Festival allows students to enjoy the fruits of their labor
By Andy Etzkorn
May 26, 2004 9:00 p.m.
For a director, it may be a challenge to come up with a premise,
a problem, a solution and a conclusion for a two-hour feature film.
Imagine being asked to do the same thing for a 10-minute film.
The annual UCLA Shorttakes Film Festival was established in 1992
and will be screening tonight in Ackerman Grand Ballroom. The
festival has been an effort through the years to recognize fine
short films from student filmmakers around the nation, who have
been able to compile the elements of a feature-length film into no
more than 10 minutes of film.
The incredibly short nature of Shorttakes films limits their
potential success. Most short films shown at major film festivals
and nominated for Academy Awards tend to run at about 30 to 40
minutes in length.
“If I was going to put all of the time and money
(necessary) into a 30-minute short film, I would just as soon make
a 90-minute-long feature film instead,” said Richard Lowe, a
film student at UCLA.
Lowe’s mentality is shared by many student filmmakers who
use short films as a guide to making bigger movies.
But Christian Cenizal, a third-year design student whose short
film “Standard Time” reflects the life many typical
college students live day to day, feels the abbreviated time of a
short film does have its own distinct advantages.
“A short film allows you to get the message you want to
portray out to the audience efficiently,” he said. “You
can’t waste a minute of film.”
Many of the filmmakers involved in Shorttakes are challenged
with the task of serving as director, editor and writer for their
films, as well as coming up with the funding themselves, most of
which comes straight out of their own pockets.
And although filmmakers put so much time, effort and money into
10 minutes of film, there does not seem to be a huge demand or
market for short films, with big-budget Hollywood feature-length
films grabbing all the headlines.
“The majority of short films are coming from student
filmmakers these days,” said Ryan Belenzon, whose film
“The Switch” is appearing in this year’s
festival. “Besides students, there is a really small number
of people making short films.”
What Hollywood feature films have that many short films
don’t is studio funding. The challenge facing many short film
directors is that they must fund their projects with their own
money, requiring them to be conservative in their methods of
filmmaking.
In many cases, short filmmakers know beforehand that they will
not receive a profit from their films, since the only outlets that
show short films tend to be festivals.
“You have to know that you most likely won’t get
your money back,” said Belenzon. “The only way you will
receive a profit from your short film is if your film gets
discovered (at a film festival), and a film studio wants you to
make your film into a feature-length.”
But Belenzon notes those lucky enough to get into large film
festivals that attract film studios’ attention usually have
to spend thousands of dollars on their short films to make them
attractive to studios. Most students creating short films
don’t have that much money to work with.
Cenizal feels despite the likely reality that short films will
not see a profit, they serve as a stepping-stone for future
filmmakers to one day move on to bigger projects that will make
money.
“(Short films) are how you prove yourself,” he said.
“You pay now, and hopefully, you can reap the benefits later
in your career.”
But reaping those benefits doesn’t always come easy. Liz
Blazer, a USC film student whose animated short film
“Backseat Bingo” will be showing at Shorttakes, has
entered her film into numerous festivals, won several awards and
yet is still having trouble finding a professional job in
animation.
“It’s a hard life for independent filmmakers,”
Blazer said. “A lot of work goes into short films, whether
animated or live-action, and it’s hard sometimes to get
recognition in the job market for them.”
Lowe believes many short films these days don’t appeal to
studios or audiences because often, the subjects they tackle may be
too complex for a 10-minute film.
“A lot of student short films tend to be really artsy and
experimental,” he said. “I applaud those filmmakers for
trying something new, but it’s just not my taste.”
Rather than trying to achieve something new and revolutionary
with his short film, Lowe’s film for Shorttakes, titled
“Party Pooper,” is based simply on college
students’ often harsh experiences with overflowing
toilets.
“I think that (my film) shows a pretty universal
experience for a lot of people,” he said. “A short film
doesn’t have to have some huge message in it.”
The limited nature of short film projects can also force
filmmakers to concentrate on improving aspects of their filmmaking
techniques. Belenzon used his experience making his short film to
strengthen his writing skills.
“I think that if you write a strong script, it will make
you a stronger director whether it’s a feature-length or a
short film,” he said.
While the market may not favor short films, Shorttakes offers
student filmmakers who are on a limited budget an opportunity to
create a product that come from their own ideas and writing. The
festival acts as encouragement to student filmmakers and reminds
them there are still outlets to show work ““ even if the only
profit received is recognition from one’s peers.
