Research Into Short Films

What is a short film?

A short film in North America is defined to generally last between 20 and 40 minutes which tend to have its focus point on its characters, whereas in Europe, the description short films durations are no shorter than one minute and shorter than 15 minutes and tend to focus on drama and its main plot.  

Depending on the story of the short film, many of them have a purpose. For instance; the short films that I have been analysing, most of them focused on real life situations. An example is “Deep skin”, this short film focuses on deeper problems of society. It concentrates on how a young boy suffers from the mental disorder; schizophrenia. Due to his illness, family problems and friends, he faces many issues; he is a witness of discrimination and racism towards the members that he lives with. I enjoyed watching this short movie, as it made its address very clear for the audience to understand it, it had a flowing sequence which made it very effective.

I also watched another short film which was different to this situation. “Different” was the second short film I watched, this one gives the audience a clear understanding of what it could be by the title. This short film has a similar sequence to the first one, it begins by introducing the main character; the middle of it introduces the problem and by the end it’s either resolved or not.

The final short film that we analysed was ‘The Black Hole’. This film was categorised as a comedy, therefore its main purpose was to entertain us. The duration of the film was shorter than the others, it lasted only three minutes. It followed a similar pattern as the other films, where it began with the introduction of the main character, followed by the problem and the solving of the issue at the end.

Short films in the media business industry are very popular and their market is growing, and festivals are in constant need for successful and entertaining short films. Through the process of my thorough research in to short films, I have gathered valid points of what could make our short film a success. A key feature which is needed for film is the length. It’s important to keep it simple because if you try to put to much information, it will stress your audience rather than entertain them, this is why a short film will only last up to one or more minutes.

Second point was to pick your focus point and make it as precise as possible. In my research, I found out that all short films have a particular pattern that they follow. For example; they need to have a balance of each point in the story. You need a circular pattern, since everything will happen rapidly. This creates a better flow and continuity to the story as the audience could understand the plot better. I also noticed that the particular short films that I watched did not have heavy drama, the middle part of every short film was where most of the action took place but I thought that it wasn’t a massive contrast between the beginning and the end.