The magic of short films
I have a confession to make: 6 years into the making of my documentary feature The Illusionists — and about 3 months into the editing of it — I had a startling epiphany, which profoundly changed the way I approach filmmaking. I call it a confession, because it’s an obvious observation that should have occurred to me months, if not years before; I felt silly thinking about it that late in the process. While I painstakingly assembled thousands of archival images culled from media in the US, France, Italy, Japan, Lebanon and India, and mixed them with interviews filmed in 8 countries, across 4 continents, I suddenly thought to myself: “Wow, all this hard work for a 90 minute film that people will watch at best once!”
The way we “consume” feature films is radically different from how we approach photographs, paintings, songs, music videos… I listen to the same song by Soko 10, 20, 30 times in the span of a week without getting tired of it. I admire a reproduction of a painting by Frida Kahlo that sits above my desk every day. A feature film? These days I don’t have the luxury to sit on my couch, switch my phone to airplane mode, and for an hour and a half or more, be immersed in the story on the screen in front of me. Work, family, friends, hobbies, social media provide a constant stream of stimuli that make watching a feature feel like an indulgence. But short films! I have a small collection of those that I come back to time and time again, whenever I want to recapture a feeling or be inspired by their storytelling, cinematography, or editing. When I really enjoy one, I may re-watch it 2–3 times in the span of a single day. The quality of the content I see on Vimeo, Vice, Broadly, and countless other platforms easily surpasses shows that I would see on TV (TV being TV screens in bars or hotels, because, like many of my peers, I haven’t owned a TV in years). Online shorts are my current filmmaking school, an endless source of learning and inspiration.
I’m often asked: “what’s your next feature going to be?” And my answer invariably is: a series of short films! I LOVE the affordability and shorter life cycle of short films, going from fundraising to production and editing in a much more compressed time period. I LOVE how, with my freelance assignments, one month I’d find myself in the magical Sounding Forest where Antonio Stradivari handpicked the wood that would become his priceless violins… and two months later, I’d be learning all about European Space Agency missions for another job. It’s part of the magic of filmmaking: you get to open up your life to a myriad of different worlds.
I also LOVE how social media is set up to make the consumption and sharing of videos so seamless and natural, allowing them to travel far and wide. The best part? No need of a middleman for distribution. At the risk of sounding insolent, I see media companies and the current filmmaking infrastructure as dinosaurs, out of step with technological advancements and the way the public is now used to consuming media. Release windows, geoblocking, and sales/rentals that give filmmakers no clue about who purchased the film make no sense to me. They should be a thing of the past.
What delights me is that there are now fabulous online platforms (hello VHX!) that allow filmmakers to build and retain and audience, package custom content, and easily put films (features and shorts alike) up for sale, while collecting the email addresses of their fans and paying customers, so that filmmakers can reach out to them, project after project.
There has never been a more exciting time to be an independent filmmaker, with a potential worldwide audience within easy reach, thanks to the magic of the internet. I plan to take full advantage of this, starting with a wonderful collaboration with the Bureau of Creative Works. Our chosen distribution platform? VHX, of course. Wanna join us, and become an agent of change?
