Short Film Festivals

Short film festivals are one of the only ways where short films are shown on the big screen to big audiences. Short film festivals have a huge impact on the short film industry as they can raise the profile of aspiring directors, many of the big film production companies send out talent scouts to find the next big star.
One of the most famous short film festivals in the world is called 'Encounters'. Encounters is a short film festival which celebrates new talent in filmmaking and provides a platform for aspiring filmmakers to showcase there work. Encounters began back in 1995 to celebrate 100 years of cinema, back then the festival was called brief encounters and was originally planned to be a one of event. But since 1995 the festival has grown and now has a huge following across the world. In 2001 the short film festival was joined by animated encounters which showed animated short films. Animated encounters was the first short film festival for animation, which celebrated, creativity, talent and skills of animators. Encounters film festival usually runs during November each year and takes place in Bristol.

Short film festivals like encounters have a huge impact on the short film industry, film festivals allow directors to get there work out there. It allows there work to be seen by big audiences of people who are passionate about film as they are. Short film festivals have been a huge success across the world. In 2007 and 2008 encounters sold out all spaces, and had nearly double the amount of film submissions on there previous year.
Other short film festivals include, The London Short Film Festival and The LA Short fest.

Free Cinema

Free cinema was a documentry film that emergered in england during the 1950's. Free cinema was the term originally given to six programmes which were shown at the national film theatre between 1956 and 1959. Three of the six programmes were put together by a group of young film makers and critics.The three other programmes introduced the work of foreign filmmakers, including Roman Polanski, Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut.

Free cinema was created due to pargmatic reasons, a group of young film makers throught it was to hard to showcase there work, so they joined there films togeather to create programmes which would be shown at the national film theatre in london. The term free cinema came about because the film makers believed that the term is a reference to the films having been made free from the pressures of the box-office or the demands of propaganda. free cinema and its followers stood for a new attitude to filmmaking, rejecting the orthodox and conservatism of both the mainstream British cinema and the dominant documentary tradition initiated by John Grierson in the 1930s.

Video activism

With the ever increasing availability of video cameras and equipment, video has become one of the most powerful weapons in a protesters armoury. Over the last few years video activism has grown to a whole new level, manly down to the birth of you tube and other video sharing web sites. Thanks to you tube protesters can now air the opinions and issues and document wrong doings. Protesters believe that introduction of video has deterred police violence towards protesters as at anytime some one could be recording there actions. One of the major ideals of video activism is that many people feel it doesn’t water down or alter the message of the people; they feel that everyone’s opinion counts for something. Video Activism is a big feature of today’s world. More and more concerned people, all over the world, are turning to video activism and making there own videos and by-passing the established, corporate-owned press.

Avant garde and arthouse

Avant garde is French for 'ahead of the crowd' many people interpret avant guarde as people or work who wish to be creative and experiment with new techniques, forms and expressions. When avant garde started many people saw there films as work which was ahead of there times. Many people felt this way because avant garde was about creating work which went against the norm. Because of the high amount of experimentation with narratives, shots and editing many people couldn’t understand what avant garde films were trying to show. Now day’s avant garde is seen as experimental and innovative work which is influenced by art, culture and politics. Avant garde directors look and see there films as a piece of art, they believe that there films should wake and shake there audiences. Avant garde directors believe in breaking the conventions of culture and art.

One of the most famous Avant Garde films of all time is Un Chien Andalou.

Is a sixteen minute silent surrealist short film produced in France by the Spanish director Luis Buñuel and artist Salvador Dalí. Its title means "An Andalusian Dog". The film has no plot and strongly goes against all conventions. The film is most famous for the legendary shot of a pig’s eye getting sliced open by a razor. Like most Avant Garde directors the film follows no narrative and jumps between different years with out reason. Buñuel made clear throughout his writings that, between Dalí and himself, the only rule for the writing of the script were that "no idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted".

Short film & Hollywood

Up until the birth of Hollywood feature length films didn’t exist. Many people see the birth of Hollywood as the death of the short film, as Hollywood went from strength to strength and entered its classic era the death of short film was inevitable. The final nail in the coffin came when the Hollywood studio system was formed, by the BIG FIVE. There dominance in the film industry and in the distribution made it harder and harder for short films to make it to the cinema where ten years ago they were thriving. The Hollywood studio system meant that all the best directors and actors were signed up to one of the big five. This meant that for all the actors and directors, who had created a fan base through appearing in short films, could simply take that fan base with them and away from short film. In my opinion I feel that when Hollywood decided to make films longer and make films with bigger budgets, the short film industry didn’t stand a chance. The Big Five had a huge grip not only on the acting and directing talent; they also controlled most of the cinema chains. This meant that there were limited chances for short films to be shown and turn a profit. Although Hollywood may have put death to the short film in the 1950's, I feel it created short film as we know it today. As creative and innovative films which aren’t money orientated but is fuelled by the story or issue.

History of short films

Many people refer to the Lumière brothers as the founders and creators of cinema. The Lumière brothers were born in the French state of Lyon. The brothers always had a strong interest in film from a young age as there father had a photographic business. The world first saw the love for film and photography when they created a highly sensitive photographic plate. The success of this allowed the family to build a factory on the outskirts of Lyon by the middle of the 1880’s they were employing thunders of people.

The Lumière brothers went from strength to strength and there love for film and photography led to the creation Cinématographe which was not only a camera but also a printer and projector. The first screening of a short film took place in the basement of the Grand Café in the boulevard des Capucines in Paris on 28 December 1895. The Lumières’ first film was shot outside their factory as the workers left at the end of the day. I feel that the Lumière brothers created maybe one of the most important pieces of technology, which has had such a huge impact on the future of the film history and short film history.

Mainstrem VS Shorts

There are a huge amount of differences between short films and feature length mainstream films. One of the biggest differences is the vast difference is film budgets. When looking at a mainstream budget you will be looking at millions of pounds, compared to the thousands of pounds for a short film.

A major problem that faces short films is that they can not afford to market and advertise there films. The marketing budget on an average Hollywood film could make up the whole budget for a professional short film. When comparing films and shorts you realise the vast gap there is between shorts and feature length films. Short films have to operate on a small budget because they don’t have as many followers as a Hollywood blockbuster. Because short films have a niche audience it allows them to be more creative and not have to worry about others opinions. Short films can basically do what they want, compared to mainstream films having to create a film that will appeal to the masses, so they can turn a profit.