When I was a budding short film-maker, with quality work in my repertoire and no connections with anyone even remotely related to movies, I would always wonder — how do I show my work to people? Until I found an unlikely, free-of-cost PR agent…YouTube. My short film ‘Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Yeppadi’ went viral and reduced the number of years in my transition from short films to feature films.
In today’s day and age, everyone in media and entertainment, right up to the biggest Hollywood studios depend on YouTube for publicity and marketing. What is it that makes YouTube arguably the most powerful platform in media today? – Its audio-visual, quick, accessible and its free!
For bored insomniacs, social network addicts, hunchbacked computer slaves, locked up introverts and the more tech-savvy smart phone and tablet users, YouTube is as much a part of their everyday lives as water and food. So you have a huge permanent audience bank waiting. All you need is content. Anything from quality short films, music videos and film reviews to spoofs, parodies and rehashes.
If you’re committed enough about it and upload loads of videos regularly and get an impressive hit count, YouTube might even sprinkle a bit of cash back to you from the lump sum that it’s making by attaching ads to your content.
It’s there to be used. You just have to choose how ‘you’ are going to use it. You can choose to use it as a show reel for your talent like I did, or create a worldwide phenomenon like a Gangnam style or a Kolaveri, orspread awareness and inspire people about an important cause, or maybe even become famously infamous like a Powestar or a Sam Anderson!
It is true that there’s a lot of clutter on YouTube and there’s a lot of pointless nonsense on it as well. And the obvious question is – How do I stand out from all the clutter? How do I get noticed? The only answer to that is a rephrasing of the famous line from The Godfather – “Make a video that no one can resist!” It might sound impractical and even stupid. But believe me. When you break-through and get noticed on YouTube, that’s the best explanation you will be able to give someone who asks you how you did it!
Balaji Mohan is the writer director of Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Yeppadi. (Follow him on Twitter @directormbalaji)
