Short films
The short film channel, accessible for free on the site (registration not required), provides short films available for viewing that have been submitted by users. Instructions on how users can submit their own short films are available on the site. Channels for viewing films from the Bang! Short Film Festival are also provided.
The short films on the BritFilms site tend to fall into several categories, mainly:
Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation. Live-action is used to define film, video games or similar visual media. Photorealistic animation, particularly modern computer animation, is sometimes erroneously described as “live-action” as in the case of some media reports about Disney's 2019 remake of The Lion King. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, live action "[involves] real people or animals, not models, or images that are drawn, or produced by computer".
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, shorts, commercials, videos, and simulators. The visual scenes may be dynamic or static and may be two-dimensional (2D), though the term "CGI" is most commonly used to refer to 3D computer graphics used for creating scenes or special effects in films and television. Additionally, the use of 2D CGI is often mistakenly referred to as "traditional animation", most often in the case when dedicated animation software such as Adobe Flash or Toon Boom is not used or the CGI is hand drawn using a tablet and mouse.
A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record. "Documentary" has been described as a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries. Documentary films were originally called 'actuality' films and were only a minute or less in length. Over time documentaries have evolved to be longer in length and to include more categories, such as educational, observational, and even 'docufiction'. Documentaries are also educational and often used in schools to teach various principles. Social media platforms such as YouTube, have allowed documentary films to improve the ways the films are distributed and able to educate and broaden the reach of people who receive the information.
In 2007, BritFilms partnered with national cinema chain Cineworld to launch the popular Midland's based 24 Hour Film Challenge.
In addition, the BritFilms website includes film festival news, details of short film events in the UK and links to relevant online resources.
BBC Red Button is a branding used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service.
Television in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of £2.6 billion. Since 24 October 2012, all television broadcasts in the United Kingdom have been in a digital format, following the end of analogue transmissions in Northern Ireland. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable, as well as over IP.
BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the children's sites CBBC and CBeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize. The BBC has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web-only initiatives since 1994 but did not launch officially until December 1997, following government approval to fund it by TV licence fee revenue as a service in its own right. Throughout its short history, the online plans of the BBC have been subject to harassment from its commercial rivals, which has resulted in various public consultations and government reviews to investigate their claims that its large presence and public funding distorts the UK market.
BBC iPlayer is an internet streaming, catchup, television and radio service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers, and smart televisions. iPlayer services delivered to UK based viewers feature no commercial advertising. The terms BBC iPlayer, iPlayer, and BBC Media Player refer to various methods for viewing or listening to the same content. Viewing live television broadcasts from any UK broadcaster, or BBC TV catch-up or BBC TV on demand programmes, in the UK without a TV licence is a criminal offence.
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download services. It also ran features for the Wii and Nintendo DS systems.
Freesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from Sky UK. It offers over 240 free-to-air (FTA) channels in its EPG. This is a greater number than its competitors, Freesat, which has 200+, and Freeview, which has 70+.
It also has up to six HD channels and Sky Active interactive data service. The service is less-promoted than the subscription-based Sky satellite service.
itv.com is the main Web site of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand. The website offers online streaming, the ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV guide. Each of ITV plc's channels, ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, and CITV has a page with information on its programming. There are also pages for the ITV regions owned by ITV plc. STV, the only region not owned by ITV plc, have their own separate website at stv.tv.
Zattoo is a TV platform for IP-based transmission of television channels and video on demand content to a variety of devices. The company headquarters are located in Zurich and it has additional offices in Berlin, Ann Arbor (USA) and Singapore. Zattoo is operational in two business areas - in addition to its own B2C TV streaming operations aimed at end customers in countries such as Germany and Switzerland, Zattoo has a strong B2B business and is a leading partner for telecommunication companies worldwide.
The National Geographic Channel is a British pay television channel that features documentaries produced by the National Geographic Society. It features some programming similar to that on the Discovery Channel such as nature and science documentaries. The channel was launched in Europe in September 1997 and time shared initially with the failing NBC Europe until NBC Europe's demise in 1998, at which point it began timesharing with Fox Kids ; with analogue transmission of the channel ending, and the sale of Fox Kids to Disney, timesharing was eventually superseded by 24-hour broadcasting. It was later launched worldwide including in Asia and the United States. Today, the channel is available in over 143 countries, seen in more than 160 million homes and in 25 languages.
Dailymotion is a video-sharing technology platform. It is primarily owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners include BBC News, VICE, Bloomberg, Hearst Digital Media, and more. Dailymotion is available worldwide in 18 languages and 35 localised versions featuring local home pages and local content. It has more than 300 million unique monthly users.
Disney.com is a website operated by Disney Digital Network, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that promotes various Disney properties such as films, television shows, and theme park resorts, and offers entertainment content intended for children and families.
All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation. The service launched on 16 November 2006 as 4oD. The service offers a variety of programmes recently shown on Channel 4, E4, More4, Film4 and 4Music and shorts. However some programmes and movies are not available due to rights issues.
TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group. In its current form, it was launched on 3 September 2012 in a partnership with YouView. Its offering is delivered over a BT phone line, using ADSL or VDSL to provide a triple-play package of IPTV, video on demand, telephony and broadband internet access. There are now 2 packages available – TalkTalk TV Lite or TalkTalk TV Plus. The only difference is the TV Lite Box cannot record and only has the capability of pausing and rewinding for up to 30 Minutes, compared to the standard 2 Hours on the TV Plus Box. The YouView box is a Smart Freeview+HD box which means BBC 1 to 4 News and CBBC, ITV & Channel 4 are available in HD free. Humax have a silver 1TB model which can be bought in retail stores and can be used with or without a TalkTalk subscription. Currently both Huawei boxes do not have Wifi built in, and therefore an ethernet cable must be used for internet content and boosts.
MUBI is a film website that integrates a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, a film database and an online magazine known as The Notebook. It has been described as an "online cinematheque". The service focuses on international arthouse cinema.
NyooTV is a video on demand platform built using adaptive streaming and customized mobile applications which is claimed to work even with low bandwidths. It aggregates and offers Indian entertainment content across new media platforms and digital entertainment devices currently to Indian audiences in US and India. Registered users can get news about movies by following NyooTV through social networking sites. NyooTV provides global video content like TV shows, Bollywood films, Bollywood news, New Bollywood songs, events and sports events of interest to Indian consumers.
Nightwalking is a 2008 British comedy horror short film directed by Daniel Cormack, starring Raquel Cassidy and Lloyd Woolf.
Film4oD was a UK based video on demand service for Film4, from Channel Four Television Corporation and FilmFlex. Film4oD officially launched on 1 November 2010, following two years of development by FilmFlex, with more than 500 films available at launch. Film4oD has more new releases available to rent than iTunes, LoveFilm or Blinkbox, with many films available on the same day as DVD release and some on the same day as cinema release.
Mobli was a social mobile photo and video-sharing website founded by Israeli entrepreneurs and brothers Moshe and Oded Hogeg. As of 2016 the service was shut down and the company placed into bankruptcy.
Viewster is a global video on demand service that was founded in 2007 and has its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
Viewster offers a wide range of ad-supported free TV shows and movies.
