In the

American film industry American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film.

Medium-length films

A featurette is a film usually of three to four reels in length, or about 24–40 minutes in running time, thus longer than a two-reel

short subject A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film or ...

but shorter than a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

. Hence, it is a "small feature" (the ending " -ette" is a common

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

derived from French), and in fact featurettes were sometimes called "streamlined features". Featurette was commonly used from before the start of the sound era into the 1960s, when films of such length as the Hal Roach's Streamliners—and several French films of that length—ceased being made, or were made as experimental or art films and subsumed under the more general rubric of

. Some featurettes are still being produced, notably the action comedy '' Kung Fury'', which runs only 31 minutes. Other terms with a similar meaning include: medium-length films, long shorts and short features.

Companion films

After the advent of DVD technology, the term also gained the meaning of "a brief

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

covering one or more aspects of the film creation process". In DVD features descriptions, the term "featurette" usually refers to "behind-the-scenes"–type bonus material such as documentaries on special effects,

set design Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

, or cast and crew interviews.

References

External links

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