Author: Bill Fischer professor of Digital Media, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. Images: Student of Kendall's Digital Media program: Ashlee Varekois, Gabby Aleman-Gordon, Angie Hauch, Angela Tidball, Roz Heidtke, Travis Martin What is Digital Media Anyway? Digital Media, ten years ago, was a term that felt new and shiny. Something that spoke to the future. Well, the future is now and the term has lost a little bit of its 'newness'. The media world is smack in the middle of a massive transition from traditional delivery systems like printed paper, broadcast television, postal delivery and airwave radio to new systems like game boxes, web browsers, phones and tablets. Illustration and Graphic Design production processes have already transitioned to all (or mostly) digital workflows. And, once media hits the digital fat pipe, it's easy to make it animated, noisy and interactive. Things most traditional media doesn't d
Author: Bill Fischer professor of Digital Media, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. Image: Kendall Digital Media student: Jericho Castillo (screen capture from an interactive info-graphic) Epicsite.org Media Industry Overview Understanding how the creative process works in typical media production companies and agencies is critical to understanding where you fit with the skill-sets you have developed. There are two diagrams below, one each for advertising and entertainment. As you can see, the process is nearly identical, but there are some important differences in the terminology and players. Entertainment Game, animation and film studios usually invent their own projects, on the speculation that they will be able to sell enough 'copies' to to make a profit. For this reason Studio executives and producers are influenced by users (audience). Producers not only develop projects but also met