An animated short originally was that "short" film that was the mini-film between 2 and 10 minutes in length that as used to "warm up" the audience before the feature film was presented on the theatre screen. That niche has generally been taken over by movie previews and trailers not only on the big screen but on every DVD rental. This sounds very basic however, if you ever want to put your animation into competition or the animation distribution markets, depending on the length of the segment, you should fulfill certain parameters. Here are some guidelines for you to consider.

Categories: In a competition there are classifications and rules for length. Logos, special effects and title animation can be anywhere from 3 to 15 seconds. A commercial is 15 to 30 seconds in length. An animated short or vignette can be 1, 15 or even 22 minutes in length. As the animation piece gets longer, you need to achieve more than eye candy to satisfy the judges, the audience and the distributors. Once you get into the commercial or advertising market, you need to grab the target audience and understand theatrical timing to get the message to the people. When you are creating a short or vignette the timing is different. Comedies are known for their punch line, and many times comedy can be achieved very quickly through the sudden obliteration or demise of an animated character. If you want to achieve some suspense in your film, you need to give your audience time to get "comfy" before they get scared by you. An animated feature can be 48, 90 minutes or over 90 minutes. In a feature the story structure is much more complicated and the investment in time and resources is far greater.

Distribution: If you want to distribute your film, you need to have it in a length that a distributor wants, so keep this in mind when you are creating and editing your film. There are different markets for different lengths of film. Distribution in the form of downloads from the internet as well as for iPods and iPhones is different as are the royalty structures. You have to think differently about your viewing market and want to have something short and sweet to capture your following, and the files have to be short enough for quick downloading. If you are looking to the broadcast market (the future of which is changing), there are strict production lengths to allow broadcaster advertising hence, the half hour shows are 22 minutes. You also have to structure your script in accordance with commercial break times. You do not want to have a broadcaster determine to cut into your animation in the middle of a scene. If a distributor is looking to pick up your animation as part of a compilation video, then you don't have the same structure restrictions, though your market may be limited to a more auteur or niche audience.

Production Decisions: As gut wrenching as it may seem, as an animator, you have to decide where and to whom you wish to show your creation. It sometimes becomes a decision as to what comes first, your creativity or your market. You can have both parameters satisfied but since animation is such a labor intensive discipline, you want to make sure that you really love the piece you are creating. All things considered, you do have the power to make those crucial creative, production and editing decisions to make something really worthwhile. Thus we have the long and the short of the subject.