How long should one film be?

[CatfanBogota]

With length restrictions easing on YouTube, the question arises whether or not one should have one continuous file, or several smaller files.

My question concerns one's attention span. Any thoughts on this?

[Scott Hamilton]

It's definitely hard to get people interested in your film enough to click through all the parts on Youtube. Youtube is also the most visited site, over others such as Vimeo and DailyMotion which allow longer videos. So by that logic, yes it is probably best to keep them under 10 or 15 minutes.

But having made a 50 minute fan film (which was a great experience, and I'm still proud of it), if I were ever going to do it again, I would keep it under 10 minutes, regardless of Youtube restrictions. That way you don't have to put so much of your time and life into it, and can really focus on every shot being perfect. Short and sweet, and then onto another project. More people will be willing to watch that way too.

Scott

[mdifilm]

hmm, not sure if this is a case, a few years back, you can sign up as a filmmaker and allows you unlimited length upload. Now I think 20mins is the 'most' they allow, but I could be wrong, see if you can convert your account to a filmmaker account (or director account) that would work.

That said, yes, the shorter the better, of course, the short it is, the 'cooler' the film would get (look at all the different films out there) For Festival perspective, the shorter, the chances to be accepter increases.
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[reptile84]

if you want a long film, I'd do it. Provided it has enough content justifying the length.

Post some Trailers for it which are always less than the time limit.

If people get excited, or interested, they will go to your website to see the Feature length version of your film..I've done this for a few Indiana Jones Fan films where I went to their website to watch it in full after seeing their Trailers.

I mean, if they aren't excited by the Trailer, I highly doubt they'd bother to watch a full version on youtube....just my 2 cents.

[AndMan]

Less is almost always more, ESPECIALLY when making a short film.

For a feature, 3 acts, 90-110 pages, 90-120min.

I wrote a blog about this once, I go into more detail if you're interested
Link: (click here)
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