Online screening is a very important part of exhibition of a film, especially for smaller or independent production companies and filmmakers. Online screening on large sites such as ‘Youtube’ and ‘Vimeo’ allows you to create a profile and them upload your own content onto the site. A profile can connect all of your films together and create a fan base for more and more people to flock to.
The ‘BBC Film Network’ is a site that shows more successful films and films partly funded by the BBC. This means that these short films are often from already established artists, making their name from festivals at first. A festival win could lead to the ‘BBC’ wanting to post your video on their more highbrow site, showing drama and documentaries, some experimental but almost all carry important macro meanings within the texts. A great example found on the ‘BBC Film Network’ is the film ‘The Most Beautiful Man In The World’. This site is very good for promoting the maker more than others because the video is accompanied by production credit, which other sites lack.
‘Atom’ is home to as it states ‘funny videos’ this presents the site as much less serious and shows this is where comedy is exhibited. The audience for this website is most probably teenagers and adolescents. This is similar to some elements of the giant ‘Youtube’. This website offers a huge variety of films, from full features in many separate parts to shorts and even television series. ‘Youtube’ has some elements of comedy on the website but also contains content that can be used for teaching, including music videos for learning science equations and elements. ‘Vimeo’ is similar to ‘Youtube’ in the fact that it contains a wide range of different types of film material however it is less well known and slightly more sophisticated and so contains a majority of videos made artistically or with deep meanings.
When looking at ‘Triggerstreet’ it is clear that this website contains many different forms of media and entertainment but is constructed to showcase new and emerging talent. This means that the content on this website ranges hugely but the purpose of submitting a video is for furthering the writer/directors status within the short film world. The website was founded by Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti who made this site to help emerging talent get a link into the impenetrable Hollywood film scene.
‘Film4’ and ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ are both more like the ‘BBC Film Network’ as it showcases films that have been noted for achievements or simply won the prize of being on that particular website. However these two websites have very few films on them and often rotate their films. ‘Film4’ only has 12 short films on the site and this is to showcase them thoroughly. ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ showcase the films that have won a place on the website, ensuring high quality from a range of widely unknown creative talent.
The submission process for the mentioned websites varies hugely with the sites such as ‘Vimeo’, ‘Youtube’ and ‘Atom’ allow anyone to simply create an account and upload video, which can and often means that many short films are just created for fun with no real purpose and without any directors rationale. On the other hand ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ has much more lengthy submission process where only the top films get a place on the site. This creates a much more formal viewing platform and encourages new talent to submit their original material. Although ‘Triggerstreet’ is a more highbrow site anyone can submit a short film after registering however with competitions run on the site such as ‘The Stella Artois Short Film Project’ which is a competition judged by film royalty such as Judi Dench, the site is geared up towards the more serious filmmakers. The ‘BBC Film Network’ is much the same as ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ as it only shows films that have been noted or noticed for certain key features such as the message given or the cinematography. This website only shows the films that have been submitted and then fortunately picked from a very long list. ‘Film4’ does not allow short films to be submitted only ideas and then those ideas will be picked to make a short which will be shown on the website and sometimes funded.
This submission process really divides the different sites in terms of their benefits. ‘Youtube’, ‘Vimeo’ and ‘Atom’ carry the least amounts of benefits as these shorts are almost always submitted and viewed for entertainment not for advertising young UK talent, however it could be argued that ‘Youtube’ is the most beneficial of these as large hoards of people view videos on the site from all over the world. A more beneficial website would be ‘Triggerstreet’ because it is much smaller website with a niche audience, whom in the main will be far more appreciative of more sophisticated shorts with good narrative and are technically sound. Yet this website even with the backing of Kevin Spacey and ‘The Stella Artois Short Film Project’ it does not carry the same weight as ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ and ‘Film4’. These two websites are hugely beneficial to the maker as they only show shorts from those filmmakers who have won their place on the site. This means that the quality of film is largely better and the maker is more publicised. ‘Virgin Media Shorts’ does not carry the same stature as ‘Film4’ but is backed by the ‘UK Film Council’ who is at the pinnacle of helping discover UK talent. In spite of this the ‘BBC Film Network’ is the most beneficial as it presents the maker at the forefront of the page and provides links to the production credits allowing the talented short filmmaker to be advertised. The content is also of high quality and is only on the site due to it being appreciated by recognised film critics and connoisseurs. The ‘BBC’ is also a very well established media giant within the UK and has a very well developed film department dedicated to making good British film.
The sites showing the more developed shorts, ‘BBC Film Network’, ‘Virgin Media Shorts’, ‘Film4’ and ‘Triggerstreet’ are much more formal in their presentation with less adverts and screenshots of the shorts. This smaller text and focus on the content within the shorts creates this very formal tone. This style of site immediately relates to the seriousness of the films being submitted and winning a place on the site. The more commercially minded sites, ‘Youtube’, ‘Vimeo’ and ‘Atom’ contain more advertising and more sparkle. Giving links such as ‘videos being watch now’ and bright coloured banners with fashionable fonts provides this sparkle. This matches with the content being in the main funny and made frivolously. This however is not completely true of ‘Vimeo’, which is closer to ‘Triggerstreet’ but still remains accessible to the majority. ‘Youtube’ is the giant of all of the video sites in the world and so posting a short on this website could turn a filmmaker into an instant success.
In conclusion ‘Youtube’ provides the most exposure for your film because of the largest potential audience but does not seek to promote the actual filmmaker. The ‘BBC Film Network’, ‘Virgin Media Shorts’, ‘Film4’ and ‘Triggerstreet’ promotes the maker as heavily as possible however is not in the range of the majority of people looking to view mainstream and often fairytale shorts. ‘Atom’ is made for comedy but is a much smaller site, which does not really promote the makers and does not have such a large potential audience. ‘Vimeo’ yet again has a much smaller potential audience because it is not as large as other sites but it is very popular with many students and amateur filmmakers so in the future this site may become a huge base for unregulated, not judged shorts with theme and purpose. The exhibition of shorts on the Internet has made them much more popular. This is because they do not take much time to upload onto the web and they are quick to view. Shorts suit the Internet really well because features are too long due to bandwidth and so provides an advantage over features. The Internet is a great way to exhibit short film and provides a large potential audience for short films; the users just need to find the sites.
