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What is a short Film?

 A short film is often defined by the duration of the film and the content.

 It can also be defined by what it lacks compared to a feature film.


Short films can be determined by the duration of the film, for example, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, a short film is 40 minutes or less in length, including all credits. However, the cut off point for the length of time allowed for a short film fluctuates, with most film festivals stating that a short film is below 30 minutes in length. Even though short films can be categorised due to their duration, the length of a short film, disregarding the categorisation, is often mainly decided by the budget of the particular film. Shorts are often self-funded or government funded and if so the budget is much smaller than the average budget for a feature film. 

While short films are often defined by their length, they also can be defined by their content. Although short films can be any genre and also cross boundaries of genre, most short films aim to address smaller and more concentrated stories compared to feature films. The film will enter straight into the story and spend little time introducing the characters and the background stories due to the length.  Jane Campion, a New Zealand director, screenwriter and producer summarised short films by saying ‘ I think the short gives a freedom to film-makers. What’s appealing is that you don’t have as much responsibility for storytelling and plot. They can be more like a portrait, or a poem’. Comparing a short films and feature films to novels and poems can easily explain the distinction between the two types of film. So, while short films are as engaging as feature films if done well, the freedom of short film allows the story to be the main concentration of the film and less of the background information about the characters and certain situations. If done well, the short film should be the affective realisation of one idea, a carefully considered emotion, a particular moment, and a refined, distilled, and essential creative text. 

Finally, short films are often seen as a passport for the director to a feature film. The film is usually used to add to the director’s portfolio to show their talent and strength to lead them to creating a larger film with a larger budget. They are almost used to showcase up and coming talent and/or prove the skills of the director, showing off powerful narrative stories that are conveyed through the skills of the director and technical experimentation.

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