The term “microcinema” was first coined in 1994 by Rebecca Barten and David Sherman founders of San Francisco’s Total Mobile Home microCINEMA, where all the films are “underground” because they’re shown in the basement. The founders say they envisioned an alternative movement, a sort of cinematic microbrewery. And now, the word has come to describe an intimate, low-budget style of movie shot on relatively cheap formats like Hi-8 video, DV, and (less often) older do-it-yourself stock like 16mm film.
As of late, a large growing subculture of film makers has risen in the wake of technological advancements that have made low-budget film making more affordable and pleasing to the eye. One camera in particular, that has made a large impact, is the Panasonic DVX100 followed recently by the Panasonic HVX200 High Definition camcorder (many other cameras are used as well but DVX and HVX are arguably the favorites).
Many film festivals and websites have hosted films made from the microcinema subculture. The rise of YouTube and other large video hosting websites has led to a flourishing of microcinema videos. In fact, many films are now finding their way to rental store chains and independent distributor line-ups.
術語“微電影”最早是在1994年由麗貝卡Barten和大衛謝爾曼創始人創造了舊金山的總移動主頁微電影 ，所有的影片都是“地下”，因為他們是在顯示地下室 。 創始人說，他們設想的替代運動，一種電影的釀酒廠 。 而現在，這個詞已經來形容一個親切的，低預算的電影拍攝風格上相對便宜的格式，如喜-8的視頻， DV ，而像（較少）老做它自己的股票16mm膠片 。
截至年末，電影製作大亞文化日益上升的技術進步，都使得低預算的電影製作更多的實惠和悅目之後。 一台攝像機，特別是已經取得了很大的影響，是近期松下DVX100其次是松下HVX200高清攝像機（許多其他相機作為很好，但DVX和HVX可以說是最愛）。
許多電影節和網站已接待了來自微電影繼代發片。 崛起的YouTube和其他大的視頻託管網站已導致微電影視頻如日中天。 事實上，許多電影正在尋找他們的方式出租連鎖店和獨立分銷商陣容。