Prashant Rathi, Co-founder, Karmik Pictures on Video Content Consumption

We had a quick QnA with Prashant Rathi, co-founder, Karmik Pictures, a dynamic film and advertising production house based in Mumbai.

Prashant Rathi has a diversified experience of more than 6 years in television, advertising and film-making. Along with Prashant, Kharabela Bulang Mohapatra and Chaitali Jhonsa are the other two co-founders at Karmik Pictures.

Meet and greet with Karmik pictures

As an urban film and video production house, Karmik Pictures has produced films and content across the digital spectrum. We have done over hundreds of films for the online digital medium. On usual days, our machines render 2-3 digital videos per shift. We only keep sample work up. With such heavy video consumption on the internet, this number is only going to increase in the months to come.

We offer an end to end film production setup, in-house – Be it creative producers or scriptwriters, edit suites & editors or equipment and technicians, from graphic artists, lighting gear, in-house locations – we have acquired every property attached to film production. Because we understand that most agencies and clients come with restrained and restricted budgets concerning digital video productions, we have managed to cut these costs by having everything in-house and yet roll out awesome films !

Tell us about the content you create

The range of content has been exhaustive – from ad-commercials to product shoots, digital content to corporate audio visuals, music videos to documentaries. At Karmik, we value every frame we roll and we understand that every film needs to be structured and packaged, uniquely.

Several of our videos have garnered over a million organic views on YouTube. Many of our films we make for different agencies get picked up by many social media platforms as trending videos.

Who are your clients?

We have produced films for several brands such as Godrej Appliances, HUL, Pepsi, Zee, Lakme, Lays, Piramal Group, Mobogenie, American Swan, Maharaja to name a few. We had made Godrej Appliances’ first ever digital video commercial which went on to win several awards to the agency.

The company may be just 2 years old but has taken giant leaps in digital film-making. With the vast advertising, animation and television film experience of its founders, Karmik’s greatest asset lies in its massive pool of resources and extreme flexibility while making films. My partners, including me, in individual capacities, have worked on numerous heavy productions including Dharma Productions, Balaji Telefilms, UTV Bloomberg, MTV India. We have worked on Indian films (Agneepath, Raavan) as well as on international ones (Tinkerbell series & Planes: Disney) and have worked in over a hundred ad films collectively which include commercials for Videocon, Volkswagen, Future Group, Garnier, Tata Docomo, ESPN, Mahindra, Parachute, Glucon D, McDonalds, Maggi Noodles, Birla Sun Life etc.

What is your take on - creation of YouTube videos v/s traditional videos?

While traditional videos have the luxury of having long narratives, descriptive storylines and dedicated climax punches towards the end, videos made specifically for YouTube have little such liberties!

More often than not, a YouTube video needs to be shorter than 3 minutes for it to garner viral capacity. Call it decreasing attention spans or increasing data usage bills, it is imperative for a digital video to make an impact right at the start and prolong it just for a couple of minutes for the film to have maximum mileage. Because the message is strongest when it is smartly done to the point.

Having said that, the biggest advantage of a digital YouTube video is it’s ‘reach’. The videos which are not only available 24*7 as opposed to that in other mediums, also outnumber the amount of people it can instantly reach within a short span of time. No other medium – be it a theatre or the television, can guarantee the visibility and reach that a YouTube video can. The interactive nature of digital video productions can help brands and content providers monitor and strategise their approach and devise newer and better ways to communicate their content.

What are your opinions on video consumption trends in India?

With the smart phone revolution in recent times, our country has seen a massive splurge in digital video production. The ease and access of the internet at the click of a button has given way to bring brands much closer to its target audiences than ever before. So be it an advertisement or the spoof of an advertisement, content is heavily consumed if its done smartly and packaged well. I strongly believe that any video which has a standalone opinion on current ongoings, always catches the eye. The opinion may or may not follow popular belief but it has to generate curiosity. And with such high awareness levels in today's times, the video needs to have its own take in whichever way, and must reflect the happenings in the society!