Short film

In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from the 1920s into the 1970s when confined to two 35mm reels or less, and featurettes for a film of three or four reels.

In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film which is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film.

A short film is any motion picture not long enough in running time to be considered a feature film.

The term was used to distinguish the longer film from the short films (referred to as shorts) typically presented before the main film, such as newsreels, serials, animated cartoons, live-action comedies, and documentaries.

A short film is any motion picture not long enough in running time to be considered a feature film.

The pivotal innovation was the introduction of the three-strip version of the Technicolor process, first used for animated cartoons in 1932, then also for live-action short films and isolated sequences in a few feature films, then for an entire feature film, Becky Sharp, in 1935.

Short comedies were especially popular, and typically came in a serial or series (such as the Our Gang movies, or the many outings of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp character).

A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, generally advancing weekly, until the series is completed.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits".

By the 1920s, a ticket purchased a varied program including a feature and several supporting works from categories such as second feature, short comedy, 5–10 minute cartoon, travelogue, and newsreel.

With the widespread arrival of sound film in American theaters in 1929, many independent exhibitors began dropping the then-dominant presentation model, which involved live acts and a broad variety of shorts before a single featured film.

Short comedies were especially popular, and typically came in a serial or series (such as the Our Gang movies, or the many outings of Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp character). Hal Roach, for example, moved Laurel and Hardy full-time into feature films after 1935, and halved his popular Our Gang films to one reel.

Our Gang (known subsequently to television syndication as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals) is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures.

Later shorts include George O'Hanlon's Joe McDoakes movies, and the animated work of studios such as Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons.

A total of 63 black and white live action one-reel short subjects films were made and released between 1942 and 1956.

Hal Roach, for example, moved Laurel and Hardy full-time into feature films after 1935, and halved his popular Our Gang films to one reel.

Upon coming into an inheritance, he began producing short film comedies in 1915 with his friend Harold Lloyd, who portrayed a character known as Lonesome Luke.

By the mid-1950s, with the rise of television, the commercial live-action short was virtually dead, The Three Stooges being the last major series of 2-reelers, ending in 1959.

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best known for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures that have been regularly airing on television since 1958.

Later shorts include George O'Hanlon's Joe McDoakes movies, and the animated work of studios such as Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons.

Warner Bros. Cartoons was founded in 1933 as Leon Schlesinger Productions, an independent company which produced the popular Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated short subjects for release by Warner Bros. Pictures.

With the rise of the double feature, two-reel shorts went into decline as a commercial category.

For instance, Pixar has screened a short along with each of its feature films during its initial theatrical run since 1995 (producing shorts permanently since 2001).

Although the company started with short films, Pixar is best known for producing high quality, visually impressive CGI-animated feature films technologically powered by RenderMan, the company's own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan Interface Specification image-rendering application programming interface.

Since Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Disney has also produced animated shorts since 2007 with the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater and produced a series of live action ones featuring The Muppets for viewing on YouTube as viral videos to promote the 2011 movie of the same name.

Available content includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary films, audio recordings, movie trailers, live streams, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.

Shorts International and Magnolia Pictures organize an annual release of Academy Award-nominated short films in theatres across the US, UK, Canada and Mexico throughout February and March.

ShortsTV is a cable and satellite television channel dedicated to short film including Academy Award nominated short films.

Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers with either a low budget or no budget at all.

A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length.

DreamWorks Animation often produces a short sequel to include in the special edition video releases of major features, and are typically of a sufficient length to be broadcast as a TV special, a few films from the studio have added theatrical shorts as well.

Specials have been produced which provide a full range of entertainment and informational value available via the television medium (news, drama, comedy, variety, cultural), in various formats (live television, documentary, studio production, animation, film), and in any viewing lengths (short films, theatrical films, miniseries, telethons).

Tropfest claims to be the world's largest short film festival.

Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival.

Animated cartoons came principally as short subjects.

A short film refers to a film that is generally anywhere under 1 hour in length.

This is a list of live-action short films.

This is a list of short subject film series released by Hollywood studios.

A music video is a short film that integrates a song with imagery, and is produced for promotional or artistic purposes.

The Journal of Short Film is a quarterly DVD publication of peer-reviewed short films of all genres.

Movieola is dedicated to short films from all genres including comedy, drama, animation, and more; with films ranging from 30 seconds to 40 minutes in length.