Short Film Credits and HaydenFilms Online Film Festival

Before watching and voting on one of the films in the HaydenFilms Online Film Festival, you will be required to register in order to do either of the two. After that, you can browse through a wide selection of independent film treats that range from the darkest film noir piece to the wildest comedic animation. I have been delighted to see a few very interesting shorts, including a nice claymation (or animation....hey, I'm not familiar with the differences of that genre)entitled, "Plip & Plop". Yes, it may be more suited for children's viewing. However the short's message deals with water preservation which is a valuable lesson for everyone, adults included. Plip & Plop is one of my favorite films in the online festival, among others which include "Take Four", a film that has been screened and won many awards at festivals across the country and "The Meatrix II Revolting", an animated short that deals with dairy factories and the unhealthy conditions that animals suffer. I especially enjoyed the way the soundtrack followed the multiple stories that were combined in Take Four as well as the warm image. The scene with the lady and her boyfriend is great!

I have seen quite a few shorts and while watching the various stories and how they come to pass, I have become somewhat bored with the thing that we like to call "Open Title Sequence". We choose to make short films instead of features for a reason.... they are short. It takes a short period of time to write, a short period of time to shoot and a short period of time to edit. Therefore, isn't it only right that it takes viewers a short time to watch the film and understand the story? I have actually stopped watching some films because I became exhausted within the first 3 minutes of credits rolling over the screen. When deciding to make and exhibit a short film, here is a thought....cut the damn title sequence! It is a short story, no one needs to know the name of every cast and crew member who worked on the movie. Save that for the festival screening or make a special version, where everyone and their imaginary friend is showered with thanks and 15 seconds of "title fame".

This is especially important for filmmakers who exhibit their shorts on the internet. News editors and analysts have made us all aware that internet audiences have short attention spans. The popularity of many online films and videos make it evident. In knowing that, why would one make a short and start it off with titles that keep rolling and rolling before and after the title of the film itself? Doing so only decreases the chances of more people viewing your film in it's entirety. As a filmmaker and a viewer of online videos, I find it very boring and frustrating to sit through a movie and still not know what is going on after 3 minutes.

3 minutes is a very long time when it comes to the internet. Start the story already! Show the title of the film and move on. Now, if you are still taking 1 minute to scroll the film's title across the screen, in slow motion and another minute to fade it, forget the opening title altogether. Everyone already knows the title of it most of the time because it's in the block that you fill in on youtube or myspace or the video site that you have chosen to host your film . It's called "Title of Film" or something in relation to that. If you are showing a short film on your own site, then the name of the film is pretty obvious, since it's probably the same name of the url or the link to the short.

You don't have to skip the title of the film completely. You can show it at the end of the film with a few seconds for other credits, if necessary. The important thing is that you dont cause a viewer to stop watching your film before it even starts, due to boredom from watching titles and meaningless b-roll footage for 3 minutes. Filmmakers do an injustice to a short film by making a lengthy opening title sequence. Start the movie, keep it going and move on to the end.