Production, Exhibition & Distribution of Shorts.

Like mainstream films, short films follow a structure; Production, Exhibition and Distribution. However because of low budgets and niche audiences the stages aren’t as complex as they may be to mainstream.

Production
Young aspiring directors will browse for a production company that is willing to produce their short film due to the low budget that have to abide by. This is why some production companies specialise in shorts to. An example of this is the production company ‘Silver films’. The short film About A Girl was produced by silver films.

Exhibition
As mainstream feature films are exhibited in cinemas because of large chain deals and huge marketing budgets short films are generally only exhibited at film festivals. There is an advantage to this as any awards the short might gain from short film festivals will be what employees might look for. Directors will also begin targeting smaller festivals with their work in order to use awards from such festivals as a factor to be recognised else where.

Distribution
For mainstream films, distribution is how films will make profits; after box office sale, DVD’s and merchandise sales. The lack of any kind of profitable distribution in short film does not pose any threat to the industry although there is some proof of short film collection DVDs. Short film distribution is through online websites such as Youtube or Vimeo, some sites specialise in distribution of short film such as Depict; a website that showcases only micro shorts (less than 90 seconds in duration).