Nearly everyone can recall an advertisement or music video that has touched them, or, at the very least, has stuck in their minds even decades later. My uncles will tell me about the famous music videos of the 80s whilst my grandparents will fondly remember certain advertisements with their jingles, needle drops and famous slogans. Younger generations have essentially been raised by short form media, from seven second Vines to two minute video essays on TikTok. Many films we know and love: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Sexy Beast, Being John Malkovich and Fight Club (to name a few) were directed by creatives well versed in the art of short form storytelling.
Claire Marie Healy’s newest book is Short Form: 40 Years of Music Videos, Ads, and the Art of Moving Images, which focuses on some of the most memorable short-form works across music videos and advertising from one of the UK’s most prolific and influential production companies: Academy Films. The book itself is a goldmine of behind-the-scenes images, storyboards, stills, script notes of films such as Radiohead’s Karma Police, FKA Twigs’ M3LL155X and televised commercials for the likes of Guinness, Channel 4 and Levi’s. The book even features a foreword from Jonathan Glazer, as well essays by key voices in wider screen culture, digging into the heritage of these projects and significance in our contemporary moment of online short films.
A writer, editor, and publishing and creative consultant based in London, Healy used to edit Dazed & Confused and has since edited books about film like 2022’s On The Dance Floor: Spinning Out On Screen for A24. You might also know her from her ongoing Girlhood Studies project, which has lately involved a film curation at the MoMu in Antwerp. We spoke about why brevity is the soul of wit, the obstacles and restraints that come with working inside the industry and why short form filmmaking is so important – not just culturally and artistically, but also for opening up the breadth of opportunities for young emerging creatives to experiment and flourish.