A couple weeks back I talked about the “format revolution”, borne from cheap, fast, easily accessible data. It’s a revolution that’s enabled an explosion of alternative film formats; the most obvious of which is short form.

Short film is nothing new. In fact, the first few films ever made were short, single-shot pieces, but as multi shots and reels became the norm, short form was relegated to newsreels, cartoons and commercials.

We’ve now come full circle. Thanks to YouTube, Vimeo and a huge array of short film sites such as Dust, Future Shorts and Short of the Week, bite sized content is everywhere. But what length is the right length? Whatever length is right for your message. Don’t be short for short’s sake. Think about what you want to say and whether it is best served by a short burst of video. Short form is valuable if used correctly. It should grab attention quickly and be economical, filling every frame with meaning. Informative works best (e.g: recipes, news and how to films), but a short can consist of cutdowns of longer work, user generated content, mini documentaries, repurposed video, bespoke narrative shorts, branded content, anything goes.

Watch an example of short form content created by us for the Hip Hop Shakespeare Company featuring Ashley Thomas aka Bashy.