Going viral: short film in the digital era

On Saturday, I went along to the MIFF screening of Animated Shorts, largely with the singular goal of seeing Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing. With the man there himself, it didn’t disappoint – in barely fifteen minutes the entire film managed to wrangle out humour, pity and warmth, with so much detail and colour you barely wanted to blink.

Other highlights included Atsushi Wada’s In a Pig’s Eye, a delicately drawn, absurdist tale about a giant pig blocking a family’s front door and the Japanese concept of ma, and Chris Perry’s eco-fable, The Incident at Tower 37.

Before I started blogging, I had minimal interest in short films. Or rather, I might have been interested, but I didn’t have easy access. Since we started Spike, however, I’ve probably watched at least two or three a week, simple by virtue of various RSS feeds, blogs and Twitter, and as such become a pretty avid fan of animation. It was only after attending the MIFF that I realised how my viewing habits had shifted, although in reality it makes perfect sense that short films and digital media should go hand-in-hand. Filesharing, bite-sized viewing, DIY-experimentation and self-distribution all lend themselves to the medium. Films can be watched in a matter of minutes via iPhone in between tram stops, embedded to your blog, shared and commented on via Twitter. There’s also an element of cultural kudos involved in making good ‘finds’ – for the example the ‘<— look at this!’ factor – that works in favour of the form. It’s not only about what everyone else is watching, but also what you can bring to the conversation.

The question of how the digital has changed the ways in which we consume and attend cinema is hardly new – indeed, as with the book and music industries, it’s both vexed and thrilled film aficionados for many years now. But it is interesting to note how this is affecting shorter, more indie works in particular (which perhaps don’t have as strong a grip on mainstream cinema as bigger features).

Online stakeholders are well of aware of the shifting landscape and indeed many have been quick to step into the role of digital curators, festival holders and global ‘cinemas’. Youtube of course is the obvious example. In 2008, it launched the Youtube Screening Room, which uploads a selection of international short films every fortnight. Already, the claim to new methods of distribution, firmly tied to the future of the internet, is evident: ‘Be a part of a new generation of filmmaking and distribution and help us connect films and audiences in the world’s largest theater!’

Vimeo, Youtube’s somewhat more selective, hipsterish cousin and the first video-sharing site to support HD, has cottoned on to the shift as well. It recently threw its name in as part of the growing online festival circuit through launching the Vimeo Festival + Awards for films of up to 20 minutes in length across a range of genres. The judging panel reads like a who’s who list of indie-cool – David Lynch, Morgan Spurlock, M.I.A, Lawrence Lessig, Roman Coppola and so on – with the winner receiving a very healthy $25 000 grant.

On top of this there are a host of other ‘curatorial’ sites – Chunnel.tv, the Daily Tube and Vidque (formerly Nizmlab), which incidentally was where I found this pilot for Johannes Nyholm’s Dreams from the Woods, also screened at the MIFF. (It doubles as the music video for Little Dragon’s Twice).

On another level as well, digital media is having an impact on audience behaviour and content. Alvin Singh on Absorb What’s Useful points out that while in a cinema we are asked to switch off our mobile phones and not talk during the movie, having films online not only allows conversation but encourages it. Viewers are expected to leave comments, or tweet their thoughts throughout. Similarly, at the Video Vortex conference some years back, media artist Andreas Treske observed that while cinema effectively shuts down our senses (a darkened room, silence, closed doors etc), viewing on mobile devices means that films nowadays must also think about competing with outside noise. Animation for example might be created with a small screen in mind, resulting in simplified images and different aesthetics, as well as a focus on sound.

The bigger question through relates to how short films will continue to be distributed in the future. I’m no expert on the particulars of this (and if anyone is please feel free to jump in), but as far as I can tell, in the past short films have been generally reliant on international festival circuits or competitions like Tropfest. Digital filesharing and free viewing of course rewrites many of the rules of the game. Moving Web poses a few related thoughts:

What are the financial models of internet distribution? Will supply increase in demand? … This can lead us further to think about why artists do NOT want their work to be published online. For many artists, this means losing a certain control over the context in which the work was made and in which it will be shown (as anyone can show it anywhere they like in whatever context). This also raises questions of exclusivity, availability, quality and rights.

After the MIFF, the first thing I wanted to do was view Wada and Perry’s films again (and possible share them here). After much searching, I couldn’t find much trace at all of In a Pig’s Eye, and Perry’s site states that The Incident at Tower 37 won’t be available online until after its festival run. I think Shaun Tan also mentioned that the MIFF screening would be the only one in Melbourne for The Lost Thing, and I’m not sure of further plans to upload online.

Personally, I love the fact that so many short films are available on the web, many of which I know I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. That said, I can see that the growing foothold of digital media is something of a quandary for filmmakers. Do they stick with the more conventional festival run, or simple upload content online and hope for the best, or some sort of hybrid of both? Which of these provide the longer, richer lifespan?

One way to ensure a strong online presence is perhaps to open up the creative process behind each project. Perry’s blog gives a good run down on the journey from concept art to finished film and similarly Shaun has many character sketches on his site. InFrame.tv also did a great behind-the-scenes look into the making of The Lost Thing a while back, which you can check out below.

Cross-posted from Spike.