getting short

flickr photo by: beatboxbadhabit

i've posted about this before, but with web video becoming a more viable medium everyday, it's more and more on my mind. and apparently i'm not the only one (go figure). today scott at cinematech has a post which includes this:

Fred Seibert of nextnewnetworks said that all of the new format possibilities available to content creators can be confusing. 'There's some real comfort in knowing that you need to make a show that's 30 minutes long or 60 minutes long, or a movie that's two hours long." But those formats won't necessarily be the most appealing to Web viewers. "Shorter has turned out to be better, and shorter creates certain disciplines," he said, adding that it's still possible to create short content that is simply short and bad... not short and good.

if you've been to a short-film festival you know the truth of that last statement.