KARACHI: A film crew member is loudly counting "three, two, one" as his friends move to the music played from a smartphone. A few retakes later, the 15-second shot is ready to be sent from Frere Hall Park in Pakistan's coastal metropolis of Karachi to over a million people who follow the young filmmakers on social media platform TikTok.
The Chinese video-sharing app, which last month received warnings from Pakistani authorities over harmful or inappropriate content, is one of the most popular social media applications among Pakistani users, who with smartphones can do in a few minutes what movie production companies would need long hours or days to complete. Karachi's favorite Jheel Park, Hill Park and Frere Hall Park have now become their prime filming locations.
"For TikTokers these parks are like film cities,” Shaiz Raj who has 1.2 million followers on TikTok, told Arab News at Frere Hall Park.
“The parks have natural beauty and ambiance, here the videos are easily made with a real feel,” he said, explaining that also for many these public locations were "the best option" as TikTokers have no producers behind them to pay for studios, set decoration or lighting.
Osama Aslam, an aspiring TikToker who so far has only 130 followers, also sees city parks as the best locations for his videos.
"I set up my team after taking inspiration from established TikTokers like Zulqarnain. We shoot most of our videos in parks, which offer great and beautiful locations," he told Arab News at Hill Park.
How do Pakistani TikTokers see the government's warning that it might ban the app over over “immoral, obscene and vulgar content?"
“It should not be banned. This is a good application for common people," said Raj who started using TikTok one and a half years ago. "Those who couldn’t showcase their talent on TV, have found in it a great platform." He said that negative content has been created by those who have no talent.
TikTok last week announced that it had updated its community guidelines, expressing its commitment to remove "any potentially harmful or inappropriate content reported in Pakistan."
Users say that content improvement is a just a matter of time and the app with its huge outreach could be used for positive social messaging such awareness campaigns on hygiene, health or even tree planting. TikTok was the most often downloaded social media app in Pakistan in 2019, according US-based market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
"As time passes, more creative and message-oriented videos will come to fore," young TikToker Osama Ahmed told Arab News at Jheel Park before joining his team to record an Independence Day video.
