Tag: Short films

Pocket Films launches short film OTT

MUMBAI: The big boys are merging their OTTs. Others are announcing new OTTs. Why should the small guys be left out?

Short film aggregator Pocket Films – run by long time web-preneur Sameer Mody – has officially announced the launch of its OTT.

Taking to linkedin Mody posted: “The only OTT you need for shortfilms is here! Enjoy an elevated viewing experience with our curated content in a variety of genres and languages.”

The Pocket films OTT is not designed in the manner that most apps are – it has been launched in a web (mobile responsive) version without any apparent iOS or android variant which needs to be downloaded. It, however, allows creators to create their profile and upload their films, and permit them to be distributed through the wide Pocket Films network. The short films, while limited in number (compared to its YouTube cousin), are available in various genres and in Hindi, Marathi and international languages.

Mody who is the founder & managing director of the company, has been at it for nearly 18 years and over time his firm, according to him, has emerged as the number one partner of You Tube for short content. Pocket Films’ YouTube channel has around 3.91 million subscribers and showcases around 3,000 videos, many created by users.

The channel generates more than 150 million views each month. In addition to YouTube, Pocket Films also distributes its content through OTT platforms, mobile operators, TV channels, in-flight entertainment.

This apart, it organises short film contests in India in partnership with international film festivals like . Manhattan Short, Indian Film Festival, Stuttgart, River to River Florence, Italy, among others.

Recently, Pocket Films has also ventured into production with a special focus on digital series and short films, especially catering to the growing OTT and digital platforms.

November 21, 2024
Odisha’s OTT platform, AAO NXT enchants audiences with exciting and original content

Mumbai: Kaushik Das’ love for technology inspired him to start his new venture, AAO NXT – the premium and most entertaining Odia platform, which is currently bringing a path-breaking change in the OTT market.

The platform is slowly foraying into the Odia OTT market and offering audience ‘originals’ like never before. It is Odisha’s first independent platform that aims at showcasing short films, web series, feature films and documentaries. “So far, the platform has 700 short films from across the globe and a bouquet of classic Odia films from the 60-70s era, which are streaming on the AAO NXT platform. We have 400 odd Telugu and Tamil films in our library,” AAO NXT’s chief financial officer Ram Patnaik tells Indiantelevision.com.

Having produced some of the most successful and marvelous shows on the streaming platform, Patnaik reveals that the home-grown brand AAO NXT has a diverse mix of content slate that is winning the hearts of the audience. The content portfolio of the platform builds a high level of excitement and entertains consumers in multiple ways with endless experiences and innovations ranging from thrillers, crimes, dramas and many more. Showcasing some interesting content slate like Club 69-a web series, “Ardha Satya”- an action drama film, and “Kokoli”- an award-winning Odia film, “Four” -a first of its kind Anthology, the OTT platform looks to embark on a new process of storytelling that allures viewers. Patnaik expresses the upcoming releases like “Capital Talkies”, “Jajabara 2.0”, Anthony -a web series, “Suka Bhaira Sholay”, Maliput Melodies-a web series, and Mandara: The Hibiscus is likely to provide audiences with some enticing storytelling. These new films and shows are expected by December 2022.

AAO NXT means ‘All about originals’”, he says and reveals that the Odia entertainment and media industry has a dearth of original stories, and the objective of AAO NXT is to provide indigenous, exclusive and unique stories that can stimulate and delight the viewers. Patnaik sees a vast opportunity in the Odia market, he has confidence in exhibiting extraordinary storytelling to the audience, which can create wonders in the Odia OTT space. The content library of AAO NXT is exemplary and focuses on original storytelling, and is likely to nudge it further, irrespective of the language.

The growth prospects

Since its inception in 2020, AAO NXT has garnered the attention of a lot of viewers, pushing its revenue growth further. The platform is expected to touch a revenue growth of Rs 5 crore in 2022 with a 50,000 subscriber base. Patnaik added, “We are working currently on a complete subscription video on demand (SVOD) model. We expect to reach Rs 15 crore in 2023 in terms of revenue growth.”

“We target to double our subscriber base. By December 2023, we expect to reach two lakh subscribers. The model will not only be SVOD, and the platform will explore advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) as well. So we expect considerable and significant growth in advertising revenue in the future,” he adds.

To fascinate the advertisers, AAO NXT targets to add more original content, which will build trust and facilitate the growth of the platform. “The advertisers will show interest in advertising on the platform only if we create original content. The idea is to tell original stories in different languages. It is not restricted only to Odia – we are also venturing out into other languages. For instance, we will enter into the Bengali and Assamese markets, and capture them. We have plans to enter the Malayalam market to explore exclusive content. We have started from Odisha but will tell original stories from all across India,” Patnaik tells Indiantelevision.com.

Stream original content

Keeping in mind the burgeoning demand of audiences from across the world, AAO NXT is focusing on inspiring the audience with India-based original content. “There is an opportunity to stream Indian-based original content. We are streaming those stories on our platform, which are original, simple and easy to understand. Indian content has been appreciated by audiences from all across the world.”

His and Kaushik Das’ vision is to make AAO NXT “the Netflix of Southeast Asia,” Patnaik says. “The idea is to scale up the operations and showcase a variety of content from across the world. Netflix is an inspiration because the platform is producing original stories day in and day out, year after year,” he adds further.

He highlights that there are 4.5 crore Odia people and amongst this, 3 crore people are Internet savvy. “This is a huge number that we can cater to and showcase our original content pool. If we can cater to 1 crore of this number, we can probably meet the market requirements,” Patnaik adds at length.

Moreover, AAO NXT is ready for a new journey and bestows a complete entertaining basket to the viewers with its beautiful and contemporary content. The home-grown OTT platform will offer a superior and reimagined experience to the viewers going forward.

October 10, 2022
Motion Content Group, Film Critics Guild announce latest edition of Critics’ Choice Awards

Mumbai: Motion Content Group of GroupM, in collaboration with the Film Critics Guild announced the launch of the fourth edition of Critics’ Choice Awards to honour the talent in short films, web series, and feature films.

After three successful editions of the Critics’ Choice Awards, Film Critics Guild and Motion Content Group in collaboration with Vistas Media Capital gear up for the fourth edition of the awards. “We are delighted to present the fourth edition of Critics’ Choice Awards which has become a very important calendar event for us and the filmmakers,” stated Vistas Media Capital CEO Abhayanand Singh. “Covid has obviously caused a lot of disruption to the film industry but the quality of content that has come out this year only validates that the spirits are high and good quality content will continue to entertain the audience.”

This year, Critics’ Choice Awards 2022 has received an overwhelming response from short filmmakers across the country to register a record number of entries of the short films produced in 2021. The Critics’ Choice Awards jury would adjudge and applaud the best in the business and encourage Indian content creators, said the statement.

The 2020 short film winners were Adil Hussain (Best Actor, short film “Meal”) and Amruta Subhash (Best Actress, short film “The Booth”), Shazia Iqbal (Best Director for “Bebaak”) and best short film was “Bebaak.”

“Despite its challenges, the last two years have witnessed game-changing developments in the content arena. Especially this year, creators have pushed the envelope and crafted content that is compelling enough to draw them to theatres or make them forget the looming threat of the dreaded virus,” said Film Critics Guild chairperson Anupama Chopra.

“As the Critics’ Choice Awards enter their fourth year, they have become coveted and celebrated by creators and talent alike as a unique and credible platform. We are proud of our partnership with the Film Critics Guild and Vistas Media Capital and are committed to making this platform bigger and better,” commented GroupM India president of trading and partnerships Ashwin Padmanabhan.

December 8, 2021
Shorts TV brings legendary Jim Henson’s short films

Mumbai: ShortsTV, the 24×7 linear channel for short format content is all set to broadcast unseen short films of Jim Henson for their subscribers on Tata Sky, Airtel TV, Dish TV, and d2h.

The HD TV channel will telecast Jim Henson: The Early Works, which is a group of short films that will give viewers a slice of Jim Henson’s life. The most noted one among these short films is Time Piece made in 1965. The film is written, directed, and produced by Henson, and he himself has starred in this film.

Time Piece depicts an ordinary man living in constant motion, in a desperate attempt to escape the passage of time. It is one of the few live-action projects produced by Jim Henson that did not involve any form of puppetry. The short film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1966.

Other films on the list are Alexander The grape, Wheels that go, Run Run, Shearing Animation, Cat and Mouse, Drum West, and Ripples. Each of these short films showcases the events that made the American puppeteer famous over the years.

May 20, 2021
Regional content start-up Matrubharti enters video streaming space

Matrubharti, a vernacular content start-up which has been providing a curated platform for content creators to publish ebooks and snackable social media content in regional languages such as Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi besides English, has today announced that it has diversified its content offerings by entering the video streaming space with the launch of Matrubharti Vishesh.

Matrubharti Vishesh is a premium, exclusive content section housed in the Matrubharti app and website for streaming of regional theatrical plays, short films, OpenMics (live poetry recitals and stand-up comedy) and literature festivals. Users can also gain first access to newly published books under this section.

Going Beyond Ebooks: Stories in Video Format

Matrubharti today has a community strength of over 7.5 lakh with active contributors in excess of 18,000. Since its inception in 2015, Matrubharti has helped authors publish 26,000 ebooks, which have been downloaded 7.5 Million times by 7 lakh readers. The platform also has over 2.5 lakh poems in text and image format across 4 languages.

Explaining his rationale behind Matrubharti’s entry into the video streaming space, Mahendra Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO, Matrubharti said, “Videos are the most popular format of creative expression and OTT apps are riding this wave. We at Matrubharti wanted to target and engage more of India’s youth so that they can showcase their creativity on our platform, and also help them to connect with content in their mother tongue. It was therefore the need of the hour for us to plug videos into our platform and earn more screen time from them.”

Matrubharti began experimenting with stories in short form video format since the beginning of this year with shows such as Morning Maza, Raat Ke Jazbat and curated stories under its Kahani Metro initiative which have an App Jockey (AJ) narrating the stories with a run time of about 3-5 minutes.

The content library today has over 500 such short form video stories.

Content Sourcing: The Offline Way

While a significant number of videos on the platform are User Generated Content (UGC), the Ahmedabad based start-up has partnered with elite authors, poets, theatre groups to source exclusive content for its Vishesh segment. As part of its content sourcing strategy, it has forayed offline to forge event partnerships

“It helps us reach offline audiences, strengthens our community and post the event, we get a huge set of videos for our platform from the performers”, Sharma said.

The content library has more than 10,000 videos of poetry recitals from 50+ events and over 100 videos of regional theatrical plays, making it the only other platform other than Hotstar in India to stream plays.

Engagement, Monetization and Future Plans

The launch of Matrubharti Vishesh comes on the back of Matrubharti’s participation in US-based Gray Matters Capital’s digital accelerator program – GMC Calibrator.

“From a monetization standpoint, videos open up avenues for Matrubharti to partner with brands and making its freemium revenue model a viable one”, said Omkar Kulakrni, GMC Calibrator Program Head, Gray Matters Capital. He added, “Since March 2019, the engagement rate on the Matrubharti app has gone up by 15-20% post behavioural science interventions and increased emphasis on data driven decision making.”

“Matrubharti aspires to reach a user base of 1.8 million by adding content in 3 more regional languages – Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam by 2020. In 5 years, Matrubharti is aiming for a pan-India presence with content in 21 Indian languages, and users in excess of 10 Crore. We will be partnering with regional film production companies for web series and are aiming to become the Netflix of Bharat with our video content.”, signs off Sharma.

July 18, 2019
Viacom18 Motion Pictures forays into digital content

MUMBAI: Viacom18 Motion Pictures, India’s fully integrated motion pictures studio, has delivered a plethora of critically and commercially successful movies. It has always disrupted certain reliable formulas to ensure that the content remains true to its audience. Now, it is venturing into the digital space with Tipping Point, which will feature a host of web series, short films and non-traditional formats to entertain its online audience. The brand will extend the banner’s ethos by creating contemporary, engaging and path breaking content for online audiences.

Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare said, “Having conquered the big screen through unconventional narratives, it is time for Viacom18 Motion Pictures to make its mark in the rapidly emerging digital content space. Tipping Point – our digital content brand will appeal to consumers looking for edgy, contemporary, provocative yet relatable content typically missing in the traditional or mainstream media. Through Tipping Point, Viacom18 Motion Pictures will evolve from being a film studio into a holistic content studio, reaching beyond theatrical offerings into millions of screens on mobile & personal devices with its unique storytelling.”

As a part of the Tipping Point’s offering, the brand has announced collaborations with some of the best from the entertainment industry.

Speaking on this collaboration, producer Imtiaz Ali said, “Excited about my foray into digital series – very happy that Window Seat Films and I are working with the team at Viacom18 Motion Pictures. I have lived with this story for a long time and eager to bring it to life now.”

The list of soon-to-be-launched web series include ‘X Ray–Selected Satyajit Shorts’, a 12-part series presentation directed by the National award-winning filmmaker, Srijit Mukherji, an untitled crime thriller created by Imtiaz Ali, ‘Jamtara’ a story about a small district in Jharkhand, known to be India’s phishing capital, directed by Soumendra Padhi and ‘Best Days’, a psychological thriller by Abhishek Sengupta of the web-series Lakhon Mein Ek fame.

Also Read:

Viacom18 Motion Pictures ‘unconventional Indian cinema’ journey

Eros International Media and Viacom18 Motion Pictures Announce International Distribution Agreement

Zee Music Company joins hands with Viacom18 Motion Pictures

May 2, 2018
‘Feel Yourself’ for Breast Cancer awareness by Ufaan.org

MUMBAI: “There are various subjects in our society that needs to be talked about to normalize them” says Ufaan.org founder Vikram Tyagi. The digital production house and YouTube channel Ufaan.org has been in news for a while with prominent online portals sharing their content for social change videos. Recently, it has rolled out a short film for breast cancer awareness, called Feel Yourself. The film promotes awareness about regular self checkups for breast cancer, as these could be the first alarm call to save from a potential health hazard.

The film has garnered many eyeballs within a short span of release and has been shared by ,many prominent portals. “My mother has been through the disease and she first got to know about the disease through self-checkup. Through this video, we are attempting to convey a message simply that, it is better to be aware than regret later.” added Tyagi

Ufaan.org is entirely dedicated to social causes videos. It has produced content around various serious issues like Nikah halala, according to which a divorced Muslim woman is forced to marry another man and have sex with him, before she can remarry her first husband. Male equality with a campaign called #screwequality. One of Uffan’s pioneer work was every mother’s worst nightmare, the film that spoke about child molestation and touched many hearts. The channel has focused on several similar matters.

Brands like UrbanClap has joined hands with ufaan. Recently, UrbanClap offered free photoshoots for LGBT couples, ufaan produced a beautiful LGBT campaign around the offer, which was well received. Ufaan has also produced many videos for digital platforms like ScoopWhoop among others. Also, ufaan has been associated with Oxfan to conduct a social experiment on male-female equality.

The channel claims that awareness videos play a vital role in awakening youth towards things that should be changed and online content is the best medium to get people talking about such issues. “By creating such content on media, we want people to open up to taboos that society has created. Such videos are liberating the society” claims Tyagi.

According to the sources, the in house production of short films can cost between Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 70,000. The actual cost could however vary and depends mainly upon production requirements. The channel’s promotion strategy is that its prime focus is content. “We try to make simple content that people can relate to and it can get viral.” said Tyagi. ufaan also asserted that it does not involve in paid online promotion as that does not help videos reach the right audience. It focuses on viral elements and enhance the potential of the video.

The major revenue model is brand collaborations and production hiring. The channel claims that it is not focused on monetary gains at the moment but is emphasizing on brand building. “Our aim is to be referred for our genre of content” said Tyagi.

Feel Yourself is an in-house production for ufaan. The film is produced by Vikram Tyagi, directed by Surya and shot by Arjun Kukreti. It has been shot in Delhi. The channel plans to come up with some big brands tie-ups in a couple of months. However names could not revealed due to contract closure.

June 30, 2016
‘Feel Yourself’ for Breast Cancer awareness by Ufaan.org

MUMBAI: “There are various subjects in our society that needs to be talked about to normalize them” says Ufaan.org founder Vikram Tyagi. The digital production house and YouTube channel Ufaan.org has been in news for a while with prominent online portals sharing their content for social change videos. Recently, it has rolled out a short film for breast cancer awareness, called Feel Yourself. The film promotes awareness about regular self checkups for breast cancer, as these could be the first alarm call to save from a potential health hazard.

The film has garnered many eyeballs within a short span of release and has been shared by ,many prominent portals. “My mother has been through the disease and she first got to know about the disease through self-checkup. Through this video, we are attempting to convey a message simply that, it is better to be aware than regret later.” added Tyagi

Ufaan.org is entirely dedicated to social causes videos. It has produced content around various serious issues like Nikah halala, according to which a divorced Muslim woman is forced to marry another man and have sex with him, before she can remarry her first husband. Male equality with a campaign called #screwequality. One of Uffan’s pioneer work was every mother’s worst nightmare, the film that spoke about child molestation and touched many hearts. The channel has focused on several similar matters.

Brands like UrbanClap has joined hands with ufaan. Recently, UrbanClap offered free photoshoots for LGBT couples, ufaan produced a beautiful LGBT campaign around the offer, which was well received. Ufaan has also produced many videos for digital platforms like ScoopWhoop among others. Also, ufaan has been associated with Oxfan to conduct a social experiment on male-female equality.

The channel claims that awareness videos play a vital role in awakening youth towards things that should be changed and online content is the best medium to get people talking about such issues. “By creating such content on media, we want people to open up to taboos that society has created. Such videos are liberating the society” claims Tyagi.

According to the sources, the in house production of short films can cost between Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 70,000. The actual cost could however vary and depends mainly upon production requirements. The channel’s promotion strategy is that its prime focus is content. “We try to make simple content that people can relate to and it can get viral.” said Tyagi. ufaan also asserted that it does not involve in paid online promotion as that does not help videos reach the right audience. It focuses on viral elements and enhance the potential of the video.

The major revenue model is brand collaborations and production hiring. The channel claims that it is not focused on monetary gains at the moment but is emphasizing on brand building. “Our aim is to be referred for our genre of content” said Tyagi.

Feel Yourself is an in-house production for ufaan. The film is produced by Vikram Tyagi, directed by Surya and shot by Arjun Kukreti. It has been shot in Delhi. The channel plans to come up with some big brands tie-ups in a couple of months. However names could not revealed due to contract closure.

June 30, 2016
Y-Films’ launches Love Shots fifth short film ‘Fired’

MUMBAI: Y-Films has launched a new film titled Fired, the fifth film in a series of six. The film premieres on Yotube today, 4 April 2016. Fired has Salim Merchant and Tillotama Shome.

Love Shots is an anthology of six short films that explore love in every form, shape and stage in life. It features an absolute never-before coming together of some of the most exciting actors playing delightful characters including Nimrat Kaur, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Salim Merchant, Tillotama Shome, Saqib Saleem, Shweta Tripathi, Farida Jalal, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rhea Chakraborty, Saba Azad and Mohit Marwah, Swanand Kirkire, Shubham Tukaram, Shravani Desai among others. And the soundtrack features 6 original songs by some of the freshest upcoming musicians of today showcasing a range of genres. The 6 music videos will be attached to each individual short film and have been directed by Shraddha Pasi Jairath.

Directed by Ankur Tewari, the film Fired tells the story of a young upwardly mobile couple where the wife who’s in a corporate job is fired and meets her chef husband who makes a shocking revelation of his own. The short also features a unique Hindi jazz song as part of the original soundtrack composed and performed by Subhi Khanna.

“I never thought that acting is such an involved art form until I actually started preparing for it. Being a composer and scoring for films like Ab tak Chappan and Chak De! India, among others, I always followed the actor’s timing to know where to score and where not to and I was intrigued with the idea of acting. I’m fortunate to have Ankur (director) and Tillotama who is such a fine actress to spend hours doing readings and workshops preparing for my character”, added Merchant.

Director Ankur Tewari said, “It was amazing working with Salim. He was acting for the first time and he surprised me with his acting abilities. I never thought he would be as good an actor as a musician. Tillotama was amazing as always. They both set off each other’s chemistry very well. The story was quite interesting as well, as it deals with the highs and lows of a relationship, and shows the dark patches that every couple goes through and has to overcome.”

The music for Love Shots is available on Wynk music for a period of 3 days before its release.

“Airtel has been a pioneer in the Indian telecom industry and is leading the 4G growth story in the country. Smartphones and fast mobile internet have transformed the way we consume content, with video emerging as the most popular form. Consumers, in particular, the multi-tasking youth, are looking for engaging video content to snack on and we believe Love Shots from YRF will set a new benchmark in short storytelling. As the leading smartphone network, Airtel is very excited to be a part of this innovative project”, added Airtel director consumer business Srini Gopalan.

Watch the 5th short film ‘Fired’ from Love Shots here:

April 6, 2016
Y-Films’ launches Love Shots fifth short film ‘Fired’

MUMBAI: Y-Films has launched a new film titled Fired, the fifth film in a series of six. The film premieres on Yotube today, 4 April 2016. Fired has Salim Merchant and Tillotama Shome.

Love Shots is an anthology of six short films that explore love in every form, shape and stage in life. It features an absolute never-before coming together of some of the most exciting actors playing delightful characters including Nimrat Kaur, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Salim Merchant, Tillotama Shome, Saqib Saleem, Shweta Tripathi, Farida Jalal, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rhea Chakraborty, Saba Azad and Mohit Marwah, Swanand Kirkire, Shubham Tukaram, Shravani Desai among others. And the soundtrack features 6 original songs by some of the freshest upcoming musicians of today showcasing a range of genres. The 6 music videos will be attached to each individual short film and have been directed by Shraddha Pasi Jairath.

Directed by Ankur Tewari, the film Fired tells the story of a young upwardly mobile couple where the wife who’s in a corporate job is fired and meets her chef husband who makes a shocking revelation of his own. The short also features a unique Hindi jazz song as part of the original soundtrack composed and performed by Subhi Khanna.

“I never thought that acting is such an involved art form until I actually started preparing for it. Being a composer and scoring for films like Ab tak Chappan and Chak De! India, among others, I always followed the actor’s timing to know where to score and where not to and I was intrigued with the idea of acting. I’m fortunate to have Ankur (director) and Tillotama who is such a fine actress to spend hours doing readings and workshops preparing for my character”, added Merchant.

Director Ankur Tewari said, “It was amazing working with Salim. He was acting for the first time and he surprised me with his acting abilities. I never thought he would be as good an actor as a musician. Tillotama was amazing as always. They both set off each other’s chemistry very well. The story was quite interesting as well, as it deals with the highs and lows of a relationship, and shows the dark patches that every couple goes through and has to overcome.”

The music for Love Shots is available on Wynk music for a period of 3 days before its release.

“Airtel has been a pioneer in the Indian telecom industry and is leading the 4G growth story in the country. Smartphones and fast mobile internet have transformed the way we consume content, with video emerging as the most popular form. Consumers, in particular, the multi-tasking youth, are looking for engaging video content to snack on and we believe Love Shots from YRF will set a new benchmark in short storytelling. As the leading smartphone network, Airtel is very excited to be a part of this innovative project”, added Airtel director consumer business Srini Gopalan.

Watch the 5th short film ‘Fired’ from Love Shots here:

April 6, 2016