Shortscape: short films, ticketed

Short films often have one festival run and then nowhere to live. Shortscape imagines that home: a place to watch independent Filipino shorts online, where some films are free, some are ticketed, premieres are events, and filmmakers can sell screenings of their own work.

Shortscape is a preview build, and it says so on every page: there are no real payments, accounts, or film streams, and the films, filmmakers, and purchases are sample data. Everything described below is the product as designed and demonstrated, not a running service.

The product problem

A streaming service for shorts cannot simply copy a subscription catalog. Shortscape had to:

• let each film choose how it is watched, free, by ticket, or on a pass;
• make premieres feel like nights out, with a date, a time, and a seat;
• help viewers discover films across regions and languages, not only a top ten;
• give filmmakers a reason to list their work and a clear share of each sale.

Three ways in, one per film

Every film card shows its access. Free films need no ticket at all. Tickets cost ₱79 to ₱149, are bought once, and never expire. The Shortscape Pass is ₱199 a month and covers films marked PASS, including new PASS premieres, and ends any time. Ticket-only films are still sold separately, and the site says so in the Pass description instead of in fine print.

Premieres as events

A week strip shows which days have premieres, and each one carries a countdown, a price, and a "Reserve ticket" action. The promise is spelled out: reserve a seat before the premiere, and the ticket keeps working after opening night.

Discovery across the islands

The home page layers several ways to find something: a rotating hero of official selections, the week's top ten, new releases, free films for tonight, featured filmmakers, and collections such as "Made in Mindanao", which gathers shorts in Cebuano, Maranao, Chavacano, T'boli, and more. Viewers can also browse by island group and by genre.

A box office for filmmakers

The filmmaker path is direct: sell screenings of your short and keep 80% of every ticket. A filmmaker studio, a submission form, and a public directory sit behind it, and each filmmaker has a page that collects their films, premieres, and awards.

The design

Shortscape looks like a cinema at night: near-black ground, a red accent, serif titles, and a film strip running through the hero. On phones, a bottom bar keeps Home, Browse, Premieres, Tickets, and Account one tap away, and tickets read like tickets.

What the work reinforced

1. Let each film choose its door. Free, ticket, and pass can live side by side when every card says which one applies.
2. Give premieres a date. Countdown and reserved seats turn a release into an event.
3. Label a preview as a preview. A banner that says what is not real yet protects the idea and the audience.

Continuing work

Shortscape is a preview build, and this story will be updated if it opens as a live service. If you are planning a marketplace for creative work, design the creator's share and the buyer's choices together, on the same screen.