Supporting film

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A supporting film is usually a short film that is shown in the cinema before the main film itself .

history

The story of the supporting film goes back to the time before the Second World War . The time before the main film was used to show newsreels that had the status of today's television news. There were also cultural films , trailer shows and short films. It was part of the regular rhythm of going to the cinema to see one or more supporting films.

The supporting film offered filmmakers the opportunity to present themselves to a wide audience with short films. However, many film producers also sent specially produced supporting films in advance of their films. For example, in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, the short cartoons by Disney , the Warner Brothers and MGM were initially created exclusively for use as supporting films in the cinema. This also included the war cartoons in which well-known cartoon characters carried out war propaganda . Even after the war, supporting films and newsreels lived on as an integral part of cinema culture.

The supporting film in the Third Reich

In National Socialist Germany, supporting films and especially the newsreels were used extensively for propaganda purposes. Many people resisted this by waiting in the cinema foyer for the end of the supporting films and only entering the hall for the main film. In order to prevent this, the Reich Propaganda Ministry made the rule for cinema owners to close the doors of the hall at the beginning of the supporting film and not to allow entry to those who came later.

today

With the triumph of television, the gradual commercial decline of the cinema began. Cinema operators are increasingly doing without supporting films and instead only show advertising and film trailers . On the one hand, this makes it possible to profitably market the time before the main film. On the other hand, doing without supporting films reduces the overall duration of the cinema show, so that more screenings can be given per day.

Today the supporting film in its classic form has almost died out in commercial cinemas. In the area of animation alone there are still film producers who allow themselves the luxury of a supporting film. Disney still occasionally produces short supporting films such as The Prince and the Pauper (1990). The 1983 Monty Python film The Meaning of Life has a supporting film that is later referred to in the main film. Tim Burton sent two self-made supporting films ahead of his film Nightmare before Christmas (1993). Nick Park's film Wallace & Gromit: On the Hunt for the Giant Rabbit (2005) was preceded by the supporting film The Madagascar Penguins on a Christmas Mission . The animation studio Pixar traditionally also produces a supporting film for each of its films. Supporting films are also making a comeback in university cinemas . Directing work by students from film schools is preferred.

literature

• Philipp Osten , Gabriele Moser, Christian Bonah, Alexandre Sumpf, Tricia Close-Koenig and Joël Danet (eds.): The opening program: educational film, commercial film, propaganda film, unpublished film in cinemas and archives on the Upper Rhine 1900–1970; a French-German comparative study. A25 Rhinfilm, Heidelberg / Strasbourg 2015, ISBN 978-3-00-049852-7 ; on-line