Short films, especially those that make it into festivals, often have a story and a definite punchline (though that's certainly not always the case). Concept is important, as is execution, but capturing the viewers attention in a hurry can make or break many of these movies. Pockets, from the super team DANIELS (which includes Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan), deals with exactly what you'd think, and might cause you to look at your jeans in a whole other way.

Thanks to Short of the Week for pointing this one out:


This was produced as part of the Random Acts series on Channel 4 in the UK, and the short length is perfect for short attention spans. One of the keys to a good short is causing a reaction in your audience, and the sound design and subject matter both contribute to that. The format for a typical festival short film is usually very similar to the one executed above, and it's this format that allows a number of movies to be programmed together in one package. Either way, it's a fantastic lesson in figuring out what is essential to your story and what is not, as I think it would be impossible to fit more material than DANIELS has in this 3 minute running time.

What do you guys think?

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