Unit 3, 1.2 "Describe key Intellectual Property and copyright issues, related to digital technology and content creation."

Unit 3, 1.2 - "Describe key Intellectual Property and copyright issues, related to digital technology and content creation."

There are four key issues that come to mind when I think of Intellectual Property and copyright issues relating to digital technology and content creation in the creative media industry. Here, I have listed them:

SHARING

iTunes is a perfect example of a website and program that will let you download music, TV shows, films and games for a fixed price. But what happens when you share these files - for free - to your friends, family and/or colleagues?

Legally, we are not allowed to share files we have paid for to other people, but there are currently no restrictions in us doing so, particularly on such a successful site as iTunes.

There are even freeware programs that will happily let you share iTunes music for no cost, and it would be wrong for me to deny that I have sent people songs through such social networking tools as MSN and Skype that I've purchased.

The continuation of this problem links into the next key issue that I'm going to describe - piracy.

PIRACY

2009 finally showed the film industry that piracy should be a massive concern, not just within film, but the whole creative media sector.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a film set for success (and it did well at the box office, but the amount of money it lost is undeniably great) as one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. That was until an unfinished version of the film was leaked a month before its release date.

This incident caused the film to be downloaded 4.5 million times before the actual release date, losing Fox (the studio distributing the film) an estimated $20 million in the process.

As with sharing, it is very unlikely that piracy is going to die down anytime soon, making it another copyright issue related to digital technology.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT 

Back in 2010, pop-group The Black Eyed Peas were sued for not one, but two copyright right infringement law-suits concerning two their hit songs 'I Gotta Feeling' and 'Boom Boom Pow'.

The music industry is no stranger to these kinds of scandals, though - they happen all the time - and they certainly aren't helping themselves when it comes to sampling tracks on other songs, particularly in the hip-hop genre.

When you use a sample of a song to create your own content, no matter what respect the sample is being used for, it is important that you get the rights to the song before you do anything. This is something that Jay-Z and Kanye failed to do on their duo album Watch the Throne, and will now have to face the consequences for. This could mean a number of things, such as not being able to perform their track 'The Joy' in public because they haven't gained the copyright clearances for the sample, or even removing the song from their album.

PLAGIARISM 

It is a common mistake to confuse plagiarism and copyright infringement as one in the same thing. The most important aspect about copyright infringement to remember is that the original author of the idea/product is protected by the law. If anyone steals the specified work or idea, there will be serious legal consequences to adhere too.

With plagiarism it technically isn't illegal - though it is extremely unethical - to take someone else's ideas/work and present them as your own (thus falling under an intellectual property issue). A prime example of this occurring in the creative media industry is the game, Limb of the Lost.

Released in 2008, it didn't take long until the similarities in Limbo of the Lost with other successful gaming and film franchises were spotted. There is one thing to take inspiration from other sources, but it is a different story to make your product identical to an already existing material (which is what Limbo of the Lost did when those involved made the game almost identical to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Thief: Deadly Shadows).

The reason why this case is plagiarism and not copyright infringement is because the game was repackaged and sold as a completely different product, something that had no connection to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Thief: Deadly Shadows.

Unit 3, 4.2 "Research and plan a test for an identified opportunity."

Unit 3, 4.2 - "Research and plan a test for an identified opportunity."

One of the things I have found that many people (including myself) do when they go for their daily-shower is sing. Admittedly, everyone has sung to themselves in the shower at least once. It's where we can belt out embarrassing tunes without fearing we'll be overheard by anyone else we live with.


Karaoke is extremely popular worldwide, particularly in Japan where they have their own bars dedicated to karaoke singing.


Singing along to pop songs has moved away from singling themselves out for those on a night out, too. Games like Singstar have proved just how successful karaoke can be in your home, as well. 


So, I thought, why not combine the two? Not only will you be able to keep yourself squeaky clean, but you can sing along to real songs in the process!


First things first, though - does a shower karaoke machine already exist? To make sure it didn't, I carried out my research online into the product.


The findings of my research proved that my idea isn't already a product, but also, the first two searches on Google when I typed 'shower karaoke machines' were articles wishing that a shower karaoke machine was in existence:


Example 1


Example 2


Of course this isn't solid evidence in finding out if I have identified an opportunity in the creative media market with my product, so, I have made the following form that my fellow apprentices (or anyone else) would fill out once I have pitched my idea, grading my product in terms of its pros, cons, and if it were to exist, would they buy it?


Converging media product pitch unit 4, 4.2

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Unit 3, 1.1 "Describe the uses of digital technology within the Creative Media sector and the relationships this has created between industries in the sector."

Unit 3, 1.1 "Describe the uses of digital technology within the Creative Media sector and the relationships this has created between industries in the sector."

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  

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. 

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. 

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. 

Unit 3, 3.1 "Describe the changing expectations of audiences and consumers in a specific creative industry."

Unit 3, 3.1 "Describe the changing expectations of audiences and consumers in a specific creative industry."

Having spoken about the TV industry before in Unit 8, it seemed suiting to speak about it here again, as it is a creative industry that has been heavily affected by the expectations of audiences and consumers.

Because those that consume and watch TV expect that everything is going to be instant, as mentioned in my Literary/TV essay, television companies had to re-think the way that they broadcasted their shows, and how, for people that wanted easy access to shows whenever they would like, could have an option.

This option came in the form of online, legal, streaming and downloading in the shape of BBCiPlayer, 4oD - and so forth - for internet users. And for those that prefer to watch their programmes on a bigger screen, you now have the choice, with a Sky+ box, to pause and rewind live TV, while recording shows to watch at a later date without using a DVD/Video recorder.

Of course we can’t battle illegal downloading/streaming, as that is something that has risen considerably over the past few years or so, but there are ways that TV networks have tried to counter that part of the industry, which can be seen with these stats of how many people are watching on-demand television.

Unit 3, 2.1 "Explain what is meant by 'converging technology."

Unit 3, 2.1 - "Explain what is meant by 'converging technology."

Converging technology is when you take two or more technological products that were previously used separately for different tasks, and merge them to make one, ultimate, product.

Examples of converged technological products can range from everything and anything that we use now, including smart phones (which can surf the internet, download music/films/games, instant message people, and more) and game consoles (which can, like smart phones, surf the internet, download music/films/games, play music and films).

The one key converging technological product that I can think of is what I am using now – a computer.

The computer is probably the ultimate converged technological product; one that most of us use on a day-to-day basis, whether that be at home or on the job. 

I have given two examples of what a computer can do that were things other media products did before.

Playing music, films and games were things that, previously, were all down to CD and vinyl players/walkmans (music), DVD players (film) and game consoles (games). Now, we can happily watch films, listen to music, and play games on the comfort of our own computers (though the latter, PC gaming, has been around for some time now, longer than the other two.)

Conversing with family, friends, work colleagues, and sometimes, complete strangers, would usually be done by phone, or, in some cases, snail mail. Now, on a computer, we have the option to instant message anyone we would like with messaging systems such as Skype and MSN (the former being able to ring people on their mobile phones, too). Emailing is another aspect to communicating via the computer, something that didn't exist not so many years ago. 

There are many other things that computers can do that were previously one technology. Even a calculator in the accessories section of a computer is considered as a converging technology because a calculator was formally its own product and not associated with anything else.