Short Film VS Feature Film: How long should your film be?
There are two different types of lengths for a movie. A short film usually has a run time between 30 seconds to a half hour, while a Feature Film will usually be a hour or longer. Although no official consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits". Filmmakers who are starting out will have to decide which format to start with, and the answer to this is fairly simple. Your first few films should be short films, as short films will allow you to experiment and hone your filmmaking craft. Then once you feel ready, you should switch over to feature length films. But let's break it down and look at the advantages and disadvantages of both formats.
Which lay to go?
The main advantage of making a short film is that the process is well, shorter. It will take a smaller budget to make, and your time commitment will be a lot less. There is less risk and worry of making a bad movie, thus allowing you to take more creative risks and experiment a bit. Short films are the best place to learn and make some new connections. Even veteran directors and producers will choose the short film format so that they can be used like a business card or a resume to attract clients and investors. If you are trying to raise funds for a feature film, a short film can be a great way to show off its potential. If your short films are successful, it can lead to larger projects, higher budgets, and feature film production opportunities.
There are numerous examples of short films hat became famous feature-length movies such as “Peluca” that would inspire “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Whiplash” which would be turn into a feature a year later. There are countless horror shorts that would go on being a feature film such as "Lights Out" as well.In fact, adapting a short film into a feature is a lot easier than trying to adapt a novel, comic or different medium since most of the groundwork is already in place. Turning a 300 page book into a neat and tidy screenplay is a whole other project of its own. But with a short film, you can show interested investors and crew the vision you are aiming for.
Whiplash used the short film as a template and improved on it for the feature length version.
However, the main drawback of short films is that it's nearly impossible to make any money off of them. The only way to distribute your short film will be to upload to a video website such as Youtube and Vimeo as most distributors won't be interested. Unless you can create a successful YouTube channel that just focuses on shorts, your options are limited in monetization. The other major challenge with shorts is crating a story that leaves an impact is harder since you have to fit an entire story into a specific, short amount of time. Creating an engaging story that has a three act structure into 10 minutes is lot more challenging than it sounds. It's why most short films tend to be a bit forgettable. A good short film should focus on a single idea and dedicate all its time to it. (So forgot about trying to develop multiple characters with backstories in a short format).
The main advantage of making a Feature film is that it is the industry standard format. You'll have a much higher chance of making some money off your Feature film compared to a short. You'll be able to share you film on streaming services such as Tubi and Plex, thus increasing your chances of finding people to watch your film. Since you'll also have a longer run time, your story has a lot more of a chance of being fully developed and engaging.
Nevertheless, making a Feature film is like making 15 short films. Your budget, time commitment, and crew investment will be higher. Thus your project has a higher chance of failure. Even just a few bad scenes can drag down a film, so the major challenge is that at every shoot you are aiming to crate the best scenes you can. Another challenge of making a feature is learning how to avoid filler and making your story to long.
So which format to choose, it depends on your story, strategy and what you wish to accomplish. I've seen some filmmakers spend too much time focusing on short films, and others trying to jump into feature films to soon. A short film should be kinda like poetry. It's short, sweet, and every single moment needs to count. A feature film is a narrative that is still relatively encapsulated but has more room to explore ideas and issues in greater depth.
