Short films open up long range of options

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- A really long short should last no more than 40

minutes.

A really short short can be about a minute.

“Smackers,” from last year’s Newport Beach Film Festival, ran one

minute and 26 seconds and earned the kudos of being a “real gem” from

Alex Melli, director of shorts programming.

The story revolved around a clique of girls known for kissing the

mirror in the school bathroom while not letting the geeky girls do the

same. The principal gets involved and, to fix their ways, asks Bob the

janitor to reveal how he cleans the lipstick marks.

He dunks the mop in the toilet and wipes away.

“It communicated a whole story very quickly and completely,” Melli

said. “The shorts get all the same elements of a feature, but it’s

simplified and condensed.”

This year’s third annual festival includes 120 short films, with

“Thoth” being an Academy Award winner and a dozen being from outside the

United States. Melli and his staff screened more than 350 works to arrive

at their hundred-some and judged each film on the strength of its story,

its production value and the quality of acting.

“But the story is the key to everything,” Melli said.

Filmmakers create shorts to experiment with cutting-edge,

rule-breaking ideas that might prove risky for a feature-length, Melli

said. While features need to be more publicly consumable, shorts can get

away with almost any amount of wackiness and unexpectedness.

“Basically, you’re just trying something, so no matter what, it almost

can’t fail,” Melli said of the experimental types. “Even if you don’t

like it, you can appreciate the effort.”

He added that it has become trendy for Hollywood stars to get involved

in short films. Kevin Spacey narrated “The Tower of Babble,” and David

Hyde Pierce starred in “Laud Weiner.” Sometimes they do it to help out a

lesser-known filmmaking friend for an afternoon, sometimes they do it for

the beauty of a quickie.

Filmmakers also prefer making shorts when they’re on a limited budget

and with limited time. They create short films to learn more about making

feature films. And sometimes they promote a short to raise funds to

eventually build a longer work around it.

“It can be very satisfying,” Melli said of watching a bundle of shorts

at the festival. “Your odds of seeing something you like go up quite a

bit. It’s like telling a quick joke as opposed to telling a lengthy

story.”

The crucial element in making shorts is making sure everything exists

for a reason.

“There are some that . . . the movie itself could be told in 10

minutes, but they try and stretch it out to feel longer,” Melli said.

“The purpose of people going into a short film is to expect a succinct

story. Viewers can tell if it takes too much time.”

Cherylin Primero, senior shorts programmer for the festival, is a film

student at Chapman University who has been an editor of shorts and made a

few herself.

The challenge in editing a short, which is already sparse in nature,

is to ensure everything’s tight, she said.

“There’s a tendency in short films [of] directors who want everything

they shot in the film,” said Primero, whose own short work about a girl’s

search for her natural mother lasts just five minutes.

Melli has a piece in this year’s festival title “The Collector.” It

runs 11 minutes and 36 seconds and details a frustrated young mechanic’s

attempt to con his way to a better life.

As a short-film maker, he understands the mind behind the art.

“It’s a naturally fun and exuberant group of people,” Melli said.

“They take chances is what it boils down to.”