What is a Short Film?

A short film is an independent film that is made in our to either experiment/challenge the social norms of everyday life or something within todays society. They tend to range from 5-20 minutes in length and are shot on location. Shorts films do not usually have a large budget and sometimes rely on funding from film companies, for example, the UK Film Council to help produce their film. They do not intend to be profit-orientated and more for self-promotion as they are sometimes entered into film competitions like Virgin Short Films, or film festivals like London Film Week or Cannes Film Festival.

It's also possible that they can be used for educational purposes to enlighten a school or a group of children on a certain theme. An example would be Double Take(directed by Toa Stappard) as the film highlights the theme of Theft. Due to the time constraints and budget, short films mainly use linear, circular narratives. As they rely also on the dialogue and the cinematography to define their film.

For me, short films not only challenge the conventions of social norms but they present different ways of showing an issue that it is highly regarded in todays society. They may have the money to make a high-quality film but it makes them more interesting because of the stylistic approach that they take. Feature length films tend to make an exaggeration on an aspects of social life and not go over  range of different genres in order to attract wider audiences. For example, Avatar(directed by James Cameron) can attract all ages, kids because of the visuals and special effects and older audiences because of the story and the detail that it develops into.

Cameron had been waiting for more than 10 years to make the film because of the technology. But it immediately shows the difference between the purpose of short films and feature lengths. They don't have any other reason to be made than to entertain by giving people an experience, or to gain a profit. Which also highlights the change in the way film is viewed and used for in todays society.