Gathering the audiences for the online revolution in short film distribution are a host of web cinemas eager to sign up the best short films. Exposure grabs a dump-bin sized Coke and a bag of Butterkist popcorn for a front row seat.

The New Venue - www.newvenue.com

The New Venue is the arthouse cinema of this collection, eschewing in-your-face adverts and flashiness for a clever cardboard box style site design that intrigues bit never irritates. Established by the enfant terrible of digital film Jason Wishnow after he was fired from his day-job at Woody Allen's production office. The site features a small but innovative collection of short films made specifically for the internet.

Works are presented as either Quicktime or Flash movies which gives film-makers greater control over the quality of the final product than the 'hit or miss' nature of streaming Realvideo.

The site features a weekly short, with previous movies available from the archives. Each film is presented with an interview with the film-makers and a full rundown of the software, hardware and methods behind the film-makers' madness.

Support for film-makers is also available through 'Flicktips' a guide to making digital flicks for the web. This is one site that I keep coming back to - constantly surprising, constantly pushing the boundaries. Smells of creativity, not dollars.

Atom Films - www.atomfilms.com

Atom Films has quickly established itself as the multiplex of the web cinema world signing the best in short films to exclusive contracts. Recent acquisitions include the back catalogue of the USC (including early work by George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis) and plasticine professionals Aardman Animations (home of 'Wallace and Gromit').

The site groans under the weight of Flash animation but is well integrated, with movies categorized according to genre or searchable by actor, director etc. The site attempts to build some sense of community with registered 'insiders' reviewing and recommending shorts to each other (whilst at the same time shouting down mobile phones to each other about a tobacco industry conspiracy). Downloading movies is pretty quick but watching the streaming movies was a painful experience as it was quickly reduced to a slideshow that left me guessing when I was going to see a new frame.

Atom does more than just put short films online. They market and cross promote them, seeking distribution via TV, airlines and broadband networks. Some of their best shorts are available as compilations on video and DVD to purchase from the site.

Atom Films is on the look out for films in any genre with a running time of less than 40 minutes. Getting your film on the site may be tough as only the best are chosen, but once accepted the opportunities look attractive, with Atom rigorously promoting your film in order to recoup their investment. Check out their site for further details.

Shortbuzz - www.shortbuzz.com

Shortbuzz was a well-designed site run by film-makers for film-makers. Unfortunately like so much of the internet its rise and falls seems to have coincided with the internet bubble that saw a bunch of 'me-too' sites spring up on the net before being roasted by their own burn rate. Depressingly going through this page and editing it has meant that I have had to remove a few sites that have come and gone. Maybe there's a lesson here. If you do get a film together and want to get it online make sure you are confident of the site you are hosting it with.

Would you like to know more? Check out the following...

How to Get your Movie Online - Top tips on preparing and presenting internet video.