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The Art of Short Film Advertising

Thanks to the Internet, there has been a gradual shift taking place in the ad industry as more and more directors are making ads into short films. Most directors are natural born storytellers anyway. Short film ads are usually two to ten minutes long. The ad is then reduced to 30 seconds or a minute to adjust to the conventional TV standards. Short films have this natural poetic feel to them which makes them so enjoyable to watch and they are the ones we remember the most. Short film advertising is fast becoming an art.

Interruptive advertising isn’t as effective anymore as before. Millennials are not investing in TVs as our parents did as less people are watching live broadcast TV. Now, it is all about watching videos online. When there are so many different types of social media platforms (Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook) available it makes sense that the shift has now moved to the cyber world.

In most short films you only get a glimpse of the product at the very end, and it’s not even part of the story. That might be a good thing…or not. Many disagree with the product coming second to the story is a form of bad advertising but many think it is refreshing and a pathway to explore.

According to data from FreeWheel, digital ad views in long-form video were up 86 percent from a year ago in Q4 2013. Perhaps, marketers will continue focusing on creating short and sweet spots but the key to future advertising lies more within the story rather than the length of the video.

Here are a few Short-film ads that caught our eye.

Title: JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL presents Jude Law in ‘The Gentleman’s Wager’
Director: Jake Scott
Producer: Jules Daly, Tracie Norfleet
Executive Producer: Winslow Dennis
Writer: Mike Byrne, Dave Douglas

{The short films run from 2:39 to 10:48. Before and after are Behind The Scenes & Making Of.}
Title: CCTV Spring Festival PSAs “Home” / 央视春节公益广告片《回家》

Title: PRADA CANDY L’EAU
Directors: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Executive producer: Lisa Margulis, Max Brun
Producer: Julie Alford
Production: Pioneer Productions

Title: PRADA presents “CASTELLO CAVALCANTI” by Wes Anderson
Director: Wes Anderson
Client: Prada
Writer: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Executive Producer: Max Brun, Lisa Margulis
Producer: Roman Coppola, Jeremy Dawson, Julie Sawyer