Channel Frederator Blog

Have a look at this Studio Hari production, from the “La Chouette” series.

So, what makes this a great online short?

Well, first off, it’s short. The whole thing clocks in at just over one minute. That may not sound like a big deal, but with so many people having such short attention spans, a one minute short is perhaps the perfect length.

The piece is funny. Funny means different things to different people, but funny shorts tend to get passed around more than sad or emotional shorts. There are always exceptions, but this is generally true.

The piece has no dialog. This is important for a few reasons. You don’t have to translate the dialog into other languages, or include subtitles. On a YouTube screen, subtitles are often hard to read, or are so large that they can cover up much of the lower portion of the frame. If your comedy plays enough on basic human functions or needs, like self preservation, then the odds are in your favor that audiences all over will find it humorous, regardless of their language.

The piece has some nice design. This is probably the most debatable. There are a lot of poorly designed characters that get a lot of views, but those are probably short and funny.

Like I said, there are exceptions to all of these “guidelines”. These are based on discussions with filmmakers, audiences, and lots of research, usually when I’m supposed to be doing something else.

Have you got a great short? Why not submit it to Channel Frederator?

-Floyd Bishop