A Short History of Short Films!

As part of my research, I've decided to explore how short films came about, and how this sub-genre has evolved in the past hundred years. Gaining some contextual knowledge of short films will allow me to understand how tastes and preferences have changed in terms of genre, as well as finding out how short films are distributed and marketed. The following is, in my own words, a short history of short films...

In the late 19th Century, as film came to the fore, all film was short. The kinetoscope, designed for the individual as opposed to the masses, was a novelty whereby the viewer could witness seconds-long films of "interest": as The Telegraph writes, this would typically include "royal processions, travelogues... current affairs." The most famous of these was the Lumiere brothers' "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" (1895). The film was revolutionary, considered to be the first motion picture in history, a speeding train racing towards the audience supposedly terrifying audiences on a scale no ordinary horror movie could achieve today. Short film was beginning to attract audiences on an unprecedented scale; click below to watch Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat:



As the 1900's dawned, technological advancements meant that short films began to be longer. Consequently, short films gradually began to fall out of favour and, from 1910 onwards, multi-reel, feature length films gained more popularity. Examples of the first ever feature films include Tucker's controversial "Traffic in Souls (1913)". Whilst short, single-reel films were seen as fanciful and novel, a feature films length, coupled with its narrative complexity, allowed feature films to be seen in a respected light, alongside theatre and opera. Films attracted wealth audiences, meaning that over the next three decades purpose-built cinemas (known as picture palaces) were erected. With star names and elaborate budgets, short films on their own didn't attract mainstream popularity.

However, short films and news reels often preceded the feature programme. Indeed, short films were important during Word War Two to provide a means of propaganda. Such propaganda, which conveyed British serviceman fighting heroically attracted a lot of popularity, although many thought that short films would begin to give cinema a bad name, an interference when the cinema was primarily for the American-made feature films. The factual nature of shorts led to their demise and, whilst they were still shown preceding the main feature, they were simply an excuse to visit the toilet or to get refreshments. In present-day terms, short films were just a very dull, and slightly irritable infomercial. Financially-motivated changes within the industry, with adverts becoming more prominent, short film was a dying art (with the exception of kid's cartoons, which were played in cinema's up to the Eighties.

MTV Logo

As short film fell out of favour with mainstream audiences, this form of film-making was taken up as a rebellious, guerilla-style form of art (a reputation that- to some extent- remains to this day). Pop- culture visionaries such as Andy Warhol would use short film as a form of conceptual art. Alternatively, short-film makers began to make music videos, as MTV became to gain notoriety.

Kony 2012

It was really in the mid-nineties when shorts began their ascent back to former glory, as digital technology became more affordable, and more widespread on an international scale. Then, as the 21st Century came along, YouTube, and other social media sites were created, and totally changed short films' popularity. The bite-sized chunk of shorts meant that short films were perfect for sites like YouTube. The website brought the world together: one second you could be watching an animation from Peru, the next minute you could be watching a documentary from Australia. Moreover, Facebook and Twitter could allow your video to go viral, shared and watched by millions. From the sublime (Kony 2012), to the ridiculous (the Harlem Shake), short films have the potential to reach unprecedented audiences. Short films have had mixed success, but nowadays are firmly one of the most popular forms of media as the world becomes more media saturated.