a film i made few years ago screened at a little film night in a pub in angel. having been to more than a few of these short film nights, allow me to rant/reflect on the following.
why is it that so many short filmmakers don't take advantage of the charm of the medium? why do so many instead pour their 3 hour special effected feature film into 3minute underfunded shorts? it always ends up looking more than a little pretentious, with a budget even more pathetic than the one they had.
why do so many completely negate the importance of story? i'm all for experimental but i'm not talking about experimental. i'm talking about over complicated wannabe matrix-esque back stories, mystifying dialogue and endings that never seem to bring the story to a complete end.
i'm far from brilliant but i have learned enough to know that your audience is key and if you are going to make them sit through anything, give them something they can be entertained and/or engaged by.
i get frustrated at the wasted opportunties i see in so many short films. i see a decent actors wasted on appalling dialogue, decent dialogue lost in overwhelming and pointless sound effects, quality production design made poor by thoughtless lighting.
the only good thing about sunday was realising that as sophmoric as my film may have been, it did have a story, it was pacy and quirky. and most importantly it ended when it needed to. i know this because i felt the atmosphere in the room lift when it screened. people smiled, laughed when they were meant to and stopped talking to pay attention.
surely thats the bare minimun you would hope to achieve? its not nearly enough for me. but then it strikes me as odd that many filmmakers are so lost in their idea that they can forget their audience all together.
nuff said.