When dealing with short films there are three main reason in which are they are produced. These include promotion, education and experimental reasons. Taking a closer insight into different types of short films, we bear witness to these similar purpose that they all share.
Promotion:
This can be considered as the main reason in which short films are produced. Unknown directors and film makers are desperately wanting to get their name put out in the film market industry, therefore producing such films enables them to promote themselves. Short films are usually screened at films festivals or film competitions, however due to the growth of the internet YouTube has become widely popular. Therefore those who win these competitions gather the necessary awareness needed to become more popular amongst audiences. However audiences are able to be located globally over the internet and so this makes it easier and much more successful to share shorts with others to attract more viewers. YouTube has an establish audience making it easier for directors such as Fede Alvarez to gain large audiences quickly.
If we take the case of new director Fede Alvarez who produced 'Ataque de Pánico' (Spanish for Panic Attack) we can see how successful this has become. Alvarez had a low budget of $300 to produce his work. He mainly used animated works on the computer for the majority of his film, however it was such a success that in the space of 48 hours, thousand of people had seen this film and it had become viral. Fortunately it was able to reach the eyes of a professional director who offered Alvarez the chance to work on $300 million film. This indicates the success of short films in the film industry and making a name for yourself as an amateur film maker.
Education:
Short films mainly deal with contemporary issues, and some include elements of controversial themes. Therefore these films are found beneficial to use in schools for mainly citizenship classes, though they can also be found useful in english and media studies classes. Short films are found to tackle social issues that are found in current society, these then provoke thought and discussion surrounding moral and ethnic issues. For this reason, they are useful to use in classes for educational purposes.
If we take the example of 'Cherries' by Tom Harper it deals with the contemporary issues of young deliquant youths mixing in with the focus of Britain's current war state. It produces a dystopian film concerning the national service and the way it deals with the youths. Although it has given a large £16,000 budget it still manages to bring across the message and raise the issue surrounding the youth problem. Therefore this short film could be ideal to use in such citizenship classes to get young people thinking about the problem and a possible outcome that could occur.
Experimental:
Thirdly, experimental reasons demostrates how film makes have the opportunity to try out new techniques in a narrative. There are common conventions and techniques that can be found in short films, however since there is no wide audience to please, as there is no economic reward, it gives directors the option to expand on new ideas and new techniques. Due to audience expectation is not as restricted as with feature film. Established film makers also develop short films so that they have option to deal with new ideas and see how audiences would react to this. For instance, Neill Blonkamp produced 'Alive in Joburg' which is leading up to his main big screen film 'District 9' here he was able to give a short intake in the dealing with alien invasion, and the reactions concerning it, this enabled to develop his later big screen.
This indicates the differences between Short films and full length films. Full lengths have a different purposes that produce different outcomes for the audience as they have set expectations from Full lengths that do not occur in shorts.
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