History of Short Films

Short films predate feature films by over a decade and have ranged from cartoons, music promotions, student films and amateur cinematography. They can last anything from 15 seconds to 45 minutes. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits".

During the early years of film production, all films were short. This began with the pre 1920s silent era cinematography which was full of short films varying from newsreels to comedy sketches. Feature films began to become increasingly favoured by the major film studious and therefor drove short films into the less favoured and unknown side of film production. This allows filmmakers a greater freedom of expression as they develop their craft. 

Nowadays, few cinemas show any short films other than adverts and trailers - with the exception of some children's films. Short films instead can be found chiefly on television channels and the internet. In the UK, television has been crucial to short films such as the 'Wallace and Gromit' and 'Shaun the Sheep' series which reached enough popularity to qualify for their own films. Whereas, on the internet short films enjoy huge popularity with the infinite range of the internet, especially for short film-makers who can’t afford to distribute their films on DVD. They are also often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers for non profit, either with a low budget or no budget at all. Therefor they are seen to be used by filmmakers to gain experience and/or prove their talent in order to gain funding for future films from private investors, entertainment companies, or film studios.

For many years short films have provided a regular training ground for newcomers to the industry. Many directors have started their road to fame through careers in short films such as Ridley Scott with his short film 'Boy and Bicycle' made in 1965. One of the UK's greatest film practitioners, Humphrey Jennings, worked largely in short film. The UK has a strong tradition of fostering the talent of new filmmakers. The UK is famed for setting up of the London Film School and National Film and Television School and new filmmakers have been in constant training for many years and shorts are the films that usually emerge. However, professional actors and crews still choose to create short films as an alternative form of expression.

DreamWorks Animation and Disney often produce short sequels to include in the DVD release. Also, Warner Brothers often include old animated shorts on the DVDs of classic WB films. In 2010 and 2012 Warner Bros also released new Looney Tunes cartoons before family films.

Short filmmaking is growing in popularity as equipment becomes cheaper. This is because professional cameras are becoming cheaper and free or low costing software is also capable of video editing.