To Gamble with Short Films
ARTICLE
Royin Yap
11/9/20243 min read
Short films are a symphony of moving parts. Each frame is intricately planned out, shot, edited down, and mastered. Vetted and reedited so that not the drop of a hat nor the sound of a whisper is out of place. Artists are left with mere minutes to communicate the amount of emotions needed in a feature film. These films often can be the most revealing about the artists that created them since the decisions of what's manifested by a piece is under time’s spotlight.
Short films have for a long time been a proving ground for upcoming creators and studios. Even now in the current media landscape, many high profile businesses consider short films special for their historical significance. Pixar Animations, now controlled by the Disney Corporation, made their name with short films such as Luxo Jr., Pixar Short Films Collection, Tin Toy, and more. It is safe to say that these early projects helped Pixar quickly gain prestige within the minds of both the public and media executives.
Although it's true that short films can be made raw and inexpensively, and for many artists that is a benefit, the choice to put on a short production isn’t an easy one. For practicing artists signed to corporations and companies, making a short film does not guarantee it will be hosted on any paid platform. Meaning for any artist there is no promise of reimbursement for the money they put into the production. So why make a short film at all right? Why take on the risk? Well…, freedom. Although it's not easy for a personal production to have visibility, wouldn't you rather scream into the void to be heard even if you have no one listening? Guerilla filmmaking will always be a unique and uncensored tool for artists. With short films inexpensive nature, and tactics like that becoming harder not to participate in with the closed off world of corporate films, Artists can express a version of themselves that cannot be sold by the media but by the honesty and connections it forges with its audience.
Yes, short productions can be just as extravagant as feature length films- but a short production puts less pressure financially on artists. Giving artists more space to work with. With a shorter film time, shorts can be fairly inexpensively giving more people the opportunity to participate in filmmaking. Many employed artists do not have the time nor money to dedicate to a long production. But when planned out well many ideas and stories can be achieved through careful planning for a few long shoot days. And with less shoot time over all, the director and artists can be very hands-on during the whole process. The important decisions on set and revisions in editing decide what is said and what's left out. Artists have to make every second count and pay excruciating detail to every second shot. A lot of artists will use shorts to produce indie films, meaning they often don't profit off these at all. This creates a community of artists who post and share these shorts on the internet. Short films feel like a place artists can all come back to, if you have an idea you are really passionate about you can find a way to shoot a couple minutes of footage and splice that shit together.
As we explore what is said in short films, what is in the film is just as important as what is left out. The gaps created by one artist’s interpretation of a situation often allows viewswers to grasp onto the part of the story they can fill in with their own experiences. Creating a connection to the viewer, a string tied to the performance that slowly pulls away the curtain and consumes the audience. These short moments of shared humanity are diming stars in our galaxy. Automation ravishing time and pushing us to conscript more efforts to support the bottom line. Artists often wont make money in this way of communication since we aren’t giving our labor to a big company who has the platform to profit off of what they commission. A lot of artists are forced to give up their voice to pump out corporate art. More people should just shout into the void honestly, even if there's no money to gain it means a lot that you shared your heart for a moment.
