What is a Short Film?

The rules for determining a short film for the OSCARs is ‘an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.’

Short films are usually centred around a simple premise or simple narrative structure. They differ from feature-length films in that they are often more abstract or artistic approaches to a subject matter, like how poems or short stories are to literature. For example, many distinguished writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald began by perfecting thier craft through short stories, and later achieving legend status writing full novels such as The Great Gatsby. This can be seen with filmmakers in short film such as Taika Waititi and Martin Scorsese. As they have a shorter running time than feature-length films, they are focused more on the quality of the cinematography and other microelements than the usual appeals of film to the consumer. The short running time means the narrative if used, must be well structured and immediately draw in the audience. Short films are viewed mostly on streaming services such as Youtube and Vimeo, however, they can also be shown at film festivals or award shows. Short films are a more accessible medium for amateur filmmakers beginning their careers, as they tend to have lower budgets and smaller cast and crews. However, due to the unique artistic format of a short film, many distinguished directors and film companies return to the short film format after achieving success in the industry. The short films flexability allows for more artistic and unique approaches to filmmaking, there is more freedom of creating art then that of a feature film, as there is less consumer based artificiality.