Technology can truly add multiple dimensions to art, and encourage practices beyond imagination. Shorts or short film making is one such form of art that recently got enormous impetus due to booming digital technology. There has been a drastic increase in the number of aspiring film makers taking to short films. It offers a platform, potent enough to let one showcase one’s caliber and experiment with it at the same time.
However the future and commercial viability of short films is questionable.
In a recent interview, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said that shorts were commercially viable if distribution streams were found for them. The Internet, YouTube and Facebook are actually encouraging short films.”
The viewership of short films, therefore, hugely depends on internet.
Siddharth Sinha of the Film and Television Institute of India who won the National Award this year for his diploma film, “Udedh Bun”, says: “Audiences today are open to watching cinema that is hard hitting and precise. The attention span of the people is reducing. Like earlier, we had test series for cricket, then came one day and now we have 20-20, same applies to cinema.”
He also feels that short films can nurture creative instincts of a film maker more than full fledged cinema, since they are true to life, devoid of grandeur and there is no preoccupation with commercial success. So, the director doesn’t need to attract the masses and hence can experiment wholeheartedly.
Nikhil Sablania, a filmaker from Satyajit Ray Institute of Film Making, Kolkata, who is all set to bring his short films, “Checkmate” and “Siski”, says: “It is very difficult to experiment in a big or costlier film, since big money is at stake, so producer can not afford, abandoning conventions completely. But since short films are very economical, one can think of experimenting .Also many people have got recognition through short films and have even been picked by big commercial sectors.”
So the ultimate aim of most short film makers is recognition. But are short films fulfilling every purpose with a limited audience? “No,” says Rajvansh Kaur, a Delhi-based TV Producer: “Short film making is a blind alley. Appreciation and recognition being the ultimate high in any creative endeavor, where is the scope to showcase, woo and attract fresh viewers. Though this genre enjoys a “hard-hitting” edge, it is not an end in itself. However, it definitely is a stepping stone to a larger canvas.”
Therefore, for many, short film making is just the first step towards that ultimate destination of commercial success and recognition. On that big a scale, short films are yet to offer this.
Agrees Sablania: “Some people have started predicting that shorts are the future of cinema, but practically, they have a long way to go. Visual habits of the viewers have changed widely who are now more evolved and more drawn towards shorts, but unless and until any commercial purpose is solved, their success is still ambiguous.”
However, on the contrary, many feel that shortfilm making is slowly gathering momentum in terms of bringing recognition to the makers.So far shorts did work only as a stepping stone for many successful directors but gradually it is getting its long awaited recognition.
This style demands expertise of unraveling an idea in a few minutes. “I personally would like to venture into full length cinema but, continue making shorts and I know many who are doing the same. Unlike detailed cinema, the narrative in short films has an infecting uniqueness and precision,” feels Sidharth Sinha.
However, the questions over their surpassing or equaling full length cinema’s stature can be answered only with time. But the success of many short films, their popularity, the avenues they open for many and the opportunity of experimentation they offer seem hard to resist.
“Most of the film festivals now have a separate category for short films and a number of awards like Golden and Silver Bear Awards, are exclusively dedicated to them. Infact, a lot of producers and distributors are largely dealing in short films. Interestingly television is now offering slots for shorts in many countries”, informs Sinha.
As a process, short filmmaking is promising with its great potential. The intricate indirectness, ordinary sets, intensity and other elements are catching the viewer’s imagination. No wonder, it is gaining popularity. It needs a platform to grow and if that is developed systematically, it can become an integral medium of storytelling, carving its own niche.
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