In an age of tweets and texts, cellphone novels and films created with iPhones, it seems that short is in vogue, at least when it comes to technology-enabled communications and artistic expression.

Perhaps it’s the fast pace of our lives these days. Everyone’s so busy. No one seems to have any time.

Or, maybe it’s the easy and affordable access people now have to the technology. With just the expense of a smartphone, anyone can make a film, particularly a short film, right?

For these, and other reasons, the creators of Vine would certainly like to think that short is the latest new thing.

With 210 million unique site visitors reportedly viewing over 1.9 billion videos and 707 million mobile videos in February 2013 alone, Machinima is YouTube’s number one entertainment channel.

Never heard of it?

Not sure what “machinima” means?

The term comes from the fusion of “machine” (+ “animation,” according to some) + “cinema” and, with roots in the video gaming community, has traditionally referred to,

“… original films made within a real time 3D virtual environment, combining film-making, animation and games development.” (Tracy Harwood, “The Machinima Movement,” Fallopian, October, 2009)

 On the other hand, Machinima, Inc., the company, which draws on gamer, fan-produced machinima for content, is,

“… a video entertainment network (online) for video gamers (that provides) gaming-focused editorial and community programming  (featuring) official publisher content, gameplay videos, scripted series, and original content, including weekly and daily shows to 18 to 34 year old male demographic. The company’s properties are available across various distribution platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, iOS, and Android.  Machinima, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is based in Los Angeles, California.”  (Bloomberg Businessweek)

So, you may wonder, why has Ridley Scott (ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER) signed up to work with a gamer-oriented network like Machinima?

Things are changing.

The image of YouTube as the go-to place to watch home brew video clips of cute kittens and smiling babies is fading fast, especially as the company continues to ramp up its efforts to compete with broadcasters for audiences by funding the development of original, high quality content for its web channels.

Nothing reflects this more than YouTube Spaces, which are rapidly cropping up across the globe to provide studio space, expertise, workshops, events, screenings, creative collaboration, and state-of-the-art production and post-production resources for creators, which is YouTube’s name for people who are involved in its Partners Program.

The good news for creators is that the use of the various resources at YouTube Spaces is not only free, but creators also get to retain ownership of the content they produce, which they can then license to YouTube for display on its channels. Some revenue sharing is involved as well. The bad news is that, although not impossible, it does take some web production chops to become an official YouTube creator.

Last year Google’s YouTube reportedly shelled out more than $100 million in advances to producers in the U.S. for the creation of original, online-native content.

This year, YouTube has turned to European producers as well, with plans to move on to Brazil, India, Japan and dozens of others sometime very soon.

With numerous film festivals held each year in cities large and small around the world, there are festivals out there for all sizes and shapes of films, filmmakers and their film loving fans. Among the latest are the mobile phone film festivals.

WIGS, one of the new original channels on YouTube,

is set to debut on May 14th with “JAN.”

The annual TV Upfronts have a new sibling:

the Digital Content Newfronts,

a collaborative undertaking by AOL, Google/YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

Hulu has announced the upcoming launch of an original, scripted series, “Battleground,” for streaming online, joining other online players like Google’s YouTube, Yahoo, and Netflix in the direct-to-web, original programming game.

“Battlefield,” a timely series about a fictional political campaign, debuts on Hulu on February 14th. Although first developed, then dropped, by Fox, “Battlefield” will bypass airing on traditional TV altogether.  Hulu is picking up two original unscripted series for online streaming, as well,”A Day in the Life” and “Up to Speed.”

According to Andy Forssell, Sr. VP of Content at Hulu …

Edith Zimmerman claims in her article for the New York Times Magazine, “Dealing With Your Own Cultural Irrelevance (at Age 28),” that in her viewing of a YouTube video:

 ‘I saw something that made me feel old, isn’t that crazy?’  She adds, ‘Then again, the Internet is a new kind of barometer for keeping track of exactly how old you feel: how many things you don’t get, how many mini-Internet worlds you can’t find the door to…’

To which I answer … No. Because the Internet is about NOT having to think in terms of any one barometer. The viewing public on the Internet is more diverse, may I say even fractured, than six columns of print can contain …