What are short films?

The simple definition of a short film is 'a motion picture not long enough to be considered a feature film', however there are many different things a short film can be defined by. For example, it may be defined as 'other', i.e a completely different genre to the other films e.g. a different length or an open ended film like Slap, where we are unsure of what is going to happen to the character of Connor next. 

A short film may also be defined as a vocational tool - like training for the construction of a feature film. For example, Nick Rowland, director of Slap, made student short films in school (National Film and Television school). 

Another way of defining short film is by form - the film could be based on anything the director wanted as long as the duration is only, for example, five minutes. For example, it would be hard to execute the plot of The Fly when constructed a feature film, because it isn't complex enough and doesn't have a layered and interesting three act structure. However, it works really well as a short film, because its short, comedic randomness makes it an effective film. 

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