17. Beginning Research and Planning

Short Film

What Is A Short Film?

A short film is any film that is not considered to be a feature film and a short film has been defined as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all the credits". Short films are usually screened at local, national, or international film festivals depending on how successful they are. The productions can be amateur or professional productions, however, they are often made by independent film-makers for either no profit as they often start with a low budget or no budget in some cases. However, in rare cases there is a big budget, but they are usually funded by film grants, non profit organizations, or sponsors, helping film-makers prove their talent.

Origins/ Key Names and Dates

Cinema productions had two short films and then the main feature film so they were part of an ever growing package people were interested in. However, due to the Great Depression, in the 1930s this effected that changing this to just double feature cinema format. This is where they had one short film that wasn't up to the standard of the feature film. Hal Roach is a main example moving Laurel and Hardy full time feature films after 1935 before moving out of short films altogether.

Comedy short film films were produced in large numbers at the start of film. They were especially popular and came in a series the majority of the time. The films were considered similar to a modern sit com however proved to very popular with viewers.

Animated cartoons became a big part of short films and a big majority of major film production companies had units assigned to develop and produce short films. Many companies mostly and only produced these especially in the silent and very early sound time of film.

Future down the line, short films included animated films of recognised studios such as Walt Disney Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons that are still dominant in todays film industry. With the rise of television, it saw the short film was virtually dead by the mid 1950's. Short films moved away from mainstream and popularity became limited to student and independent work.

On the other hand, cartoon shorts had a longer life due to the lower-cost limited animation techniques, although it did also decline as Warner Bros, one of the main studios in the golden era, it shut down it's studio permanently in 1969. Woody Woodpecker was the last one of the 'golden era' to end, stopping in 1972. The Pink Panther was the last regular cartoon short series having begun in 1964 ended 16 years later in 1980. By the end of the 1960s the market had shifted to television.