YouTube killed the Movie Star

YouTube killed the Movie Star
Sam Dunn
Sam Dunn

Remember the song “video killed the radio star.”  Now the same notion is probably coming true for motion picture industry. The technology has empowered the independent filmmakers to produce films, videos, or documentaries under a nominal budget and release it to worldwide audience without seeking any nod of approvals from bossy producers and cunning studios executives. The audiences are now fast turning towards internet as their major source of entertainment, all thanks to increasing bandwidth. And indie filmmakers are the new superstars.

Are you an inspiring film maker, waiting for the right opportunity to come by? You probably didn’t noticed, it is already here. All you need is bunch of good ideas, a decent camera, editing & mixing software and Voila! You are in business. You can create your own genres and audiences all under a modest budget.

There are two people I would like to talk about, who can be truly called YouTube stars. Meet Sam Dunn and Freddie Wong. Sam Dunn passion for metal music inspired him to make a documentary titled ‘Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey’. It was premiered at the Toronto International Film festival in 2005 and won a Gemini Award for ‘Best Writing in a Documentary’. Since then there was no looking back for Sam who later go on to win Juno award for the ‘Best Music DVD of 2009’.

Freddie Wong & Brandon Laatsch

Similarly, Freddie Wong started a YouTube channel with his friend Brandon Laatsch in 2005. Now their two YouTube channel have almost 4 million subscribers and their videos have been viewed more than 647 million times. Wow! Imagine reaching to this much audience online without spending a single dime. You can label their videos as funny, jaw dropping, weird, annoying or whatever you want; but their videos sheer entertainment quality has attracted millions of viewers to flock over to their channel waiting for their next video.

Don’t get into the fuss of buying expensive video camera. If you already have a camcorder, it will do. These days entry level DSLR also has video recording option. If you want to invest on some cheap camera, instead of buying an ordinary camcorder, you can buy DSLR like Canon 600D that can also shoot 1080px full HD videos and also capable of take quality photos.

As Freddie says never let the fact that you don’t have some piece of cool software or fancy camera as an excuse to not venture into filmmaking. When you will start shooting, you will realize that there are plenty of resources available to shoot and deliver videos to audiences. Start with something that inspires you rather what is already up there on YouTube. Shooting lousy videos will eventually let you to something worthwhile and your will find your niche. So what are you waiting for?