I am copy-pasting my college thesis here.
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YOUTUBE: AN
ONLINE THEATRE FOR THE UPCOMING FILMMAKERS OF KERALA
2012-2013
ABSTRACT
YouTube is the cheapest and easily accessible medium by all people. With a YouTube account anybody can upload videos to it and can be watched by people all over the world. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals. The links of video can be given in other websites and blogs also. The emergence of YouTube as an online TV has greatly
affected the film industry in various ways. The coming of people to theatre has
declined due to the impact of YouTube. Not only are the works of free filmmakers,
but also pirated movies uploaded in YouTube. YouTube helps to create a new
stream of filmmakers of different thoughts. YouTube and its possibilities are a
topic which should be discussed seriously. Online media is growing faster day
by day. Through this dissertation, we are trying to prove the existing fact
that YouTube is an immensely helpful platform for the amateur and aspiring
filmmakers of Kerala.
Chapter 1
1. 1.
Introduction
YouTube,
the free video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal (online money
transferring company) employees in 2005, has revolutionised the internet and
people associated with it. Although sites like Metacafe.com (2003) and
Vimeo.com (2004) were the first prominent websites to introduce free video
hosting services for the people; no other websites are even comparable today
with the popularity and success of YouTube. The influences of YouTube can be sensed
in almost any part of the globe and it’s prevalence in the 21st
century is constantly spreading like a wildfire. It has made its mark in our
small state of ‘Kerala’ by merging with the society and influencing its
culture. Now-a-days, a large number of Malayalis use YouTube to share and see
videos of their interests, which might be films, music videos, TV shows, news
programmes, funny videos, real-life incidents, vlogs (video blogs), sports
programmes, celebrity news/scandals, etc.
Like Facebook, YouTube has also got widespread acceptance by the people
of Kerala, that it now became a destination were people can upload videos they
have with them (whether their own creation or somebody else’s) to the website
and share it with the world. However,
the subject of this research paper deals with the potentials of YouTube as an
efficient platform to exhibit the works of the emerging young filmmakers in
Kerala. By this research, we are attempting to establish the role and
significance of YouTube in bringing out talented filmmakers to the spotlight of
the society, whether be it a short film, full-length film or a documentary
project, and this is backed with quality research done through interviews,
surveys, reliable books and also through personal experience as a YouTube user.
1. 2. Brief
History of YouTube
YouTube
is a site where you can watch just about any type of video imaginable. Users
have uploaded literally millions of video clips, and everyone can watch them in
their web browser at no cost. YouTube has become so pervasive and so innovative
that Time magazine named it ‘Invention of the Year’ in 2006 – which is pretty
good for a site that came to life only the year before. [i]
YouTube
was created by three former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed
Karim. The three founders had left their former company and were looking for a
new business opportunity. After exploring a few less interesting ideas, they
eventually realised there was a real need for a service that facilitated the
process of uploading, watching and sharing videos online. Hence, the site
YouTube.com was developed in February 15, 2005 and then started developing the
technology for the site – in Chad Hurley’s garage. After a few months of
working out on the development of the site, the three men officially launched
YouTube for the public in December 2005.
YouTube
proved immensely popular in virtually the first day in business. Site traffic of
the first month was three million (3 lakh) visitors. The number of visitors
tripled by the third month (February). And again tripled by July to 30 million
(300 lakh) visitors, and reached 38 million (380 lakh) visitors by the end of
the site’s first year in business. That made YouTube of the top ten sites on
the Web, and one of the fastest growing websites in history.
That
kind of growth didn’t go unnoticed, especially by competing websites. The
biggest of the competing sites, Google, set out to buy the company, and did so
in October 2006 paying $1.65 billion (Around Rs. 7,425 crore) for YouTube – an
incredible sum for such a young company. But the site looks and acts pretty
much the same today as it did in the pre-Google days. The only big difference
is volume. [ii]
Today, YouTube says that roughly 60 hours of new videos are uploaded to the
site every minute, and that 800 million (80 crore) unique users visit the site
a month, and that around three quarters of the material comes from outside the
US.[iii]
It is estimated that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire
Internet on 2000. [iv]
‘Alexa’, the web information company by Amazon.com based in California, ranks
YouTube as the third most visited website on the Internet, behind Google and
Facebook.[v]
In
January 2010, YouTube introduced an online film rental service[vi],
which is currently available only to users in the US, Canada and the UK[vii].
The service offers over 6,000 films. In March 2010, YouTube began free
streaming of certain content, including 60 cricket matches of Indian Premier
League (IPL)[viii].
According to YouTube, this was the first worldwide free online broadcast of a
major sporting event.
But
there are some terms and conditions for uploading videos in YouTube. They are
provided on Appendix 3. The interface of YouTube is also given at Appendix 2.
1. 3. Features of YouTube
·
All YouTube users can upload videos
up to 15 minutes each in duration. Users who have good track record of
complying with the site’s Community Guidelines may be offered the ability to
upload videos up to 12 hours in length, which requires verifying the account,
normally through a mobile phone.
·
One can upload an unlimited number of
videos.
·
File size up to 2 GB for uploads from
the YouTube webpage, or 20 GB if up-to-date browser versions are used.
·
In January 2010, YouTube upgraded its
version of the site (HTML5) that supports built-in multimedia capability, i.e.
videos can be viewed without installing Adobe Flash Player in a computer.
·
Original videos can be monetised and
one can earn money through YouTube using Google’s AdSense facility that enables
to put ads on videos.
·
YouTube accepts videos uploaded in
almost all container formats. It also supports 3GP, allowing videos to be
uploaded from mobile phones.
·
From November 2009, 1080p HD Video
support was made available to YouTube.
·
From July 2009, YouTube announced
that YouTube users can now upload 3D videos. The videos can be viewed in
several different ways, including the common anaglyph (cyan/red lens) method
which utilized glasses worn by the viewer to achieve 3D effect.
·
YouTube offers users the ability to
view its videos on web pages outside their website. This functionality is often
used to embed YouTube videos in social networking sites like Facebook and
blogs.
·
YouTube Mobile was launched in June
2007. Most of the smartphones, i-pods and even some advanced Television are
capable of accessing YouTube.
·
YouTube brought forth its inbuilt
movie editing and sound editing/mixing technology letting users to edit out
their videos and adjust, mix or dub sounds in YouTube, without the need of
other softwares.
·
Other than the usual features like
comments and likes, YouTube has a feature called ‘Annotation’, which allows one
to create clickable links within videos that can link to other videos,
playlists, channels or to subscribe.
·
Captions and subtitles feature has
been implemented.
·
YouTube launched their live streaming
service. Many TV channels have got into YouTube after this service was made
available.
1. 4. Background
of the Problem
YouTube
as a research topic is not very infrequent, because it has created such a
phenomenon across the world, whether the result is being referred to as good or
bad. It has created different opportunities for millions, and the same
opportunities have grown so dangerously powerful that even led to the downfall
of governments in some countries. So, many studies and research papers have
been conducted at many places of the world. But, we are not focusing YouTube
and its impacts on the society in an all-around manner and we are not going to
discuss about YouTube’s history. Our
study is only dealt in the context of Kerala, and the focus is on the fact that
whether YouTube helps in promoting budding filmmakers to showcase their talents
online and get popularity and acceptance from the public. For that we are only
dealing with the age group of people between 18 to 25, and will be mostly
college students.
Although,
many studies about YouTube has been conducted as said before, there are
literally no studies to our knowledge which has been conducted in the past,
dealing with this specific issue (about emerging filmmakers) and within the
boundaries of the State of Kerala. There has been only a little amount of study
about YouTube in general which focused on Kerala and none at all which focuses
on the issue that we have selected, albeit our topic is highly relevant in
these times. Since that being the case, there are almost no references to be
cited as a ‘Review of Literature’ in the next chapter, maybe apart from some newspaper/magazine
articles. More details regarding the absence of adequate citations literature
are given in ‘Chapter 2 – Review of Literature’.
We have conducted this research
mostly on a quantitative way and to a lesser extent on a qualitative way. There
are three different sources from where we collect the information. The primary
one is through conducting surveys in educational institutions. The secondary
one is through interviewing people associated with YouTube and filmmaking, i.e.
people with relevant experiences related to the subject. And the last step is
done with the help of our own personal experiences and knowledge. More details
about the structure of our research are provided in ‘Chapter 3 – Methodology’.
1. 5. Statement
of Problem
As
we have indicated in ‘Background of the Problem’, not much of any published
research articles have any identicalness with our research topic. Researches
were YouTube is the topic may have been conducted before, but that is of no use
to us as our topic exclusively focuses on a small, but also significant group
of people, i.e. the filmmakers among youth. The point that is to be stated here
is the ‘Gap in the Knowledge’ which is found in the current body of empirical
research literature available. In fact, there is a large gap in the knowledge
in the subject we have chosen, where there is no authentic and elaborate study
has been done in the past. In fact, we are selecting a small portion for
research from a vast circle of area where researches are yet to be done in a
detailed manner. The subject we have chosen: ‘YouTube and its influences on the
upcoming filmmakers of Kerala’, is a topic where researches in the past has not
been conducted, at least to our knowledge, and so that topic itself accounts
for the ‘Gap in the Knowledge’.
The Problem that will be addressed
are “Does YouTube has the capability of bringing out more filmmakers to the
public”, like it helped Santhosh Pandit, although ill-famed and disputable. But
YouTube could also bring out very talented filmmakers who are not very famous
or wealthy enough to afford the production cost of a feature film or the rights
to release it on a theatre. Whether YouTube can significantly help in promoting
them to the public is our main research question.
1. 6. Purpose
of the Study
The
filmmaking costs have decreased due to the digitalisation of filmmaking
equipments and the comparatively cheap market prices of camera and other studio
equipments. Also there are so many ways today to exhibit ones filmmaking
talents to the public and receive admiration. So there are lots of aspiring
young filmmakers who think they can create a wave among the public by their
films. And the number has increased like never before in Kerala. But production
costs are something that is inevitable for a good film to be made. But
sometimes the exhibition cost of these amateur films by youngsters (like
releasing it to a theatre) costs more than the production cost. But with
YouTube, there is literally no exhibition cost, other than the cost of printing
posters and hand-outs which is very inexpensive.
So this significant attribute of
YouTube, that it is completely free-of-cost and at the same time popular and
accessible 24x7 is not something of a small value. No other traditional methods
are this cheap and no other website other than YouTube is this popular. But
although there has been a rush of short-films these days on YouTube, whether it
is made due to YouTube or whether YouTube is just a complementary factor is
something to be looked into. Even if one sees it as a complementary, the
exposure that one can potentially get through YouTube, if coupled with talent
and some online marketing tactics, can outnumber the number of live audiences
present at a preview conducted on a theatre. Getting to the theatre needs
manual effort whereas, if it’s on YouTube, it’s just a few mouse-clicks away.
1. 7.
Significance of the Study
Today
most of us have a computer or a smart phone along with an internet connection.
The sale of smart phones that has internet connectivity through wi-fi and data
packet service provided by the mobile companies has doubled last year. A
significant percentage of the mobile phones sold in 2012 are smart phones.
People are becoming more into internet like never before with the arrival of social
networking sites. Also a large number of people are using YouTube either
directly from its site or from external sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
We have selected this subject
because we have felt that more and more people are using YouTube in Kerala.
Among them, a number of people use it as a free entertainment medium at their
homes, just like a TV. More people are making films with the primary or
secondary intention of sharing their works through YouTube. But our opinions
are not enough for that there is no study that has been done regarding this
that we can display as a proof. Since that is the case, we are doing the
research work to find out whether our assumptions about YouTube are true or not.
If the research finally finds out that our hypothesis are in fact right, then
this study becomes a significant one as an awareness to those aspiring
filmmakers who are ignorant about the potentials of YouTube should be given.
It can be given through conducting public seminars, doing more research and
studies, publishing more literary materials regarding this topic, and creating
more awareness on how an individual who is interested in filmmaking can turn to
YouTube for marketing and publication purposes of their works. Simply, more
YouTube-awareness should be given to the people as it is a very potential
medium of communication these days. Maybe in the future, one could watch new
films on YouTube by giving certain amount of cash (via. online money
transaction). This system is already implemented in the US. It will be a
significant leap in the online participation of Malayalis.
1. 8.
Hypotheses
Our
hypotheses are:
· YouTube
is becoming an online theatre for the upcoming filmmakers of Kerala.
· There
is a significant number of Malayalis who are looking forward to watch more
short-films and films through YouTube.
· YouTube
caused the flourishing of short-films and documentaries in Kerala.
· Amateur
filmmakers in Kerala are benefitted by YouTube.
· More
campus films are being made and a number of them are partially if not
completely dependent on YouTube for distribution.
1. 9.
Assumptions and Limitations
1.9.1.
Assumption
In
order to execute this research, we have to assume something’s will go like we
already presumed. Those are assumptions we are putting forward. The first
assumption is to trust that all the participants of our survey (aged between
18-25) will provide credible and honest answers for the questions in the
questionnaire. We think that it can be safely assumed so because, we have
informed them to write their answers honestly as none of their names or
personal information (other than gender and age) is being collected. Since
every participant has anonymity, there is little reason why they shouldn’t be
honest.
The second assumption is to trust
that the people whom we have interviewed will give honest answers and not the
answers that might favour us. It could be safely assumed because we are gently
telling everyone of participant to honestly tell us what they think is true.
1.9.2
Limitations
We
are only taking the case of college students and not the people who are not
presently (at the time of this research) studying in college under the same age
group.
Most
of the participants will be from Trivandrum although there are some students
hailing from other districts. So the findings of this research will have more
credibility on the district of Trivandrum and slightly less validity in other
districts.
[i] YouTube for Business: Online Video
Marketing for Any Business, Michael Miller, Que Publishing, 19-Aug-2008, p. 13
[iii] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-google-youtube-idUSTRE80M0TS20120123 - “Exclusive: YouTube hits 4 billion
daily video views”, Jan 23, 2012.
[iv] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1584230/Web-could-collapse-as-video-demand-soars.html - “Web could collapse as video
demands soar”, Apr 07, 2008.
[vi] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/technology/internet/21youtube.html, “YouTube Takes a Small Step Into
the Film Rental Market”, The New York Times, January 20, 2010.
[vii] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8471635.stm, "YouTube turns to movie rental
business", Jan 21, 2010.
[viii] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/20/youtube-live-indian-premier-league, "YouTube confirms worldwide
deal for live Indian Premier League cricket", Jan 20, 2010
Chapter 2
2.1 Review
of Literature
The
purpose of the review of literature is to prove that no one has studied the gap
in the knowledge outlined in the previous Chapter. Every research study that is
mentioned should in some way bear upon the gap in the knowledge, and each study
that is mentioned should end with the comment that the study did not collect
data about the specific gap in the knowledge of the study.
We
have already stated in Chapter 1 (See Background of the Problem) that no quotable
studies regarding our specific topic has been conducted anywhere in Kerala to
our knowledge. There might be many studies about the internet participation of
Malayalis, participation in the blogging platforms and social networking sites.
There
are lots of studies about YouTube, its history and its potentials. There are
many well-researched books about YouTube like “YouTube: An Insider's Guide to
Climbing the Charts”[i] by
the famous online musician Alan Lastufka and Michael W. Dean; “How to Make
Money with YouTube”[ii]
by Brad Schepp and Debra Schepp; “YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour a Day”[iii]
by Greg Jarboe; “The YouTube Reader”[iv]
by Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau and similar books like “The Social Media
Reader”[v]
by Michael Mandiberg etc.
But
unfortunately these studies first-of-all only deals with the American
perspective of YouTube or the whole world in a general overall sense. That is
because each of these books is written by American authors, and not Indian
authors. The second thing is that 90% of these books are books dealing with the
history of YouTube, the success-stories of American YouTube users, How-to
methods (i.e. How to make money through YouTube etc.) etc. The remaining 10%
deals with the influences of YouTube in our society and it being a useful platform
for the amateur filmmakers. But these
10% is not focused on the state of affairs in India at all. The Indian state of
affairs of YouTube is almost nil as far as credible research or literature is
concerned. This is partly because YouTube is a young medium and has only been
popular in India since 2008 onwards or much later. So that is why there is no
such studies that we can use as a reference material for our research.
Since
that is the case all over India, the case of Kerala regarding credible
literature referring to YouTube is almost non-existent. So there will be very
few literature citations that could be given that have any direct correlation
with our topic of research. Since the literature is not sufficiently available,
the focus is given more on individual knowledge and experiences of people. We
are gathering first-hand information from different people associated with
YouTube and filmmaking, especially those people who had efficiently used
YouTube to market or broadcast their films through it. We conduct interviews
with them regarding this topic. We also are conducting surveys in several
colleges to gather more information regarding some questions that will benefit
for the better understanding of people’s participation in YouTube.
We have clearly stated why that we
are unable to give literature reviews that directly correlate to our specific
research topic and that because very few researches have been conducted at all
about our topic. But we can provide necessary review of literature from
different books and articles that states some of our assumptions of our
hypotheses. Those assumptions that we can give literature citations are:
i.
Making money through YouTube is
possible
ii.
One can market their works through
YouTube
iii.
YouTube is an efficient medium of
communication
iv.
YouTube is becoming an online TV
1.
Making money through YouTube – “Google Adsense allows you to
put adds on your YouTube videos. When someone clicks on your ads you can get up
to a few dollars from Google. To sign up you must have a blog or YouTube
channel having more than sufficient views to mark the criteria to enable
monetisation of your videos though Google Adsense program. If you channel views
and copyright claims have met the criteria, you can create an account in Google
Adsense by giving your address and other personal information. Youtube.com
which is run by Google easily integrates Adsense and lets you post ads on your
videos. It is possible to make a lot of money from Google Adsense but it takes
time to start earning decent revenue.” [vi]
2.
Marketing through YouTube – “Back in the day, advertisements were
only seen in newspapers or on TV. Now it seems that advertising has a new
playground, the World Wide Web. Ads have appeared as banners, pop-up ads,
social media, and lately, in the form of YouTube videos. Ads in the form of
YouTube videos are often called ‘viral ads,’ especially when they gather
millions of views, and are part of a viral marketing campaign.
What
is viral marketing, and how effective is it? Its main objective is to increase
brand awareness through replicating a viral like process, like the spread of
virus in computers. Often, viral videos are spread through sharing by viewers,
kind of like a word of mouth. Viral marketing often comes in the form of
videos, but they also come in games, software, images or messages.
The
main goal is to create infectious, viral messages that appeal to their target
market with high SNP (social networking potential) that can easily spread
through individuals. But why are they so effective? It is because the internet
has enabled companies to reach out to the consumers at a more personal and
interactive level. 75% of the internet’s total population go to a social networking
site like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, where time spent in social media is a
LOT more than time spent on email. The sharing effect is fast and rapid.”[vii]
3.
YouTube is an Efficient Medium of Communication – “You may
dismiss it as a website for attention-deprived teenagers with an interest in
strange cats, but YouTube, and other video sharing services like it, have the
potential to change the way you communicate. YouTube factor is about much more
than generating publicity. As impressive - and destructive - as viral video can
be, it is its impact on internal communicators, and the way organisations
operate, that really interests us. Whilst its power as a communication tool
cannot be denied, video has remained out of reach for many of us- a medium that
is simply too costly and too time consuming for the majority of internal
communicators to consider using as a core channel. But all that has changed.
The
barriers to video production and broadcast have now all but disappeared.
Businesses of all sizes now possess the technology to stream video direct to
employee's desktops via their intranets. No longer do we have to rely on
expensive business TV satellite networks or on distributing content on VHS
cassette or DVD in the vague hope that employees will make the effort to view
them. Furthermore, the YouTube factor means that your video production no
longer has to be of Scorsese standard - as long as it's interesting, relevant
and authentic, 'home grown' will do. As many podcasters have already found out,
content is more important than presentation - if you have something to say that
is relevant and genuinely interesting then listeners will tune in. The same
goes for internal communications.”[viii]
4.
YouTube as an Online TV – “John Farrel, a YouTube regional
director, has made a bold prediction saying that by 2020 some 75 per cent of
audio-visual content will be consumed via broadband.
Farrel
didn’t quite claim that YouTube would be the dominant supplier, he stated that
“TV has been the leading media over the last 50 years, and [the change] will
happen especially in digital platforms”.
He
added “[This] will entail further investment in infrastructure, access lines
and servers”, explaining that improved online EPG’s will further help broadband
access.
“Pay
channels account for an alternative that enable content creators to cash out,
through micro-payments, an additional source to that of advertising”, he
explained. However, Google, YouTube’s owners, were convinced that its main
video site income source is still [dominated] by advertising. The executive
also mentioned the need to [restructure] advertising budgets again. At present,
advertisers allocate the 60 per cent or 70 per cent of their budgets to
free-to-air TV, and the remaining percentage is divided between Pay-TV and
digital platforms.”[ix]
[i] “YouTube: An Insider's Guide to
Climbing the Charts”, http://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0596554249
[vi] “5 ways to Make Money on YouTube
Without Being a Partner”, http://hubpages.com/hub/Make-money-on-YouTube-without-being-a-partner , November 10, 2012. Accessed on 19
January 2013.
[vii] “Youtube and the Impact of Viral
Marketing”, http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/youtube-viral-marketing/ Youtube and the Impact of Viral Marketing.
Accessed on 24 January 2013.
[viii] “YouTube and
Its Impact on the Internal Communication”, http://ezinearticles.com/?YouTube-and-Its-Impact-on-the-Internal-Communication&id=3055652, Accessed
on 24, January 2013.
[ix] “YouTube: “Online will replace TV”, http://advanced-television.com/2013/02/14/youtube-online-will-replace-tv/, Feb 14 2013, Accessed on 25
February, 2013.
Chapter 3
3.1 Objectives
and Methodology
The purpose of this chapter is to
give an experiences investigator enough information to replicate the study. A
research design is used to structure the research and to show how all of the
major parts of the research project, including the sample, measures of
assignment, work together to address the central research questions in the
study.
Today more and more young filmmakers
are turning to YouTube to exhibit their works to the public. Some of the films
have got very high popularity in it and some of them remain less popular. The
popularity of a film in YouTube is directly proportional with the relevance of
the work and the title, tags and such methodical aspects given to that video.
Some of the short films are highly popular through YouTube alone. For example
the Malayalam short film called ‘Shaeey’ by a campus student called Nevin
Fradian got very popular that more than 5 Lakh people have seen it. [i]
Campus short films like ‘Iniyumoru Mazhayai’ by Jishnu Sreekantan[ii],
‘Thanks for Nothing’ by Vivek Prem[iii],
and even the short film starring Mohanlal in the lead role titled ‘Reflections’
by the now-popular Hindi filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar got more popularity on YouTube
than any other medium[iv].
So
the point is that more and more amateur filmmakers are coming out into the
public spotlight just by the popularity they receive from YouTube. All of this
was already described in detail in Chapter 1. So there is no need to reiterate
it here once more. Hence we are moving on to describe the objectives and the methodology
of our research in this chapter. In simple words, how this research is going to
be conducted by us and what all are our main objectives are being is described
in detail in this Chapter. The Analysis and Findings are given in Chapter 4.
3.2
Research Design
For a sociological topic like YouTube, we are planning to conduct this
research both in qualitative and quantitative ways. The research conducted
could be classified into three stages.
They are:
i)
Primary Research –
In the primary stage we collect data through questionnaire, referring articles
and books and gathering others opinions.
ii)
Secondary Research –
In the secondary stage we collect data through direct interaction with people
associated with the topic through interviews, discussions, etc.
iii)
Tertiary Research –
The third stage of research is done through using our own individual knowledge
as a YouTube user, and gathering inferences from them.
Although
our research includes both qualitative and quantitative methods, it should be
noted that this research is mostly going to be done in a quantitative way (i.e.
through questionnaires or surveys), and to lesser extent in a qualitative way
(through direct interviews etc.). For a research topic like this, yes or no
questions and multi-choice questions are more crucial than taking others
general opinions. So we decided to stick more onto the quantitative method via.
conducting surveys and also to a lesser extent in the qualitative method.
3.3
Objectives
Our
main objective for this research work is to prove that YouTube is becoming an
online theatre for upcoming filmmakers of Kerala. We are proving it using
various research techniques like questionnaire surveys and interviews with
budding filmmakers who publish their works through YouTube.
We
are also have other objectives like proving that there is a significant number
of Malayalis who are looking forward to watch more short-films and documentary
films that is published in YouTube than in any other kind of medium.
Our
third objective is to prove that the number of short-films and documentary
films has flourished and that is due to the existence and popularity of YouTube
in Kerala. Before the existence of YouTube, short-films and documentary films
are not made as frequently as of now and the only way to effectively display it
to a mass audience is through conducting short-film festivals and documentary
film festivals. But they too are not very frequent as they are only once a
year, and once it a work is shown in a festival, most of the people would not
see it again. But due to the arrival of YouTube, people can now watch
short-films and documentaries at the homes and re-watch it and share it with
their friends at any time. Hence we are proving that there is a mass audience
who are looking forward to watch these kinds of works online through YouTube.
We are proving it through surveys conducted by us in various colleges.
Our
next objective is proving that amateur filmmakers are benefitted through
YouTube. Usually, films by amateur filmmakers are not always get accepted for
previewing in short-film/documentary film festivals. And only a small number of
audiences would actually see the film in reality and once it is over, it will
usually remain unseen. But due to the advent of YouTube, anybody can post their
works and get publicity, comments and reviews of their works through it.
Amateur films and filmmakers have now got a place among the public.
Our
last objective is to prove that more campus films (films made by campus
students) are being made and the number is increasing, and this is due to the
YouTube. Mostly all of them are keen on uploading their works in YouTube after
showing it to friends, for letting the public watch it and rate it.
3.4
Tools of Data Collection
Our primary
data collection tool is the survey done using questionnaires in different
colleges. We have carefully selected a list of questions where most of them are
objective-type questions and some are opinionative questions, and most of the
data that we need are collected through it.
The second most important data
collection method is through conducting interviews with independent filmmakers
who publish their works on YouTube. Internet is another important tool for the
data collection process, in which we study more about YouTube and its features,
and gather specific information regarding the topic of our research. Books are
another data collection tool that we had used and we have referred books
relating to Web 2.0 and YouTube. Some of the books which are not available and
referred by us using internet.
3.5
Primary Research Questions
The
most primary research objective is to find out whether YouTube is a helpful
platform for the budding/amateur filmmakers of Kerala, whether be it
short-filmmakers, documentarians or music video makers. But in the
process of finding the answer to this question we are also getting an estimate
of how make people taken part on the survey do actually watch videos online,
how many videos do they watch on a daily average, how many of them watch
short/documentaries through it and how many of them has benefitted themselves
through YouTube by publishing their works online. We are also finding out
whether most of the people directly go to the main of site of YouTube to watch
videos or do they mostly watch them though social networking sites like
Facebook, etc. The last but not the least important question is to find out the
percentage of people who are well-aware of the fact that one could make money
out of YouTube.
We have prepared a questionnaire for
conducting surveys. The questionnaire is given at the Appendix. The
questionnaire includes questions like: how many people watch videos online
occasionally; do they watch short film or documentary films on it; do they use
YouTube as a quick video reference tool; are there any plus point of YouTube
compared to other video streaming sites; are they active on YouTube; are they
aware of making money though YouTube through the monetisation feature; could
they name a Malayali director who got popularity through YouTube alone; do they
find YouTube as a helpful platform for the budding filmmakers in Kerala; and so
on and so forth. Refer Appendix for the full set of questions that is in the
questionnaire.
3.6
Setting and Participants
We are planning to conduct the survey mostly from the colleges in
Trivandrum. Hence this study report will be more valid in Trivandrum than other
districts. We are focusing on youth especially between the age group of 18-25
as our participants. So the source of opinions will be mainly gathered from
college campuses in Trivandrum. Some of the colleges we are planning to conduct
surveys are A. J. College (Mass Communication Students), Kariavattam Campus
(P.G. Mass Communication Students), Mar Baselios College (B. Tech), Nalanchira
etc.
We are planning to take 100 sample surveys in total. Although we are not
taking the names of any of the participants (in order to assure them
anonymity), we are gathering the gender information and age of the
participants. We are also noting down the names of the short-films that they
say that they have seen along with the director’s name and the participants’
YouTube id (if they stated that they have one), in order for us to crosscheck
whether they’re saying the truth. However the YouTube id’s and the names of the
directors and their works they have referred need not be mentioned here, but
could be used by us as a validation process.
3.7
Procedure
In this section we are fully
describing how the data were collected in detail. As mentioned above, we have
both qualitative and quantitative methods in our research. The qualitative
method is done by taking interviews of people associated with our topic. The
quantitative method is done by conducting surveys. Here we will describe how
and when the data for our research was collected.
We
have interviewed around 10 different individuals who are associated with
independent filmmaking and YouTube. We have handpicked some of the people
within the age group of 18-25 who have done independent films (that includes
short-film, full-length films, documentaries or music videos) and has uploaded
their works in YouTube themselves. We ask them candidly whether they find
YouTube as a helpful platform to exhibit their works to the public and get responses
from them. We ask for their sincere opinions about YouTube as a site used by
Malayalis, what is its relevance, merits and demerits. We also ask them whether
they have, or anybody to their knowledge has gained money through YouTube by
its monetisation feature.
All
interviews were conducted early in the month of January and were mostly direct
interpersonal interviews. Some of the interviews due to unavailability of the
specific person, or due to other technical difficulties were held using phone.
All the interviewees have done independent films either as Director, Producer,
Editor or a Scriptwriter. The replies to the questions asked in the interviews
are noted down in a paper. This is the whole procedure of the qualitative
process of our research.
Then we step onto the quantitative
method of our research, which is the most prominent method that we are using
for this particular research. That is done using questionnaire surveys. We have
prepared a questionnaire having around 20 questions in total. We do not collect
the names or any other personal information about the participant other than
gender and age. We thought 100 sample surveys should be the limit and hence we
took 100 copies of the questionnaire. (The ‘Questionnaire’ is provided at the
Appendix). We handed down portions of
the questionnaire to each one of us, to go to different colleges and distribute
it to the students. The colleges we have went to conduct this survey has been
said earlier on this chapter (See ‘Setting and Participants’). All the
questionnaires were filled during the same time-range of the interviews that
had been conducted by us.
3.8
Data Processing and Analysing
As mentioned earlier, we have
already taken down the important points received to us during our interview session
with people related with the topic. We took down their names and all the
important points that they have opined. Their own personal experience as an
independent filmmaker who is also a YouTube user is noted down with special
importance.
After that we go through all the
notes that have been taken down in the interview session, and evaluate them
ourselves and also compare and contrast them with each other. We try to find
out the points said by all the participants to find out whether they all arrive
at a consensus. Then we evaluate whether the results are positive or negative
and mention them in detail in the next chapter.
Now, the data processing and
analysing of questionnaires are not as easy as the interview part. Since we are
taking 100 sample surveys which includes not just multi-choice questions, but
also questions that aren’t objective-type (i. e. opinions, what-do-you-think
questions, etc.). First of all we manually mark down all the objective-type
questions (i.e. yes-or-no and multi-choice questions) and note down all the
markings that we have received in all such questions in a paper and arrange
them for creating charts and graphs. It is an important point to note that not
all the participants of the survey has answered all of the questions; some of
them has leaved blank some basic questions and here we have no other option
than to create an estimate amount where the total number will always be 100.
Then we manually note down the
different answers of questions that aren’t objective-type. We note down all the
participants’ opinions for a question in a single sheet. We then try to sort
out the general answers that we have received, and also the peculiar and
relevant points that some participant has written down. We evaluate everybody’s
answers to find out what they said are true or not. If we find that what they
opined was in fact true and also relevant to be mentioned, we note down those
points. The general unanimous results of opinionative questions will be
described in the next chapter.
After processing all the results of
the objective-type questions, we convert each of the objective-type questions
into tables where the total will be calculated by the total number of
participants, i.e. 100. Since we have selected 100 as the limit, we have the
advantage of not converting them into percentage of 100 again. Then, after
converting all of them into tables, we sort out all those that could be
communicated visually more effectively by using bar graphs, pie charts etc. We
create charts and then describe the observations evident from it above each
figure to prove our hypotheses.
Chapter 4
4.1 Analysis and Findings
The purpose of this
chapter is to summarise the collected data and the statistical treatment of it.
Here, quotes from people whom we have interviewed are also included. We are not
stating what our research problem is and our hypotheses as they are already
mentioned in the previous chapters. So we are jumping directly into the
analysis part of this topic. We have done this survey quantitatively, through
questionnaire surveys and also qualitatively, through interviews. First, we
will analyse the quantitative and then move on to the qualitative part. It
might be useful to see the questionnaire we used to conduct the survey which is
given at the Appendix.
Age group of the Participants
(Table 4.1)
Age
|
No. of Participants
|
18
|
40
|
19
|
14
|
20
|
12
|
21
|
4
|
22
|
2
|
23
|
4
|
24
|
6
|
25
|
12
|
Unrevealed
|
6
|
We have obtained the results of 100 sample
surveys and hence the total number of results got for an objective type
question will be 100. All of the 100 participants are college students aged
between 18 to 25. After conducting the survey, we have calculated that 40
participants were of the age 18, 14 of them were 19 years old, 12 of them were
20, 4 of them were 21, 2 of them were 22, 4 of them were 23, 6 of them were24
and 12 of them were 25. 6 of them haven’t revealed their age.
46 of the participants
are Male, 30 are Female and the remaining 24 haven’t revealed their gender.
4.2 Responses
4.2.1. Online-Video Viewership of the Participants
Watching videos online has become a
routine among the new generation of Kerala. In our research it is important to
find that most of the youth are addicted to online video viewing.
For our question about
whether they watch videos online, 58% of the participants responded positively.
Whereas 20% opted they view videos online sometimes. 16 % of people view videos
very rarely and only 6% does not see videos online. See Figure 4.1 below.
Response to whether they watch videos online (Figure 4.1)
4.2.2. Website Used by the Participants to Watch Online Videos
We are trying to find out the fact that YouTube is the most popular
video streaming website among the youngsters of Kerala. As shown in the Figure
4.2, we have found that 84% of the participants prefer YouTube for watching
videos. The next 13% supports Google Videos. Only 3% selected Metacafe even
though it is very popular abroad. Surprisingly, none of the participants
selected Vimeo.
Graph Showing the Leading Video Viewing Sites (Figure 4.2)
4.2.3. People who watch short-films/documentaries through YouTube
As the result of the new-wave movement in the filmmaking scenario in
Kerala, the number of the production of short films and documentaries increased
tremendously. Their viewership is also increasing. Figure 4.3 proves a major
point of our hypothesis that the number of amateur filmmakers in Kerala has
increased. This is due to the presence of an online platform like YouTube. 43%
who responded ‘yes’ and 27% who responded ‘sometimes’ reinforces our statement.
Pie-Diagram Displaying Number of Short-film/Documentary Viewers
(Figure 4.3)
4.2.4. YouTube as a Video Reference Tool
In our question about whether YouTube is helpful for a quick video
reference (i.e. to find out a desired video for a purpose), a massive 78%
opined positively. 15% of the participants seem YouTube is somewhat helpful for
this. 7% replied negatively. So it is evident from the results that more of the
people find YouTube as a helpful tool that one could use for a quick video
reference. They can use the YouTube’s search tool to find out a video that is
uploaded by somebody in YouTube and watch it.
Number of People who use YouTube for a quick video reference (Table
4.2)
Do you find YouTube helpful for a quick video
reference?
|
|
Yes
|
78
|
No
|
7
|
Sometimes
|
15
|
Very Rarely
|
0
|
4.2.5. Sensationalism of ‘Krishnanum Radhayum’ through YouTube
The possibilities of making a video popular through YouTube are
infinite. The recent sensation in Malayalam cinema ‘Krishnanum Radhayum’
directed by Santhosh Pandit is a perfect example.
Response to whether the film ‘Krishnanum Radhayum’ became popular mainly
due to YouTube (Figure 4.4)
In our question about the support of YouTube in making the film popular,
62% of participant responded positively. 18% are not sure and 20% does not
think so.
See Figure 4.4 Above.
4.2.6. Success of the Short-film ‘Shaeey’
As we already stated that a number of independent filmmakers especially
youngsters has increased in Kerala, success of the short film ‘Shaeey’ by Nevin
Fradian strongly support the mentioned fact.
In our survey about whether they have watched Shaeey, 66% responded that
they have seen the film (See Figure 4.5). 13% has heard about the film and 21%
has not watched it yet.
As a supplementary question we added about the medium they used to watch
the film. 52 supported YouTube and the rest were for others devices shown in
Figure 4.6.
Response to whether they’ve watched the short-film called ‘Shaeey’, and
the Medium of Viewing (Figure 4.5, 4.6)
4.2.7. Joining and Using YouTube
We were interested in finding the number of
youngsters who uses YouTube not just for watching videos, but also for
publishing their works by creating their own channel. But we have found that
majority of the youth who frequently watches videos on YouTube doesn’t have a
YouTube account or uses YouTube for uploading videos. The Figure 4.7 (Left)
clearly shows that 61% doesn’t have a YouTube account. Among the 39% who
responded yes, only 13 of them have uploaded videos in YouTube.
Response to the question whether they have YouTube account (Fig 4.7) and
whether they have uploaded any videos to it (Fig 4.8)
4.2.8. YouTube’s Help for Aspiring Filmmakers
This is the most important question in our survey to substantiate our
main hypothesis that YouTube helps amateur filmmakers. As a response for this
question, 96% of the participants unanimously selected the answer ‘yes’ and a
negligible 4% have opted ‘no’. For this result, we can easily reach at an
evaluation that most of the young generation people think that YouTube is an
highly helpful online tool for the independent filmmakers of the present
Kerala.
Diagram showing whether YouTube is a helpful platform for amateur
filmmakers
(Figure 4.9)
4.2.9. Daily Average Online Video Viewership of the Respondents
In response to a question regarding the number of
videos viewed by the participants on a daily average, 46% selected ‘less than
2’ (See Figure 4.10 Below). 34% of the participants said that they watch around
2-4 videos daily. 13% sees 5-9 videos and only 7% watches more than 10 videos
daily.
Graph showing the daily number of videos viewed by the participants
(Figure 4.10)
4.2.10. Device from which they watch YouTube videos
Earlier desktop was the only option for accessing
internet. But the due to technological advancement worldwide, the type of
devices to access internet has become multifarious. This also proves the fact
that YouTube is now accessible from everywhere and its reach has increased.
We have found that laptop has overtaken the
position of desktop with the support of 36% of respondents for accessing
YouTube (See Figure 4.11). 34% still uses desktop as their device. 20% are
accessing YouTube through mobile phones. 10% have started accessing YouTube
through Tablet PCs.
Graph Showing the Devices used to see YouTube Videos (Figure 4.11)
4.2.11. Influence of Social Networking Sites (SNS) and Blogs
Emergence of social networking sites as a medium for communication has
greatly influenced the modern society especially the youth. Most of the Social
Networking Sites like Facebook (FB), Google+, etc. and blogs could embed
YouTube videos in it. So the reach of YouTube is also being supported by SNS
and blogs, since YouTube is the most popular medium for sharing videos. Figure
4.12 given below shows the statistics.
Responses
to whether they watch YouTube videos through other sites
(Figure
4.12)
4.2.12.
Making Revenue from YouTube
Apart from watching and publishing videos, one can
also make revenue from YouTube from their own online content. ‘Monetisation’ is
an attractive feature that YouTube has. By connecting the YouTube account with
the Google’s Adsense facility, advertisements will appears on the videos and
one can make money out of it.
In our survey, we found that 39% (See Figure 4.13
below) are aware about this feature. 35% partially know about this feature and
26% has not heard about it.
Response
to whether they are aware of the fact that one could make money though YouTube
by its monetisation feature (Figure 4.13)
4.2.13. Short filmmakers in YouTube
For our question about whether they know anyone who
has done short-films and uploaded it on YouTube, 72% of the participants
responded ‘yes’ and 28% do not know any (See Figure 4.14 below).
People’s response to whether they know any
short-filmmakers in YouTube
(Figure 4.14)
4.2.14. Success of YouTube in Kerala
To ensure the fact that YouTube has become a
successful online platform in Kerala, we have added a question about the
success-rate of YouTube in our survey. The results received were highly
positive as expected.
54% of the participants reacted that YouTube is ‘Highly Successful’ in
Kerala. 42% said that it is ‘Successful’. Only 4% opined that it is not so
successful. No one has the opinion that it is not at all a success.
Response to whether YouTube has been a success in
Kerala (Figure 4.15)
4.2.15. Opinionative Questions
Other than the above mentioned questions, we have
also included 4 opinion-forming questions which cannot be described in
graphical form. They are Questions ‘5’, ‘6 a’, ‘9 a’, and ‘18’. (See the
Questionnaire on Appendix) As a result we got many merits and demerits of
YouTube, some interesting opinions and the names of some short-films and
short-filmmakers.
4.3 Opinions and Interviews
For
making our dissertation more credible and authentic, we have taken direct
interviews from persons who are making and distributing independent films. The
interviewees include filmmakers, script-writers and film editors. Five major
samples have selected from many interviews conducted by us.
The
selected interviewees are:
1.
Ajai Rahul
(independent filmmaker & editor)
Works:
‘Extremity’ (Short-Film) [i],
and numerous works as editor.
2.
Mahesh Gopal
(scriptwriter)
Works:
‘Oru Kannadi Katha’[ii],
‘Valentine’ etc.
3.
Jishnu Sreekantan
(independent filmmaker and assistant director)
Works:
‘Iniyumoru Mazhayai’[iii]
4.
Praveen Mohan
(independent filmmaker)
Works:
‘The Twist’[iv],
‘Varabhalam’
5.
Sreeram Ramesh
(independent filmmaker)
The
important excerpts are given below:
Ajai
Rahul – “YouTube is an extremely helpful platform for
budding filmmakers to exhibit their talents. It helps the uploader to get
valuable feedbacks and comments from audience everywhere. It can even help in
finding new opportunities and contacts. Also, there is a problem like lots of
junk works are being uploaded since it is open to everyone.”
Mahesh
Gopal – “It is really a boon to the people who are
interested in filmmaking. One can show their works worldwide free of cost
through YouTube. Even though it causes a flooding of videos, YouTube ultimately
helps the aspiring filmmakers.”
Jishnu
Sreekantan – “In my opinion, YouTube has given more freedom to
the audience. The distance between filmmaker and film has decreased. But it
cause a negative impact after all. The filmmaker is forced to make what
audience want. It will affect the goodwill of cinema badly.”
Praveen
Mohan – “Most of the upcoming filmmakers like me are making
films with YouTube as a medium in our mind. It has such a great reach across
the globe and a filmmaker can broadcast his work to a mass audience.”
Sreeram
Ramesh – “Even though YouTube serves as a good arena for the
short-filmmakers, it doesn’t help them in a monetary basis always. It always
comes as a secondary item.”
Chapter 5
5.1 Conclusion
Cinema is the most popular visual
medium now and it also has a heavy influence among the society. Cinema has
become an integral part of the people in Kerala. Filmmaking and film related
activities have increased among the youngsters of Kerala. In this Chapter, we
are trying to prove our hypothesis that we have put forward in Chapter 1.
With the advancing new media, influence
of internet is visible in almost every part of the world and every field of
life. YouTube is such a gift that internet gave to the world. Its influence can
be seen in our small Kerala also. The world of visual media has been revamped
by this video uploading website.
The past two years saw a terrific
change in the scenario of movies. Numerous short films and documentaries have
been made in these time period. The number of amateur filmmakers is also
increasing in Kerala. 90% of these aspiring filmmakers are youth, especially
college students. The main reason for this new wave movement in Kerala is
emergence of YouTube as a broadcasting tool. The number of YouTube audience is
also increasing day by day.
This is a topic related to new media
and its dimensions will be different in different cultures, geographical areas
and societies. But the methodology we followed is the standard form which is
followed everywhere. To prove our hypotheses, we have done three main types of
research. It includes questionnaire surveys, direct interviews and references
from various books and internet. More than this, our own personal experiences
as a YouTube user helped us for reaching the conclusion. In our study, we
focused on youth especially between the age group of 18-25. The source of
opinion was mainly from college campuses from Trivandrum.
A
total of 100 students from different campuses in Trivandrum city participated
in our questionnaire survey. Out of them 46 were male and 30 were female
students and 24 people have not mentioned their gender. The questions being
included in our survey were mainly constructed for extracting specific details
about the online video viewership habit of youth and to measure the overall
popularity of YouTube in Kerala. It comprises other important facts like YouTube’s
support for amateur filmmakers, the time spent on viewing internet videos and
the number of people who publish their works on YouTube.
We have reached our major findings
and conclusion by carefully examining the above mentioned results that we
collected. We have compared and contrasted the collected data in order to check
whether our hypotheses were true.
The following were our hypotheses:
· YouTube
is becoming an online theatre for the upcoming filmmakers of Kerala.
· YouTube
caused the flourishing of short-films and documentaries in Kerala.
· More
campus films are being made and a number of them are partially or completely
dependent on YouTube for distribution.
· The
number of audience of YouTube in Kerala has increased significantly.
Now we are moving on to
the major findings of our survey that we have collected from our research that
could prove our hypotheses. The major findings of our research are given below.
5.2
Major Findings
1.
YouTube is an extremely helpful
online platform for the upcoming amateur filmmakers of Kerala. We have reached
this conclusion, by analysing the results of three questions in our
questionnaire. Questions ‘3’ (Figure 4.3), ‘10’ (Figure 4.9) and ‘16’ (Figure
4.15).
2.
The number of independent and amateur
filmmakers has increased recently and this is due to the influence of YouTube.
It is evident from the results obtained for the question ‘9’ (Figure 4.14) and
‘9 a’, and also the question ‘7’ (Figure 4.6).
3.
YouTube is the most preferred online
video streaming website in Kerala, even though there are many other similar
popular websites. It is proved from the responses received from the
participants for the questions ‘2’ (Figure 4.2), ‘4’ (Table 4.1) and ‘5’.
4.
The reach of YouTube has increased
with the arrival of new devices which has YouTube access. This is analysed from
the results obtained from the Question ‘13’ (Figure 4.11). Mobile Phones,
Tablets and Laptops is replacing desktop.
5.3
Other Findings
We have also
found some interesting facts relating to YouTube in our survey which has no
direct relation to our hypotheses. They are:
·
Majority of the people who visit
YouTube doesn’t have a YouTube account (See Figure 4.7) and only a few of them
having YouTube account upload videos to it (See Figure 4.8).
·
Majority of YouTube users are not or
are only partially aware about the monetisation feature provided by YouTube.
(See Figure 4.13)
5.4
Suggestions and Recommendations
1.
People should YouTube more
productively by creating their own accounts on YouTube and uploading their
original videos on it.
2.
Awareness about possibilities of
YouTube like Monetisation for revenue making should reach the public sphere
conducting public seminars and workshops about new media.
3.
There should be a quality control
method implemented on YouTube in order to reduce the proliferation of senseless
videos and short-films. This is a real threat to the filmmakers who are really
passionate about making sensible movies.
4.
Since our study is only focused on
the atmosphere of Kerala, particularly in Trivandrum. The conclusion we have
reached is applicable mostly to a Malayali society. So further studies can be
conducted regarding this topic at a national level to get more relevant
information.
To sum up, the influence of new media among our
youth is undeniably huge and all the online media tools have become a part of
their daily lives. YouTube dominates among all the other internet media
websites available now. Through this dissertation, we have substantiated
the numerous possibilities of YouTube which not only helps the youth, but also
all the ones who are interested in making videos whether it is film,
documentary or music video. We considered that fact that how it changed the
atmosphere of Kerala by opening the wider world of video publishing through internet
because YouTube is not only a video uploading site, there you can discuss about
the video, add your own opinions, etc.
By analyzing the data we collected throughout our
survey, we hope that we have successfully proved our hypotheses that YouTube has
definitely become an online theatre for film aspirants of Kerala.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Questionnaire
Dear Friend,
We (Sarath, Navaneet, Rajith,
Shaiju & Sachu) are students of ‘Journalism and Mass Communication’ in Mar
Ivanios College, Nalanchira. We are preparing a thesis (or dissertation) as a
part of our syllabus. Our topic is about the popular website YouTube, and its
influences in Kerala. This questionnaire is prepared by us to gather more
information regarding the topic and we would greatly appreciate your
cooperation. We humbly request you to give true and correct answers to the
following questions.
Note: We are not collecting your names and every
participant taken part in this survey remains anonymous.
Please put tick (✓)marks
|
Gender: Male
/ Female
Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy) : ____ /____ /_______
1. Do you watch videos online?
Yes ☐ No ☐ Sometimes ☐ Very
Rarely ☐
2. Which website do you visit mostly to watch videos?
a.
Youtube ☐, b. Metacafe ☐, c. Vimeo ☐, d. Google
Videos ☐
e. Others (Specify: _____________)
3.
Do you watch short-films/documentary-films on YouTube?
Yes ☐ No ☐ Sometimes ☐ Very Rarely ☐
4. Do you find YouTube helpful for a quick video
reference (i. e. to find out a desired video for a purpose)?
Yes ☐ No ☐ Sometimes ☐ Very Rarely ☐
5. Are there any plus points to YouTube compared to other
video streaming websites in your opinion?
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
6. Do you think the film ‘Krishnanum Radhayum’ became
this popular due to YouTube?
Yes ☐ No ☐ Partially ☐
5 A. Why do you feel so?
State your opinion: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Have you watched the short film called ‘Shaeey’?
Yes ☐ No ☐ Only heard of it ☐
6A. If you’ve
answered ‘yes’, how did you watch it?
(If you have selected ‘No’, ignore this question)
CD/DVD ☐ YouTube ☐ Blog or SNS ☐ Others
(Specify: ___________)
8. Do you have a YouTube account?
Yes ☐ / No ☐
If ‘Yes’, what is your YouTube id [not compulsory]:
__________________
7A. If you’ve answered ‘Yes’ to the previous
question, have you uploaded any videos to it?
Yes ☐ No ☐
9. Do you know
anybody who has done short films and uploaded it on YouTube to get more
viewership?
Yes ☐ No ☐
8A. If ‘Yes’,
could you name the Title Name or the Director of that short-film or documentary
film [not compulsory]: ________________________________
___________________________________________________________
10.Do you
think YouTube is a helpful platform for a budding filmmaker in Kerala, to
exhibit his/her talents online and become popular?
Yes ☐ No ☐
11. What
kind of videos do you watch on YouTube generally?
12. How many
videos do you watch on a daily average?
Less than 2 ☐ Between 2-4
☐ Between 5-9 ☐ More than 10 ☐
13. From
what device do you watch usually?
Desktop ☐ Laptop ☐ Mobile Phone ☐ Tablet ☐
14. Do you
mostly watch YouTube videos directly from its website or do you watch it
through social networking sites like Facebook?
Directly from
YouTube ☐ Through FB & similar sites ☐ Through
blogs ☐
15.Are you
aware of the fact that one can make money out of YouTube (through
“monetization” feature)?
Yes
☐ No ☐ Partially ☐
16.Do you
think the website ‘YouTube’ has been a success in Kerala?
Highly Successful ☐ Successful ☐ Not fully
successful
☐ Not successful ☐
17. Can you
name some of the videos that you’ve recently seen on YouTube?
_____________________________________________________________
18.Can you write down some of the merits and demerits of
YouTube in your opinion?
Merits
i.
___________________________________________
ii.___________________________________________
iii.___________________________________________
Demerits:
i.
___________________________________________
ii.___________________________________________
iii.___________________________________________
ANY MORE COMMENTS
***
