UK Shorts

BAFTA launches 60 Seconds Of Fame competition

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:12:00 GMT

The British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFA) has launched a new short film competition, 60 Seconds Of Fame, in association with Orange.

The competition has the support of BBC Nations and Regions and the Regional Screen Agency network and is open to anyone aged 16 or over. Shortlisted films will be shown by each of the 15 BBC Nations and Regions and, following a public vote, one winner from each area will win two tickets to the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2007. The overall winner will be announced and have their film featured as part of the BBC One broadcast of the ceremony.

As the name suggests, budding filmmakers are invited to submit a 60-second short film based on the theme ‘Celebrate’, to reflect BAFTA’s 60th birthday and Orange’s 10-year partnership with the Academy.

BAFTA will run short film masterclasses around the country (which will also be video podcasted) to give expert film-making advice.

Details of the masterclasses and the competition are available on the Orange website.

The deadline for entries is 4 January 2007.

Diversity in film

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 1 Nov 2006 09:26:00 GMT

The UK Film Council has launched an online Diversity Toolkit, to enable all sections of society to be part of film in the UK.

The toolkit includes a multi-choice quiz so you can check your diversity credentials, contains statistics on diversity in UK film, and provides a snapshot of what is happening across the industry. There is also specific advice on employment, good practice and guidance on taking equality and diversity into account on screen as well as off.

[Spotted in Word of Mouth newsletter 7 from productionbase.co.uk]

Technorati tags diversity & equality & film.

Bradford Film Festival open for submissions

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 21:48:00 +0100

The 13th Bradford Film Festival, operated and hosted by the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, will run from 9-24 March 2007.

In keeping with its history BFF will be presenting an array of new and classic titles while celebrating the talents of the people who help make cinema great. The Festival is now open for entries and welcomes submissions in the categories of feature, short, documentary and animation.

To submit a film visit www.bradfordfilmfestival.org.uk

Deadline: 30 November 2006

Depict - 90 second films shortlist

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 19:00:00 +0100

DepicT! 2005 - the short film competition for micro movies of under 90 seconds - proved hugely successful this year with a record number of over 320 entries from across the globe. The shortlist of 10 films has now gone live.

The final winner will be presented with their award and a cheque for 3000 pounds at the Brief Encounters Bristol International Short Film Festival (Wed 23 - Sun 27 November 2005). And new this year, the DepicT! 2005 winner and short-listed entries will be offered a full distribution deal with the Dazzle Short Film Label. In addition, digital media and design company Emak Mafu will offer a website and marketing package deal to the winner.

I haven't yet viewed all of the short-listed films, but so far I have particularly enjoyed 'Margalida Mirando (Margalida Watching)'. What do you think? When you've taken a look you can vote for your favourite film, either by texting the appropriate text code to 2472 (restricted to Orange customers only) or heading for http://www.lovefilm.com/ where you can vote online.

The winner of the Orange DepicT! 2005 Audience Award will be announced at Brief Encounters International Short Film Festival alongside the main DepicT! Award and will take home a top of the range mobile handset, other Orange prizes and a free 6 months membership to LOVEFiLM.COM

Technorati tags movies & short films & competitions

Watch four-minute documentaries online

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:37:00 +0100

Four Docs is a Channel 4 website that shows documentary films, each one guaranteed to be no more than four minutes long. What's more, viewers can upload their own films to the site and have them viewed and reviwed.

This is a great idea for an online film site - you know each film is not going to last more than four minutes, so you don't have to invest half your life in waiting for the film to download. The site itself is also well put together (as you would expect from Channel 4). The graphics are good, the site's fairly easy to navigate around, and the buttons all seem to work.

Not many films have been uploaded yet, but cleverly you can subscribe to an RSS feed to keep updated as new films are uploaded. So many film websites would benefit from a similar RSS facility.

Look out for School Spirit (an inspiring doc about some school children making their own film), and Somebody's gotta do it, a film that allows a refuse van driver to talk about his life and tell some great stories about his work.

FourDocs is aimed at people who make docs, as well as those who watch them. It has a fantastic series of simple guides for the documentary filmmaker who is just starting out. These guides are short films themselves, with accompanying PDF files that can be downloaded. The site also has extensive legal guidelines for documentary makers, advice about copyright, links to useful websites, and interviews with documentary filmmakers.

It looks as though a lot of effort has gone into setting up this site, and it has paid off.

Technorati tags short films & documentaries.

Girls on film

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 16:14:00 +0100

Short film distributors Dazzle will be showing us exactly what girls are made of when they launch their LIPSTICK CHERRY [ALL OVER THE LENS] programme at London's Curzon Soho at 6pm on 21 September 2005.

The programme from the London-based short film label promises a breathtaking selection of shorts focusing on the very best women cinematographers working in film today.

There will be an informal Q&A session in the Curzon Soho bar afterwards where you can meet some of the women whose work is being screened. According to Dazzle, viewers should

Be prepared for some gorgeous little films!

The programme includes:

Bubblegum[UK 2003. 10mins]
How (not) to make a short film [UK 2003. 10mins]
No deposit, no return [K 2004. 10mins]
One minute past midnight [UK 2004. 11mins]
Stalin my neighbour [UK 2004. 15mins]

Venue: Curzon Soho, 99 Shaftestbury Avenue, Soho, London W1
Date: Wednesday 21 Septermber 2005
Time: 6PM prompt
Tickets: £5
For bookings ring the Curzon Soho box office on 020 7734 2255 or book online.

Technorati tags screening & short films & women & London.

Short films to be marketed for new Playstation Portable

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Thu, 1 Sep 2005 17:15:00 +0100

Two compilations of short films from Shorts International are to be released for the new Sony Playstation Portable (PSP). The sixty-minute compilations - 'Shortsplay' and 'Shortsplay Extreme' - will be available in the United States from 18 October 2005 in the UMD format unique to the new Sony handheld machine.

Many of the films have screened at prestigious film festivals and won a range of awards including:

"Home Road Movies," which earned the Aspen Shortsfest 2002 Most Innovative Film Award - Animation, and the Houston World-Fest 2002 Best Animation Gold Award;
"One Small Leap," chosen for the Brief Encounters, UK, 2002 HTV South West Award, and the 2003 Best Director award at Capalbio Film Festival, Italy; and
"Mr. Cloth," which earned Spain's highest film award, a 2003 Goya for Best Animation award, and the Worldfest, Houston, Gold Special Jury Award.

The UMD compilations are expected to sell for $19.99 each.

Technorati tags Playstation & short films & UMD & PSP

DepicT! Can you do it in 90 seconds?

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 09:03:00 +0100

UPDATE: Competition now closed - shortlisted films announced

Make a micro-movie of under 90 seconds and you could win a cash prize of £3000, have your film promoted online across the globe and see it screened at Brief Encounters Bristol International Short Film Festival from 23 - 27 Nov 2005.

The deadline for DepicT! 2005 entries is in just over two weeks - Monday 5 September 2005 at 5pm. For more info and to download an entry form, head for the DepicT! website.

NEW THIS YEAR! The DepicT! 2005 winner and shortlisted entries will be offered a full distribution deal with the Dazzle Short Film Label. In addition, digital media and design company Emak Mafu will offer a website and marketing package deal to the winner.

The DepicT! 2005 winner will be picked by a panel of distinguished industry professionals, whose brief is to uncover distinctive voices - originality, style, clarity of idea & impact are key. Previous judges included renowned actor Pete Postlethwaite, award-winning director Damien O'Donnell, multi-Oscar® winning director Peter Jackson, Jeremy Howe (Executive Producer, BBC Talent) and David Sproxton (Executive Chairman, Aardman Animations Ltd). The panel of judges for this year will be announced shortly.

Before you go out and shoot your mini masterpiece, make sure you read through the rules. Also remember that your film must be accompanied by a completed Entry Consent Form which can be downloaded from the DepicT! website.

Technorati tags movies & short films & competitions

Nokia Shorts Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Fri, 5 Aug 2005 09:40:00 +0100

UPDATE: COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Marketing supremo Helen Keegan of BeepMarketing has reminded me about the Nokia Shorts Competition, which there is still time to enter.

Nokia are looking for 15 second films - the kind of length that can easily be downloaded to a mobile phone. This competition has produced some fantastic films in the last couple of years, and last year's finalists are still up on the Nokia website if you need any inspiration. Check out 'Brief encounters' and 'La descente' (the film from which this picture is taken) in particular.

The 10 finalists will be screened at this year's Raindance festival and on the Nokia website, and the overall winner will be given the chance to produce a short film for Nokia with a budget of up to £4,000.

The deadline for submissions is 30 August 2005. Good luck!

Report from Rushes Soho Short Film Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 11:27:00 +0100

If you are in London this week and have any interest in short films at all, then you must catch the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival. There is no excuse for not going, as there are numerous screenings throughout the week at venues all around Soho, and all screenings are FREE!

I went to the very first screening of the festival, which showed twelve short films in the general 'Short Film' category (other competition categories include Newcomer, Music Video, Animation and an award for Titles & Idents). The films I saw were of a generally high standard, and gave me a lot to think about when planning my next short. You can still catch all of the films listed below as there are several further showings this week of films in the Short Films category.

Here is my rundown of the films I saw:

Traffic Warden, produced by Teun Hilte through Clockwork pictures.

A beautiful girl and an illegally parked car space-all you need to fall in love in London.

Stars David Tennant (the new Dr Who). Nice opening credits - using signs in a market to introduce the key cast and crew. This was a device that was used throughout the film - for example, a revolving billboard turns around behind the main character just as he falls for a beautiful woman - the word 'Romeo' appears above his heard. Only when we cut to a different angle do we see that it's an ad for an Alfa Romeo car. Nice touch. A bit slow-paced to start, but picks up about a third of the way through and brings together a major and minor storyline into a great 'feel good' ending. Shows that the director can handle a lot of outdoor action and control the pace of the film. Impressive.

Sock produced by Kate O'Mulloy through DFGW Ltd.

In the heart of Soho, two actors gripe about casting, typecasting and life on the edge of the limelight. They both work but end up back where they started, grumbling in a pub.

Only after the two lead characters have been talking for a while do we realise that they are both glove puppet socks. A good idea that attracted some top comedy talent (Jack Dee, Phil Jupitus). This is well-voiced and has some nice one-liners.

The Deal produced by Sally Oldfield through Bare Film Co.

Two men meet at a mansion house, a deck of cards is placed on a table along with a gun. A game of high stakes about love, loss and guilt will be played but only one man will leave the room.

The best I can say about this film is that it was well lit. Very ponderous, studenty-film, and a bit of a waste of the acting talents of Bernard Hill, who ended up giving a fairly stilted delivery, and seemed to struggle with a couple of the duller lines.

10 Seconds produced by Rachel Drummond-Hay through South West Screen.

A man awakens to find he can see 10 seconds into the future. But is it a gift or a curse?

Shot on a single set but well-designed with good use of subdued colour - quirky, Cabinet of Dr Caligari style room. The main character - The Strange Chap - was very well played. The film is based around a very simple idea, and unlike many other shorts it doesn't take the idea too far or play with it for too long. This is a lovely, funny film which I would watch again with pleasure.

Blake's Junction 7 produced by Film Club (Ben Gregor and Tim Plesto) through Pitch Film & Godman.

Cult Si-Fi group Blake's 7 makes a late night stop at Newport Pagnell services on the M1 with Martin Freeman, Mackenzie Crook, Mark Heap and Johnny Vegas.

A great cast, and it's the quality of the acting that makes this piece (coupled with a lot of deadpan humour in a loving tribute to the TV series Blake's Seven). It's very low key - nothing much really happens - but that's what makes it funny.

Elephant Palm Tree produced by Louise Decoteau through Cinnamon Films & Arawak Films.

When a menopausal Miss Jamaica is shat on by an elephant, she decides to ask her cheating husband for a divorce.

I don't think the one-line synopsis (from the film-makers) quite matches up to the film we see - the main character is not identified as a former Miss Jamaica in the film, nor is it clear that he husband is cheating on her. No matter. This film is very well acted and is about something - a real situation, with the fragile relationship between the two main characters well suggested.

Mercy produced by Emily Man through Emily Man Productions.

Ben is bullied at school and neglected at home. He finds a chilling resolution to his problems.

Natalie Press (star of the Oscar-winning short Wasp) plays one of the lead roles in this film. This felt quite cliched (prostitute heroin-addicted mother does her best for her small son on council estate, but isn't coping). However there is some gut-wrenching cruelty in the film (well acted by the lead boy and by the pimp character). Parts of the film reminded me of Ratcatcher by Lynne Ramsay (there were some nice cut-away shorts and good use of sound in her style). This film improved as it went on and there is a nice turning of the tables to conclude the story.

The Three Rules of Infidelity produced by Jon Sen through Illyria Films.

After a night on the town, Liam wakes up to discover that the woman next to him is not his wife. He follows three simple rules to avoid discovery.

A neat film but not a brilliant one. Reminiscent of 'How to tell when a relationship is over', but not as well executed.

The Bet from Brown Bag Films.

Two time travellers journey back into the depths of the past in order to settle a personal wager. The outcome will change the world as we know it.

This is a good joke that is taken too far. The first time the joke is told it is genuinely funny, the second time does not work well for a non-US audience, and the third is just limp. And the closing credits were way too long - almost as long as the film itself.

Get The Picture produced by Adrian Sturges through Picture Farm.

A group of prisoners are about to be executed in front of a photographer and journalist. Are they purely to report, or is their presence inciting the event?

Extremely well acted by Brian Cox and Lloyd OSkilfulilfull creation of atmosphere with very convincing landscape and choice of locations. Genuinely scary at times, and makes a very powerful comment on the role of the media in creating 'shock' scenes.

Good Luck Jeffrey Brown produced by Jacquicouez through JJ Town Pictures.

A man confines himself to a nuclear bunker to hide from the war outside.

This is one of those films that you think could have been significantly better with a bit more time spent in post. Little things like an unconvincing TV broadcast from the US President and poor quality mock adverts let the film down. At times it was almost expressionist rather than narrating a story, which made it interesting. Overall I thought it lacked punch (but it did at least get me to listen to some Nina Simone when I got home, which is a good thing!)

Goodbye, Cruel World produced by Iain Thomson through Partizan Ltd.

Charming, black comedy about a shy boy who is forced to deal with the death of his best friend. By using his fertile imagination and passion for electronics, the boy temporarily resurrects his friend. However, things start to change when the dead friend begins to take on a life of his own.

A really excellent film, a great calling-card for the film-makers. This achieves the 'real but unusual' approach that is my test for a great short film. Takes a great idea and develops it, but - like 10 Seconds - it doesn't take it too far. A great fun film to watch.

Reflections on these films - some of the things I take away with me to ponder are:

acting is everything - the quality of some of the acting is what makes most of filmse fims work;
you can make a great film with one or two people in a single room (eg 10 Seconds), but if you really want to demonstrate what you can do as a film-maker you need to do something more ambitious - film outside, with several locations, including crowd scenes (eg Traffic Warden);
comedy seems generally easier to do than serious drama in short form - eg Sock. Must be something to do with the structure of a short joke with a clear punchline;
some of the better non-comedy films still include an element of humour or fantasy to lighten the mood (eg Goodbye, Cruel World); but
it is not impossible to make a great drama film that doesn't pull its punches and makes a serious point (eg Get the Picture).

My tip for the prize - there are a number of films that could win (I would point to Traffic Warden, 10 Seconds, and Get the Picture). My prediction would be 'Goodbye, Cruel World' (which is why I've included a still from this film in this post). It's well constructed, ambitious and heart-warming. But what do I know?

Technorati tags movies & short films & reviews & film festivals

Rushes Soho Shorts Festival 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 12:46:00 +0100

Now in its seventh year, the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival 2005 runs from Saturday 30 July to Friday 5 August.

The festival offers free daily screenings of all short-listed films in bars, cafes and cinemas throughout the West End, concentrating on Soho, the centre of the UK’s filmmaking and creative industries.

The films are shown in five categories:

the Ascent Media Short Film Award,
the Rushes Newcomer Award,
the Vue Animation Award
the Sony Media Music Video Award, and
the Adobe Title Sequences & Idents Award.

Trunk monkey adverts

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:52:00 +0100

A series of very funny ads made by R-west for the Suburban Auto Group in the US. They all tell a short story in just a few seconds, and I think they're great examples of funny short films. My favourite is 'Monkey bribes cop' - what's yours?

Technorati tags movies & short films & humour & monkey

New foundation launched to fund documentaries

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 17:10:00 +0100

The Channel 4 British documentary film foundation has just been launched. The foundation is supported by Channel 4 and has at least £500,000 a year to give to filmmakers to make the sorts of documentaries that fall outside the British TV system.

It will be open to British filmmakers based anywhere and filmmakers from anywhere based in Britain (they will also be taking submissions from Ireland). The foundation will award bursaries between £3,000 and £100,000 on a rolling basis.

The foundation will fund everything from short films, particularly by new filmmakers, feature-length projects with the potential to break through, experimental films, passion projects by established filmmakers, documentaries by artists from other mediums such as photography or art through to ambitious development projects. They will fund at every stage - development, production and completion - and can help you to get the other funding you need, as well as training and mentoring - and can help you get your film out there once it is made.

The foundation is not yet open for funding applications, but you can register your interest and will be sent details as soon as they are open for submissions.

Technorati tags movies & short films & documentaries & funding

World Wide Short Film Festival Report

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 21:41:00 +0100

Worldwide Short Film Festival
Posted by Hello

Todd over at Twitch has posted a report from the Canadian Film Centre's World Wide Short Film Festival in Toronto.

Interesting review of some short horror films, including some I'd like to see (Tea Break and El Ciclo in particular).

Technorati tags movies & short films & festival & Toronto

Competition: get your short on a horror DVD

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Mon, 30 May 2005 22:08:00 +0100

UPDATE: COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Celebrating the release of The Last Horror Movie on May 13, Tartan Films have teamed up with Julian Richards – the director of the film – to offer a fantastic prize to potential horror film makers: your own film could be included as an extra on the DVD release of The Last Horror Movie (released on tartan Video October 2005). The winner will not only have their film included on the DVD – but they will be working with Julian Richards on his next production!

A graduate of The National Film School, Julian Richards won several awards for his early short films, including Best Film at the British Short Film Festival.

To take part in this competition submit your short (under 5 minutes) horror movie by Thursday June 30th. The criteria are ORIGINALITY, SCARINESS, SUBVERSIVENESS, HUMOUR. Entries will be accepted on the following formats: DVD, Mini DV, DV Cam.

All entries must be sent to: Last Horror Movie Short Tartan Video 27-28 Poland Street London W1F 8QW, and for more information log onto www.thelasthorrormovie.co.uk

Technorati tags movies & films & short & competition

Short film channel for UK mobile phones

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 25 May 2005 11:03:00 +0100

Shorts International, in partnership with NTL Broadcast and mobile phone company O2, will be trialling a short film TV channel (Shorts TV), broadcasting films direct to mobile phones.

The six month trial, which runs from September 2005, will be available to 350 customers of 02 in the Oxford area of England.

As well as Shorts International, the 16 channels will include BSkyB, Chart Show TV, Discovery Networks Europe, and Turner Broadcasting.

O2 will soon begin the process of recruiting triallists from within the Oxford ring road. Triallists will be between 18 and 45 years of age, and spend the majority of their day (ie live, work or study) in Oxford. Initially, handsets will be provided to all 350 triallists by Nokia - the new 7710 which, for the purposes of the trial, will come with a special receiver.

Shorts International CEO Carter Pilcher commented: “We are confident that our experience in programming short films across all different media will allow us to create an exciting channel for this new and challenging audience.”

From ScreenDaily.com, Screen International's on-line news service.

Super Shorts Film Festival 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Wed, 25 May 2005 10:50:00 +0100

The UK festival for films under 5 minutes is now inviting entries. Super Shorts Film Festival 2005 will be showing the selected films in cinemas and on screens around central London, either in mini-cinemas or venues suitable for screening films. The aim is allow audiences to drop into venues, whether planned or by chance, during a lunch break, before/after work, and screenings are expected to be free of charge.

Following that, films will be shown on the UK's only not-for-profit TV channel (the Community Channel), and then on the web.

The festival has a great little website, including some cracking films from previous years (in particular see Big Career, How to tell when a relationship is over in 90 seconds, Le Cheval: 2.1, and The divorce). There are also some helpful interviews with the makers of some of these films.

There is no charge for entries, which must be in by 22 July 2005.

Technorati tags movies & films & short & festival

Short film distributors

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Thu, 19 May 2005 20:19:00 +0100

Big Film Shorts

"For Broadcast, Cable, Satellite, DVD & Home Video
Great Short Films from around the World."
A US-based distributor.

Apollo Cinema

"Apollo Cinema is an international distributor of short films of all types and genres. Apollo sells to television stations (broadcast, cable, pay-per-view, and satellite), internet sites, airlines, theaters, military bases, home video and DVD."
Also US-based.

Village Film

"Village srl is an international distribution company specialized in
fiction and animation short films and documentaries."
Based in Rome.

Short Circuit Films

Not strictly a distributor. "Short Circuit Films organises film marketing and distribution seminars; short film programming services and also showcases the work of the UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund Digital Shorts Scheme."

Dazzle Films

UK-based distributor set up by Dawn Sharpless. Some of the films that Dazzle represents can be see at:
Atom Films (search for Dumping Elaine, Shelf life, virus) and at the BBC's Film Network (search for 6.06.04, The commuter, Dumping Elaine, The end, Fishy, Le cheval 2.1, Little clumps of hair, Looters, No deposit no return, The silent treatment and Virus.]

Bureau Sales Ltd

"Bureau Sales is an international short film sales agency now in its third year of operation (successor to PD&B Films). Whilst many competitors have come and since gone in this period, we continue to grow and achieve success after success. We have an understanding of not only the short film market, but short filmmakers themselves, that is second to none. Being closely linked with The Short Film Bureau we share the same ethos: putting the interests of the filmmakers first and foremost."

Shorts International

Also known as Brit Shorts. "BRITSHORTS LTD was established in 2000 as the UK’s premiere short film specialists. Since then Britshorts has been involved in the successful marketing, distribution and production of short film. Britshorts are always looking for new ways to develop the short film market to enable and encourage the growth of film making talent around the world. SHORTS INTERNATIONAL is the programming and distribution arm of Britshorts and is headquartered in London with a satellite office in New York."

In the programme for the 2005 Rushes Soho Shots Festival, Felicity Barratt of Shorts International is quoted saying that they are trying to buy up catalogues of short films from all over the world. They have picked up the BFI's back catalogue - a huge number of short films. Barratt also sees a range of new opportunities for distributing short films, including viral and video-on-demand, particularly for mobile phones.

For sales contact hugh AT shortsinternational.com, for acquisitions contact simon AT shortsinternational.com, and for North and South America sales contact susan AT shortsinternational.com

Technorati tags distributors & short films

Exploiting the long tail

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Mon, 16 May 2005 19:20:00 +0100

So there's a theory from the editor of Wired magazine that implies that short films can now make their money back, thanks to the combination of online distribution and the sort of technology that tells Amazon customers that if they bought book X then they might like book Y.

The online distribution means that the cost of selling an additional copy of your film is next to nothing (no VHS or DVD to copy), just the cost of building and maintaining a website and providing storage and bandwidth to allow films to be downloaded. This makes it profitable for online companies to shove as much material as they can onto their websites. Almost anything is worth offering on the offchance it will find a buyer - even if they only ever sell a few copies of a film, they can make a profit on each unit sold (no minimum print run in the digital world). So it's not just the best-sellers that make profits for these companies - even niche films like shorts can make money (the idea of the long tail). According to the Wired article

"...eBay is mostly tail...niche and one-off products."

It's the combination of these low costs with the Amazon-type software that allows an online company to direct you towards films that you might like, and can also take account of 'viewer's recommendations', so that if your film is a good one people will be more likely to find it.

This sounds plausible to me, but there are a couple of drawbacks if this is to be a way for shorts to make money. The first is, I don't know of a site that currently has the very high quality, well known short films that will draw people in in the first place. The sites I don know with some high quality shorts don't charge for them. The second problem is that I imagine the price for - say - a 7 minute film will still be very low. Say that my share as a the film-maker were to be 10p for each download. That's still a hell of a lot of downloads before you make back anything like the cost of a short film. And it's not really an established thing to pay for a short film, in the way it always has been to pay for a music single or a book. So while it may be a plausible model for getting my film seen by more people, and a small amount of income would be better than none, it's not a business model from my point of view.

Thanks to Matt Milloy whose posting on Shooting People drew this article to my attention.

Real but unusual

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Sun, 15 May 2005 23:19:00 +0100

I attended a New Producers Alliance networking event on 26 October 2004, on the theme of the 'Producer/Writer relationship'. One of the speakers - Linda Aronson - quoted a tip from one of the screenwriters of the TV series 'Moonlighting'. The phrase she used - "real but unusual" - has stayed with me since then as a summary of everything that a good short film script should be.

Technorati tags movies & films & short

Kicking off the site

noreply@blogger.com (Stuart Reid) — Sun, 15 May 2005 14:34:00 +0100

Hi, welcome to this blog. This site will be of interest to anyone who watches or makes short films, particularly if you are UK-based. I'll be using this site to post reviews of short films, useful or interesting links, and to discuss my own experiences in making short films. Enjoy!

Stuart Reid
Black Mole Productions Limited