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Choosing the right media career - for YOU

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There are literally hundreds of career options in Media. But which one is the right one for you? I get many students who have the wrong notion of what the Industry is about. Some come in with stars in their eyes, seeing only the glamour that is associated with the media. They either want to become actors, news anchors, or someone who is seen on screens. There are some who think they are great photographers, cinematographers, or DOPs (Director of Photography) as they are called now. But making those short films using a handycam, shooting a documentary with a DSLR does NOT mean that you become a DOP overnight. Or just because you have directed a couple of short films does NOT make you a Director in the Industry. Some also are very passionate about going into film production. I have seen many students who, after a few days find that job exhausting, and learn the hard way that they are not fit for the production side. There is also a notion that just because you do a course in Manageme

PG in Media - Degree or Diploma?

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This is a question I have been often asked during my 16 years in media education. There are benefits and limitations in both.  So what do you get in a degree course? Well, you get a degree, of course. Along with that you get very good theoretical and conceptual understanding of the subjects. After getting a PG degree, you can further do your NET/SLET and get into the teaching profession, or do your M.Phil., or Ph.D. Teaching is a great profession, and many have made careers in teaching. I too, am a teacher in media! Only, teaching is not just a profession, but a mission. And unless you treat it such, you are bound to fail. And I do make a sincere request. Do spend at least a couple of years in the industry, learn the ropes before you enter the teaching profession. This is for your own good, and more importantly you will do justice to the profession and your students who look up to you. Alternately, you can enter the industry. But unless you have practical knowledge / training

For every face you see on the screen, there are hundreds that work behind it.

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"Behind every face you see on the screen, there are hundreds that work behind it. And those are more stable professions." Imagine a film without a story and a script. Of course, you do come across some without any story, pun intended. Or imagine a a news bulletin without a teleprompter, newspaper without a journalist, a film being made without a lightman and the chaiwala, or a travel show without a team of researchers.  I could name HUNDREDS of such professions and job functions without whom, you will simple not be able to produce a media product. You could say that you you are a YouTuber, independent, operate your own camera and lights, but what about those who did the programming for you? Those who enabled encoding of your videos? You require people, and the media business is not a job, or a profession, in which you can produce AND distribute content without several people working behind the screen. I salute all those people and all those professions which allow

The Language of Films 1 - Low Angle Shot

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"For every face you see on the screen, there are hundreds that work behind it. And those are more stable professions."  Films are not just a source of entertainment and time-pass, they allow us to escape from the real world even if for some time, they provide us knowledge and information, make us nostalgic, help in companionship and conversation building, and release tension. Films have their own language, film making is an art, but a film is also a result of hard work, planning, and sweat and blood. To make a film, one should understand the Language of Film. As film makers, we use a language that not only tells a story, but we also create a product which could have a profound impact on the audiences. We tell our stories in a language that the audience may not understand, but certainly FEEL.  Let's consider the Low Angle Shot. The dictionary(dictionary.com) meaning is as follows: low-angle shot[ loh-ang-guh l ] noun (in motion pictures or photography) a

Selecting the Best Media Institute for your PG

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So are you done with your graduation? Just appeared for your final exams? And now looking forward to join a PG Course in Media, Advertising, Public Relations, Journalism, Film making, Television, Digital Marketing? There are several courses and institutes. But how do you choose? Here are some tips: Look at the syllabus:  Check out the syllabus of the institute. Is it updated? Ask the institute when it was last updated. Does it include the latest requirements by the industry? Check out the faculty:  Media training requires faculty that are trained in the latest techniques and technology. It requires working journalists, working PR professionals, film makers, ad professionals, because that is what gives you the edge over others. See how many faculty are in-house, and check their qualifications and experience in media. Check the list of faculty on the website of the institute. Contact students, get a feedback:  Either when you visit the institute, or search online, connect with s

Digital Mutants - A Reality?

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In my last two posts I have written about Digital Mutants, as a hypothesis based on observation, experience and pure guesswork. I am not a prophetic, and certainly not Marshall McLuhan. When I wrote about Digital Mutants, it was just an idea, so I decided to do some research. What I read is not surprising, and at least partly vindicates my stance.  Here is a small review of the literature I have found: A study done by researchers in Kings College, London found that there is a 39 per cent difference in the DNA of the highest and the lowest users of social media. They have attributed inherited genetic factors rather than environmental effects to these differences. You can read the full articles here: https://www.ft.com/content/419733b2-e181-11e6-9645-c9357a75844a https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/2686719/your-facebook-addiction-is-written-in-your-dna-your-genes-influence-how-long-you-spend-online/ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170123151411.htm Anothe

Digital Immigrants? No More!

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Marc Prensky coined the terms Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives in 2001. He explains how Digital Immigrant teachers - those who were not born in the digital age have learnt to adopt the new technology, and learnt to teach Digital Natives - the younger generation who are born digital. I always call myself a successful digital immigrants someone who have not been just a witness, but an active participant in this digital media evolution. I have imbibed the digital DNA into my own, and sort of become an instant 'digital mutant' several times over, simply to survive, and not perish in the digital tsunami. I teach digital media production and marketing to students doing their postgraduate courses in advertising, entertainment, and digital marketing at the MET Institute of Mass Media , and have to be constantly on my toes, upgrading myself, to remain relevant. But that will change soon - sooner than we thought. India has one of the world's cheapest data connectivity

A World of Digital Mutants?

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For people in their 50's like me, the evolution of digital technology has been surprising, overwhelming, disrupting and overwhelming. I had not even seen a television set till I entered senior college, had seen the computer only in SciFi and James Bond movies let alone touch it. I never thought I would ever make a film, simply because my family did not have deep pockets. For us, even owning a telephone was a luxury, and no thought of a mobile phone ever crossed our minds. I remember the time when I was first introduced to a computer in 1989; I was almost afraid to touch it. I remember how gingerly I used the mouse. I bought my first computer in 1992, which was a 386, with a 120 MB hard drive and a 4 MB RAM! And when there came along a 1.2 GB hard drive, we thought it could not get better than this. For the last about 100,000 years, we, the Homo sapiens have evolved with nature. We have got used to the sun, the moon, the weather, and the sunrise and sunset diurnal cycle. We fee

No Love Lost?

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This is for my students who are learning to analyse and write film reviews. I came across an article in The Times of India online edition about box office collection of two films released on Independence Day - 'Satyamev Jayate and 'Gold'. I have copied a paragraph here for reference: John Abraham's film clashed at the box office with Akshay Kumar's 'Gold' but there is no love lost here . Speaking about the clash in a previous interview, John told PTI, "Akshay is an actor in 'Gold', and I am an actor in 'Satyamev Jayate'. It's a producer's decision on both sides. So I have no say in that at all. As far as competing with Akshay is concerned, I want to make it clear that he is my senior in the industry." Pay attention to 'but there is no love lost here'. I was surprised by the use of the idiom, because I haven't come across any article that show any animosity between John Abraham and Akshay Kumar, and no

The Pandit and the Boatman - Theory and practical knowledge

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I suppose everyone knows about this story of the Pandit and the Boatman from Kashmiri folklore. No? Well, here it is... Once a Pandit hired a boat to cross a river. Bored, he asked the boatman whether he had read the Upanishads. When the boatman replied in negative, the Pandit said that he had wasted his life. With every such question, the Pandit kept saying how the boatman had wasted his life. Suddenly, the boatman asked the Pandit if he knew swimming. The Pandit replied that he had read all the books about swimming. The boatman replied, "Then you better put what you read into practice because the boat is sinking!" The river water had risen and it was raining heavily by now. Needless to say, the Pandit started drowning. The boatman said, "You have wasted all your life by just reading about swimming. You should have also practiced." (Image Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jc8XyK2bPgI/hqdefault.jpg) Though theoretical knowledge is immensely valuable, it i

Why India having only 25% of it's population on the Internet is not such a bad thing

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There was a well-written article recently about how only 25% of India's adult population use the Internet, and how it is among the lowest in the world. The article, quoting Pew Research, was not only critical about Digital India, but also had a little negative tone in reporting. Well, let's look at it from a different angle. When 25% of India's population uses the Internet: The numbers are more than the entire population of US of A  It is almost 3 times that of South Korea! (The article compares our Internet usage with that of Korea) Even with 25% of India's population on the Internet, we have the largest number of Facebook users in the world. From 13% in 2013 to 25% in 2017, the number of Internet users in India has almost doubled So is the 'only' 25% a limitation? Let's look at it from a perspective of opportunity. Think of the numbers that are not yet on the Internet. India's population is getting younger. The census figures show that 45%

BMM Graduate? But are you industry-ready? Employable?

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What does it take to be job-ready, to take on the media world? Most academic programmes in media in India, offer several courses in all forms of media. Most courses are good, following a standard syllabus, mostly as per the guidelines given by UNESCO. Many institutes, however, lack the basic infrastructure and equipment required to train students in the modern form of media content creation. I have many friends across the country who can vouch for that. It is always a struggle for institutes to keep adding the latest infrastructure and equipment, simply because whatever we buy is already redundant in this technology driven sector. However, the fact remains that equipment and curricula need to be revised as and when required, catering to industry needs, to make our students employable. It is sad that in many places, curricula are designed based on the capabilities of the faculty involved, rather than what is needed. Today, after taking a feedback from the industry, it is clear th

Google Baba Ki Jay Part 3

When a was a newbie web designer sooooo many years back, we used to be very excited when we counted so many 'hits' on our website. One of the first ever websites in India on trekking 'indiantreks.com' was made by me way back on 1998-99 when the Internet was so new. We used to do a lot of things to get in the top 10 in the search ranking, but at that time it used to be Yahoo and not Google. The spiders used by search engines used to primarily look at 3 things: 1. The keywords in the metatags 2. The text in your page 3. The number of backlinks We used many tricks to get into the top 10.... One was to have text and links in the same colour as that of the page. This kept the text hidden on the browser, but the spiders were fooled into thinking that the page had a lot of backlinks. Second was to spam the meta tags with lots and lots of keywords, again for the spiders to take notice I had paid Rs.3500/- to book the indiantreks domain, but as domains became chea

Google Baba Ki Jay - Part 2

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Big Brother Google is Watching You! All the time. How do you think Google gives you fairly accurate traffic information on Google Maps? Initially, Google Maps was used as just that - like a map. To find your way in an unknown place, or to know the distance between two places. But some time in March 2012, Google developed an algorithm that measured the density of devices logged in to Google along with tracking the location based on GPS. So if you are logged in to Google on your mobile phone, tablet, or your computer or laptop, Google knows exactly where you are located. This does raises privacy issues. What if you do not want to be tracked by Google? What if you don't want Google to know your location? Well, Google lets you opt out. Here's a link to know how to do just that: http://bgr.com/2014/08/28/google-maps-location-tracking-opt-out/ Very recently, Google Maps has introduced a feature to actually let your contacts track your location. You can share your locati

Google Baba Ki Jay - Part 1

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Let me tell you a story I read when I was in the 3rd or 4th standard, probably in Chandamama the children's monthly. A greedy man prays, does tapascharya , and pleases God. God appears before the man and asks him his wish. " Var maango, vatsa ", God says. The man says, "I want to ask you a few questions before I wish for anything". "Go ahead", God says. "We are so small, so all that is in heaven must be bigger than here on earth?" God replies in affirmative. So the man asks, "How much is your 1 kilo?" "It is like million tons." "And one acre?" "Like a continent" "And 1 litre"? "Like one of your oceans." Pleased, the man thinks for a while and says, "God, I am not greedy. I wish for just one acre of land, and only 100 rupees. Please grant me my wish." God says, "Sure Vatsa , I will certainly grant you your wish. I will make the arrangements, and wi

I give you what you want!

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I give you what you want, and I don't have the time, nor the inclination (pun intended) to think about what you, the society needs. Like, I think you should also start thinking, instead of blaming me, the media, for all the unhappy, sad, evil, and all the wrongdoings in the society. Instead of brainlessly switching on channels and watching programs which insult, degrade, make fun of other people, and supposedly encourage superstition, maybe you should just go out, take a walk (pun intended again). You think I should have some social responsibility, which I do agree. And I do give you programs that are beneficial to the society. But I have so many people working with me. You think all people who work for me should go hungry to bed? They don't deserve increments? They don't have family responsibilities and ambitions? Well, you are wrong. Being socially responsible cannot come at a cost of my family and my ambitions. Like, I am the media. I am a business. I am here to

An Ear to the Ground

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The Media and Communication sector, essentially has only one product - content. Content that touches the lives of people, affects the senses, invades privacy, content that becomes a part of our daily lives. Media products do not distinguish between, religion, caste, creed, status, or your geography or region. What we see on television is what the world sees. What we aspire for is what the world aspires for. And the products that we produce are for everyone's consumption. There are no geographical boundaries anymore. I visited some remote villages in Maharashtra with my students for their Rural Immersion Program. The villages of Waghawale, Morni, Arav, Valvan and Chakdev are largely cut off from the rest of the world, especially in terms of transportation and mobile connectivity. There is just one bus that arrives in the evening and leaves in the morning. We found mobile connectivity in just 2 places, and that too with a poor signal. No newspapers are delivered to this entire a

Do Read: A Pilot Study on Digital Transition in Newspapers in India

The profound changes that the media and communication sector has experienced are because of 2 factors: Digitization and Convergence. The newspaper industry has experienced major upheavals by the disruptive digital technologies. Here is an interesting study being conducted: http://cis-india.org/raw/digital-transition-in-newspapers-in-india-pilot-study

Just an MBA does not make a manager in Media and Communication sector

We say this again. To be successful in manager in the media and communication sector, a management training program should also have creative courses in the curriculum. Citing from the article below, Excel Sheets don't make successful media products, at the same time, artistic brooding also doesn't. There has to be a balance of both to make a successful film. "Industry insiders, admittedly those on the creative side, say the MBAs running studios do not understand story, script, or screenplay. So they play safe by signing on the biggest star they can. That done, they get the director the star wants. And then they look around for a script. If the movie fails, they can always say it is not their fault, after all, they did get the most saleable star." Do read up folks, you will understand why the Advanced Diplomas in Management in Advertising, Entertainment, Digital Marketing, and Diplomas in Journalism and PR at MET Institute of Mass Media will help you for getting

The jio Bomb

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The Reliance's jio Bomb has burst. In the aftermath, it will be interesting the watch the game being played out by the mobile companies in the market, and in the quality of their services. Reliance's disruptive strategies are certainly not new. It has been a game changer in the past too. My earlier post Karlo Duniya Mitthi Mein -Part 3 gives the basics of Reliance's predatory pricing method to cause disruption. There will no doubt, be an initial orgy of downloads using the free 4G services. But when the dust settles down after the free internet offer, the realities will take over. This launch could erupt into a price war, but what will be really interesting to watch is the effect it will have on the delivery and consumption of media content. The communication culture in India has been in a constant mode of adapting to newer technologies, with the cell phone winning hands down across the country. Today, the maximum growth in the media sector is in the mobile content seg

Communication Design - 1

Why is designing our communication so important? Let me give you some examples... Last week, I got an SMS saying that some money had been credited to my account. Well, if someone is kind enough to give me money without asking me, they are welcome. But I was curious to know who this kind soul was. So I called up customer care, input the data for the IVR menu and ultimately reached an executive. In a rasping voice he asked in Hindi, "Namaskar, mai xxx, aapki kya sahayata kar sakta hoon"? This, despite having requested for English as the language of choice. When I decided to speak in English, I was replied again in Hindi. When I persisted by asking my next  question in English, I got replies in broken not so fluent English.  I then started speaking in Hindi and my queries got solved within no time. The point is, I had to design my communication to suit the situation. Had I persisted to speak in English, it would have taken probably twice the time I had to spend. I h

Management Careers in Media - Caught in Transmedial Crossfire

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While discussing possible collaboration and association with representatives from a University from UK today, I was speaking on the peculiarity of the media universe in India. This was also a subject for which I was invited to speak on in a conference in Sweden. A majority of the Indian population has very quickly adopted the transmedial nature of content creation and distribution. We are reorienting ourselves to an environment of transmedial communication, which is redefining our cultural contexts to an extent that we are reinventing the way we communicate with each other.  I can cite a latest example - my driver.  To avoid reaching a meeting or a conference stressed out by driving in heavy Mumbai traffic, I decided to employ a driver. At 30 years of age, he is a representative of India's majority population. This month he purchased a 7 inch mobile phone and showing it off to me, he remarked, "Now I too can make and send video messages." Within days, he has mastere

Management Careers in Media - Content Syndication

The Media and Communication industry has so many facets that it becomes difficult to keep a track of how many careers are available. The media has become all-pervasive especially after the the Internet got hitched up with mobile phones. The disruption these two technologies have caused is phenomenal, but they have also created several opportunities for those who wish to make a career in management in media, entertainment, and communication industry. I wrote about Media Planning and Buying as a management career. You need to understand media thoroughly to be a media planner. A regular MBA in Marketing or Finance will probably not be able to teach you this. But a media-specific curriculum will. Let's look at another interesting career path. Very interesting because it is something that business schools do not usually teach as part of their curriculum, but has become an important managerial function nonetheless. When your client creates content, be it a blog, a write-up, a f

Management Careers in Media - Media Planning and Buying

Media planning and buying is the function of procurement of media real estate at an optimal placement and price. Media buyers have to conduct market research to find the likely places where their client's customers and consumers tend to use media. Based on this research, they find the best advertising rates, and the best media to place the advertisements of their clients. In short, they 'buy' the media, or the advertising space/time for their clients. Media planners have to be in touch with the media houses, their marketing executives and should be able to negotiate better rates for their clients. A good media buyer takes decisions on which media to buy and it requires both creative and business-driven decisions. Media Planners should be able to pick and choose an appropriate combination of media to help their clients reach their target audiences. The job can be pretty high profile as they with high level clients and top executives of organisations. The job is result ori

Rickshaws and Management

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Last week, I was returning from Vile Parle from a meeting by a rickshaw. To avoid driving in the office rush, I kept my car parked near the office in Malad. Somewhere between Jogeshwari and Goregaon, the driver swerved to overtake a tempo, and the rear wheel went over an elevated drainage cover.  I could feel the rickshaw tilting to the left. I threw my weight on the right and luckily, we stayed upright. It all happened very fast, and if I had not been alert, the rickshaw would have overturned. Needless to say, that got me thinking…. After 6 months at the helm of affairs as Director @Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies, I think it is like driving a rickshaw. Just listing a few management lessons I have learnt … The wheels are my team mates, my colleagues with authority (learnt that today!) with whom I navigate the academic path. When they know the road better than me, I listen to them. I need to see that they have enough air, and deflate ones with too much o