Unit 8.3 -Know how the Creative Media sector is structured

1.3 Explain the relevant relationships between a range of Creative Media industries

For this post i'll be talking about three of my fellow apprentices comments on their chosen creative media industries. The task required us to select two industries that we felt we were in the 'know about. Below are my comments on these.

Gaming and the Internet – Robert

After reading through Rob’s post on the gaming industry it is obvious that he knows his stuff and is one with games. In particular he has spoken in great detail about the evolution of gaming consoles from consoles such as the Saga Megadrive (I use to frickin’ love playing on mine) and also the Nintendo Entertainment System. Rob has importantly spoken about the vast history and the growing trend for gaming consoles that haven’t ceased to be slowing in trade.

I found what Rob had to say very interesting and also filled me with nostalgia of the good ol’ days (for a nineteen year old I sound like I’ve lived a life) but as new consoles keep flying off the shelves and prices fly into the hundreds the question is who is behind it all?
Well as Rob address the gaming industry now has ‘artists and designers, programmers, voice actors and motion capture teams, audio teams and composers’ and even full orchestra’s behind these ‘general’ games as such, making it all very hard to believe this all started from things such as board games.

One thing I would have liked to see in Rob’s gaming post is sales figures and how much the gaming industry is worth (I’m one of those people who find that stuff, well interesting). And also what games were around before consoles, especially in terms of board games – monopoly, cludo, KERPLUNK!

The interlink between games and the Internet also was an interesting read, especially the findings on how film advertise through this platform. I really enjoyed reading about the Dsitrict 9 and Blair Witch Project marketing strategies that helped create rumours among the networking community.

One problem with exploring the internet as a Creative Media Industry is where on earth do you begin, it’s so vast and therefore not an easy industry to sum up without writing a book.

It would have been good to see something on the Internet’s link with Television; as for me personally that’s the biggest viewing platform for me at the moment, with things such as on demand. Obviously this has been a developing issue over the past few years with cable provider Virgin having an on demand service accessed from your television and satellite provider SKY launching anytime that has a similar catch up service.

But all in all Rob you smashed it!

Advertising and Film – Joy

I enjoyed reading Joy’s findings on advertising and the history behind this, always good to know how the Egyptians rocked it back then. I also found it interesting to read about how weight gain products use to be advertised, as this was the key for a healthy woman (oh how times change). Generally I find advertising a very interesting industry that target’s basically the worlds population with different adverts for race, sex, language and so on. So I feel Joy could have got a lot meatier with advertising, and maybe also speak about some of these monster-advertising companies like C21, London Creative, and DDB Worldwide (to name a few). Also just to be picky I would have loved some of Joy’s humour in regards to the advertising that we have today.
Also Joy’s flowchart image of the advertising industry looks lovely, but unfortunately I cannot read it Joyous ☺.

Moving onto Joy’s analysis of the film industry, I found this very insightful and felt it addressed the way’s that we view film with technology always evolving and viewing formats such as VCR, DVD, BluRay, TV and Cinema. Obviously with this multi billion pound industry there are many big corporations to talk about Disney, Pixar, 20th Century Fox and so on, I feel Joy could have addressed some of these companies in her writing and expanded on how they are run and what they do inside these corporations. I also couldn’t see Joy’s comparison between advertising and film and how they both benefit one another.

Otherwise I enjoyed reading Joy’s comments on both advertising and film and think she’s given a good overview of what they are composed of.


Literature and Television - Cherokee

Literature one topic that isn’t a strong point of mine, sure I read newspapers, magazines and other Internet content, but when it comes to books I get a bit bored unfortunately (unless it’s a compelling story, as you do). However after reading Cherokee’s comments on the literature industry revives my enjoyment of a good read. I did find that Cherokee focussed on the more newspaper/ magazine aspect of this industry, rather than the book side as for me when I think of literature I think of books.
I found Cherokee’s comments on the Daily Mail ideology very interesting, and unfortunately true, my personal opinion on that paper isn’t high favourable but I still read it (how fucked up is that!). When it comes to certain Magazines also Cherokee’s comments on branding and being ‘there to sell a lifestyle’ are so true, many people will buy Vogue or Tatler to give off this pretentious persona to society (despite the fact 80% of the pages are adverts – where’s the literature people?).

Reading Cherokee’s article on Television was much ‘fun’ and I felt her perception on reality TV shows was very true, despite my guilty pleasure for reality TV such as ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and ‘Crimewatch’ (Crimewatch being more serious and bringing many idiots ‘*****’ to justice).
Obviously it’s strange to think about societies obsession with other peoples lives, especially with shows such as ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’, which in my view is a pile of processed shit, with no likeability to there scripted mischief (and yes I realise TOWIE is the same).
However with other reality TV programs ‘XFactor’, ‘Come Dine with Me’ and ‘Four in a Bed’ I can see the obvious phenomenon regarding their popularity and at the end of the day they cross over into entertainment (we all love a good laugh, even if with XFactor it’s at someone else’s expense – how sick are we!).

I liked the context behind the two big game players in the reality TV industry ‘Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire? (I do)’ and ‘Big Brother’, most definitely the two modern day kick starters of reality TV.
Also the use of an Andy Warhol quote was a nice touch and emphasised Cherokee’s argument with an external source.

I have no critique here, and enjoyed to read about the predominantly reality Television industry, if this is the damage Cherokee can do to reality tv, I would love to see how take on politics ☺.