While looking for more information about the short film Displaced, which was recently reviewed at TheSkyKid.com, I stumbled upon an intriguing article in which its director, Rick Stevenson, shared why he believes that “Shorts are the Films of the Future” (1). In it, Mr. Stevenson shares his opinion that two main factors affect the international cine industry. The first being that independent film makers are having a hard time securing financing for their projects (you may recall the interview with the director of the acclaimed Canadian drama Jet Boy, Dave Schultz, in which he shared similar concerns) and the second being the impact on the video sharing sites such as YouTube and the shift of the audience’s preference towards the short time versions of entertainment now widely available. The opinion of Mr.Stephenson, and a follow-up conversation with a colleague of mine, made me realize that most of the films in the coming of age genre in the past few years have been released in the short format, while their longer counterparts somehow fail to create a hype comparable with the one that films such as The Sixth Sense or AI created in the past. While such a turn was expected by me (it explains why one of the main categories of theskykid.com is devoted to short features), the extent of this invasion of the short film format exceeded my expectations.
That being said, I would like to ask for your opinion. Where do you think the future of the coming of age films lies? Do you expect to see more short films than full features?
1. Rick Stevenson Shares Why He Believes “Shorts are the Films of the Future” by Allison Ackmann (via trulymovingpictures.org ) ( link)
personally I have been very impressed with the short film “A Day After Cosmos”. I’m quite sure you will like it too: I love your site!
Thank you for sharing this short movie . I liked the camerawork and editing in it – yet failed to understand the story – which is fine – films appeal different to different people , which is why the comments on the reviews are so appreciated
I use to think the same thing until I was introduced to a few short films that really had some meaning behind them. Being from the US I think I can make a good argument against short vs full length feature films. Hollywood seems to be of the idea that we must have a 2+ hour film filled with special effects and long dragged out scenes that have no bearing on the actual story. I recently viewed a few here that could have been made better leaving half of it on the cutting room floor. Yes I enjoy special effects as much as the next guy but what I enjoy more is a film that has a story to tell and uses good dialog and excellent actors to paint the portrait for me. Lately I’ve walked out feeling like I was cheated of my hard earned dollar. I guess my latest example would be Skyline. I’m quite the Scifi fan but this film really dragged on with poor acting and terrible dialog with great special effects. A short film must be made well, get to the point, and close with style. It’s kind of like a long sermon from a minister that could have summed it up in two paragraphs. Of course this is not always the case for some classics like Lord of the Rings etc but a well done short film beats a long dragged out drama any day in my book.
Interesting question. Honestly, prior to stumbling over your site, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “short films”. As a DVD / BD collector, who doesn’t watch short films on You Tube etc., feature films will always be my center of interest. I don’t think short films will ever be that relevant for me. In Germany, we’ve had a glorious decade for “coming of age” cinematic features. Every year, we’ve had 3-5 major productions on the big screen alone (which is more than any other genre over here): Wilde Kerle, Wilde Hühner, Vorstadtkrokodile, Tiger Team, Teufelskicker, Three Investigators, Hanni and Nanni, just to name a few. While these movies are rapidly losing their mainstream audience, I hope they’ll still be around for years to come. And in the US, the genre seems to be reborn with movies like Karate Kid, Diary of a Whimpy Kid etc…I guess there’ll be plenty of sequels and emulators there as well…
As long as that’s the case, I won’t be interested in shorts whatsoever.