Difference between a Feature film and Short film

Feature film

A feature film is a film, also called a movie or motion picture, with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole film to fill a program. The notion of how long this should be has varied according to time and place. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Film Institute, and British Film Institute, a feature film runs for 40 minutes or longer, while the Screen Actors Guild states that it is 80 minutes or longer.

Short Film

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences define a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits". In the beginning, all films were short. The films screened by the Lumière brothers’ were of less than one minute duration. The length of film got extended as the industry began to grow.

But the biggest demand for short films has undoubtedly come from the internet. YouTube and Whats App have become some of the most popular viewing platforms for the short films online. The internet is also proving to be a popular alternative for short film-makers who can’t afford to distribute their films on DVD. Many of the campus films produced by schools and colleges belong to this category. Apart from the short film competitions and festivals, the internet has become the biggest platform for the exhibition of short films.

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Types of Features in Print Media

1. Human interest features

A human interest story is written to show a subject’s oddity, novelty or its practical, emotional, or entertainment value. For example, the story of a child with extra brilliance or skills, or a new planet is found in the solar system.

2. Personality profiles

A personality profile is written to bring an audience closer to a person in or out of the news. Profile articles generally provide background on the profile subject - their age, where they grew up and where they were educated, where they live now, they are married off to, their kids are living, who and what influenced the person, their ideas, and their choice of vocation or profession.

3. News Features

News features often cover the same subjects as deadline hard-news stories, but do so in greater depth and detail. News features tend to focus on individuals more than deadline news stories, which often focus more on numbers and statistics. For example, telling the story of a natural calamity that occurred recently through the eyes of a survivor.

4. Historical features

These features commemorate important dates in history or turning points in our social, political and cultural development. They offer a useful juxtaposition of then and now. Historical features take the reader back to revisit an event and issues surrounding it. A variation is the date in history short feature, which reminds people of significant events on a particular date.

5. Follow ups

These are articles on current issues in the news by explaining them further. These articles bring an audience up-to-date, explaining how this country, this organisation, this person happens to be where it is now.

6. Seasonal features

Stories about holidays and the change of seasons address matters at specific times of a year. For instance, they cover life milestones, social, political and cultural cycles, and business cycles.

7. Specialized features

These are features on a specialized topic like medicine, astrophysics, cinema, etc. these are prepared with the guidance of experts in the field.

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Difference between News story and a Feature

Difference between news story and a feature:

Distinction between a feature and a news story is widely accepted. In journalism word feature often means a human interest story or a soft news story.

Following are the characteristics of news story:

. News stories are written in a very short time and are published as early as possible.

. News stories generally are hard news items.

. Facts are of paramount importance in a news story.

. News articles are relatively smaller.

. News articles follow inverted pyramid style.

. News articles are informative.

In a feature:

. Features consist of more space than a news story.

. Features are written on an already happened event.

. Features writing takes more time and background research.

. Any style can be adopted to write a feature. Narrative is commonly used style for a feature.

. Features are basically soft news items and human interest stories.

. Feature stories are educational and entertaining.

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Feature Writing in Print Media

Feature stories are special human-interest articles that focus on particular people, places and events. Features tell the reader a story. It has a beginning (lead), middle and end. It uses quotes liberally and allows the reader to see the story through detailed description and colourful writing. Feature articles are windows into the human experience, giving more detail and description than a hard news story, which typically relies on the “inverted pyramid” style of writing. 

Features are not meant to deliver the news firsthand. They do contain elements of news, but their main function is to humanize, to add colour, to educate, to entertain, to illuminate. They focus on an event or individual, giving the reader a chance to more fully understand some interesting dimension of that subject. News stories that received public attention often come as features later.

Feature writers seldom use the inverted-pyramid form. Instead, they may write a chronology that builds to a climax at the end, or a narrative, a first-person article about one of their own experiences or a combination of these. Their stories are held together by a thread, and they often end where the lead has started, with a single person or event. The feature writer uses the first two or three paragraphs to set a mood, to arouse readers’ interest, to invite them inside. After the title and opening paragraph has grabbed a reader, narrative hooks are used to persuade the reader to continue reading. These hooks are attractive story elements such as action, mystery, drama or appealing characters that intend to pull the reader forward through the story. They are complex narratives that come to life through colourful description, meaningful anecdotes and significant quotes. 

The basic structure of a feature is:

Headline – Introduction – Body – Conclusion 

Objectives of feature writing

1. To Educate: Gather in-depth information on a specific subject and deliver it to the audience.

2. To Explain: Explain why and how a trend started or why is it relevant.

3. To Observe: Conducting study on a topic of relevance.

4. To Analyze: Do background research and cross reference of facts for credible information.

5. To Advise: Provide a viewpoint through the feature in the form of an opinion.

6. To Persuade: Motivate the readers to act for a social cause.

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