Distribution.

Distribution is key to the success of any short film, or any feature lengths for that matter. With the frequently improving advances in technology it couldn't be easier to show your final piece to the world. There are a number of web based video hosting services that in some circumstances generate millions of hits a day. The most popular of these being Youtube. Youtube launched in 2005 and to say it's come on leaps and bounds would be a massive understatement. The website now averages around a billion hits a day and is constantly growing. If you've made a short film that you immediately want the world to see there's no better site.

Another service that offers video hosting is Vimeo. Vimeo gets no where near as many hits as Youtube a day, although it does definitely generate traffic, and more and more media based users are opting for the website due to it's higher quality video, and some prefer the fact that it's not as busy.

The web can also be utilised to find film festivals at which your short film can be entered. More well known festivals such as 'Sun Dance' aren't accessible to amateur film makers, however there are other more independent festivals literally scattered around the world that are happy to take all kinds of short films, with some centering around particular genres such as thriller or comedy.

My friend Jade recently showed me towards a brilliant website that lists local festivals, from which you can simply pick the most relevant and put your short forward. You find the website by clicking here.

I've selected two festivals that I feel most accommodate the style of short film that we've created.

Firstly the Brighton Student Festival Awards. I think One Two Many would suit this festival simply down to the fact it was not only filmed in Brighton, but because it's of course a student film.

Influences and Audience

The idea of One Two Many was drawn from a number of styles as well as influences. To begin with, the idea to write a gritty (I say gritty simply down to the violent scene towards the end) comedy, came from the viewing of a few british comedies through the means of iTunes. One of these being Roach, a short funded by the Hackney Film Fund, which immediately got my attention as that kind of support feels fairly achievable, moreover the short film was brilliant and so triggered immediate inspiration. The film itself took very common life situation, introduced a problem and then slowly took it slightly outside of the 'norm', a great technique of which I kept in mind when writing One Two Many, and in all made for a very funny short film lasting around 8 minutes.

Another quite prominent influence was a short entitled Stingray, which played a key role in a major decision made during post production and editing. Stingray is a short film that lasts around 13 minutes and stars Matthew Horne (best known as ,Gavin in Gavin and Stacey). Stingray in fact also seems to follow a similar pattern to Roach in how it takes an everyday situation and allows it to slip outside what's thought of as normal in a very comedic fashion. However, it's not this aspect of the short film that was most influential. I remember watching the short film and being taken almost by surprised by it's ending. Not because it didn't make sense, or was incredibly abrupt, simply because it appeared to be just over half way through the running length of 13 minutes. This reason this of course became evident when some deleted scenes and 'bloopers' began to roll as the credits proceeded, which I thought was very effective and in turn created an almost warm mood, and in my eyes left the audience feeling more fulfilled than if the film had simply ended and allowed the credits to roll. I liked the idea so much that I thought I'd use a similar technique at the end of One Two Many, which wasn't particularly necessary but I think worked well.

The location of a toilet was chosen almost before the actual idea for the film was, down to the fact that filming in one location would not only be easier and involve less organisation, but if done well could make for a professional looking product. The idea of using a toilet as the location sprung to mind, after watching a 90's french film entitled 'La Haine'. Midway through the film there is a scene in which the three main characters are a public toilet having quite an aggressive argument about what they plan to do next. During this fiery exchange, a flushing sound comes from a toilet cubicle, and out comes an old man who'd clearly been using the facilities during the length of the confrontation, however was completely oblivious to the fact and came out happy as ever, completely disarming the youths. I loved this idea of people being so caught up in their own thoughts, that they don't stop to think how their own thoughts apply to someone else's situation. I'd like to think this idea is evident in the story of One Two Many.

The target audience for One Two Many directly corresponds with the age of all who work on it. The idea simply came from a situation that some in the ages of around 18-22 could easily find themselves in, and at no point does the short film attempt to veer away from this audience. The almost brutal violence is a technique that's cropping up ever more frequently with British cinema, and is often used in films that my friends and I have taken a particular liking to, for example, Hot Fuzz and Kidulthood. Furthermore the music used throughout the short film is very current, and has had particular success within the ages that the short film portrays. For example, Dubstep is a genre that's really only begun to get attention within the last three years, and I think that it's usage in the fight scene not only captures the energy but would immediately grab the interest of anybody the protagonists age.

It also became clear from audience feedback that the actor playing the main character Fish (Chris Waller), portrayed his role particularly well. People reacted to well to the light hearted exposure of a stereotypical character often seen in club toilets.

Completed Film

I think that One Two Many, the roundabout 5 minute short film created by myself and Josh, wasn't quite the completed product but surpassed all expectations that we had. I think that it's just about safe to say that the film doesn't have any obvious flaws, however there were some decisions made in pre and post production that may have been changed or weren't correctly implemented, that may have improved the short as a whole.

One of the strong points, if not the strongest point of One Two Many, is how aesthetically pleasing it is. The location used for the short film was not only perfect for the storyline, but was brilliantly spaced and lit, which made for great viewing and also genuinely saved some time and effort in post production. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the toilets we used as the setting, are the heartbeat of the piece and have become a crucial factor in the success of the piece. After presenting our short film to a small group of media students, we used an evaluation form for feedback, and it became evident that the overall census agreed that the mise-en-scene was the film's strongest point.

The bright, eye-catching colour scheme of the toilet immediately catches the eye of the viewer, and the ample space allowed for the film to be shot without looking cramped at any point. As mentioned earlier when going in to post production, the lighting was so good that the only change made was to slightly reduce the vibrance to better suit the storyline. The only trouble we really came across with the location was the fact that a lot of the surfaces were reflective, which made it tricky not to have some part of either me or Josh seen during the 5 minute period.

The sound is both the highest and lowest point of One Two Many. During filming, the boom mic was used without the actual boom, simply down to practicality, however this became an obvious mistake when editing as clipping can be heard when the mic is moved abruptly, and as we weren't able to achieve the height intended with a boom, the vocal levels between the actors were very staggered. On the other hand, the additional sounds used in the piece seem to go unnoticed, which means they'd successfully imitated a sound needed without drawing the attention of the audience which is most definitely the desired effect, for example, the background music in the club and the urinating are both post production sounds. Moreover, there was a lot of feedback commenting on the effective use of music within the piece. During pre-production, we vowed to make sure the piece had great music as music is an area within film that doesn't seem be overly focused on, however, when it is it can be incredibly effective and change an audience's perception of a piece. Music is heard from the off with One Two Many, and directly correlates with the camera shots, as well as the realistic placement of the films title at the beginning.

In order to fully understand exactly how short film works, we did research ahead of writing to judge how to go about writing and planning it. Short film is best known for it's ability to completely step outside the realms of conformity, and near enough do whatever it likes, down to the fact the same rules don't apply as to feature length cinema. Short film is known for being experimental or avant-garde. However, we were able to gather some conventions within the genre of British comedy and so took that approach. The most prominent convention is the structure. It became evident that in, not even just british, comedy that there was a formula, and so we made sure that One Two Many complied to this. My very basic approach to the formula is this:

Introduction. Set-up (Characters). Unveiling the plot. Twist in plot. Climax. Aftermath. Punchline.

I hope that makes sense.

I feel that I most definitely played a major role in he creation of One Two Many, which in most cases would be fantastic and should be emphasised, however in my case it's not such a great thing. When beginning the project, I had the option to work on my own, although due to past experience I opted to work alongside a close friend instead. We most definitely work well together, and I did not by all means take on everything, especially in pre-production where we both developed the idea. The problem is, I personally have always had trouble working in groups, simply down the fact that once I have an idea in place, it's almost like I won't stop at anything to make sure it happens, and although in this particular project there were improvements, I still have a lot to work on. I'm pretty much a control freak. Saying that, with all things considered, this wouldn't have been able to happen without Josh and I working alongside each other and I'm very happy with the final product.

Distribution and Exhibition.

So after scanning the internet I've managed to gather five potential ways to distribute and exhibit a film once it's been made and completed.

1. Film Festivals.

2. Internet Self-Distribution (Youtube, Myspace etc)

3. Competitions.

4. Internet Distribution (Websites such as Coffee Shorts)

5. Compilation DVDs (Some festivals team up the strongest short films and will distribute them as one DVD, great exposure!)

Funding and Production of Short Film.

From researching this area, a few key points have cropped up as far as funding and producing a short film is concerned. To begin with, funding is the part of filmmakers that amateurs will worry about most and more often than not it's the hardest part to master. There's the option of an investor, who may provide funding with the return of credit and/or a cut of the profits, there are also whole organisations dedicated to funding film, for example the Hackney Film Fund.

As far as production's concerned I've gathered three simple instructions.

1 - Always keep yourself one step ahead of your filming schedule.
2- Make sure there's enough in the budget to keep the crew and cast happy.
3- Keep yourself free during filming as something is bound to go wrong or need to be swiftly corrected so it helps to be on hand.

Short Film Festivals.

All you have to do is type 'Short Film Festival' into Google, and instantly you're hounded with thousands of results offering opportunities to either attend, participate or even submit your own work to these events. These festivals are one of the only places that Short Films will be publicly presented on a cinematic screen to a large audience, and have proved especially helpful to aspiring directors looking to elevate their career, or even vice versa, to a studio looking to scout fresh, and potentially ground breaking talent.

A great example of this is 'Raindance', the Uk's largest Independent film festival established in 1992 by Elliot Grove. Prestigious awards at the festival include Best International Feature and Short, Best UK Feature and Short, Best Documentary Feature, and the Tiscali Short Film Award. It was the first festival to screen 'The Blair Witch Project' and has attracted the likes of Alan Rickman as well as had judges such as Judy Dench as has Ewan McGregor as a patron.
120 films, screened on a total of 22 different formats, seminars and a whole lot of partying and networking, easily establishes Raindance week as a 'must attend' for any diary.

Other noted film festivals include: Sundance, London Short Film and L.A. Short Festival.

Director: Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows is a very personal inspiration for me. Best known for his film 'This is England', Meadows has a very distinctive, down to earth style, with pretty much all of his films simply highlighting a part of everyday life or shining light on a reality that we all see. I think that popularity was bound to follow this style as people can feel they relate to it and at no point does Shane Meadows give the impression that he positions himself any higher than the working class bloke. He begun his career making short films, however unlike many aspiring and professional directors, he continued to make short films even after the jump to feature length. In an interview at a school, he explains that his decision to continue making short films, comes from the his personal belief that transferring to feature lengths and leaving shorts behind, is the equivalent of a band becoming successful off their debut album, then forgetting the original sound they had with the second one.



This film entitled 'The Stairwell' is a short film made by Shane Meadows in 2005 on his mobile phone! The film shows two members of the public; one looking like a working class female evidently in a rush, and the other a young man who similarly seems to be moving at a pace. As they're both going in opposite directions, and the with the stairwell positioned in a way that you're not able to see round the corner, a collision is inevitable, and this short simply captures the build up and climaxes in that very moment. The colours and mise en scene of the piece are in keeping with Meadows normal dull, gritty style and continues to show those easily identifiable flairs of creativity such as the titles positioned next to a light switch that signals both the start and end of the short. Sound is used very effectively, with non diagetic sounds prominent at the beginning, and only returning at the crucial moment where the two characters collide. Overall the very short film simply shows how easy it is to think up an idea, create it, and shoot it with minimal expense and equipment. Shane Meadows in an inspiration to all budding directors, especially in Britain, and will continue to create brilliant depictions of life for years to come.

What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This? - Martin Scorsese & Short Film

'What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This?' is a short film made by Martin Scorsese as a student in 1963. Short film has always been seen as a brilliant and effective way of gaining appreciation as a director, and attracting the awareness of major studios who would be prepared to through you a big budget and move you on to more feature length films. Many directors such as Scorsese, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, and Steven Spielberg would make short films during their time as a student and from that create a platform for greater things.

Martin Scorsese made a few short films as a student and this one isn't his most famous, however it's my personal favourite.



From the very start you're immediately greeted with narration and thrown into quick edits and rapid transitions. The narration itself is interesting, as this style of narrating, one that has the main protagonist talking and then the film itself becoming a visual aid to what they're describing, can be seen in Scorsese latter and much, much more popular films, such as 'Taxi Driver' which launched the career of Robert DeNiro.



The audience is just about given enough time to take in each shot, many of them beautifully framed, before the narrator moves on to the next part of his dialogue. The visuals correspond very literally with what he's saying, which subtly adds comedy value and gives the audience the feeling that this short film is maybe being presented to them on a very informal level. The style in fact is incredibly New Wave, with frequent jump cuts and no real concept of relative time. For me personally in reminds me of French New Wave feature lengths such as 'Breathless' and 'Jules et Jim' which unsurprisingly were made around the same time.



The Big Shave (1967) is a more popular short film made by the now incredibly successful director as a student. The film depicts a young man shaving himself to the point of incessant bleeding with seemingly no intention to stop. The six minute long film is completely in contrast with Scorsese's previously mentioned earlier work, with obvious and hard hitting drama and a solid amount of political intent. Many believe that the short is in fact a metaphor for the choices that the American government made in regards to the Vietnamese war and is still to this today popular, with internet video sites such as Youtube flooded with amateur remakes.

Experimental/Avant Garde

Experimental cinema resides in virtually another planet in comparison to Hollywood cinema, however it's still a visual form of expression and so is very much a form of short film. In fact, experimental cinema or avant garde has a massive underground following, and originated when artists and the like decided to complete disobey the rules of cinema and create something completely different mostly in the name of art. One of the first and most noted of these was Stan Brakhage's 'Mothlight' (1963), in which not even a camera is used, just fluid motions strung together in colour and shape with no clear narrative, however it's speculated that due to the title and images used it simply tells the story of a moth drawn to a light and the result of the two combining.



Despite the extreme forms of expression as well the freedom to run wild that comes with Experimental cinema, there is just about enough regularity to be able to make experimental a little genre of it's own. From research I've been able to find the following as common traits with Avant Garde:

- The films are either made completely alone or with minimal crew.
- Experimental films are often under 30 minutes, which is why they fall under Short Film.
- Films often focus on abstract imagery.
- Verbal communication is often avoided.

There are of course exceptions to these 'rules', for example Andy Warhol created a film called 'Empire' in 1964 which is over 8 hours long!

An important figure in experimental cinema was Maya Deren. With a love for arts from an early age Deren actually adopted the name Maya (which is Hindu for illusion) in 1943 and went on to create 'Meshes of the afternoon' which was an inventive, symbolic and intriguing interpretation on repetition that in turn reignited a buzz for avant-garde in America.
After creating several more films, Deren became a legend within Greenwich Village (New York), for her skill as a filmmaker as well her interest in voodoo! She eventually created the CFF (Creative Film Foundation) which actually went on to fund Stan Brakhage!

Director: Karel Reisz

Karel Reisz began his media career as a journalist for 'Sight and Sound', and then went on to found the documentary film movement entitled 'Free Cinema'. His film 'We Are The Lambeth Boys' iconically gave a natural depiction of members of a South London Boys Club. This unusual take of film, documenting the leisure life of working class teenagers went on to represent Britain in the Venice Film Festival.

His first feature film Saturday Night/Sunday Morning used similar techniques to his early documentaries and put him firmly in standing as one of the great innovators of British Cinema. He went on to become a patron of the BFI (British Film Institute), and published a book entitled 'The Tecnique of Film Editing' in 1953.

The History of Short Film (Short Film On TV + Video Acitvism)

So I did a little bit of research on Short Film.

1895 and the Lumiere Brothers' 'Sortie de l’Usine' is considered to be one the first ever pieces of cinema and subsequently due to it's length, short film. At this time technology was incredibly limited and so films weren't really expected to be very long and this early stage was mainly used to experiment and see what was possible.

It wasn't until 1910 when the name 'short subjects' was used mainly in American cinema to describe any film using only 2 reels with a duration of 20 minutes or less, as feature lengths had become very popular. It appears the first to flourish in the practice of short film were comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton as well as Laurel and Hardy.

This one or two reel film was similarly adopted in Britain and reined supreme within the industry around the years 1908-1913. This was mainly down to the fact that British cinema was willing to be innovative and push boundaries which the Americans weren't so willing to do. British cinema was all about new ideas and the Americans were all about creating stars.

The 1930s saw a huge decline in short film and by the late 50s, the rise in television saw the viewing of short films plummet. For the next quarter of a century or so, short film was predominantly for Independent film-makers and studio projects.

It wasn't until the late 80s when short film began to find it's feet again, after gaining late night and filler slots during the 70s, filmmakers began to realise that short film was a brilliant medium to cover topics and express opinions. Short film began a symbiotic relationship with video activism, and the emergence of concepts such as the 'witness video' began to blossom, a famous example of this being the footage of Rodney King which consequently caused the L.A. riots. Organisations such as Greenpeace and Amnesty would commission short films in an attempt to use real footage or documentary based work to gain followers and showcase their beliefs.
In 1993, the BBC launched 'Video Nation', which saw the rise in video based film, in which the creator would address the camera; this concept was famously taken on by Michael Moore, director of successful documentaries such as 'Bowling for Columbine' and 'Fahrenheit 9/11'.

Nowadays, short film is a fantastic way for amateurs to gain acknowledgment and pull themselves into the industry. With more affordable technology, and more and more film festivals harvesting talent, it seems that short film can only go from strength to strength.

Textual Analysis - The Use of Sound in 'Roach'.

Roach is a short film commissioned by the Hackney Film Fund and one of my personal favourites from the films that I've viewed. As the short starts, the audience are subconsciously encapsulated by the subtle non diagetic sounds, that lead you into the setting and introduce to the main protagonist. This then cues the increase in the volume of the soundtrack, which in my personal opinion couldn't be more appropriate for the scene, and immediately we're given an idea of where we are and what we're dealing with. Diagetic and Non-diagetic sounds are then smartly blurred, as while the soundtrack plays with the main instrument being a harmonica, the protagonist seems to have an item in front of his lips in the same fashion as one would play it. A few seconds later however, the audience is shown that it's in fact a 'spliff' and the protagonist is getting high, which had already been hinted with the use of a fish eye lens on the camera and awkwardly angled camera shots. Once it's revealed that the main character is high it also highlights the fact that the title 'Roach' is a play on cockroach you see entering the room as the film starts, and the item used to smoke his spliff with.

Moving on, the use of sound is key to the success of this piece for a number of reasons. Firstly, at no point throughout the whole film are any words spoken, and the absence of dialogue is used effectively. Secondly, the diagetic sounds that are used, such as eating or shuffling around, are heavily accentuated which not only adds value to the comedy, but beckons similarities with cartoons such as 'Tom & Jerry' which too used no dialogue. As it happens, the narrative depicts the battle between Man and Cockroach so that technique was maybe intentional.

All in all, I feel the use of sound in this particular production was incredibly effective, and is a significant part of what I think is an all round great short film.

Codes and Conventions of Short Film...

Short films, in the same way as many other forms of media, carries with it many codes and conventions that the majority will comply to. In regards to short films, there will of course be some that don't comply to the following however these are what I've picked up from watching a variety.

To begin with, short films in general, seem to be very low key. The fact that a short film does therefore need to be short, means that something expected from a feature length film, such as character names, is barely focused upon. They normally appear in the credits, if at all! This may of course be down to the fact that short films rarely have 'all star' casts, however even if they did, that wouldn't really change or improve anything. Also, in a lot of cases there tends to be one main protagonist, and in fact this protagonist may be the only character included in the duration. Moreover, this may also be due to the fact that short films tend to be very low budget, although this is because short films tend to focus on breaking boundaries through different aspects such as setting and story, rather than breaking banks on CGI or lavish studios.

From my knowledge, short films have also only recently had to be certified, with the introduction of distributers like iTunes. However, even with that being introduced, short films makers wouldn't really have to worry about limiting themselves in order to fit in a bracket, as they are distributed differently to films or film trailers. Short films are predominantly made through Indie film companies, who use more direct and cheaper methods to target their audience, using sites such as Youtube, Vimeo, Future Shots or social networking sites. This way they can simply upload their product and broadcast it to millions through the internationally accessible medium of the web. Short films can also be screened at film festivals and this can rapidly boost popularity.

In my opinion (and this is what I've gathered from every short film that I've watched), the main convention found within the art of the short film is originality. In comparison to feature length films, they seem to present themselves with ample creativity and steer away from what's seen as traditional. Short films are known to experiment with everything from camera shots, angles and framing to the music or soundtrack. More mainstream short films will share similarities to feature lengths in these areas although even they seem to have their own take on them. As far as narratives are concerned, these small scale productions never underestimate the viewer, and are incredibly enigmatic. Furthermore, they'll often end on some sort of cliffhanger though this may be with the incentive to make the film feature length.

I find that due to the low budgets that come with small productions, they tend to use flair and creativity to gather audience instead of gift wrapped glossiness and a list casts. It comes to across to me overall that short films are what they are down to the fact that they're done more for enjoyment than profit.