Anyone Can Make a Film
To say that practically anyone can make a film these days is technically true. What with all technology available to us I wouldn’t be surprised if you could make a film out of the side of potato within the next five years, but just because you recorded your cat falling off the side the bed on your Smartphone, uploaded it to the internet and received 500,000 views does not necessarily mean you are a filmmaker.
Blood, Sweat and Tears
Making films take time, blood, sweat and tears. I’m not about to argue the big ‘what is art?’ but making a film is a process where people come together to tell a story and to entertain people and complete a journey themselves along the way. It used to be that years ago in the golden age of Hollywood, you would have to get your script greenlit by some big producer in order for you to get your film made. Thanks to the digital age if a young filmmaker has enough grit they can produce their own films. But if you take filmmaking serious enough and you want to continue making films, you must get noticed and get other people to invest in your talent. One of the best ways to do this is through a short film.
Artistic Vision and Running Time
Fuelled by artistic vision and limited only by their running time short films can completely transcend the traditional idea of storytelling. Yes, you could self-fund a feature-length film and take it to market in the hope that it’s good enough to get into Cannes or Sundance, but that’s a whole different ball game budget wise. Short films are the ever popular, cheaper and no less effective way of getting you talent seen, and there is no Short film festival in the world like the Clermont-Ferrand Short film festival.