The Research Of Short Film’s Characteristics And Essences

Short film(referred as shorts hereafter)is the earliest movie style appeared in the history of movies.However,for a very long period of time,shorts have not been valued as much as the feature films and the related theories have not been researched in depth.It’s only until the wide spread of internet,shorts started to become more popular.Now,not only the professional film makers,but also the publics are making and publishing shorts.In China,there is a unique concept of ‘microfilms’ emerged in accordance tothis phenomenon of shorts popularization.In contrary to the rapid growth of shorts production,very little theoretical research regarding short’s characteristics and essences is done to support this kind of growth.For instance,the only thing that defines shorts is the length of the film.What is the relationship between the shorts and the very unique concept of ‘microfilm’ in China? Is there any difference in essence and characteristics between the shorts and feature films? Based on these questions,this article will usethe award winning shorts in Sundance as samples;use the related philosophical,aesthetical,sociological theories as support to research and analyze the defining quality of shorts.By analyzing the history of shorts development,and summarizing the related theories,this article defines the artistic characteristic as “the glance of the astonishment”.This article also discusses the cultural importance of shorts and will provide theoretical support for the future research and development of shorts.1.Introduction: why are the defining traits of shorts is important to be clarified?This section introduces the definition of traits: which is the characteristic and essence.Here also points out a strange phenomenon: in the filmmaking industry,the rapid and flourishing growth of shorts production and the lack of theoretical research support for short films form a very sharp contrast.It is because of the vigorous growth of shorts making practice,the theoretical support need to be funded urgently.This section summarize the existing researches and definitions regarding shorts characteristics and essence;the inadequacy of the existing theories;and the correct way of solving the problems which is to simultaneously research both film culture and film art.This introduction will also explain the sample selection,research method and research significance.2.Film Length vs the Characteristics of ShortsRight now,the most popular description for shorts is the shorter time length.Without doubt,the length is one of the most obvious and important defining characteristics of shorts.However,using film length as the only essence to define shorts is flawed.First of all,essence is a description of one thing’s meaning of existence,but standard of time length is only one aspect of external performance.Therefore,it cannot be used to explain the meaning of shorts.In the recent years,a unique concept of ‘microfilm’ appeared in China.After analyzation,we can conclude that ‘microfilm’ and shorts refer to the same type of films.The reason why this unique concept emerged is that the existing concept of ‘short film’ only defines this type of films from a technical point of view.It cannot satisfy people’s requirement of separate these films from the culture,social,and aesthetic points of views.Therefore,the concept of ‘microfilm’ is created to refer to these important aspects such as culture,sensible to daily life,contains consumption value,etc.All these aspects are not defined in the current definition for short films.In addition,if we evaluate the history of films,a fallacy will be created by using film length as the one and only definition of shorts.There are three stages of shorts development.The first stage is the early shorts.This is the origin of movies.Because of the limitation of filming technology,presenting technology,and filming locations,the movies are forced to be short in length.We call it passive shorts.The second stage is the modern shorts.As the technologies develop,feature films(referred to features for short hereby)become the mainstream.Shorts are mostly played before the feature films.Comparing to features,shorts are less important.Shorts are used by many new filmmakers to show their talent and used as step stones to make feature films.Therefore,the making of short films is prosperous and thriving.The short film competition unit in Sundance is an example of this short film stage and we call it active shorts.The third stage is the modern shorts.Because of the universal use of new media,shorts thrive to adapt to the new media.In this article,we consider “microfilm” as one type of shorts.It represents the thriving of shorts in the new media age.We call these spontaneous shorts.If length is the only standard for short films,then passive shorts,active shorts and spontaneous shorts can all be called shorts.However,the question of ‘what is the essence and characteristics of shorts’ was brought up with the active shorts.So,why this question was not asked during the passive shorts stage? The early passive shorts are not technically shorts,because back then,there was no difference between shorts and features.Everything is called ‘movies’.If length is the only standard of defining shorts,then all the passive shorts which is early movies will be included as shorts,then a fallacy of ‘movies are shorts’ will be created.3.the Essence of ShortsIn this section,we will discuss what is the essence of shorts? In order to answer this question,we need to answer what is the essence of movies.André Bazin proposed the true continuity and focus on objective reality.We call this ‘the original look’.Jean Baudrillard proposed simulation and hyperreality.He believes that the film arts use stimulation different than reality but more authentic then reality.So now the media is in fact a cover and mask of the reality.We call this ‘the transcendental look’.Lacan’s contribution to psychoanalysis was the mirror stage,which he described as "formative of the function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience”.This theory was introduced to film art by Metz and others later on and ‘gazing’ became the new essence of film.We call this theory ‘the look of the source’.All these theories have flaws.At the end,we use the Marx’s materialism to interpret films;we can conclude that ‘the practice view’ is the essence of the films.‘Glancing’ and ‘gazing’ are the difference between shorts and features.‘Glancing’ is a unique psychological behavior,and short is a creation to fulfil this type of psychological behavior.4.Characteristic of ShortsIn this section,we will discuss the artistic characteristics of shorts.As discussed previously,the essence of shorts is glancing,and then what is its characteristic? What are the differences in artistic forms between shorts and features? In Heidegger’s aesthetic theory,He proposed the concept of ‘surprise’.We inherit this concept and define the artistic characteristic of shorts as ‘astonishment’.This article will use the Sundance award winning short films as samples to perform case studies to research the different strategies used to make shorts and features to meet the audience’s expectation.In terms of expression,both shorts and features pursue ‘beauty’ as the ultimate goal.However,the beauty of shorts comes from the great surprise,the astonishment,and the termination at a proper point to leave the audience space for imagination.Taking biography as an example,short biographies always simplify the character,simplify the plots,and weaken the conflicts.Meanwhile,the short biographies tend to enhance the details and the scenario context.5.Examination of the Shorts EssenceThe main thesis of this section is to test whether the ‘astonishment’ is a suitable description of characteristic of shorts.In order to test it,we will bring this hypothesis back into the history of films to see if it can sufficiently explain the development of shorts from passive shorts to active shorts and to the conscious shorts.We believe that the modern society has entered a mass cultural era.The mass culture will bring prosperity to shorts.6.ConclusionSummarize and conclude the characteristic and essence of short films.Discuss the inadequacy of the article in aspect of researching method,theory,etc.