Technological Advances

Due to the fact that a vast majority of short films are produced and distributed by small and independent companies with much smaller budgets than those in, for example, Hollywood, recent technological advances have had a great and positive impact on the industry. The existence of cheaper, yet still high-quality cameras such as the Canon 6D means that short films won’t require a large budget to cover expenses of cameras. The Canon 6D was even used to film Black Swan and an episode of House.

Filming, editing and exhibition can all now be done digitally thanks to a shift away from non-linear editing methods, and Avatar leading to all cinemas finally going digital in 2009. This now means that filmmakers working on lower budgets, so primarily those working on short films, can now spend less but get the same results at Hollywood. Also, as The Guardian summarised in an article published in March 2017, audience’s tastes are changing and now they want more freedom to consume films how they want- such as downloading and streaming online. Sites such as YouTube, Short of the Week and Vimeo provide this for audiences and short films can exhibit their films essentially for free (or for a small fee on Short of the Week, but there’s a chance it could be recognised by a well-known director, production company etc), meaning it’s not much easier for them to get their films out into the world.

From the late 1990s-2005 the internet was invented, and more and more people all around the world began having home internet access. This enabled distributors to use the internet to target their audience, especially helping short films as their distribution companies don’t quite have the necessary high budgets in order to distribute in cinemas and posters globally.