changes the feel of the short and the genre becomes clear. As the short progresses you get drawn in by the abstract style and and interesting plot. This short is a good example of how the length of the cuts and the frequency of them can change the feel of the film, towards the end the cuts become more frequent and shorter which shows the excitement of the character in the short. throughout the whole short there were around 70 cuts, but it got hard to count them towards the end because the pace picked up so much.

What Light

This short begins with slow editing between cuts, as the light from the sun moves along a bare bedroom wall and out over into a garden and a house. This movement continues until the light on the wall, taking the shape of a window, falls and 'breaks'. This is when the editing picks up pace. Cuts happen every 1 or 2 seconds, as the light comes 'alive' and bounces around the room, wreaking havoc. As the light becomes almost sinister, a diagetic throb noise accompanies the light, like the type associated with the paranormal. Eventually, the light retreats out of the bedroom window and back to the source, cueing the end credits.

In total, this short cuts about 45 times (excluding end credits). The video is embedded below.