5-Second Films
Formation31 October 2008; 15 years ago (2008-10-31)
TypeFilm group
Website5secondfilms.com
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5-Second Films, 5 Second Films, or simply 5SF is an American film group and website that develops and produces an online comedy web series of five-second long short films, as well as a series of long films that have been viewed over 500 million times on YouTube.[1] It was started in the dormitories at the University of Southern California in the spring of 2005 by Brian Firenzi. The website went live in October 2008. Up until December 2013, they featured a new film every weekday, with the only rules being two seconds of opening titles, five seconds of film consisting of a quick set-up and punchline, and one second of end titles.[2] Currently, films are being released non-regularly.

The website has been featured on G4's Attack of the Show!, Comedy Central's Tosh.0, Last Call with Carson Daly, Spin, CNN[3] Entertainment Weekly and Wired.[4] The films sometimes featured guest stars like Patton Oswalt, Fred Armisen, Doug Benson, Eddie Pepitone, Juliette Lewis, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and Andrew W.K.[5] Time put 5-Second Films on its list of the top 50 websites of 2013, calling it "addicting" and writing, "You'll probably never find a better way to waste a few seconds of your life."[6]

History

5SF was founded in 2005 by Brian Firenzi while he attended USC. The idea originally came from a contest organized by the Cadillac Motor Company, where five second commercials were allowed to be submitted for cars. Firenzi and friends never entered the contest. It inspired them to create "Chivalry is Dead," a five-second film where a man refuses to hold a door for a woman. Firenzi showed various other students his films, and several other creators joined him. The website, with its promise for a film every week day, was launched on October 31, 2008. More actors, writers and directors assembled in one house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.

In February 2013, the core 5SF crew collaborated with Uproxx, releasing weekly sketches that were longer than five seconds. Usually these sketches were about three minutes.

Dude Bro Party Massacre III

Dude Bro Party Massacre III, created in 2009, was a parody of 1980s slasher films, turning the genre on its head by changing the victims of the killer to men, instead of women. The next year, the idea returned to the cast, who made it into a fake trailer. In May 2013, the cast launched a Kickstarter to make Dude Bro Party Massacre into a feature-length film. By July of that year, the Kickstarter raised over $240,000. Producer Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment matched the Kickstarter money, putting the budget for the film close to $500,000. Production began in January 2014 in Los Angeles and Big Bear, CA, and included performances from frequent 5SF guest stars Patton Oswalt, Andrew W.K., Greg Sestero from the cult film The Room, and Larry King. Production wrapped on June 23, 2014, and Dude Bro Party Massacre III made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2015. Bloody Disgusting called it "hysterical",[7] IndieWire called it an "Instant Cult Classic",[8] and Ain't It Cool News praised DBPM3 for its "murderously great horror satire".[9]

Members

5-Second Films is made up of a group of writers, directors, filmmakers, actors, and actresses, most of whom lived in the same house where they plan and film the shorts.[2]

Notes and references

  1. ^ "5 Second Films". Youtube.
  2. ^ a b "About Us". 5 Second Films. Archived from the original on 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  3. ^ "Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com". CNN.
  4. ^ "5 Second Films". Tosh.0. Comedy Central.
  5. ^ McGlynn, Katla (July 13, 2011). "Patton Oswalt's 5 Second Film: You Got Mail". Huffington Post.
  6. ^ Fields, Jim (May 4, 2013). "50 Best Websites 2013". TIME.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
  7. ^ Patrick Cooper (2015-07-07). "[Review] 'Dude Bro Party Massacre III' Is a Gut-Busting, Beer-Soaked Fever Dream". bloody-disgusting.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-11.
  8. ^ "Deranged Midnight Film 'Dude Bro Party Massacre III' is an Instant Cult Classic, Bruh". Archived from the original on 2015-11-08. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  9. ^ "DUDE BRO PARTY MASSACRE III Is A Murderously Great Horror Satire!". aintitcool.com. 2015-07-07. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10.

External links

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