Film Directing Tips, Film Making Articles and Online Resources for the Independent Filmmaker » Short Films

Britain enters a golden era of the short film

Peter D. Marshall — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:24:14 +0000

by Sarah Morrison.

Charlie Chaplin built a career on them, and brands are now using them to sell their latest products. The short film, once a slightly marginal staple of art houses and film buffs, is experiencing a golden era in Britain and is reportedly reaching wider audiences than ever before.

Advances in film-making technology and the growth of the internet are behind the rise, experts say, but their popularity is down to more than digital progress. The short film, with its capacity to convey ideas concisely, is capturing the mood of an increasingly time-pressed, information-hungry generation.

Briony Hanson, director of film at the British Council, said we are at a “watershed moment” when it comes to the proliferation of “perfect little vessels that tell a story in their own right”. “We are looking at a golden era in Britain,” she said. “Just over 20 per cent of shorts in the total Sundance [Film Festival] selection were UK-made in 2012, while last year, the figure was 6 per cent.”

Read the rest of this article from The Independent.

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Filmmaking Lessons Learned: Playing Through vs The Climb

Peter D. Marshall — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:41:48 +0000

by Jason.

About a year ago, I took a step back and really thought about where I want my creative career to go. Am I a screenwriter or a director? At the end of the day I’m neither in the professional sense. I don’t apply for directing gigs and I still struggle to REALLY put my screenplays out there. No, I’m a professional editor. That’s my trade. I work in a fast paced live television environment and I’m still addicted to it after nearly 6 years. At work, I tell stories through highlights, reports and features. I love it.

Still, at home, I’m a passionate screenwriter and an aspiring filmmaker.

Like any job it’s important to have a clear focus and a year ago, I felt like I lost that focus. I was still messing around with the footage we shot for The Climb and promoting Playing Through as much as possible. These two shorts are the focus of this post as they are the only two shorts that I wrote and directed. I love both of those films because they taught me something very important about myself:

I don’t want to be a director anymore. I want to be a screenwriter.

I came to this realization for two very distinct reasons. First, I read the original screenplays for those films. They were so much more visual than the film on the screen. I’ve learned that I’m better describing images than making them a reality on set. Second, during the production of both short films, I desperately wanted to write something else. You can’t do both. You can only focus and I fell behind on my screenwriting goals.

Read the rest of this article from The Athletic Nerd.

YouTube, Ridley Scott team up to find next filmmaking star

Peter D. Marshall — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:34:08 +0000

by Bruce DeMara.

A short film contest sponsored by YouTube will cast a worldwide net for new filmmaking talent, with 10 finalists presenting their works at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in August.

The contest winner will then have the opportunity to work with legendary filmmakers Ridley and Tony Scott.

The contest, called Your Film Festival, will officially launch at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah which opens Jan. 19. The contest is co-sponsored by Emirates Airlines.

Nate Weinstein, entertainment marketing manager for YouTube, said the contest is “really about story-telling.”

“We’re looking for stories in any genre or format. So that can be short film, live-action or documentary or a web series episode. The sky’s the limit as long as it’s story-driven,” Weinstein said.

Read the rest of this article from Toronto Star.

2012 Sundance Filmmakers: Andrew Ahn

Peter D. Marshall — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:26:16 +0000

by Ian Wang.

The Sundance Film Festival is once again upon us, having officially kicked off Thursday, January 19 in Park City, UT. While the bulk of the attention is usually given to feature films, the Shorts Program has also been a cinematic treasure trove, often launching many young filmmakers onto the path of making their first features. Among this year’s shorts are two Asian American filmmakers, Andrew Ahn and Kangmin Kim. Coincidentally, they are both of Korean descent and members of the same 2011 class at CalArts. Hyphen chatted with them briefly this week to learn more about their lives and their films.

First up is Andrew Ahn, a Korean American born and raised in LA’s Koreantown. The child of Asian immigrants, he went to an Ivy League school — in his case, Brown — to study Biology, but switched his major to English and became interested in filmmaking after taking some video production classes. Subsequently he enrolled in the MFA Film Directing program at CalArts and graduated there in May 2011. His previous short film, Andy, won the best narrative short award at the 2011 San Diego Asian Film Festival.

Read the rest of this article from Hyphen Magazine.

Australia: Call for Filmmakers to submit a short film, help save lives

Peter D. Marshall — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:27:49 +0000

from The Telegraph.

FILMLIFE Project is calling for new and emerging filmmakers aged 16-35 to submit a five minute film on organ and tissue donation and the importance of asking and knowing your loved ones’ wishes.

Entrants will have the chance to gain national exposure, share in a $10,000 prize pool and to help potentially save lives.

FilmLife Project is funded by the Organ and Tissue Authority, and is an initiative to help bring greater youth engagement and awareness to DonateLife Week, Australia’s national awareness week to promote organ and tissue donation. This year DonateLife Week takes place from Sunday 19 to Sunday 26 February.

Read the rest of this article from The Telegraph.

Gorgeous Cyborg Faces Assassins in Sci-Fi Short ROSA

Peter D. Marshall — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:48:34 +0000

by Hugh Hart.

Bunkered for months in his Barcelona basement, equipped only with computers and a vivid imagination, DIY filmmaker Jesús Orellana emerged after a year of solitary labor to deliver 2011’s most dazzling sci-fi short.

ROSA follows the brief life and bloody death of a gorgeous Halle Berry-meets-Trinity-meets-Neytiri cyborg who wanders through a dystopian steampunk landscape, scanning the strange frontier for danger.

Butterflies and flowers explode out of nowhere, as do scythe-bearing assassins. ROSA’s fight for survival leads her to an intricately detailed fantasy rainforest. The lush setting brings to mind Avatar’s Pandora, but instead of spending several million bucks on visual effects, 29-year-old comic book artist Orellana made the entire film for a grand total of $99.

Following its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival, ROSA played Screamfest, Toronto After Dark, Anima Mund and Sitges International Film Festival. The short is now being developed as a live-action motion picture by I Am Sports & Entertainment partners Raymond Brothers and Scott Glassgold.

Read the rest of this article from Wired.

The short side of films

Peter D. Marshall — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:34:08 +0000

by Mounica Tata.

Lights, camera, and action! Filmmaking is no longer the passion of the select few. Armed with cameras, a whole bunch of ideas and a zeal for cinema, young Hyderabadis, who have been bitten by the filmmaking bug, are shooting everything in sight.

And these city enthusiasts like to keep it short. With short films becoming a viral online, this genre has become a hit with budding filmmakers. And thanks to easy access to the latest technology, everyone has a small story to tell.

“Short films are like the T-20 of cinema. The mantra is – the shorter, the better,” says Tharun Bhascker, director of the short film group Vinoothna Geetha, started by a bunch of enthusiastic 23 year olds. “We made 10 short films so far in different genres and we have uploaded it online. The views and comments that poured in were more than we expected. Industry professionals of all age groups and even a couple of NRIs contacted us, encouraged us and also offered to extend financial help. And this positive feedback is more rewarding than any nomination in a film fest. Our ultimate goal is to hit the theater and the journey has been great so far,” he says.

Read the rest of this article from Times of India.

A solid script is the foundation for a successful short film

Peter D. Marshall — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:49:43 +0000

by Peter Birnie.

The people who program Canadian films for the Vancouver International Film Festival have some advice for aspiring auteurs in the short-film format.

Get a script.

“It’s all about the writing,” says associate programmer Stephanie Damgaard. “Have solid writing and from there you can build a film.”

Her boss agrees. Canadian Images programmer Terry McEvoy says the sweeping democratization of filmmaking brought on by digital technology doesn’t trump the writing.

Read the rest of this article from the Vancouver Sun.

The short filmmaker’s guide to short filmmaking

Peter D. Marshall — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:54:13 +0000

by Matt Singer.

They may not get a lot of press, but short films and short filmmakers are the lifeblood of film festivals. They are the place to discover great new filmmakers. Before Steven Spielberg blew up with “Jaws,” he was a 22-year-old kid with a short called “Amblin.” Before Martin Scorsese reinvented the gangster genre with “Mean Streets,” he was a film student with a six minute movie called “The Big Shave.” Before they were famous filmmakers, they were short filmmakers.

Short films are a great way to get your foot in the door of Hollywood, but if you’ve never made a short before, it may be tough to know how to even open that door in the first place. With that in mind, we recruited the team behind the Fantastic Fest short “No Way Out” — actor A.J. Bowen (a.k.a. one of the stars of the multiple Fantastic Fest award winning feature “You’re Next”), writer/producer Eric Vespe (a.k.a. Quint from Aint it Cool News), and director Kristoffer Aaron Morgan (a.k.a. the director of the upcoming feature “The Home”) — to give us five tips for aspiring short filmmakers. Here’s some great practical advice from a couple guys who know what they’re talking about.

Read the rest of this article from IFC.

Is the Secret to Better Short Films Inside Seattle’s Fly Filmmaking Challenge?

Peter D. Marshall — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:19:58 +0000

by Eric Kohn.

The Seattle International Film Festival’s Fly Filmmaking Challenge sounds like a well-meaning recipe for disaster: The festival selects a handful of local filmmakers and give them the tools to churn out short films in three days.

However, as this year’s selection proved the challenge has more value than a gimmick. The three 10-minute shorts, which screened at SIFF earlier in the week, are actually pretty good. “These shorts were significantly better than a lot of the crap I’ve sat through,” said an audience member during the Q&A following Tuesday’s screening.

Read the rest of this article from IndieWire.