YouTube

Perhaps the first option that everyone will think of. YouTube, as a platform, attracts a great number of short filmmakers because of its global reach and popularity. Although the YouTube algorithm is more geared towards headline-grabbing content, meaning short films are unlikely to be initially recommended to users, the platform’s ubiquity means audiences are most likely to discover short films by using YouTube. 

Vimeo

Despite in some ways being quite similar to YouTube, Vimeo has done a lot to differentiate itself, particularly by appealing to filmmakers. One point against Vimeo is that to get the most out of the platform (including access to its best tools and more video upload space), filmmakers must pay for subscription plans. However, Vimeo also offers higher-quality video output, along with more customisation and privacy options for filmmakers to utilise branding and protect their work. The site is also more specifically focused on courting a viewer base interested in short films. For example, the platform has partnered with the European Film Academy. In doing so, it created a curated collection of high-quality shorts for viewers to watch. It’s a platform that is more centred on filmmaking than general video content.

Klipist

Essentially, Klipist is the Netflix of short films. The site has a good library of modern shorts that viewers can watch for free without adverts. Klipist also allows filmmakers to submit their projects to the service. In addition, links on each film’s page allow viewers to learn more about the film’s production and crew. The asking price for submissions of shorts is fairly steep. But, as a platform intended to foreground the prestige that short films are capable of and encourage viewers to learn more about the people making them, it is quite a good resource for short filmmakers.

Filmd

This platform is probably the most unique of all the resources listed here. Acting as a platform for film workers to interact with each other and seek out job opportunities, Filmd also allows film workers to upload their work. Through its Screening Room feature, other workers are encouraged to watch and provide feedback on a library of primarily short films. Again, subscription fees prevent the full utilisation of the platform for smaller creators. That said, it has the potential to be a great tool for encouraging artistic development, especially for those making shorts.

Streaming Platforms

Beyond platforms that are useful for both uploading and watching short films, they have become a much more accepted presence on streaming services in recent years. Among the major streaming platforms, MUBI and BBC iPlayer are likely the most underappreciated. Both provide a great space for short films to be considered alongside features. With a great variety and quantity of films available on their platforms.

These are merely a few resources that demonstrate the greatness of short films and encourage short filmmakers to showcase their work. If you take anything away from this article, let it be this: the world of short films is as vast and rich as longer-form movies. It deserves to be appreciated and nurtured just as much.

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Today we will look briefly at how media figures who started on applications like Vine, YouTube, TikTok, etc. began breaking into films. We will analyse why video creatives have begun to enter films. As well as how it could impact the industry’s future.

Influencers Come To Films

Films featuring well-known internet personalities have been around since at least the late 2000s. Films like Press Start: The Movie and Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure were made by YouTube creators as passion projects and extensions of their online personas. Then 2009’s Mystery Team and 2010’s Fred: The Movie became the first movies starring/directed by YouTubers to receive cinematic releases. While neither financially succeeded Fred: The Movie became the first part of a trilogy. Mystery Team marked the debut of many recognisable modern actors. Additionally, they both opened up the possibility for further movies to be released cinematically. Allowing them to capture audiences outside of their niche online fandom. 

And as the years have progressed we have seen more influencers/creators from various platforms make their film debut as stars or directors. Vine stars like Liza Koshy and TikTok stars like Addison Rae have popped up in films as varied as Boo: A Madea Halloween, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Thanksgiving. Plus films like Talk To Me and Arctic have seen directors emerge who made their start on YouTube. The generation that has grown up with video creation and social media is now becoming part of the wider filmmaking industry.

The Power of Influence

So why have influencers become more prominent in filmmaking? The first explanation is that having a well-known online creator/influencer attached to a project works well from a marketing standpoint. Allowing marketers to automatically sell the project to the creator’s/influencer’s audience. While giving exposure for the creator/influencer to wider audiences that may not have heard of their content. Thus making their involvement a cynical marketing/self-promotion ploy. 

However, it would be naive to assume that these moves are done purely for that reason. Many people have dreams of being part of the film industry and being a video creator/influencer helps to develop useful film industry skills (whether it’s screen presence, knowledge of how to use cameras, editing etc.). Essentially it allows creators to learn skills that could benefit a move to filmmaking/acting. This makes filmmaking/acting a natural progression for many influencers/creators.

And crucially as well as the above-mentioned skills these personalities have a unique relationship with their audience. Like film stars and celebrity directors, these creators/influencers use different platforms to amplify personalities/work that makes people interested to see what they do. That said, these figures can interact with fans in a more direct and personable way. They don’t have to make newspaper statements or television announcements they can just open their accounts and speak directly to their audience. Allowing them to have more of a feel of authenticity and relatability. Which makes it all the more intriguing to see what these influencers are doing. As these influencers aren’t Hollywood stars or high-profile creators, they are social media users like us. Or at least appear to be. Which can benefit marketers, the creatives and the audience’s sense of investment in a project.

The Future

With popular media sites like YouTube and video-sharing platforms like TikTok inspiring users to take up video making and content production, coupled with filmmaking institutions encouraging influencers to make films, we will likely see more figures begin to become part of mainstream filmmaking. Which could result in some much-needed variety in filmmaking and performance perspectives.

However, as I have stated previously many apps that allow influencers to gain prominence privilege certain voices over others. Limiting the possibilities for marginalised creators and showcasing eye-catching content over experimentation and sometimes overall quality. This means the potential for more diverse filmmaking and casting could be squandered for attention-grabbing headlines and self-serving self-promotion of popular figures. Will artistry trump marketing with this shift? Or is it likely to be a mixture of both?

Also Read: Behind the Name: The Origins and Reasons for Actors’ Stage Names

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Today we’ll look at two factors (advertising and consolidation) that could in the future make streaming resemble the old cable television model.

Ads Will End In…

Streaming services supported by adverts are nothing new. Think of the likes of FreeVee, ITVHub, All4, Pluto TV, YouTube, etc., or the value apps available on smart TV sticks. But surprisingly big streaming players like Netflix are now moving to include a subscription tier on their service that allows you to watch their content for cheaper with adverts. Will audiences accept this shift?

Well, commercial advert-supported services like All4 and ITVHub have a firm foothold in the UK. According to an early 2022 Ofcom survey 45% of online adults/teens aged 13+ had used ITVHub/STV Player and 41% had used All4 in the past 3 months to watch films/tv shows. Outperforming all major SVoD brands except for Amazon Prime and Netflix. The BFI 2021 Statistical Yearbook also showed 31% of UK households using ITVHub and 22% using All4. So adverts don’t necessarily hinder viewer interest.

However, surveys like this one from Morning Consult indicate that a majority of streaming audiences hate this idea. Would this stop people from taking up Netflix’s advertiser-friendly model? Would advertising be seen as more egregious if introduced to a previously ad-free service? Possibly but in the midst of a cost of living crisis, the cheaper advertising-friendly option may prove very attractive.

And Then There Were Fewer

Advertising isn’t the only way streaming is starting to resemble cable TV. Warner Bros Discovery’s boss David Zaslav has announced the plan to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform in 2023. Consolidating Warner’s streaming service approach. With the aim of reaching around 130 million subscribers by 2025. A bigger market share than what HBO Max and Discovery+ currently have.

With all of Warner’s media available in one place, this move will undoubtedly provide convenience for potential customers. And the consolidation of technology assets could provide a better quality experience.

However, this merger of different streaming services into a single package resembles how media conglomerates consolidated the number of TV stations they owned which meant cable customers had to have specific network subscriptions in order to get what they wanted. If this move is taken up by other conglomerates it could have bad consequences for consumers as customers will be forced to pay for multiple services to access everything they want. It will mean less major media released on third-party services. Many companies would rather retain their projects as a selling point for their service. And if consolidated services gain market power due to their content access they could begin raising prices as they won’t have to worry about competing with rival services.

The New Cable TV?  

With the success of advert-supported streaming services, the adoption of adverts by already established companies and the consolidation of streaming services owned by bigger companies the streaming market is slowly starting to resemble that of cable TV. These measures are undoubtedly being done to make these businesses more profitable and to increase their hold on the streaming market. And it does offer some benefits to consumers in terms of convenience. But it’s also driving customer-unfriendly practices. Ultimately we shall have to see how audiences react to these changes to see if streaming ends up becoming just like its predecessor.

Also Read: The New Hollywood: Streaming Giants

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It occurred to me later that I’d absorbed a lot of Oscars information as a teenager when I spent my time watching acceptance speeches on YouTube and scrolling through the Trivia section on IMDb whenever I watched a movie. I also knew that the wealth of my knowledge-focused heavily on women because, as in most art forms, their work interested me more. The Oscars led me to some of that work, to the kinds of films I wasn’t aware of as a child, the type of films that played against the big blockbuster movies of my youth and instead featured women who did more than scream and ask the male lead what to do. This meant I’d go and see movies like Rachel Getting Married, An Education, or Blue Valentine with the money I got from my first job; films that introduced me to a different kind of filmmaking. I also used the Oscars as a basecamp for movie history by scrolling back through the lists of previous Oscar winners and becoming obsessed with Kathrine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Deborah Kerr, Barbra Streisand and many others, all of whom were women who had their own history of being overlooked or celebrated by the Academy. 

It seemed, however, that any Oscar titbits I might learn mainly were seen as useless information or, at best, a party trick doled out to impress people for a few minutes before they became bored when I tried to discuss the subject further. I knew an older gay man who could list every Best Picture winner in order after a few drinks at the pub and thought, maybe one day, I’d do the same with the actresses who had won but, beyond that, it wouldn’t be very useful. Occasionally, when I watched a film with my housemates, one would point and ask if an actor in the movie we were watching had ever won an Oscar. I could say yes or no and, in the cases of actresses, had a good idea about what they’d won for. Or, like had happened with Kidman that Saturday morning, a few small opportunities would appear from nowhere, and I’d be in my element before the conversation inevitably moved on. 

Some years after I summoned Kidman’s filmography as if through divine intervention, I was scrolling through YouTube, likely watching my favourite Best Actress speeches, when I came across a video dedicated to the tie between Barbra Streisand and Katherine Hepburn in 1969. This was one of the first Oscar stories I got wrapped up in after I began looking at its history. It featured two actresses I loved, unpacked the myths that had sprung up around that year, and, beyond all that, I was obsessed with the sheer black outfit Streisand wore to the ceremony. I clicked the video immediately, and at over fifteen minutes, the video deepened my understanding of that moment and my knowledge of two actresses I loved.

The video was uploaded by Be Kind Rewind, a channel dedicated to essayistic deep-dives into actresses who have won Oscars. As a standard format, each video focused on a particular Best Actress winner in a specific year by considering the narrative created around the winner, the other nominees, the cultural context that led to each woman accepting the golden statuette, and the socio-political implications behind Hollywood’s biggest night. After I finished the first video, I burned through all the analytical, insightful and well-researched video essays they’d uploaded so far and eagerly awaited new ones. 

As the channel grew, it expanded into videos that moved away from the Oscars, but its focus remained on women. In 2018, the channel released a video examining the differences between the many versions of A Star is Born, looking specifically at the role of ‘The Star’ and how it differed from Janet Gaynor to Judy Garland, to Streisand, and then Lady Gaga. They released “hot takes” on the recent award wins, particularly the 2019 race when Olivia Coleman won over Glenn Close, and an excellent essay on Madonna’s filmic references within her many music videos. There were lengthy and nuanced discussions of the Academy’s controversies, too. There was a set of two excellent semi-linked videos on #OscarsSoWhite. The first focused on Halle Berry’s historic win in 2001, and the second on the poor representation of Asian and Asian American women at the Oscars throughout history. In other videos, such as those dedicated to Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow, they considered the Harvey Weinstein of it all, a figure that looms large in any discussion of movies from the nineties and early noughties. In essence, the videos not only gave reverence to the women and the performances at their centre but connected them to a broader context in a way that fought back against the frivolity and in-built misogyny that coloured discussions about them in the past. So often, the performances nominated for Best Actress do not come from films nominated for Best Picture, which leads to Be Kind Rewind’s central message: that art made by, for, or featuring women should not be devalued or considered less than on this basis alone.  

For over a decade now, the Academy has expanded the Best Picture category from five to a possible ten, with the actual number varying each year depending on the number of votes it receives. In a 2017 article for Vanity Fair, Daniel Joyaux looked at the correlation between Best Picture and the Leading acting categories. Between 2011 and 2017, 30 actors and 30 actresses were nominated for leading roles, but as Joyaux notes, “while 21 of those best-actor performances came in films that were also nominated for best picture, only 12 best-actress performances came from best-picture nominees.” In focusing on Best Actress wins, Be Kind Rewind gives time and space to often-ignored or undervalued films. This, more often than not, is because the Academy, and the film industry at large, have shaped perceptions around what “prestige” means, about what “good” means, and it almost exclusively applies to male-led films. 

 “What is considered good or important cinema?” the narrator asks in their video on the 2020 Oscars race. “Thankfully, the Academy isn’t the only body attempting to answer that question, and their decisions are rarely considered sacrosanct.” So why are we drawn to them? The Oscars’ longevity and their centrality within the industry imply a sense of status, but that centrality also makes them a prime place to start for the cultural evaluation found in Be Kind Rewind’s videos. Part of loving the Oscars or being interested in their past is to acknowledge the Academy’s flaws. Increasingly, year by year, those who grew to love the Oscars when we were younger find ourselves increasingly annoyed that performances or movies that make waves or are considered significant are ignored. This, for me, was best encapsulated in this year’s ceremony, when not a single person I wanted to win took home an award (and other actors who I think deserved the top prize, like Renate Reinsve in The Worst Person in the World, weren’t even nominated). 

In a recent interview with W, Izzy, the creator of Be Kind Rewind – who told the magazine she would like to remain “semi-incognito” – described the channel as a place for people who love classic cinema, and particularly the women who populate it, to come together. “There aren’t too many places to congregate and meet people who are interested in those same things, so the internet opened up the floodgates”, she said. “When I declared loudly online that this was what I loved talking about, it allowed others to find me.” This echoes the general notion of the good that the internet can do; it connects people. It is perhaps helpful to remind ourselves of this as being online is becoming increasingly hellish. There are corners of the web that offer people the chance to be passionate about things and for others to engage with that passion, to meet that enthusiasm head-on. For me, Be Kind Rewind’s YouTube channel is one of them.

Also Read: How Film Changed Me: On Nicole Kidman

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Watch the full documentary below

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