What is short film?

To begin, I believe that I need to start with gaining an understanding of what short film is and how is it defined by groups of people and the industry. 

Catherine Des Forges’ conception of short films states that a short film is ‘spare, economic narrative, interesting storytelling; well structured work which draws in the audience quickly’.

Short films are often compared with popular feature-length films. Here are some comparisons between them.

Feature Film	Short Film
Around 100 minutes	Around 10 minutes
Big budget	Low budget
Professional	Amateur
Mainstream	Alternative
Formulaic	Experimental
Widely distributed	Rarely screened
Mass audience	Niche audience
Large casts	Small casts
"Glossy"	"Grainy"

Defined by length?

• The term 'short film' might be applied to any film of less than standard feature film duration (90-120 minutes).
• A consensus is emerging that a short should be no longer than 40 minutes.
• Gareth Evans suggests that 'short films are long films that finish earlier'; indicating that such films need to imply more than they can show in their limited screen time.
• Some short films are no more than five minutes, these are dubbed 'micro shorts'.
• Cobravision provides a typical example of the experimentation with the length of the short film form: these are merely five seconds in duration.

Directors: Barney Sutton & Georgia Merton (2006)

• The International Festival of Very Shorts is a festival based in Paris, which shows only movies less than three minutes long.
• The International One-Minute Film Festival (Filminute), has presented and promoted a collection of one-minute films across multiple media since September 2006

 Director: Aritz Moreno (2011)

Defined by content?

• Gareth Evans says that the best short films are, 'crystalline creations of precise, prismatic intensity'. 
• Short film is 'a good idea, succinctly told. Less is more,' says Dave Sproxton of Aardman Animations.
• They are the effective realisation of one particular idea. 
• Good short films represent a refinement of ideas and the distilled essences of their creators' imaginations.

Defined by form?

• Short films can be fiction or non-fiction. 
• The forms and functions of the short film should be recognised as multifarious. 
• The flexibility of the short film is perhaps its greatest asset; it crosses the boundaries of all categories of film production, as is manifest in films of quality in the forms of propaganda, advertising, documentary, music video, animation and avant garde film.

Defined as vocational?

• Short films have been a laboratory for experimentation and innovation. 
• The term 'calling card' film has been used to describe those short films that seek to establish the identity of their creators. For example "Vincent" by Tim Burton's first short film that set his style of animation.

Director: Tim Burton (1982)

Defined by means of production?

• The term 'short film' can be an inclusive one that refers to all short sequences of moving images - whether shot for exhibition through television, cinema or other media, such as personal computers and mobile phones. 
• Furthermore, short film in this definition might be produced by the use of a diverse range of technologies rather than being shot purely on film stock.

Defined as 'other'?

• Short film is frequently (and unfairly) compared with the dominant form of the feature-length film. 
• Short film has long been associated with alternative filmmaking, both in terms of its content and the freedom of expression. 
• Away from the constraints of industrial production, high finance and the need to tailor films to the expectations of audiences, those who make short films are more likely to retain creative control.

Now after gathering a basic understanding of what short film is, I feel that the most important element and one that I need to undertake further investigation into is narrative, plot and story. I need to begin to get an understanding of what each are and how each play an important part in creating a good short film. For the "narrative" I need to be confident in my know of narrative theories and the implications of them on film.

References

Book
Quy, S. (2007). Teaching Short Film. BFI

Website
(2012). Short film. [Online] Wikipedia. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_film  [Accessed 23 June 2012].