Kiwi short film garners six figure audience

Levi Beamish
Independent Film Maker

24 July 2008

Kiwi short film garners six figure audience

The internet is closing the gap between Kiwi talent and global audiences, with the short film Perfection set to become one of the most widely distributed and watched New Zealand films of its type ever made.

Perfection, which has garnered nearly 300,000 views since it was posted on the popular video-sharing website last month, was created for the 48Hour Furious Filmmaking competition by 17-year old Kerikeri filmmaker Levi Beamish and two friends.

"Perfection started as a weekend project for three friends with a video camera. Now our film has been watched by hundreds of thousands of people around the world making it the most watched online short film in New Zealand history with a worldwide audience twice the size of Hamilton.

"I've been blown away by the number of people who viewed our film," says Beamish, who posts under the Youtube username corporalcadet.

Beamish's success follows in the footsteps of Kiwi musicians Brooke Fraser and Savage who have used the internet to gain international attention.

The short film has also sparked over a thousand comments and responses from other Youtube users, a serious boost for the budding director who plans to study film at Auckland's South Seas Film & Television school next year.

"Perfection just shows it's never been easier to present fresh Kiwi content to a global audience through the internet thanks to increasing connectivity. The fact that anyone with a camera and a laptop can distribute content around the world is really going to increase competition in creative industries.

"Hopefully that competition is going to benefit independent producers as well as viewers," says Beamish.

ENDS

Reference links: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Np4bhsmr3iE link to Perfection. Total views 282554 as at 12:33 24/07/2008.
http://youtube.com/user/corporalcadet link to Youtube user channel

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