Now Short Films on YouTube

There is a new buzz among movie buffs. Here is what they do - Connect to the Internet, go to YouTube's Screening Room and pick from its huge collection of short films. These films are free and are mostly original content. A large chunk of short films available on YouTube's library have been made by Indians in the English, Hindi and other regional languages. YouTube traffic is primarily from the US (22 per cent), with India at the third position (5.5 per cent), trailing slightly behind Japan (5.9 per cent). Google was quick to realize that independent short filmmakers, who might have exhausted resources in producing films, needed a platform to share their works. Three years back, Google created a new channel - Screening Room - using the YouTube platform to help showcase alternate content free of cost. Most short films - anywhere between 30 seconds and 50 minutes - cover a wide range of subjects and are beginning to appeal to a large section of Internet users.

YouTube has also tied up with several short-film promotion and distribution companies in India on a revenue-sharing basis. YouTube and its partner companies let filmmakers retain the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of the film, but use their distribution rights to popularize the film on the Internet.