Short films on DVD - An overview
These days, hardly a week goes by without the release of yet another DVD of short films. Now that the DVD has conquered the consumer market as the prime data medium, the distribution of short films on DVD is also gaining in significance. Videotape has been almost completely replaced by DVD as film distribution medium.
And since recording DVDs has become more reasonable thanks to inexpensive authoring programmes and affordable hardware, a host of new options have opened up for distributing short films.
In this first part of our article we will look at the latest developments on the market and provide an overview of the short-film DVDs that are currently available. In a later second instalment we will report on what opportunities the DVD offers for selling and promoting short films - from the point of view of filmmakers and producers, rather than consumers.
Festival, award-winner and anniversary DVDs
More and more film festivals are releasing DVDs featuring films from their latest programmes. Often, an anniversary provides a fitting occasion, as in the case of the 20th anniversary of the Short Film Festival Hamburg (June 2004), or 20 years of Kassel's Documentary and Video Festival (November 2003). In February the Festival du Court Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand also released a DVD, to mark its 25th year on the scene. These anniversary DVDs usually comprise a 'mixed bag' of films in diverse genres, produced in different years. The double DVD compiled by the Clermont-Ferrand festival, for example, juxtaposes short classics like "Foutaises" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1989), "Ilha das Flores" (Jorge Furtado, 1989) and the documentary "Lift" (Marc Isaacs, 2001) with experimental films like "Copy Shop" (Virgil Widrich, 2000) and "Härlig är jorden" (Roy Andersson, 1991) - the latter two titles also appear in other DVD compilations.
The DVDs produced by European short film festivals are intended as a kind of souvenir or extra and are distributed by the makers themselves. They are consequently inexpensive (between 10 and 20 Euros) and their use is not limited to a specific territory by a regional code.
In North America, on the other hand, festival DVDs are usually part of the festival's marketing strategy or serve to provide additional earnings. One festival that has already been releasing compilations for quite some time is the Slamdance Film Festival (Park City). At the 2004 festival the fifth edition of "The Dirty Dozen" DVD series was available, launched already back in 1999. The series is primarily intended for short-film lovers who do not attend the festival. In the Slamdance online shop the "Dirty Dozen" is advertised with the tagline: «They're an inexpensive way to watch the best of Slamdance shorts over and over, without a ticket to Park City».
Other North American festivals cooperate with specialist producers and marketing companies for their festival DVDs. This gives them the advantage of a greater reach, since these DVDs have a chance of being sold in retail chains and online shops. One example of this strategy is the "Film Fest" series from Repnet, featuring films from the Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Hawaii, Santiago and other festivals. These DVDs (regional code 1) take the form of a magazine, including editorial reports on the festivals. Advertisements for the DVDs highlight the more glamorous aspects of the festivals involved, including celebrities and famous filmmakers like George Lucas, Jim Jarmusch or Stanley Kubrick.
Film schools are also starting to promote student works in DVD form. For example, Zurich's School of Art and Design has released a DVD with 17 short films, once again to mark an anniversary. And at the beginning of 2004 the College of Fine Arts in Hamburg brought out a DVD of 24 animated shorts produced at the school during the last 15 years by students of Franz Winzentsen. These include the Oscar winner "Balance" by the Lauenstein brothers (price: 25 Euros). Both schools' DVDs supplement the short films with background information and bonus material.
New is the production of DVDs commissioned by institutions that present short-film awards or host competitions. A DVD featuring the winners of the International Media Art Award has been released annually in Germany for the past several years. Produced by ZKM (Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe) and Südwestfunk (Southwest German Broadcasting Corporation), these DVDs include both the award winners and clips from the nominated works (the top fifty) and are available for a nominal fee of 5 Euros.
In February 2004 the 75th Academy Awards winners were released on DVD, available for $19.99 (list price). Perhaps this DVD is a "spin off" of the examination DVD used in the nominating process?
As a matter of fact, in February 2004 the French Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma likewise put together a DVD of the nominated short films for the first time, which the organizers then sent out to the 3,200 Académie members so they could examine the films. This double DVD, produced in cooperation with the Agence Court métrage, has however not (not yet?) been released to the public. Only the winner of the César du Meilleur Court Métrage ("L'homme sans t?te" by Juan Solanas) was brought out on DVD at the end of May, produced by MK2 - after a short interval for cinematic release. Since people can hardly be expected to purchase a DVD featuring only a single short film, even one priced less than 6 Euros, this DVD includes as "bonus" a three-minute clip of the awards ceremony and thank-you speech, and a "Making of" that lasts 75 minutes!
The organizers of the Goya Awards in Spain were quicker on the draw, offering a DVD of the nominated and winning shorts as early as February, produced by Mare Films and sold in Spanish FNAC stores for 11.95 Euros ("Los mejores cortos del cine - Volumen 4").
Short film compilations in retail stores or online shops
As a rule, the amount of effort required and the market demand do not justify making a DVD out of only one short film. Among the few exceptions to this rule, such as the above-mentioned César winner, are short films that have achieved a high degree of popularity and that are released on the filmmaker's own initiative. One in example of this in Germany is the film "Forklift Driver Klaus" by Jörg Wagner and Stefan Prehn. In addition to the 9-minute short, the DVD includes some 70 minutes of bonus material and is sold by the filmmakers themselves, as well as by the Short Film Agency Hamburg (10 Euros).
More common, however, are compilations of several short films on one DVD. These might be films that share a thematic context, or a collection of works from a certain era, or perhaps a retrospective of the work of one filmmaker. US labels are the major innovators in this field. However, not all groundbreaking ideas have met with financial success. And, conversely, commercial success may also prove to be a disadvantage: namely, when small initiatives or groups are swallowed up by large corporations, with the original idea getting lost in the process, or when a good concept is watered down to suit the demands of commerce.
Short-film magazines on DVD: From Short Cinema Journal to Warner Short Series
A pioneering idea that is still bearing fruit today was the brainchild of a group of short-film fans in California who called themselves "2014" after their office address (2014 Pacific Avenue, Venice, CA). The very same year that the first DVD player came onto the consumer market, 1998, they founded a DVD magazine called "Short Cinema Journal", featuring the latest short films as well as classics, along with editorial reports, recordings of performances and director portraits. Each issue focused on a specific topic, such as "Invention", "Dreams" and "Authority" for the first three. The first issue, "Short Cinema Journal 1:1", contained 13 short films, for a total running time of 2 hours - these included "The Big Story" by Tim Watts and "Black Rider" by Pepe Danquart.
The magazine concept is very similar to the short-film magazine on ARTE - the difference being that the "Short Cinema Journal" could be subscribed to, just like a print magazine, and was distributed only on DVD. "2014" recognized early on that DVD, with its 'interactive' features, had the potential to be more than just a distribution or storage medium for linear films. Hence, the "Short Cinema Journal" gives users multiple navigation options and takes advantage of the medium's technical possibilities by offering, for example, a selection of languages and sound options.
The disk was produced by Polygram for an initial price of $ 24. With a subscription from publisher DVD-Mag, however, it could be had for less than 10 dollars. After three issues the "Short Cinema Journal" was taken over by QuickBand Networks (Hollywood) and sold by Warner Home Video under the series title "Short" (later, QuickBand was bought out by another company, broadband application specialist On2). Some of the former employees and founders of "Short Cinema Journal" ended up resigning from the editorial staff. One of them, Scott Epstein, joined Broadcast DVD and conceived there the short-film series "Film Fest" (see above).
From "Short 7" in 2000 to the last issue, "Short 11 - Ecstasy" (2001), Kim Adelman was the editor in charge of content for the DVD magazine (see also Faits Divers: Book Publications). Despite corporate takeovers, a fight over the question of whether the DVD magazine should contain advertising, and, despite the fact that the DVD is sold by industry giant Warner Bros., Adelman was able to a great extent to stick to the original concept. Like the by now legendary first three issues, the magazine, henceforward entitled only "Short", offered a mixture of current short films and older classics in various genres. Each issue featured not only, as might be expected, an American fiction short, but also international titles, as well as experimental films and documentaries. The new films included both well-known, award-winning titles as well as lesser-known works by emerging filmmakers. In later issues, however, the classics were increasingly replaced by older films from famous feature-film directors, which were probably more interesting to potential advertisers. "Short Cinema Magazine 1:2", for example, featured "La Jetée" by Chris Marker and the 1:3 issue had "Night and Fog" by Alain Resnais. On "Short 8" Leni Riefenstahl's "Day of Freedom" was the bow to the great directors, and in "Short 10" George Lucas' student film "THX 1138" was the featured advertising lure.
In technical terms, "Short 10" marked the beginning of experimentation with additional interactive options for viewers - such as a choice of several camera angles. The last issues in the series - with which a viewer could spend a good 10 hours at the computer - were released in the new DVD-9 format, which offers substantially greater storage capacity and more interactivity, while also demanding higher performance from the playback device and thus limiting the number of potential users.
Finally, the shorts series brought out two issues for international export: "Short: Release 1" included "Du Côte de la Côte" by Agnes Varda and Release 2 featured a one-hour portrait of director Jane Campion.
Additional labels in the USA
The first label to again take up the idea of a magazine for shorts was the Resfest Media Group - an international organization that hosts digital film competitions and puts on festivals around the globe, while also publishing an e-mail newsletter and the print magazine "Res". Resfest publishes two DVD series: "Best of Rest Fest" and "Res DVD". The latter is distributed as a cover mount in the print magazine by the same name. The first best-of issue includes "Snack & Drink" by Bob Sabiston and "Deformer" by Mike Mills as well as background reports and interviews with the featured filmmakers. Volume 2 includes "Copy Shop" by Virgil Widrich, Mark Osborne's "More" (also featured in the "Short" series) and "Dog" by Suzie Templeton. On the third and, till now, last issue, "Terminal Bar" by Stefan Nadelman, "Jubilee Line" by Tim Hope and "Home Road Movies" by Robert Bradbrook could be seen.
The Res DVD magazine cover mount features primarily digital experiments, audio tracks and music videos (for example, Radiohead and Björk).
The Resfest DVDs are available in multiple languages and with all regional codes (price: $17.95).
Microcinema as well, which regularly goes on tour with its "Independent Exposure" short-film programme, has recently started releasing its own DVDs and imports from Europe under the label "The Blackchair DVD Collection". In addition to documentary and feature films, these also include short-film DVDs with works by Zbig Rybczynski, Craig Baldwin, Miranda July and Kasumi, as well as compilations of Independent Exposure programmes.
Some of the more interesting short classics can be found on the art house label Criterion - such as, for example, "by Brakhage - an anthology" with 26 films by Stan Brakhage ($39.95).
Examples of independent labels in Europe
Lowave
Lowave is an independent label for innovative filmmakers based in Paris. Lowave functions as a platform for contemporary audio-visual productions that are seldom or never seen in the classic distribution channels. Following the "Urban Visions" compilation in 2002, Lowave brought out its second DVD in March 2004, entitled "Lust: 12 Sexy Shorts". In addition to the films, the Lowave DVDs contain biographies and interviews with the artists. Special highlights are subtitles in 5 languages and an absence of regional coding. Lowave aims to attract an international audience that is looking for small-edition DVDs in the arts context. The DVDs are hence sold above all in museum shops - for example, at Centre Pompidou (Paris), ICA and the Tate Modern (London) or at ZKM (Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe). "Urban Visions" is also available in Germany from the Short Film Agency Hamburg (26 Euros).
cinema16
In Great Britain, Luke Morris, producer of the short film "Je t'aime John Wayne", published 16 British short films on DVD last year. The "British Short Films" DVD features 16mm shorts that have never been released, or that were made by well-known feature film directors such as Ridley Scott, Peter Greenaway, Mike Leigh and Chris Nolan. Also included are short works that made a name for their makers even before their feature film careers took off - such as Lynne Ramsey's "Gasman" - and, finally, examples of artists who remained true to short film, like John Smith with "Girl Chewing Gum". An interesting feature of this DVD is that it provides optional voice-over commentaries by each filmmaker on his/her film.
Morris' strategy of demonstrating the importance of short film to (British) cinema by showcasing diverse examples and highlighting big names was a successful one. The DVD sold over 5,000 copies in Great Britain in the first 12 months after its release (PAL, codefree, ?17.99 - available from the Short Film Agency Hamburg for 24.90 Euros).
Buoyed by the success of "British Short Films", Morris is now, in June 2004, bringing out a second short-film DVD under his label CINEMA16, with a selection of films by European directors. Following his successful formula, the "European Short Films" DVD also combines early works by acclaimed feature-film directors (Kieslowski, Godard, Lars van Trier, Tykwer), contemporary classics ("Härlig är jorden"/World of Glory by Roy Andersson) and the latest award-winning short films by up-and-coming filmmakers (for more information, see: FAITS DIVERS).
Antiprod
In France, the gay & lesbian label Antiprod has, in addition to feature films, been publishing international short-film compilations for years. The "Courts mais gay" series has released DVDs with films including "Freunde" (The Whiz Kids) by Jan H. Krüger, "Far West" by Pascal-Alex Vincent and "W" by Luc Feit. The seventh edition, "Courts mais gay tome 7", will come out in June 2004 - including, among other titles, "Les Majorettes de l'Espace" by David Fourier (PAL, regional code 2, 23.99 Euros).
Also appearing in June 2004 on the Antiprod label is the second edition of the series "Courts mais lesbien", including the films "Amidonnée (Starched)" by Cath Le Couteur, "L'homme ideal" by François Ozon and "Odd Sock" by Collette Cullen (PAL, regional code 2, 31.56 Euros).
Finally, let's take a brief look at the short-film DVD scene in Germany. Here, Escapi Media in cooperation with the Interfilm Festival Berlin and the Short Film Agency Hamburg were the pioneers. Last year Interfilm released its "Short Cuts Vol. 1" with new and older films that had run in the festival's international competition, such as "God@Heaven" by Joe Neulight and "Covered with Chocolate" by Ansgar Ahlers (120 Min, 20 Euros). In Hamburg, the Short Film Agency is now not only distributing some of the above-named DVDs put out by other labels, but is also taking on the role of publisher itself with a DVD of children's films and a retrospective of animated films by Franz Winzentsen ("The China Shop", DVD-9 with booklet, codefree, 25 Euros). And a special animated treat has been released by Stuttgart's Film Bilder studio: 50 minutes of short films by Phil Mulloy!
In the second part of this article, we will discuss the DVD as a medium for marketing, distribution and promotion, paying special attention to the latest developments as seen from the point of view of filmmakers and producers. In the meantime, we would be delighted to hear your views and receive reports of your own experiences on the topic of short films on DVD!
Reinhard W. Wolf
Links:
Festival du Court Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand