'5 Second Films' Keeps It Short and Sweet

A drive-thru kidnapper, an anorexic carton of milk, a ghost stripper? What do they have in common? They are all stars of videos on 5SecondFilms.com, the site that unabashedly tells you they will waste your time, but not too much of it.

That said, the wild romp of committing to making content in only 5 seconds does not seem a time waster at all, but rather a perfect fit for the short attention span medium that can be the web world. It also seems freeing for its creators, where the time constraint doesn’t seem limiting, but rather limitless allowing for off the wall ideas to spring from every direction, urging the viewer to click on the next vid to see what kind of witty surprise they may experience (in just 5 seconds).

Tubefilter gave the guys behind the site a little (but not much longer) than 5 seconds to answer questions about the birth of their little short-form wonder:

TF: Where did the idea come from?

5 second films: There is a new film every weekday, and they are each exactly 5 seconds long. Everything on the site is written, directed, shot, edited, starring, designed and anything else by Brian Firenzi, Ben Gigli, Dan Hollister, Michael E. Peter, Michael Rousselet, Erik Sandoval, Jon Worley and co-creator Eric Forrest.

5 second films was born in the dorms of USC back in 2005, basically out of total boredom – short storytelling exercises for the agitated film student mind.

It wasn’t until we started getting a lot of positive feedback that we decided to go online – first through a YouTube account, then a WordPress blog, and finally a proper website – 5SecondFilms.com – with version 2.0 on the way (yep, search functionality, rss, and a whole lotta suave coming soon).

Tubefilter: Wow, these are short. Have you talked with other companies about a partnership?

5 second films: We’ve had discussions with big-name purveyors of humorous online content about what we could contribute, but we have yet to take that next big step. So far we remain the only one-stop shop for robotic dogs and defecating mayors on the internet (we think).

Tubefilter: What is your ultimate goal for 5 Second Films?

5 second films: The focus has always been for us to have a great time without wasting much of it, and it is our hope that most of that fun shows up on camera so people can join in and escape for 5, 10, or maybe even 15 seconds at a time while they’re at work or front row at the opera. I highly doubt Holst ever thought to have Jupiter throw a pie at Earth – and that means he’s overrated in our book…. So watch some 5secondfilms why doncha? A new one comes out every weekday, they’re the perfect gift for Easter, and even Grandma won’t care that she has no idea at all what Abraham Lincoln just did with his own head. But hey, it was only 5 seconds of her time anyway.