Unit 7 Understanding the Creative Media Sector (Mrs paradise)

4.         What do these industries have in common? Film, Television, publishing, interactive media, games, radio, photo-imaging, advertising, animation *

What all these industries have in common is that they are part of the creative media sector; they specialize in using words, sounds and images to connect with massive audiences. These industries are full of people who think and work very creatively and that know what appeals to the mass audiences, there are also many technical specialists who are very skilled people in making ideas come to life, these people can often operate the equipment needed to make a media product. These industries are also made up of people who can organize and manage the companies, people like production managers, marketing specialist, PR groups and financial managers. 

5.         Explain the structure and ownership of your chosen three sectors of the creative media industry.

The structure and ownership of a creative media industry can vary depending on (sector and) the size of the company. An example of this would be the big film company Pixar which has many departments dedicated to aspects like animation, advertising, budgeting, merchandise etc normally they handle all aspects of the production from within the company. 
On the other hand you have smaller companies like Metrodome which rely on third party companies to do certain jobs for the company.

Normally these media companies are contacted by other companies which need work done for them e.g. advertisements, print based work, DVD etc.

• ·         The first step is that when a client needs work done they will contact many creative media companies to invite them for a briefing of the job,
• ·         After this the companies which respond to the invitation (usually fewer than the amount invited) come and pitch their ideas to the clients. In the pitches they will go through a concept, ideas, cost and other requirements.
• ·         Once the pitches are over the client will choose a company which they like and then progress into the commission phase, usually the commissioning phase is sucsessful and the client hires the company.

Okay, now that the client has chosen the right company and have gone through the commissioning phase the following steps are followed out

•     Consultation 
•   Design 
• Production
•   Delivery
•   payment

6.         Where does the money come from? Look at the 3 creative media industries that you have chosen and identify which of the following methods of income generation apply to each: 

 The three creative media industries i will be speaking about are the film, video games and TV industries.

Television 

 TV companies have more than one way of funding themselves an example would be of  the BBC which is a TV super company and is recognized around the world. One way the BBC fund themselves is through the TV license fee which people in the UK pay to watch TV. Commercial broadcasters on the other hand receive there funding by selling advertising slots on their network, other companies will pay to have their adverts shown and the more popular the time slot the more expensive it is for the clients.

Film

In the film industry they are usually funding by a large company putting in the funding because they believe the product is worth it. A Hollywood studio would put money into a film, which will return money once it is on sale. Normally these projects cost a lot of money and are a long term investment. The way these companies gain a profit back are in ticket sales, DVD releases and sometimes merchandise as well.

 Games

The video games industry are funding in different ways depending on size, large video game giant such as EA are self sufficient and can fund themselves with the profit they receive from other projects. EA release massive games including many in the sport genre like FIFA, the sales from these games are massive plus EA charge audiences for an online pass if they want to play online. Smaller companies usually look for outside funding and although they may have money to start off with they do sometimes require outside funding, games generally make money from copy sales, DLC's and also merchandise.

7.         What are the ethical constraints facing the media sector? In particular focus on the three industries you have chosen to research. *  

Ethical constraints are very important to these creative media industries because their audience are very big and range a wide number of people; they need to make sure they respected people’s sensitivity and work responsibly. 

There are a lot of trouble when it comes to this matter because a lot of people may get offended by content which the creative media industry have created, an example of this would be the video game Mortal kombat which people thought was very violent and not suitable to play for younger audiences.

There are codes of practice, which are in place, which help, define such issues; the BBC editorial guidelines cover these aspects.

• Trust (the BBC trust works independently to insure the BBC is regulated correctly)
• Truth and accuracy
• Impartiality (being able to tell a story with out taking sides or being biased)
• Editorial integrity and independence (they can not support their own interests or agendas

ETC are at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-editorial-values/

 

8.         What are the legal constraints facing the creative media industries that you have chosen to look at? * 

 

The law is always very important and is in place to make sure everyone knows their responsibility within the law, this applies equally to producers, employees and even learners and work experience staff.

Here are a few laws, which all media industries must follow:

• Libel law (you can be sued if you broadcast or publish content, which is untrue and will have a bad effect on their reputation.
• Discrimination legislation (discriminating people from different races, ages, gender in content made by the creative media industry)
• Obscenity 
• Data protection (storing certain information about people with out their permission is illegal)
•  

 One example of a media industry breaking this law is the very well known 'news of the world phone scandal'. This is where News of the world tapped into celebrity's phones to discover information about them. This was breaking the data protection law and they have been prosecuted, the trail is still on going.

Copyright is also issue where you are not allowed to use another work without their permission, there have been many cases where this has been broken. One case involves a rapper Vanilla Ice when he used Queens and David Bowies 'under the pressure' at the start of one of his own works. He did not license or credit the original and due to this he was threatened with legal action. Copyright infringement can only be perused if the original makers decide they want to press legal action. 

9.         Who is responsible for regulating the media sector? How are your chosen industries regulated?  

Video game

PEGI is the official regulator for all games published in the UK; they provide a system where age ratings are used to regulate games. Anyone below the age rating cannot purchase the game. They will also look at games and decide what rating it will be suitable for different ages.

Films

The British board of film classification independently regulate the film and video industry in the UK, similarly to PEGI they regulate films by age rating on terms on suitability.

TV

The Television industry is regulated by the British academy of film and television arts (BAFTA). They regulated and support the TV, film and games industry.

10. What are the regulatory issues facing the Media industries that you have chosen? * Explain some of 

 In the creative media industry there are many different kinds of regulating issues, which companies will face. Here are a few of them:

•  Piracy - It today society where everyone has a good understanding of how computers and the Internet works means that piracy is a big issue. The film industry is one that feels the effects of piracy heavily as films can easily be downloaded online, this means that the media industry lose money because people can get the product for free. 
• Protection of intellectual property - This is very similar to piracy, it involves giving credibility to the producers and recognition of their hard work. 
• Impartial, accurate and fairness - The audience of these media industries are entitled to the truth, they have the right to know that the information they get is correct and accurate. 

All of the points above apply to all three industries I have chosen to talk about which are TV, film and video games.

11.        What are the employment opportunities and job roles in the media sector? *  

 There are an abundance of jobs in the creative industries, not every job within requires you to have to do creative jobs. This sector is very competitive and involves a lot of hard work, many jobs also overlap and different title can mean different roles. 

• animators
• developers
• artist
• designers
• directors
• editiors
• production magagers
• engineers
• programmers
• runners
• researchers
• journalists
• modeller
• presenter
• scriptwriter 
• and many, many more.

 here are some jobs for a Video games company:

 Here are a few jobs for the film industry:

Here are jobs available for the TV industry:

12.        How would you apply for and secure jobs in the industries that you have chosen? 

The first thing to do when looking for a job in the creative media industry is to find jobs which interest you, it always better to have a job you will enjoy. 

Now you need to Write a CV, your CV is there to sell your self to the employers, you must make yourself stand out and mention all relevant experiences you may have which will help you in in the creative media industry. Remember to make sure your CV is well presented, has good grammar and self yourself well, a CV is what employers will see first about you, first impressions are very important in this sector.

After doing so find advertisement for these jobs, with these advertisement there will be application packs and processes in order to get the job.

 For each job take notes on:

•  What the job involves
• The skills and qualifications needed
• Where the job is based
• The rate of pay
• Whether it is freelance or a permanent job
• If you need a portfolio, show reel etc.

 You should also try and get first hand experience in these sectors even if it means doing work for free this will be valuable, so try getting work experience, job shadowing or practicing yourself. Employers would rather hire some one who knows what they are doing already than a newbie.

If you are lucky enough to get the job then congratulations, but now you have to secure the job. Also if you are doing well you can go onto other jobs in the media industry that you may enjoy, you can get promoted and you can also make future contacts.

Here is a list of stuff you need to do to keep your job

• Be reliable
• Be punctual
• Ability to work as a team member
• Ability to use initiative
• Ability to take direction
• Ability to work under pressure 
• Ability to meet deadlines

13.        Create your own digital portfolio and CV in a web format, we will use a blog site for this but start by creating a CV in word and pasting it into the box below. Also, create a list of work that you think should be included in your portfolio, eg computer games, film, music video, audio guide etc. * 

 In your CV you should include all qualifications, work experience, relevant work you have completed over the last 2 years. You can also include personal work that is relevant.

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