Institute and Audience- why are short films made?

Why are short films made?-

Short films can be seen to serve many purposes, however the main reason to why they are made is that they are a platform for people to progress from and can create a career in the film industry. Creating a short film can be the first step for a filmmaker in order to build up their career and creating it will showcase their talent if they enter their film into festivals. From this they will hope to get recognised if it is a success and therefore this can provide a quick way into the industry.

However, there are no guarentees that creating a short film will open an opportunity for the filmmaker into the industry, as the film may not be seen to be good, and there are other obstacles such as funding. This can prove to be one of the main difficulties a producer will face, and so they must find places where this funding can accumulate from. From there, they can start to build up their career.

Funding for short films-

Funding for British short films may come from sources such as Film4, the UK Film Council, Film London and other funding for films which are specific to certain areas like Scottish Screen. The funding from these companies is usually distributed when people send their applications to the companies which includes copies of their film and budgets for the film. The funding that is provided varies, but someone like the UK Film Council has given £70000 for projects in 2010. An example of funding for a British short film is Wasp that was funded by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund. They gave an amount of £53,250. The film went on to win the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in 2005.

Funding for students such as ourselves would be a lot harder to get, but there are organisations like First Light which could be used. This is aimed specifically for school children of all ages and backgrounds. Through them, students can get funding from: The Young Film Fund, Mediabox and Second Light. The Young Film Fund is the UK’s Film Council Lottery funded activity which if for five to nineteen year olds. There are: script, pilot and studio grants which give out a maximum of between £3-30000.

Mediabox if for young people excluded from mainstream education, not in employment, young parents and lots of other disadvantaged people. Their grants start from £500 and are as high as £40000. Second Light is a continuation from First Light. However it is a scheme that has backing from Pinewood Studios and BAFTA and provides talented young film makers with mentoring and training. They hope to train young people to use the new technology available so that they enhance their skills and knowledge; which would be used if they go on to produce short films. These companies are set up to help young people to aspire to make short films and help fund them, so that great ideas can be put into practice and maybe create directors that will one day become well established.

Therefore although it would be difficult to find funding for films, there are many places in which it can come from. Also, for students such as ourselves funding would be more difficult to receive, however it is seen that there are places which distribute money in order for students to produce these films. This money that is provided can produce a film that will showcase the talents and efforts of the filmmakers, which can be life changing for some people. Getting the films to the festivals will involve some steps that take time and some will charge a certain amount of money which will need to be accounted for; but the reaps and benefits that can accumulate from entering the films into the festivals will definitely outweigh the costs and time involved in entering the films.

As seen, producing a short film and being able to find funding is a difficult task for all filmmakers, and creating such a film that will showcase the talents of us with the limited budget we have would be a difficult task. So, to produce a film that would be able to compete with other entries into film festivals would need some capital investment so that the aspects of the our project which make it seem to be of a lower level could be made so that they are of high standard. Then, the short film would have much more of a filmic feel.

Resources-

http://www.lotteryfunding.org.uk/uk/lottery-funders-listing/uk-film-council/ukfilm-wasp-case-study.htm

http://www.britfilms.com/resources/fundinginformation/

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/shortfilmcompletion

http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/funding/

http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/funding/young-film-fund/

http://www.media-box.co.uk/funding/who-can-apply

http://www.firstlightonline.co.uk/funding/second-light/

http://www.britfilms.com/festivals/browse/?&c=73&skip=0

http://www.ctbf.co.uk/shared_assets/HI_UKFILM_CMYK.jpg

http://www.channel4.com/interact/platform4/images/film4_170.jpg

How filmmakers get their films to festivals-

Filmmakers seek out to find the right festivals that will suit their types of films, and ones where they know people will be interested in their film. Also, they may enter some prestigious ones where if they are successful, may cause them to become well known and could build their career in the film industry. Cannes Film Festival is mainly the most known and respected film festival along with others like the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival. These top film festivals will show vast amounts of films. For example in the Cannes film festival in 2009, there were 999 feature films and 47 short films entered.

The media coverage at these festivals is huge and so this is why they are so popular. Filmmakers will want to get their applications in early and create a film that will stand out from many of the others, especially for short film makers. The method of entering the short film applications can take a form like this:

1. Complete the required entry form and attach all the necessary materials, like the preview tape and the press kit.

2. Include the required entry fee if needed, and read the instructions regarding the postage and customs requirements. Many festivals will ask the makers to write ‘No commercial value- for temporary cultural purposes only.’ If the customs forms are incorrectly completed, then the parcel may be returned to the sender and the producer may not have time to send it again before the deadline closes.

3. If the parcel does arrive to the festival, vital information should have been included in the pack, like: the film title, contact details, tape format information, film duration and easy identification.

Applications will vary according to the different festivals, but filmmakers will usually find that they take a similar form. The cost of entering the film into the festivals may cause trouble for the filmmaker, however there are many festivals out there that do not have a cost for entering films. The only problem with festivals that do not have a cost for entering films is that they usually do not take in as many films and there will be more fierce competition to get the film to the festival. Also, there are not usually big names in the audiences at these festivals, whereas at a prestigious festival you would find these big names.

Resources-
http://worldfilm.about.com/od/filmfestivals/tp/filmfestivalhub.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_festival

http://www.bailoutpictures.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/z_cannes_festival_logo.jpg

Summary-

Creating a short film can be done for many reasons, however as explained earlier the main reason is so that the filmmaker can showcase their talent and try to ignite a career in film. For our project, this is obviously not the reason for creating a short film, however we could create another if we wanted to show our talents and abilitites to the industry. There are places for funding for students such as us, and with this funding, we would be able to use more sophisticated techniques to create a more cinematic and higher quality film. Also, there are places which could help us with aspects such as the applications for festivals and so there is always a scope of opportunity for people who wish to produce short films, and for students like us, there is an opportunity to let our creative side flourish.