Short subject

Short subject is an American film industry term that historically has referred to any film in the format of two reels, or approximately 20 minutes running time, or less.

Related Topics:
American - Film industry - Film - Reel

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The term came to be applied in the 1910s, when the majority of feature films began to be made in much longer-running editions. A typical film program came to be expected to include a feature preceded by one or more short subjects. Short subjects could be live action or animated; comedy was particularly utilized as their style, and well-known comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy and others are best known from short subject films.

Related Topics:
1910s - Feature film - Live action - Animated - Comedy - Comedian - Charlie Chaplin - Buster Keaton - Laurel and Hardy

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Animated cartoons likewise came principally as short subjects, as did newsreels. Less frequently, short subjects might be in the form of travelogues, human interest films or concert films. The form was so popular that virtually all major production companies had fully staffed, special units assigned to develop and produce them; and many companies, especially in the silent and very early sound era, produced short subjects exclusively (e.g. Keystone Studios, Atlas Educational Film Co.).

Related Topics:
Cartoon - Newsreel - Travelogue - Human interest - Concert - Production companies - Silent - Keystone Studios - Atlas Educational Film Co.

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In the 1950s, television programming, including broadcast of older short subjects sold to television stations, eclipsed the value of all but cartoons featuring well-loved characters; but by the end of the 1960s, the cost of manufacturing these had come to outweigh the return, and short subjects effectively disappeared from the movie screens.

Related Topics:
1950s - Television - 1960s

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Since the 1980s, short subjects have come to be munged together with "short films", an international, academic term used to mean a contemporary non-commercial motion picture that is substantially shorter than the average commercial feature film. The definition of maximum length varies from 40 minutes (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rule) to about 80 minutes. The short-film form is to the full length film what the short story is to a full-fledged novel.

Related Topics:
1980s - Feature film - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - Short story - Novel

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Short films often focus on difficult topics which longer, more commercial films usually avoid. Their filmmakers benefit from larger freedoms and can take higher risks with their films, but must rely on festival and art house exhibition to achieve public display.

Related Topics:
Filmmaker - Festival - Art house

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Most short films are better known outside the United States than within, due to less rigidity of audience expectation as to programme content, arrangement and length, outside the U.S.

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