Short films a made for many various reasons. Before starting our planning for our own short film we looked at some of the reasons as to why people do make short films. I used two articles from The Telegraph to research more into this.
The first article I looked at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-life/7593291/The-long-history-of-short-films.html written by Rebecca Davies talks about how films were made when they first began, all starting out short being known as a 'one-shot actuality'. She also talks about how progress in the film industry meant that improving recording and editing equipment and technology allowed film makers to create longer, multi-shot films. From around 1910, competition between studios increased and the demand from audience continued to grow storng and these both induced film makers to make even longer films. This led onto the multi-reel films and the first feature film was created. As feature films continued to grow and slowly become popular with audiences, short films were being pushed behind. Feature films had star power and their length and narrative complexity allowed them to be compared more with theatre and opera, grabbing the interests of the audiences. However, short films were not completely disregarded. Some short films, especially those that showed British servicemen actively fighting the war, proved to be very popular, but there were also concerns that the cinema would gain a reputation as an 'interfering marm’ if it dedicated too much time to short government films and not enough to the feature films upon which the magic of the pictures rested.
The second article I looked at from The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-life/7593767/Short-films-that-launched-big-names.html written by Horatia Harrod looks at 10 short films that shot their makers to stardom, launched directorial careers, and established studios as major players. It looks at films such as The Spirit of Christmas, Bottle Rocket and Machete.
The Spirit of Christmas was created in 1992 by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They used construction paper, glue and an 8mm film camera. Their film got recognised by Brian Graden, an executive at Fox who then gave them $2000 to make a similar video he could send his friends. They had an $750 budget. It soon went viral after being sent out to 80 people. After people recognised their work they managed to sign a deal with Comedy Central and went on to create South Park and are now earning $75 million a year.
Bottle Rocket created by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on a $4,000 budget and is a 13 minute black and white short film. Owen Wilson and his brother Luke both made their debut appearances in this short film. The film was taken to the USA Film Festival in Dallas. James Brooks, a well-known director saw the film and took the three men to LA to do rewrites and the remake was taken to the Sundance Festival and Wes and Owen received $5 million to make a feature film version of the short film.
Machete created by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino wasn't a great box office success but the trailers that appeared before the movie were. Robert Rodriguez wrote a full version of the film in 1993 but never got around to makingi t. The trailer he posted on YouTube gained huge interest and helped Robert to get the money to make the full-length film.
From reading both these articles it has helped me see the variety of short films and how well they can do. It has helped me to think of more of a variety of ideas of what to use in my short film and to think more about the audience. I think it's good that short films are still being made today as it gives more choice of film watching for audiences who don't necessarily want to watch full length feature films.
Who is the target audience for a short film?
From class discussions and independent research it is clear to see that audiences for short films vary. Short films are often made on low budgets and by independent film makers. Because short films aren't so widely publicised and advertised, the audience can be very different to mainstream Hollywood films. Short films are often shown at film festivals which producers and distributors from the industry will be at ready to watch these films.
I have done some independent research on the internet and found http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1350979/index.html which says that the type of audiences short films reach out to has changed quite a lot since they were first being made.
I found this quite a lot on various different websites. Whilst for many mainstream Hollywood films they have huge budgets and a big production team, their audience is wider and slightly easier to reach. Whereas for short films, as they are lower budget and not so well known it is much harder for them to reach their audience. However, over recent new media technologies have meant that short films have been able to improve themselves and reach out to more wider audiences.
How are short films distributed?
For short films a distributor is an individual or organisation who will represent the film at festivals and markets around the world and who will attempt to sell it to television,airlines and other companies that show short films. There are four major distributors for short films, Dazzle, Futureshorts, Network Ireland TV and Shorts International.
Short films are normally taken to numerous film festivals for distribution and showcasing new talent.
Another festival is the Raindance Film Festival. The categories at this festival included Best International Feature, Best UK Feature, Best Debut Feature, Best Documentary, Best International Short and Film of The Festival. The winning films include Just Between Us, Stranger Things, Tilt, Love at First Sight and Reset.
Bottle Rocket created by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on a $4,000 budget and is a 13 minute black and white short film. Owen Wilson and his brother Luke both made their debut appearances in this short film. The film was taken to the USA Film Festival in Dallas. James Brooks, a well-known director saw the film and took the three men to LA to do rewrites and the remake was taken to the Sundance Festival and Wes and Owen received $5 million to make a feature film version of the short film.
From reading both these articles it has helped me see the variety of short films and how well they can do. It has helped me to think of more of a variety of ideas of what to use in my short film and to think more about the audience. I think it's good that short films are still being made today as it gives more choice of film watching for audiences who don't necessarily want to watch full length feature films.
Who is the target audience for a short film?
From class discussions and independent research it is clear to see that audiences for short films vary. Short films are often made on low budgets and by independent film makers. Because short films aren't so widely publicised and advertised, the audience can be very different to mainstream Hollywood films. Short films are often shown at film festivals which producers and distributors from the industry will be at ready to watch these films.
I have done some independent research on the internet and found http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1350979/index.html which says that the type of audiences short films reach out to has changed quite a lot since they were first being made.
I found this quite a lot on various different websites. Whilst for many mainstream Hollywood films they have huge budgets and a big production team, their audience is wider and slightly easier to reach. Whereas for short films, as they are lower budget and not so well known it is much harder for them to reach their audience. However, over recent new media technologies have meant that short films have been able to improve themselves and reach out to more wider audiences.
How are short films distributed?
For short films a distributor is an individual or organisation who will represent the film at festivals and markets around the world and who will attempt to sell it to television,airlines and other companies that show short films. There are four major distributors for short films, Dazzle, Futureshorts, Network Ireland TV and Shorts International.
Short films are normally taken to numerous film festivals for distribution and showcasing new talent.
One film festival is the Bristol Encounters International Film Festival. Their awards included Children’s Animation Jury Award, Audience Award, British Special Mention Award, Documentary Award,Animated Encounters
Grand Prix and Animated Encounters Best South West.
Some of the winning films from this festival include, World's Apart, Slow Derek, Above As Below, On The Bus and A Morning Stroll.Grand Prix and Animated Encounters Best South West.
You have got to get the whole showcasing new talent thing into why make a short film?
ReplyDeleteI feel that there is still more you can add about potential target audience... its a key part of the marking criteria and so could do with more attention. Some of the potential audience must come down to content and preferred reading.