A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits"
History
Longer films were rare before the 1920s, so length-based categories had little meaning. By the 20s, a ticket purchased a varied program including a feature and several supporting works from categories such as second feature, short comedy, 5-10 minute cartoon, and newsreel.
Short comedies were especially popular, and typically came in a serial or series such as the Our Gang films, or the many outings of Charlie Chaplin's 'Little Tramp' character. Although there was often no set release schedule, these series could be considered somewhat like a modern TV sitcom - lower in status than feature films but nevertheless very popular (comedians such as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton all 'graduated' from shorts to features).
Animated cartoons came principally as short subjects, as did newsreels. Virtually all major film production companies had units assigned to develop and produce shorts, and many companies, especially in the silent and very early sound era, produced mostly or only short subjects.
Today
A few animated shorts continue within mainstream commercial distribution. For instance, Pixar has screened a short along each of its feature films during its initial theatrical run since 1995 (producing shorts permanently since 2001).[2] Since Disney acquired Pixar in 2005, Disney has also produced animated shorts since 2007 with the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.
Wallace and Gromit can also be classed as a short film, because they are about 15-25 mins long. They have become one of the most watched short films in history.
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