Short/Feature Length
 

What length/duration distinguishes a short from a feature?
short = less than 60 mins?
feature = over 60 mins?
Is there an official standard amongst filmfests and distributors?

Cheers.

I thought shorts were between 5 - 30 minutes?

Thanks,

Ed

Anything less than feature-length is not a feature. That's all I know. A feature length is around 90 minutes, though they've also released a 74 minute feature theatrically this year. Most of the straight to video kids movies are less than feature-length. For example, the sequels to popular theatrical films.

Documentaries are judged differently as I've seen documentaries that are categorized as documentary features sometimes no more than 60 minutes in length.

thanks for the replies thus far.

Any more?

What do the more notable film fests accept as a feature length (minimum)?

I'm pretty sure straight-to-video/dvd is an open field provided content is compelling...

You could look it up on their websites...

And i sure did. Thanks Keith.

Had a peep at Cannes...
The short film length for Cannes is 15mins. Feature is longer than 60 minutes.

Interesting....

75th Academy Awards Rules
http://academyawards.20m.com/rules.htm

Interesting... a feature is "defined as over 40 minutes".

Who woulda thunk it.

And.... Slamdance short is 10mins...

40mins? hmm...

To my understanding (around here at least)
There are:

- Short up til 30 min.

-"Medium Film" (don´t know the name in english) from 30 to 60.

- After 60´ everything is Feature.

Of course, then every festival I´ve seen has it´s own rules, and most of them don´t take more than 15 to 20 for short films.

Allthough I´ve seen a few "Medium Films" I´v actually never seen the "Medium" category anywhere but in books or classroom.

I would have to say that
Short-5 to 30 minuets.
Featured Film-60 and up

Thats what i would think anyway.short films are usually like 5 or 10 minuets but then there are some that are a half hour.

I'm trying to stretch a feature right now to 75 minutes having heard 74-78... depends on the festival and usually for distributors.

To my knowledge, everything under 79 minutes is a short (technically) and anything over 79 minutes is a feature. In other words, anything at least 80 minutes is feature length.

If you're making a short, try to keep it right around 6 minutes. Those are the ones that tend to get the most attention, get accepted to festivals, win prizes, etc. 30 minute shorts have virtually no market. Keep it brief, keep it good.

Further, I would say: don't try to tell a story with a short. That's what features are for. With a short, your goal should be to say something new about some theme, to innovate rather than strictly elaborate. If you start to get wrapped up in characters and plotting and twists and suspense, you're going to find yourself with a 15 to 45 page script that really won't please anybody. The best shorts actually tend to have very little dialogue.

Is the middle called TV? So therefore it would go something like:

< 20 minutes = short
20 - 60 mins = TV episode / series
> 60 mins = feature

But ofcourse to every rule are exception. Just think about the
Taken mini-series. Each episode was 1.5 hours without taking
commercials into account I believe.

In response to short film's not needing story
 

This is in response to Robert on his generally good advice about short films.

On a whole many short films have been very successful (i.e. getting people jobs working in Hollywood, or winning awards in the completely apolitical festival arena) that have demonstrated many of the principals Robert mentioned (6min length-no plot-one note-one theme-etc) However I find it rather difficult to completely endorse an idea that to make a good short film one must disregard the fundamental purpose of movies -- storytelling. Not to create a philosophical argument about the "real" purpose of the motion picture arts -- but I will suggest that perhaps a few too many short films have colored our perception of what a "good" short film is because of the success the filmmakers experienced afterwards, and now many short films feel empty (at least to me) because they are completely one note-one idea-plot less and as satisfying as a fast-food lunch.

The most refreshing short films do not shy away from telling the big story; instead they use an economy of technique and rely on subtext and world consciousness to paint the larger picture.

What a ramble on about short films from me! Anyway, all I can say is short films are short so if one doesn't work for you make another and all that can really happen is you get better and discover what you want to spend your time REALLY doing.

Dean