Chen Shusheng's "A Little Kindness" depict the changing lives of grassroots people in a fast-paced modern society. (Photo/Shanghai Daily)
The Chinese film market, second-largest in the world, is perhaps best known for fantasy and adventure blockbusters, but short films are also attracting attention on both sides of the camera.
Many young people, like Kiko Li, a 20-year old Donghua University student, are finding enchantment in smaller, more intimate cinema. Some are motivated to try their hand at filmmaking.
"I happened to see the South Korean short "You Are More Than Beautiful" when I was browsing Weibo," said Li. "Out of curiosity, I clicked into it. It's a romantic story and I enjoyed watching it."
But "Father," a 2011 short directed by the well-known Beijing-based "Chopsticks Brothers" made its deepest impression on her. The film tells a touching story about paternal love and family bonds.
Compared with traditional films, shorts are cheaper and quicker to view because they largely appear online.
"I don't have to buy a ticket and I can watch a complete story within half an hour," Li said.
Her interest has moved beyond just viewing. She and some like-minded classmates want to dabble in filmmaking, and shorts provide a perfect entry genre.
Li has already shot one film about fashion. She said she found the process more time-consuming than she expected and fraught with technical challenges, but she's determined to press on.
The Internet makes such dreams feasible because it provides access to millions of viewers.
The China Internet Network Information Center says there were 668 million netizens in China at the end of June 2015, for an Internet penetration rate of almost 49 percent. About 594 million people use mobile phones to access the Internet.
Last year in China, domestic short films made 5 billion yuan (US$75 million) in profit, according to industry participants attending last year's 4th annual China International Micro Film Festival. Earnings are expected to double this year.
Zheng Hu, a veteran film producer, said he sees an exciting future for the short movie genre.
"Compared with big screen movies, shorts typically have low budgets, short production times, quick returns, and more freedom and flexibility of creation," he said. "All that makes shorts a dynamic genre for many young enthusiasts, especially first-time filmmakers."
Last year's festival attracted a record 600 short films from at home and abroad, from professionals and amateurs. The judges said they were impressed by the original scripts and accomplished cinematography displayed in many of the entries.
Xu Jing, a TV post-production worker from Shanghai Media Group, won an award for best public-interest film at the contest with her "Taxi Stop." It's an 8-minute film about love and how it affects people's lives, told from the perspective of an old man.
The film cost 10,000 yuan to produce and took Xu three days to shoot and one month to edit. All the actors in the film were amateurs.
"We tend to ignore small but important happy moments in our lives," Xu said of the film. "I wanted to make people aware that love is all around us."
The short film genre is to some degree rooted in commercials, nonprofit ads and animation. Today's shorts cover a wide range of subjects, many of them related to the lives and fads of the younger generation.
Most of the major video-sharing websites in China offer free video on demand services. Shorts are often promoted on Weibo.
Christine Wang, a student at Fudan University, nominated "Top Ten," directed by Bi Niexin in 2013, as the best short she has ever watched. The film takes a witty look at college entrance examinations.
"The plot rang true to my own life," she said. "I enjoyed it a lot."
Aside from product advertising, shorts are used by governments and corporations to reach a broader public.
According to Chen Shusheng, a veteran short film director, there are increasing demands from government offices and corporations for movies extolling virtues, etiquette, traditional Chinese culture and innovation.
Chen's two recent shorts, "A Little Kindness" and "A Story About Laver," both depict the changing lives of grassroots people in a fast-paced modern society.
Shanghai hosted its first ever public-interest short film festival, which focused the lens on the everyday lives of people and on the plight of society's disadvantaged.
Peter Marshall, a celebrated filmmaker at the Shanghai Vancouver Film School, has worked in the film and television industry for over 40 years. He defines a short as a film of 30 minutes or less.
"Compared to feature films, shorts have very little time to set up a story and characters, so to be successful, these films need to have a simple story structure and focus on only one or two storylines," Marshall said.
It obviously takes a lot less time to prepare, shoot and edit a short, but the challenge of the genre is finding the right format, casting unknowns and usually working with less experienced crews.
"For a short, it's important to have a simple story that can be told quickly, without trying to give audiences too much information and confusing them," Marshall said.
Some industry participants predict that short films will start appearing in big-screen cinemas more frequently.
Last year, "Cities in Love" was screened in traditional movie houses. It's a romance comprised of five shorts filmed by young Chinese directors. Each film tells a distinctive love story. The work was a collaboration between young film directors and celebrated filmmakers such as Stanley Kwan, Shunji Iwai and Wei Te-sheng.
Some popular Internet short films have provided inspiration for full-length movies.
In 2014, the comedy film "Old Boy: The Way of the Dragon," created by the "Chopstick Brothers" Xiao Yang and Wang Taili, was a box office sensation. The film was based on their online short film "Old Boy," which received more than 80 million clicks when it was uploaded to Youku in 2010.
"The Internet is the best place right now for anyone who wants to make short films for a potentially large audience," Marshall said. "If you want to make films, my advice is to write a script, shoot it and show it online."
