Post 9

Short Film Research

Why short films are made and why it could be a useful tool.

After reading the two Telegraph articles which talk about the process of production distribution and exhibition they have given me inspiration as to how I will design the making of my short film.

The long history of short films (Click to follow this link)

This article from The Telegraph displays how short films have come about and developed over the past few years. In the beginning of film making all films were short. The short films that succeeded, where "one-shot 'actuality' or 'interest' film depicting celebrities, royal processions, travelogues, current affairs and scenes from everyday life". From this I can see that audiences preferred films about everyday life and current affairs. This is mainly because audiences are able to connect with the film as it will be about something they have experienced. However 'shorts' didn't last long. "In the early 1900s, improvements in recording and editing technology allowed film-makers to produce longer, multi-shot films". The fact that technology has developed means that it is to produce longer, better, multi-shot films. This will benefit us when we come to create our films because we will have the facilities to experiment with the camera and camera angles. However because we are using the school equipment we would expect that it will be a real step down to the equipment that major film companies would use. In the article Chris Hilton is mentioned. He is a general manager at the Odeon and says that he "began working in cinemas in 1966 and recalls the unpopularity of some of these documentary shorts 'In the Sixties, you would still occasionally get short films in the programme, things like the Rank Organisation's Look at Life series (which depicted scenes of 'Swinging Britain'). But most of these were pretty boring and the audience used to use them as an excuse to pop to the loo or get some more popcorn"'. From this we can seen that the short film documentaries were unpopular and audiences like films were they can escape from reality and be part of a different world out of their experience. However they also like films to be believable with issues they can relate to but on a much wider scale. This means that I will base my short film on issues that the audience are able to relate to but also include parts which help the audience to escape reality and to include themselves into a new fantasy world. The article also states that 'With a music video, the narrative follows the rhythm of the song so there's much less freedom'. From this statement I have learnt not to try and fit the film around the music as we will have much less freedom to experiment with camera and editing and our short film will consequently turn into a music video. This article has helped us considersbly with the distribution of our film

Who are the target audiences for short films?

The target audience for short films is seen to be quite specific. There are two main groups of people that will be familiar with these short films, these are unemployed students looking for a career in this industry and the people that have already become successful within this industry. These people that have been successful within the industry will be looking at the short films to find a potential director, producer or writer that they can employ to work with them. Whereas the unemployed students will be viewing the work for inspiration.

The audience for short films again could be considered different to that of mainstream films because: 

• They are succeeders, they are driven by their income wanting to get to a high status within the industry. Once they have achieved this powerful position they are then the audience looking to invest in a director to bring money into their company.
• They are aspirers, these are the students who have finished their degree and are now looking for a job so that they can break into the industry. These people are driven by the motivation of a better life meaning that they will be doing a lot of research into short films to get a better understanding and to possibly get inspiration for their own amateur short films.
• They are individualists, they like to express their opinions and views through film

Who are the target audience for the short films I have watched
Most of the short films I have watched are set in a teenage school and often tackle issues that this age group face, these include violence and bullying. The large sector of the audience watching these films are around the same age as the characters however these are split in two, the first half is for the children who are victims of bullying. The children will feel alone until they watch the short film and realise that this is a popular issue found within schools. The second will be the bullys themselves so that they will realise the damage they cause to their victims. The other audience of these films may also be the parents of these school children as they are able to experience the reality of school.

How are short films distributed?
Short films have a very different strategy when it comes to the distribution of their films compared to the theatrical (cinema) films. Up until recently short film producers have been trying to replicate the feature film way of distribution by taking 4 simple steps

1.    Take their short film out onto the circuit

2.    Try to communicate with a sales agent to try and get your short onto the television

3.    Look at possibly trying to get your shot onto a DVD to sell, either through yourself or through a sales agent

4.    Put your short film onto the internet, but only if every other solution has failed

The differences between the distributions of feature films compared to short films

·         The first difference between the two distribution techniques is that short films don’t tend to make money theatrically or in festivals as the economic motivation to screen short films theatrically in cinemas and festivals is missing.

·         Despite the point above, festivals are very important and you shouldn’t ignore them. Through these your short could win awards and could reach committed audience. Through these film festivals you may be able to secure a sales agent who may consider your film if it has been successful at the festival.

·         Short film festivals realise that they are in competition with DVD sales and online delivery of short films, it is a battle that they most likely will not win.

·         Festivals used to reject short films mainly because they are online, on television or on DVD meaning festivals may be coming to an end. However festivals won’t disappear so they will learn to work with other media.

·         Producers and directors of short films need to promote their films across all different types of media in order to get the biggest audience and profit to produce potential.

Film Festivals
Film Festivals target to audiences who seek out new and fresh short films and some festivals also offer awards. Film festivals are also a good way of distributing your film because producers, distributors and various other members of the film industry will be at these film festivals looking for short films to catch their eye. However you need to careful when distributing your film because some festivals only accept feature films or films of a certain genre. Finding a film festival can also be difficult because many target certain categories, for example some target feature films whereas others only target shorts. When entering your short film into a festival there are also awards to be one, an Oscar, Jamieson European Short Film Award, BAFTA, Scottish BAFTA, Scottish BAFTA New Talent Awards and a Jim Poole Award.

Sales Agents/International Distributors

Sales Agents, either a company or an individual are in an agreement with you, the holder of your short film to try to sell your film as widely as possible to the agent’s contacts universally.  Agents attend festivals to look for new short films that will be able to sell. Sales agents won’t be able enter your film in an international film festival but will however have a wide range of contrasts and expertise because their profession is to sell short films.

Digital Distribution – Online Downloads and Streaming

Digital Distribution is appealing to short filmmakers as you are able to digitise your film, register and upload it to various websites and potentially universally people will be able to watch it streamed, or download it to watch at audience demand. In some cases filmmakers will be able to make money from this method of distribution.

Conclusion
The most common ways to distribute a short film is to send a DVD to film festivals. They are receptive to short films and sometimes awards are given for the best short film. Major distributors attend film festivals meaning that promoting your short film is easy. You could also contact film distributors directly. Small, independant distrubutors are sometimes more receptive to short films and may suggest options for you releasing it on DVD in conjunction with other films or as part of a collection. To distribute your short film you could also talk to film reviewers, this will help promote your short film and make it well known widely. Lastely you could post parts or the whole of your short film on websites, for example YouTube or a blog to help promote and distribute it.

Source:  You’ve got it made, Short Film Distribution Guide by Nigel. R. Smith
My research on short films on homosexuality

Fair Play

•  The film makers of this short film clip used the idea of soccer/football as this is seen as a masculine trait, he uses this sport to fool the audience into believing he is with the woman. We have used this idea in our film with James and Ashley where we use the character of Roxanne to trick the audience into believe he is straight.
• Within the film the audience are told that 'he had hurt his knee', this is showing that he is quick to be in pain, whereas the masculine stereotype is to be butch, whereas this character is showing his feminine side by showing his emotions.
• In this short film clip one of the homosexual couple is in denial, 'I'm in love with Marie' yet it is clear to the audience that there is a relationship between the two male characters, but when told this he states that he is 'different' showing that he wants this homosexual relationship but isn't ready for it to be openly broadcasted.
• The writers of this short film also use the statement 'me time' which the gay character in denial uses as an escape route. An escape from the woman to see his boyfriend and an escape from his boyfriend when things start to get difficult.

Who we are

• Homosexuality is wrong- (based on religion where it is unaccepted)
• Convention could be that the guy character would hang around with groups of girls
• Father trying to force him to play baseball when he was younger, he is almost forcing him to be straight which is something you can't force people to do. 'You may force him to play baseball but you can't force him to be something he's not'.
• Unaccepted by school friends as he is beaten up and called 'queer'.

Research into your target audience
Target audience for short films is more specific compared to mainstream films. There are only two types of audience that are interested in short films these are unemployed students looking for a future in the film industry and people who are already professional in this industry.
Demographics
People employed in the industry are placed in the demographic social groups A to C1. These professionals are looking to find potential in the director, producer or other member of this film group to work for them in their company. The section made up of students would be placed in group E because they are unemployed but their background is most likely to be A to C1. This category would be viewing these short films for inspiration for their work as they are still an amateur film maker.  Most of these short films will be viewed online so the audience will be familiar with the internet therefore supporting the reasons behind the audience being from the media background.
Psychographics
The audience is again different to mainstream films. The audience is therefore split into three categories the succeeders, the aspirers and the individualists.

The Target Audience for the short films I have looked at
The short films I have looked at are mostly set in a school, some clips are of the same subject matter as mine, others are just for research of what a short film should look like and what it consists of. Most short films I have watched are about social realism (socio-realism) and deal with tackling issues. All the short films I have researched also have in the common the setting of the film and are all set in school. This therefore means that the films I have researched look at the tackling issues and problems that are faced will at school. This therefore means that the target audience is split into three sections. The first section is the kids that are going through these issues, for example being bullied or even being gay. This section of the audience are watching these types of film because they are watching how others are dealing with these issues themselves. The second section is the ones bullying or causes disruption, these are watching these short films as they are almost looking at them as a lesson, seeing what trouble they are causing and what they are putting people through. The last section of the audience is the adults and parents of the children, watching what goes on within a school enviroment and looking at the film from a different perspective and looking at how they may be able to help their child.
The target audience I am making my film for
The target audience I intend to make my film for is for children going through secondary school and maybe even parents. The short film I intend to make is going to look at issues students at secondary school go through and because it is set in a secondary school this therefore leads to the target audience being students going to secondary school. I may also make my target audience parents because as I said above it will help them to remember there childhood and how hard life can be when your young.
How I will measure how successful my short film will be
To measure the success of my short film when it is finished I will firstly put it on YouTube, this way I can then see what audiences think of my short film from the comments the audience will hopefully leave. I could also screen it at my school and get feedback from fellow pupils to see what types of results I get.