Understanding of a short film

There are many differences from a short film to a feature length Hollywood film. The main one, depicted in the title is the length, the average length of a feature length film is around 100 minutes, whereas a short film is generally no longer than 10 minutes. Other differences include the vast variation in budget and professionalism. Feature length films depend to have big budgets, often in the millions, and have big time professional actors, directors and producers, whereas short films are very low budget due to the fact that they are not often funded very well due to their ill-success, often as low as under £100 and rarely have an entire film set crew made up of amateurs.

Feature length films are generally made by big American film companies who often keep to the safe option that they know will make money and so often only appeal to a mainstream audience. Short films are more creative and appeal to an alternative audience. The experimental nature of short films make them different. A lot of the time when short films are made it is not known whether techniques used will be a success or not whereas to appeal to mainstream audience to make money, feature length films and very formulaic. Due to the mainstream ideas, feature length films are very widely distributed for their mass audiences, and can be seen in almost every cinema, whereas short films are rarely screened anywhere for their niche market other than the internet. They don't always advertise well either due to lack of funding. Hollywood films often display lots of characters many of who are famous actors, there are crowds of extras all carefully choreographed to perfection, whereas the gritty cast in short films often have little or no experience and are being paid very little wages. Feature length films have a glossy tone to them, we can tell it is not supposed to be real life, in contrast with short films which are more grainy and pixelated making them more real to life and in some ways more relatable.


Hollywood films it can be argued are very bland due to their narrow minded quest to make money, whereas with short films, being that profit is not of first priority they can be more quirky as they are not trying to appeal to everyone. Following these reasons, feature length films can be predictable and repetitive. On the other hand, short films are unpredictable and often have twists, and unexpected endings. For all of the above reasons, it is generally said that feature length films are popular and short films are not so much unpopular but just unrecognised and undiscovered. They are not as easy to view, using web 2.0 you have to pull them from the media, whereas feature length films are pushed on to us using web 1.0.