A Scrutinizing of the Situation of Short Films in Iran with an Audience-Oriented Approach

Cinema started with short films, but the early short films did not have a specific goal or approach, but were an experimental process. This kind of filmmaking was initially constrained by the many equipment, production and distribution, the ignorance and non-recognition of the grammar of cinema and the main elements of film, including the script and the director, which were in the experimental and experimental phase. But gradually, with the development of the language of this artistic medium and the addition of sound to the image, views on short film changed. Little by little, the short film gained a special impact and realized that, as an art in its own right, it should use different approaches to attract the audience's attention. Nowadays, this type of film is no longer used to fill the breaks of feature films or productions dealing with financial poverty and lack of audience attention, and it has a special place and countless viewers in production and broadcasting. Today's short film has passed its transitional phase and knowledge, technical and technological inability play a lesser role in its productions. The short film occupies a unique position in most media such as cinema, television, virtual space and online, for several reasons: It condenses the narrative, avoids common stereotypes and breaks with repetitive formats, creates excitement and appeal, and is independent. It should be noted that film production in Iran started less than a decade late and almost as much as in many advanced countries. The experience of making short films emerged first at the court of the Qajar kings and then in the time of Reza Shah and his son, with approaches from the fields of leisure, propaganda, culture, experimentation and education, and gradually took on a public and state aspect. This process has continued after the Islamic revolution, which includes a large amount of film productions before and after the revolution in Iran. Filmmakers such as Forough Farrokhzad, Nasser Taqvai, Ebrahim Golestan, Masoud Kimiayi, etc. are examples of this trend of filmmaking. Today, the short film is out of the amateur format and has a professional nature, which is made with different educational, promotional, artistic and political approaches and with a specific purpose to attract the audience. Research in the field of short film can play a strategic role in raising awareness among filmmakers, critics and audiences, but despite the large number of short film productions in Iran, there is little research in this field. The current research has been done with a practical purpose and relying on the existing shortcomings in the field of analyzing the role of short films in Iran and determining the extent of its resonance with the audience. The result shows that the short film in Iran has two types of dedicated audiences with an artistic approach who follow the works in festivals and general audiences with different political, religious and advertising approaches. For the general audience, the type of media, be it television, network or cinema, does not make much difference.