Short change

LFF short film programmer Philip Ilson declares 'Death to Short Film'!

Nov  3 2006

As a short-film programmer for both the London Film Festival and the Halloween Short Film Festival, I've waded through many sacks of short films over the past months. I've watched thousands of DVDs and a few old-school VHS tapes. This is all good. It's obvious that the world of filmmaking is alive and well. But there's a downside: cheaper and easier access to cameras and editing equipment means that the activity is no longer restricted to the select few who have gone through traditional training. These days, it feels like everyone and his dog has a short film inside them, not least because of the proliferation of open-access websites, screening opportunities and film festivals.

It's time to take a cold, hard look at this filmmaking overkill. It's time to do the punk-rock thing and sweep aside the old guard. It's time to stop the onslaught of short film as we know it. In short, it's time for a manifesto. Its intention? To assassinate short film and simultaneously inspire a phoenix-like rebirth.

1) Short films must not be calling cards designed to get work in features or television.
This is the most important point for any discerning maker of short films. There are thousands of media students waiting to break into television to direct soaps, comedy or drama, alongside many film school students graduating and wanting to hit Hollywood and gain Oscar glory. How can anyone compete? Screw 'em all! The only thing that exists for you is your current short film. Harbour no secret dreams of directing 'EastEnders' or walking up the red carpet. Stay focused on the job in hand.

2) Short films must not be about showcasing cinematography, editing or other technical skills.
You are the director. You must make your film exactly as you want. If you need a ten-minute single cloud shot mid-film, that's your choice. You don't need to prove anything to anyone except yourself. If a scene needs a fast complex edit, then do it, but remember it's because the scene needs it and not because you want to show off your new Final Cut Pro skills.

3) Short films must not have an optimum running time; they can last a few seconds or much longer.
Films should exist in their own time-space continuum. No one should tell you it has to fit into a specific slot. Short films are as long as they need to be to tell their story or play out their scenario. (NB Festival programmers may have a problem with this point. Tough luck.)

4) Short films must not have endings that tie everything up, but should feel as though their story could continue after the credits roll.
This is the Raymond Carver rule: think slices of life and powerful scenarios. So many short films think they need a punchline, a final joke or a 'Sixth Sense'-style twist to tie things up neatly and make the audience go away contented. But it's not necessary. How many more times do we have to hear that collective groan in a darkened cinema as the film comes to a close? We want to reflect on a character's life or to think about what move he or she will make next, even though we have no way of knowing. We need to think more and to be kept guessing. We need to have discussion. This is what the best art does.

5) Short films must not be made with an audience in mind. Filmmakers must not believe that an audience needs a cunning twist or a happy ending.
The only audience is the filmmaker who's making the film, and if a few other people like it too, then great! But don't make the film with an audience in mind. They are not important to your vision. You do not exist to make their life happier or richer.

6) Short films must not be restricted by genre.
Is it a comedy drama, a spoof documentary, an animated experimental gallery piece? Who cares? It's a film…

7) Short films must not open with an alarm clock going off and the main protagonist waking up in a brightly lit room.
This is where it gets personal. Do any of us sleep in full bright sunlight? Do our lives only ever begin when we wake up in bed in the morning?

8) Short films must not be accompanied by a slow and poignant solo piano soundtrack.
Plinky-plonky piano music to create a mood? No! Please no one else go there. Unless of course, that piano is integral to your vision rather than it being cheap because your mate has a Woolworths stand-up electric. But please, for the sanity of short film programmers, find another option for your soundtrack.

To sum up: we want original voices, auteur visions, works of art. Of course, this will give us a proliferation of overblown, pompous and arrogant filmmakers who barge their way around Cannes and Sundance. But the true ones will shine through – I promise! It's happened in the past. Since I've been programming shorts, in the UK I've seen the career paths and amazing work of Andrea Arnold, Andrew Kötting, Alison Murray, Shane Meadows, Lynne Ramsay. These are the filmmakers who've transcended the norm, who've bucked the trends outlined above; I could even argue that some of their shorts are far superior to their features. But now it's time to bring on the next generation.

Arise makers of short films! With this eight-point plan as a guide, go and create. Kill off the fakes and scare off the phonies who are fast taking over the world of short film.

The next Halloween Short Film Festival runs Jan 6 to 15 2007.

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