“If you want to be a filmmaker, grab a camera and go out and shoot something, anything.”
This is advice I've heard multiple times during my decade plus long involvement within the indie film scene. This very same advice I have given, and still do give to new filmmakers, however the camera element can now be a phone and the filmmaker part can also be broadened to include 'content creator' and such. How times, technology, and thinking have changed.
Luckily, what has also changed and evolved over the years is my mentality towards the value of short films, as myself and most others once shared the idea that you made shorts early on in your career, then you graduated to features. Now you are a 'real director' – whatever that means. But this kind of thinking is limited.
There is merit to making short films, and there is a definite art form to making quality short films. Capture your creativity in a short film, make a proof of concept for possible features, maybe even win festival glory. But then what if we broke that short film process? No, what if we smashed it with a hammer and extracted a few pieces, discarding some, leaving only the basics?
Well now you have a micro-short film. 1 to 3 minutes in length, maybe up to 5 minutes. Still telling a story, still introducing the characters and conflict, still reaching a narrative climax but all done in a smaller time frame than it takes to mic a hyperactive actor.
Last year, we produced 4 micro shorts as part of our Life Improvised series where we focus on the small moments that make up relationships. We enjoyed the process, we experimented and learnt and had fun, and this year we intend to film more micro-shorts. There are so many benefits and here are some we discovered:
Work with New People
It can't be denied that filmmaking is a collaborative art. But in my experience I’ve found when you do this for a long time, you tend to collaborate with the same people over and over again. Nothing wrong with that, you have found your tribe, your team, you make great work together so you keep doing it. So do the greats – Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, the Coen Brothers and Roger Deakins, Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst and so many more. But it can be hard for new collaborates to get a look in especially on major projects with so much money and time invested.
Vanessa de Largie in XChange
What I love about making these micro-shorts, and I know Ivan does too, is the fact that you get to work with new people more often. With Life Improvised we have had the chance to work with actors we have been watching and admiring for a long time, such as Vanessa de Largie who we had known for years and finally had a chance to cast in XChange. It becomes like a mutually beneficial exchange (pun intended) as they get the footage for their reel and you get the experience of working with a new actor. It's exciting! It's also a wonderful way to see what an actor is like to work with, if you get along as a team, almost like an audition of sorts for future work. Strong relationships can be formed, especially when you work with the actor to build a personal story.
But it is not only new actors. We have worked with new composers, colourists, visual effects artists. Some of these micro-short collaborations have already led to work on different and bigger projects. It's like building your own network and expanding your team for the future.
Keep Costs Down
We have filmed each micro-short in half a day. Sometimes less. It is always one location. The maximum actors on screen is two. The maximum crew we have used is five people, including Ivan and myself. We did our first, Our Lady, with a crew of only three. In the future, we will try a micro-short with just Ivan and I as crew.
Less time, less locations, less crew, less cast, less equipment, less fuel, less running around beforehand to get all the props and everything organised because the stories and set-ups are kept simple and minimal. I'm not saying this is the only way to do micro-shorts. Get as fancy as you like. But for us micro-short means micro-budget.
Practice and Experiment
Filmmaking is a state of constant learning and discovery but it is up to you to stay active as an artist and keep practising your craft. Keep improving. Keep growing. Micro-shorts allow you to keep practising with minimal time commitment, but also allow you to experiment with something new. Is there new gear you want to test out, or do you want to try a shot that you saw in a Hollywood film? Put together a micro-short and get out there and do it. For instance, we just bought a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K – you can bet our next micro-short will be testing out the new camera.
Editing First Impressions, my first time editing a film.
I also edited our micro-short First Impressions. For so long I have wanted to learn how to edit and this was a chance to finally cut a film together. With the guidance of Ivan, I learnt a new skill. While I watched while Ivan switched from editing on Premiere to editing on Resolve for Our Lady, learning a new program in the process. And on Cry Me a River, Ivan did the sound edit and mix. Previously, we had always turned to sound designers to mix our films so taking on sound ourselves was a challenge but one that further adds to our knowledge base.
With the experimental nature of micro-shorts, with our no fuss release online, we have a philosophy of getting it made rather than getting it perfect. Certainly, we always try our best and never aim to release substandard work, but it is not like a feature with years of our lives invested in the process as well as thousands and thousands of dollars. It's a half day commitment from everyone and a little time in post. You can try new things. You may fail. But you will learn.
And with that said, keeping it simple, cutting back, and doing it micro is a never a step back, even for those with over a decade of experience on film sets and behind the camera. If you approach the concept of micro-short filmmaking as an experiment you will find yourself getting lost in the simplicity of filmmaking and loving it, like a starry-eyed fresh out of film school director again (not that we ever went to film school). Never underestimate the power of micro-short films and how they can change your perspective on filmmaking for the better. Micro in process does not equal micro in value.
Build your Portfolio
If you are a director, chances are that with maturity and (some) experience you have learnt that the more work and content you have to show in your portfolio the better it looks for you when applying for funding, approaching investors, or even landing a commercial gig or interest from that big actor you are chasing. With a few of these micro-short films under your name you will look like you have experience (because you damn straight do), and that you are proactive and also very capable.
This applies to most main roles on set including a DOP. The more micro-shorts you can smash out, the more content you have for your showreel, social media account (if that is how you advertise your skills), and your website. The short turnaround for micro-shorts makes this possible. Which leads me to ...
Build an Audience
This is a big one. It is no secret that attention spans keep getting shorter and shorter. The internet and social media breeds distraction and the next shiny new headline or TikTok dance is only a scroll away. But if you are consistent and release micro-shorts regularly you have a better chance to get views and keep people's attention than with a regular short film or feature. Watching a two minute film is easier than watching a two hour feature.
If you already have a niche audience you target with your films, then releasing micro-shorts in that niche can help that audience grow. Take Tim Kellner as an example who works in the niche of travel filmmaking – he films his adventures, composes his own music, and tells stories set to poetry about different places around the world. All of them are only a few minutes in length and all of them follow an experimental narrative – a form of micro-shorts. He has built hundreds of thousands of followers across various platforms. He is consistent. He knows his niche. He releases micro films for that niche and his audience grows and grows.
Obviously, we are not on that level. We are not consistent enough nor have we narrowed down to a specific niche. Yet. But the potential is there. Do anything often enough, show up consistently, release film after film, and your chances of finding your voice and finding your audience are bound to increase.
It all goes back to that advice that is always echoing, “if you want to be a filmmaker, grab a camera and go out and shoot something.” So we'll follow our own advice. Look out for another micro-short from us very soon.
Written by Sarah Jayne.