Genre

The genres of short films can be similar to those used in normal feature length films. However the most popular genre is comedy. This probably because it is very easy to make a short film funny as there is less time to fill with the rest of the story. Many short films are included alongside feature length films, such as Pixar made a short narrative to accompany the film 'UP' (Pixar short). This means that a lot of the short films produced today are aimed at the younger audience, perhaps whose attention span is shorter.

Short films are becoming more and more popular in portraying important social messages such as don't recycling or road safety (stop, look, listen hedgehogs). Genres can however differ from comedy and social messages to things like horror, however these are less known and are mainly shown at specialist places such as film festivals (specifically for short films).

Why is genre important?
In relation to audience, genre is important in helping them to decided on whether they will like the film. By the audience identifying the genre of a film, its a way of them seeing whether its their sort of film. One way that genre is expressed is through the actors/ actresses that star in the film. For instance if you liked Hugh Grant, and saw that he was in a new film, you would assume that it would be of the genre romantic comedy, as this is tha main style that he acts in. This is useful for the institution or industry producing the films.

For the film industry, genre also helps in the marketing of films. If genres have recognisable visual motifs, they can be used as advertising to give an idication of what sort of film is. Making films in genres makes it easier to plan production. Certain sorts of sets and costumes could be used time and time again. A studio could invest in certain types of actors if it is specialised in a particular genre.