Digital technology plays a major part in our personal and mostly everyone's professional lives. With this, many digital technologies have been created for the purpose of using Creative Media sector environments.
These can range from the following technologies below, mostly used for the film industry, but I will get into the relationships that these have created between other industries in the sector:
Final Draft is a scriptwriting software that has been used by many prolific screenwriters and directors, one of which is Hollywood writer/director JJ. Abrams, responsible for the Star Trek reboot, Super 8 and TV show, Lost.
Celtx is the most popular free-option when it comes to scriptwriting, and can pretty much do the same things that Final Draft can, without you having to pay for it.
Most industry professionals use Final Draft, but for those starting out with little money, Celtx is an easy, affordable option.
Final Cut Pro/Studio
Final Cut Pro is a video editing software tool, and, like Final Draft, is used by a lot of industry professionals. The most notable film that has been edited using Final Cut Pro is The Social Network, which, incidentally, won the Best Editing Oscar last year.
Software similar to Final Cut Pro - that is free - is probably the most difficult to come by because it is such a niche, and controlled program, that, I think, is worth forking out the money for if you are serious about editing work.
iMovie and Windows Movie Maker are both free editing softwares, but two that can only do the basis of editing; nothing close to the scope that Final Cut Pro has.
Photoshop
Originally used for photography, Photoshop is a photographic editing software. I find it very hard to come across someone now that hasn't at least used Photoshop once, or knows the basics to it.
Free options to Photoshop include iPhoto, Pixlr and Paint, but, while Celtx can pretty much do the same things that Final Draft can, Photoshop is by far the bigger, and more advanced software out of the ones I've mentioned.
So, yes, it is a good thing that all these kinds of technologies exist, as it enables other industries to use these tools, too, not just Film and Photography industries (the two which I have mentioned, above).
Final Draft has the ability to transcend into the music and TV industries, as well. The format for a script remains the same even if you are writing for a music video or a TV show.
Celtx, the free rival of Final Draft, let's you write comics as well, something that Final Draft is incapable of doing.
The same can be said for Final Cut Pro, which doesn't just need to be editing software for film. Music videos and TV shows can get on in the act, too. This doesn't mean to see that animations can't be edited on Final Cut Pro, because they can. The most obvious example of this is, though it was the film version, is The Simpsons Movie.
iMovie and Windows Movie Maker are usually used for personal videos, but they can also, like Final Cut Pro, be used for other editing means.
iMovie and Windows Movie Maker are usually used for personal videos, but they can also, like Final Cut Pro, be used for other editing means.
Photoshop started off as being used for editing photos, but has quickly become a graphic designing and artist tool, as well, leading onto all these other kinds of free photo-editing softwares where you can draw and design graphics.
While these tools are a good thing for the Creative Media sector, as it makes it more accessible to everyone and not just industry professionals, this can also be viewed as an issue as well. The accessibility of these tools mean that a lot of work for certain companies can be done in-house rather than hiring people from the outside to do task.
A good example of this occurring is with The National Theatre. Most of their work, if not all of their work, is done in-house. Something that my fellow apprentices and I learned when we visited The National was the figures of how many people they employ, which are well over 1,000.
This means that there are many departments in the theatre, which include writing, costume and editing. One of those departments, design, apparently didn't exist a few years back. In order to get designs for their posters, flyers, and anything else that needed design-work done, The National would go out-of-house and hire the people they needed to do the work.
Now, because they have an in-house design department to go to when they need anything design-related done, The National have managed to cut-costs. It is always cheaper to do work in-house (where you can reap the profits) then go to someone out-of-house and probably end up spending more money on the same design work you would have gotten in your own company.
This means that there are many departments in the theatre, which include writing, costume and editing. One of those departments, design, apparently didn't exist a few years back. In order to get designs for their posters, flyers, and anything else that needed design-work done, The National would go out-of-house and hire the people they needed to do the work.
Now, because they have an in-house design department to go to when they need anything design-related done, The National have managed to cut-costs. It is always cheaper to do work in-house (where you can reap the profits) then go to someone out-of-house and probably end up spending more money on the same design work you would have gotten in your own company.
While the digital technologies I listed have created an open world in terms of who can start editing, writing, designing and so on, this also means that places like The National will already have people in-house to do these jobs, thus creating less work for people that aren't involved with successful companies like The National, in other industries.
