Your guide to the newly opened YouTube Space

Amidst the wilderness of Mumbai’s Film City (Goregaon), you will spot a red studio with a white play button at its centre. The area in question is the 1,400 sqft YouTube Space, a newly launched digital lab for aspiring filmmakers, music video producers and visual artists. The lab has been launched in collaboration with the film school Whistling Woods International.

Though it’s their first in India, YouTube spaces have existed globally since 2012, when the first such Space opened in London. “The idea was to connect directly with the creator pool and elevate the quality of the content that went online,” says Lance Podell, director and global head, YouTube Spaces. Subsequently, Spaces opened up in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Berlin and New York. The one in Mumbai is their eighth project and first in India.

Their foray in India comes thanks to impressive the content generated. “In the last one year, we have seen a 90 per cent rise in the video uploads from India. It was only natural that we focussed here and did our bit to train the creators to give them a global digital outlook. We chose Mumbai as it is a big creative pool,” says Podell.

Fittingly, the Space includes offers a lounge, a iMac lab with 4K editing software and a studio equipped with filming apparatus and green screens to enable post-production special effects. And if you are absolutely clueless about camera equipment, the Space will help you out with a trained team to brainstorm for video ideas. The best part — the facilities are free of cost for content creators. They only have one requirement: your YouTube channel needs to clock at least 1,000 subscribers.

Additionally, YouTube will also organise workshops for the creators. “They will act as networking opportunities for aspiring content creators to meet established ones and learn from them,” says Podell.

Space out

What: The YouTube Space is open to all aspiring digital content creators

Where: Film City Complex, Aarey Colony, Goregaon (E)

Call: 3091 6146