History of short film

Short film has a history as old as cinema. All the primitve films were shiort films until the featyre length film rose and became all-powerful. Short film was then reduced to a low status within the industry not least in the minds of crtitics and audiences. Today the term 'short film is applied to any film of a less standrad than 100 minutes.

The academy of motion picture arts and sciences defines a short film as 'an original motion picrure that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.'

Before the 1920s longer films were rare this meant that length based catergories had little meaning. By the 20s a ticket purchased a varied program including a feature and several supporting works from catergories such as a second feature, short comedy, 5-10 minute cartoon and newsreel.

Short comedy's were especially popular, and typically came in a serial or series such as our gang films and the many outings of chalrie chaplin. Although there was no set realease date these series bacame more like a modern tv sitcom lower than feature films but still very popular.

Animated cartoons were and newreels were defined as short subjects. All mayjor film companies had units assigned to develop and produce short films.

Short subjects in the modern era
Pixar is one example of a major film company still distributing short films. These contain the classic characters and childhood companions. Since disney aquired pixar in 2005, disney has also produced animated shorts since 2007. These include:
- Jack attack which was a spinoff short film from the incredibles
-Mickey mouse
-For the birds
-Chess etc.


Short films are becoming increasingly more well known however will never match up to the feature film. Short films also are a genre in their own right. There are several short film awards and festivals where people showcase their short films and get awards from directing or acting in them.