Filmmakers in Britain have always considered short form narratives and documentaries as a viable step into filmmaking. The BBC and Channel 4 in particular have commissioned and purchased shorts for broadcast on terrestrial television, often as a way to test new talent before awarding the filmmakers a more substantial contract to produce a feature film or documentary. However, since 2003, the landscape has changed. In the current climate the terrestrial television channels have scaled back their commissioned shorts programs and rarely acquire shorts for broadcast. This has left filmmakers with relying on festivals as the main alternative to getting their work seen.

Shorts typically have punchier story lines, are often shot on very low budgets giving them a gritty look, that combined with sharp short stories make compelling viewing. Filmmakers have been shooting movies on their mobiles since 2003 when Nokia introduced the first camera phone. Raindance collaborated with Nokis and produced hundreds of 15 second long shrts which can still be viewed on Raindance.tv in a package we labelled The World’s Shortest Film Festival.

The haunting images on television after the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London demonstrated their news ability. This ground-breaking moment paved the way to the present BBC practice who issue quality mobile handsets to home-based journalists, who then email in their footage for quick assembly, edit and broadcast in the studio. Read more

Social issue documentaries such as An Inconvenient Truth and Food Inc. have made major inroads at the box office, and thanks to the vital work of Participant Media, Sundance Institute, The Good Pitch, Working Films, ITVS and a host of others, these films are generating awareness of and spirited dialogue about the themes and issues they embrace. But what kind of real impact have they made? Where are the raw quantitative and qualitative data that reflect the persuasive power that the best of these docs evince? In the final analysis, do documentaries really effect significant change?

Read more