For many filmmakers, especially ones who are at the stage of just starting off, short films are a much more feasible option to venture into in terms of their scope for experimenting. It is also the more affordable option that can often help filmmakers gain recognition and appreciation through screenings held in film festivals or by streaming them online on multiple available platforms.
Short films are often the first step of their careers but interestingly, many acclaimed filmmakers have gone ahead and expanded their own not-so-popular shorts into full-length feature films that we know of today. Here’s a list of the most interesting short films that were eventually turned into successful feature films.
Whiplash
Before Whiplash could be made into one of the masterpieces of cinema we know of today, writer-director Damien Chazelle initially lacked sufficient financial funding to make the feature film. In order to win the trust of potential producers and receive the right financial backing for the film, Damien shot only one scene from the movie with a little amount of money which also became short to be entered into various film festivals. This well-devised plan worked brilliantly, thus helping him launch his career with Whiplash and eventually even go on to make La La Land, a film that fetched him an Oscar.
Andhadhun
Back in 2013, director-writer Sriram Raghavan saw L’Accordeur (The Piano Tuner), a 2010 French short film about a blind pianist, at the recommendation of his friend, filmmaker Hemanth M Rao. He liked the film and got inspired to make Andhadhun, a film whose script is based on the short, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, and Radhika Apte in the lead roles.
The Babadook
In 2005, director Jennifer Kent made a short film named ‘Monster’ that inspired her 2014 horror feature ‘The Babadook’. Called “Baby Babadook” by the director, ‘Monster’ is shot in an eerie black and white reel. While both the films stand true to their gut-wrenching horror, ‘The Babadook’ displays some truly terrifying moments that are far too rare in short-form horror.
Yes God Yes
‘Yes, God, Yes’ is a 2019 comedy feature film written and directed by Karen Maine, co-writer of the 2014 hit comedy Obvious Child. The film starring Stranger Things alum Natalia Dyer in the lead is a story of a Catholic teenager in the early 2000s, who after an innocent AOL chat that turns racy, discovers masturbation and struggles to suppress her urges in the face of eternal damnation. Originally, it was a short film written and directed by Karen Maine herself which premiered in 2017 as a Vimeo Staff Pick. The short received 2.9 million views and also won “Best Short” at the St. Louis International Film Festival. It was after the success of the short that its makers, Karen and producers Katie Cordeal and Colleen Hammond, went ahead to make it into a full-length feature film available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
Pixels
Created back in 2015, Patrick Jean’s ‘Pixels’ became quite a sensation on YouTube. The brilliantly crafted short film shows New York City invaded by characters from ’80s video games: Donkey Kong throws barrels down from the Empire State Building, Tetris blocks cause skyscrapers to vanish, and so on. Its popularity made Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions acquire its rights which then resulted in a feature film in theatres that we know of today.
Short Term 12
Writer and director Destin Daniel Cretton made the short film named ‘Short Term 12’ first before it manifested into the acclaimed feature of the same name. The feature film is an emotional and heart-wrenching indie starring Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, LaKeith Stanfield, and Rami Malek that deals with a group of young instructors at a treatment center for troubled youth. It’s interesting how there are certain similarities in the two versions, most notably Stanfield who appears in both. But the feature is the one that created the main story which involves Larson and Dever’s characters.
Lights Out
What if something lived in the dark that you could only see when you turned out the lights? This simple question became the entire premise of 3-minute low-budget experimentation and gave birth to the short film called ‘Lights Out’ in 2013. Unlike most other shorts, its maker David F. Sandberg didn’t showcase it in any mainstream film festival but instead entered it into a niche horror filmmaking challenge and won a prize. Several months later, studio heads got a whiff of the short streaming on YouTube and Vimeo and after which it went on to become a mega-successful feature-length film of the same name and by the same director.
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