What is a short film?

A short film is a film that is not long enough to be considered a feature film (Under 40 minutes) They are used to present short ideas that benefit from the length because it keeps consistent focus on the idea that a full feature film may not be able to do. They usually only explore one major idea, concept or relationship due to its short run time. It is usually important to reach some kind of resolution within the film or at least hint at what will happen after the film ends.

Short films can also be used as a way for directors and filmmakers to show off their talent in order to have their film taken by investors, for example a short film I recently watched, 'lights out'  by David Sandberg, was picked up after it's success on YouTube and became a feature film of the same name. This also happened with Damien Chazelle's 'Whiplash' where , in order to get funding for his feature length screenplay, he transformed a key scene into a short film which lead to the full length film being made.