Photo-Kinema (some sources say Phono-Kinema ) was a sound-on-disc system for motion pictures invented by Orlando Kellum.
36-418: The system was first used for a small number of short films , mostly made in 1921. These films presented subjects such as actor Frederick Warde reading an original poem "A Sunset Reverie", labor leader Samuel Gompers speaking on labor issues, Judge Ben Lindsey on the need for a separate juvenile court system, Irvin S. Cobb reading from his works, and a lecture by James J. Davis , Secretary of Labor in
72-503: A TV special , a few films from the studio have added theatrical shorts as well. Warner Bros. often includes old shorts from its considerable library, connected only thematically, on the DVD releases of classic WB movies. From 2010–2012, Warner Bros. also released new Looney Tunes shorts before family films. Shorts International and Magnolia Pictures organize an annual release of Academy Award -nominated short films in theatres across
108-480: A low budget or no budget at all. They are usually funded by one or more film grants, nonprofit organizations , sponsors , or personal funds. Short films are generally used for industry experience and as a platform to showcase talent to secure funding for future projects from private investors, a production company , or film studios . They can also be released with feature films, and can also be included as bonus features on some home video releases. All films in
144-646: A Nation . By the 1920s, a ticket purchased a varied program including a feature and several supporting works from categories such as second feature , short comedy, 4–10 minute cartoon, travelogue , and newsreel. Short comedies were especially common, and typically came in a serial or series (such as the Our Gang movies, or the many outings of Charlie Chaplin 's Little Tramp character). Animated cartoons came principally as short subjects. Virtually all major film production companies had units assigned to develop and produce shorts, and many companies, especially in
180-471: A commercial category. The year 1938 proved to be a turning point in the history of film comedies. Hal Roach , for example, had discontinued all short-subject production except Our Gang , which he finally sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. The Vitaphone studio, owned by Warner Bros. , discontinued its own line of two-reel comedies in 1938; Educational Pictures did as much that same year, owing to its president Earle W. Hammons unsuccessfully entering
216-440: A regular series in 1946 and lasted until 1956. By and large, however, the movies' one-reel subject of choice was the animated cartoon, produced by Walt Disney , Warner Bros. , MGM, Paramount , Walter Lantz , Columbia, and Terrytoons . One of the movies' oldest short-subject formats was the adventure serial , first established in 1912. A serial generally ran for 12 to 15 chapters, 15 to 20 minutes each. Every episode ended with
252-539: A running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film organizations may use different definitions, however; the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television , for example, currently defines a short film as 45 minutes or less in the case of documentaries, and 59 minutes or less in the case of scripted narrative films. In the United States, short films were generally termed short subjects from
288-453: A short along with each of its feature films during its initial theatrical run since 1995 (producing shorts permanently since 2001). Since Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Disney has also produced animated shorts since 2007 with the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater and produced a series of live-action ones featuring The Muppets for viewing on YouTube as viral videos to promote
324-652: Is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation , study and appreciation of film and television , based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archive screens over 400 films and videos a year, primarily at the Billy Wilder Theater, located inside the Hammer Museum in Westwood, California . (Formerly, it screened films at
360-697: Is also known for holding over 300 kinescope prints from the now-defunct DuMont Television Network . The archive also holds restored prints of Paramount Pictures' cartoon library. Much of the Archive's collection is available for onsite research by appointment at the Archive's Research & Study Center (ARSC), located on the UCLA campus in Powell Library. ARSC clients often go to the UCLA Media Lab (Room 270) to view their media. The Billy Wilder Theater
396-468: Is on the courtyard level of the Hammer Museum . Made possible by a $ 5 million gift from Audrey L. Wilder and designed by Michael Maltzan Architecture , the 295-seat Billy Wilder Theater is the home of the archive's cinematheque and of the Hammer's public programs, which includes artists’ lectures, literary readings, musical concerts, and public conversations.. The theater, which cost $ 7.5 million to complete,
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#1732773253562432-613: Is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive but the disc with the sound is lost. The process was most famously used by D. W. Griffith to record singing and sound effects sequences for his movie Dream Street (1921). Employing the Phonokinema system, Griffith turned what was originally a silent film into a sound film . Earlier crude sound-on-disc and sound-on-cylinder systems had been invented 1894–1914 by Thomas Edison ( Kinetophone , Kinetophonograph ), Cameraphone in
468-401: The 2011 movie of the same name . In 2009 the horror short film, No Through Road, that would go viral was released, creating analog horror. The short film would spark 3 sequels, creating No Through Road (web series) DreamWorks Animation often produces a short sequel to include in the special edition video releases of major features, and are typical of a sufficient length to be broadcast as
504-577: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , the American Film Institute , and the Directors Guild of America as well as such figures including Hal Ashby , Tony Curtis , Charlton Heston , Orson Welles , Rock Hudson , Jeff Chandler , Radley Metzger , Richard Conte , Audie Murphy , John McIntire , John Wayne , Fred MacMurray and William Wyler . It also holds the entire Hearst Metrotone News Library. The archive
540-1044: The COVID-19 pandemic . The Archive appointed its fourth director in January 2021. She was the first woman and person of color in the role. The Archive has hosted its collection in a Stoa building in Santa Clarita, California since 2015. It shares the facilities with the Packard Humanities Institute . The building was funded and built to the specification of David Woodley Packard . The archive's holdings include 35mm collections from Paramount Global / Paramount Pictures and Republic Pictures . Disney / 20th Century Studios , Warner Bros. Discovery / Warner Bros. , Sony / Columbia Pictures , New World Pictures , Amazon / MGM , United Artists and Orion Pictures , NBCUniversal / Universal Pictures , and RKO . Additional film donations have been made by
576-540: The Harding administration . Kellum also filmed musical numbers, including a performance of the song "De Ducks" by African American musicians F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles who wrote the book for the musical Shuffle Along (1921), and The Famous Van Eps Trio in a Bit of Jazz (1921), featuring Fred Van Eps , father of musician George Van Eps . A filmed performance by Sir Harry Lauder made in Phono-Kinema
612-831: The James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus). The archive is funded by UCLA, public and private interests, and the entertainment industry. It is a member of the International Federation of Film Archives . The Archive is a division of the UCLA Library. As of January 2021, its collection hosted more than 500,000 items, including approximately 159,000 motion picture titles and 132,000 television titles, more than 27 million feet of newsreels, more than 222,000 broadcast recordings and more than 9,000 radio transcription discs. The Archive hosted virtual screenings in lieu of its in-person presentations during
648-489: The silent and very early sound era, produced mostly or only short subjects. In the 1930s, the distribution system changed in many countries, owing to the Great Depression . Instead of the cinema owner assembling a program of their own choice, the studios sold a package centered on a main and supporting feature, a cartoon and little else. With the rise of the double feature , two- reel shorts went into decline as
684-465: The 1920s into the 1970s when confined to two 35 mm reels or less, and featurettes for a film of three or four reels. " Short " was an abbreviation for either term. The increasingly rare industry term "short subject" carries more of an assumption that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a feature film. Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers with either
720-507: The 1960s before exiting the short film business in 1969 (by which point the shorts had been in televised reruns for years ). MGM continued Tom and Jerry (first with a series of poorly-received Eastern European shorts by Gene Deitch , then a better-received run by Warner Bros. alumnus Chuck Jones ) until 1967, and Woody Woodpecker lasted to 1972; the creative team behind MGM's 1940s and 1950s cartoons formed Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1957, mainly focusing on television. The Pink Panther
756-499: The US, Gaumont ( Chronomegaphone ) and Pathé in France, and others, but they were only used for short films. Dream Street was the first feature-length film in which a frame-synchronous human voice was heard from a sound recording of any kind. Some prints of Dream Street show Griffith speaking in a brief introduction to the film. However, the sound quality was poor, and Dream Street
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#1732773253562792-492: The US, UK, Canada and Mexico throughout February and March. Shorts are occasionally broadcast as filler when a feature film or other work does not fit the standard broadcast schedule. ShortsTV was the first television channel dedicated to short films. However, short films generally rely on film festival exhibition to reach an audience. Such movies can also be distributed via the Internet . Certain websites which encourage
828-452: The beginning of cinema were very short , sometimes running only a minute or less. It was not until the 1910s when films started to get longer than about ten minutes. The first set of films were presented in 1894 and it was through Thomas Edison 's device called a kinetoscope . It was made for individual viewing only. Comedy short films were produced in large numbers compared to lengthy features such as D. W. Griffith 's 1915 The Birth of
864-406: The feature-film field. With these major comedy producers out of the running, Columbia Pictures actually expanded its own operations and launched a second two-reel-comedy unit in 1938. Columbia and RKO Radio Pictures kept making two-reel comedies into the 1950s. Theater managers found it easier and more convenient to fit shorter, one-reel (10-minute) subjects into their double-feature programs. In
900-621: The film also featured two other short sound sequences — Ralph Graves singing, and background noise in a scene showing a craps game . Unfortunately, no other theaters could show the sound version of the film, since no other theaters had the Photokinema sound system installed. On Sunday, May 29, Dream Street moved to the Schubert-Crescent Theater in Brooklyn in a program with Phonokinema short films. However, business
936-519: The hero or heroine trapped in a life-threatening situation; audiences would have to return the following week to see the outcome. These "chapter plays" remained popular through the 1950s, although both Columbia and Republic Pictures were now making them as cheaply as possible, reusing action highlights from older serials and connecting them with a few new scenes showing identically dressed actors. Even after Republic quit making serials in 1955 and Columbia stopped in 1956, faithful audiences supported them and
972-425: The latter film with Western star Jack Perrin , were the last two films released in the Phonokinema system. In 1982, Kellum's widow donated the surviving films made with the Phonokinema process to the UCLA Film and Television Archive . Short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has
1008-448: The live-action field, humorist Robert Benchley had been making short comedies since the dawn of sound; his various series for Fox, Vitaphone, MGM, and Paramount ran from 1928 to 1944. MGM's Pete Smith Specialties had been a standard "added attraction" in moviehouse programming since 1935 and lasted through 1955. RKO's Flicker Flashbacks revivals of silent films ran from 1943 to 1956, and Warner Bros. ' Joe McDoakes comedies became
1044-433: The oldest film festivals dedicated to short films are Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival , France (since 1979), Tampere Film Festival , Finland (since 1969) and International Short Film Festival Oberhausen , Germany (since 1954). All of them are still considered the most important short film festival in the world to date. UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive
1080-421: The studios re-released older serials through the mid-1960s. The 1964 revival of Columbia's Batman serial resulted in a media frenzy, spurring a new Batman TV series and a wave of Batman merchandise. With the rise of television , the commercial live-action short was virtually dead; most studios canceled their live-action series in 1956. Only The Three Stooges continued making two-reel comedies; their last
1116-908: The submission of user-created short films, such as YouTube and Vimeo , have attracted large communities of artists and viewers. Sites like Omeleto, FILMSshort, Short of the Week, Short Films Matter, Short Central and some apps showcase curated shorts. Short films are a typical first stage for new filmmakers, but professional actors and crews often still choose to create short films as an alternative form of expression. Amateur filmmaking has grown in popularity as equipment has become more accessible. The lower production costs of short films often mean that short films can cover alternative subject matter as compared to higher budget feature films. Similarly, unconventional filmmaking techniques such as Pixilation or narratives that are told without dialogue, are more often seen in short films than features. Tropfest claims to be
Photokinema - Misplaced Pages Continue
1152-468: The world's largest short film festival. Tropfest now takes place in Australia (its birthplace), Arabia, the US and elsewhere. Originating in 1993, Tropfest is often credited as being at least partially responsible for the recent popularity of short films internationally. Also Couch Fest Films , part of Shnit Worldwide Filmfestival, claimed to be the world's largest single-day short film festival. Among
1188-651: Was only shown with sound at two theaters in New York City . The silent version premiered on April 12, 1921 at the Central Theatre in New York City. On April 27, Griffith and Ralph Graves filmed and recorded their respective sound segments at Orlando Kellum's Photokinema office at 203 West 40th Street. The premiere of the sound version of Dream Street took place on May 2, 1921 at Town Hall in New York City with Griffith's introduction. On May 15,
1224-740: Was poor and the program soon closed. Phonokinema was soon overshadowed by the Lee De Forest Phonofilm sound-on-film system which premiered in New York City on 15 April 1923. Phonofilm was itself overtaken by the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, premiered in New York with Don Juan on 6 August 1926, and by other sound-on-film systems such as Fox Movietone in 1927 and RCA Photophone in 1928. According to Internet Movie Database , two low-budget Westerns released in 1930, Sagebrush Politics and The Apache Kid's Escape ,
1260-432: Was released in 1959. Short films had become a medium for student, independent, and specialty work. Cartoon shorts had a longer life, due in part to the implementation of lower-cost limited animation techniques and the rise of television animation , which allowed shorts to have both theatrical runs and a syndication afterlife. Warner Bros. , one of the most prolific of the golden era, underwent several reorganizations in
1296-426: Was the last regular theatrical cartoon short series, having begun in 1964 (and thus having spent its entire existence in the limited animation era) and ended in 1980. By the 1960s, the market for animated shorts had largely shifted to television, with existing theatrical shorts being syndicated to television. A few animated shorts continue within the mainstream commercial distribution. For instance, Pixar has screened
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