The pros and cons of submitting your content online have always been a moot point, and although there is the potential to earn money using You Tube, there are unrealistic viewer number expectations; and the monetization of pop-up ads and pre-video adverts don't result in money - and probably a higher likelihood of people jumping to another video on another channel rather than viewing your content.
Considering some Countries still have dial up and others (like New Zealand) have heavily oppressive versions of ADSL, it is an realistic expectation that you will get no more than 5 minutes viewing of any video. By 5 minutes this also includes buffering in those Countries plagued by (globally considered) slow internet speeds. I stand by the ever present statements I make to clients and potential clients "don't aim to exceed 5 minutes" or "break your content down to multiple shorter videos to increase return viewership", of course the latter doesn't always result in returning viewers pending your output schedule and ability to retain interest in the content.... All this being said, I stumbled upon an open letter style article by the extremely talented Kurt Sutter. Although I firmly believe in his comments in the article, I can't help but feel that sometimes it's better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
As a tremendously un-established talent (I use that 'T' word VERY lightly), I have no forum to show my work to a wider audience. I have a failed Vimeo account, as every time I have tried to upload a video (no matter the length) I get to around 90% before a failure and find I have to re-start my upload from scratch; and due to a lack of patience and persistence (AND capped internet data), I simply gave up and exhausted more energy on You Tube and to a lesser extent Facebook (which lacks analytics and thus renders you blind to the popularity of your content and what could be considered honest or positive constructive criticism - through retention and viewership). But we digress. I find the article (below, but I want you to finish reading before you leave) something of an omen of things to come, but also a call to arms for independent film makers to try alternatives, where possible, and forgo the risk if there is nothing at stake, the latter would be the best option for those independently financing their output with no need to re-coup. BUT for those people not looking to re-coup I would love to see more Big Cartel stores selling DVD's (and breaking with the green light and pan handling of financing sites) to a wider and International market (and there is a market if you can find it). I for one would love to see more content for inspiration of what can be accomplished with a little know how and some serious ingenuity, which SCREAMS *additional content on DVD's!!!!
*Until very recently, Robert Rodriquez was the king of additional content offering film schools, behind the scenes, featurettes AND cooking schools... Sadly, especially since the Machette films, these are sorely lacking on the Blu-Ray and DVD releases making them nothing more than cheap poorly executed Z grade films with less and less in common with the budding film makers of today and an attempt at a quick buck (it would seem).
Again I have digressed and expanded a little more than I intended (as the failings of Robert Rodriquez inspiration on inspiring budding film makers yearns for an entire blog entry in itself), my main point is that the internet is one avenue to ensure you gain an audience, but it is a fickle avenue and heavily flawed with little or no support or availability to funding for that next venture; although don't get me started on the requirement for local pirate television using disused VHF bandwidths devoid of attention and content (another entry I believe, although it completely lacks an ability for funding without internet enterprise). The article itself (on slate.com) points at Google and their ability to dismiss the unrealistic monetisation requirements for creative content. Again this doesn't have an immediate effect on budding film makers because we still need an arena, and Google makes up about 80% of that online arena, never the less, it is an eye opening and interesting read/rant/article:
I do not own this content in any way shape or form, I am merely pointing it out to potential readers
In addition, these articles are actually quite interesting:
