UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT SECTORS OF THE MEDIA.BY OLIVER KAPLAN

FILMThe film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew personnel.

Advances in affordable film making equipment, and expansion of opportunities to acquire investment capital from outside the film industry itself, have allowed independent film production to evolve. Hollywood is the oldest film industry of the world and the largest in terms of box office gross and number of screens.

TELEVISIONThe television industry is involved in producing and distributing television shows. They produce television channels eg: ITV, BBC and also produce TV programs.

Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome (black-and-white), or in colour, and in two or three dimensions and sound. It can refer to a television set, a television program ("TV show"), or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium, used for entertainment, education, news, and advertising.

RADIOThe "radio industry" is a generic term for any companies or public service providers who are involved with the broadcast of radio stations.

Radio broadcasters can be broken into at least two different groups:

1. Public service broadcasters who are funded in whole or in part through public money. This may be through money received directly from the government, or, as in the UK, through a license fee. The license fee is typically protected by law and set by the government.

2. Commercial broadcasters (also called Independent Local Radio in the UK) who are largely funded through the sales of advertising spots on their radio station. Commercial stations are often quite local.

In the UK, the radio industry regulator Ofcom are looking to establish a third tier of radio, called community radio. These radio stations will be fairly small and run by community groups.

INTERACTIVEInteractive media is a method of communication in which the program's outputs depend on the user's inputs, and the user's inputs in turn affect the program's outputs. Interactive media engage the user and interact with the user in a way that non-interactive media do not. Websites and video games are two common types of interactive media.

Social networking websites are an example of interactive media. The sites use graphics and text to allow users to share photos and information about themselves, chat and play games.

MUSICThe music industry consists of the companies and individuals that earn money by creating new songs and selling live concerts and shows, audio and video recordings, compositions and sheet music, and the organisations and associations that aid and represent creators.

Among the many individuals and organisations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who create new songs and musical pieces; the singers, musicians, conductors and bandleaders who perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music e.g., music publishers, music producers, recording studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores, performance rights organisations); and those that help organise and present live music performances (sound engineers, booking agents, promoters)

GAMESThe video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sales of video games. It encompasses dozens of job disciplines and employs thousands of people worldwide.A video game is an electronic game that can be played on a computing device, such as a personal computer, gaming console or mobile phone. Depending on the platform, video games can be subcategorised into computer games and console games. In recent years however, the emergence of social networks, smartphones and tablets introduced new categories such as mobile and social games.There are three major players in the market for video game consoles: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Nintendo’s Wii is the best seller among current generation consoles.

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

What is marketing?Marketing is the overall process of boosting public awareness of a product, person or service, while advertising is a promotion method that falls under the ‘marketing’ umbrella term.The marketing team is responsible for planning the company’s promotion, right through from pinpointing a product’s target customer, researching the market and setting a marketing budget to putting on product launches and evaluating the success of the campaign.

What is advertising?When a marketing team decides it needs advertising as part of a campaign, it will go to an advertising agency.Advertising is a method of persuading a target audience to buy a product. This is usually through television, radio, print publications, the internet, posters or billboards.

DIGITAL IMAGINGDigital imaging is the creation of photographic images, such as of a physical scene or of the interior structure of an object. The term is often assumed to imply or include the processing, compression, storage, printing, and display of such images.

Digital imaging was developed in the 1960s and 1970s, largely to avoid the operational weaknesses of film cameras, for scientific and military missions. As digital technology became cheaper in later decades, it replaced the old film methods for many purposes.

PRESS AND PUBLISHING

PublishingPublishing is the activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers. Also, the word publisher can refer to the individual who leads a publishing company or an imprint or to a person who owns/heads a magazine.Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books (the "book trade") and newspapers.

The PressThe news media or news industry are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include print media (newspapers, newsmagazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and more recently the Internet.