Dr. Sanjay Gupta: "Media is just not all about glamour"

Myth 1: It’s all about glitz and glam
This is the most common misconception. While it may be true for certain roles like acting, modelling, radio/ TV jockey, anchoring etc., a majority of professionals work behind the scene, in public relations, event management, direction, production, writing screenplay and dialogues, cinematography,  sound and light engineering, editing, photography, videography, sales and distribution, teaching, researching, documentation, critiquing and so on.

Focus on a programme of study that does not exploit your ‘glamour aspirations’ but equips you for wide and varied career prospects in this industry.

Myth 2: Creativity is enough
Another common one is that the media and entertainment industry is all about creativity and originality. Like all other industry segments it also needs people with a wide spectrum of domain-specific skills and knowledge. Creativity is not nurtured in a vacuum. Ideas need a fertile ground to germinate.

Media studies is a discipline that deals with content, history and effects of various media; the critique of artistic styles and aesthetic forms (genre, narrative, and so on), the study of the production process (Eg: technologies and markets), and sociological analysis (of ideological effects, reception and consumption) etc.  

Myth 3: Technology is more
important than skill Any media professional would vouch for the fact that one cannot just be an anchor, or camera person, or director – one must also be an overall communication and persuasion expert. Know the basic rhetoric, oratory, lines of argument and be able to apply them in favour of commercial brands in market contexts. So, one should not be looking out for hardware support such as a camera, or an editing table, but for the basic concepts that are taught, and how they are taught. T

here are two reasons for this belief. Firstly, the pace at which technological advancements happen these days is so furious that whatever format you learn at the films school will be redundant by the time you are ready to spread wings professionally. Secondly, as they say – ‘It is never the camera, but the eye behind the camera’ that matters

Myth 4: It’s all about talent
Media success stories are not always about the most talented people, but the people who do the most with their talent. A right programme of study equips a person with the right set of tools to make the best use of one’s talent. Look for a programme that has a comprehensive curriculum and also give you an experience that helps you evolve, connect with other professionals and get an opportunity to develop soft and leadership skills.

Future scenario
The media and entertainment industry in India is likely to grow at 12.5 per cent per annum and touch US $20 billion by 2013. There are 12,000 cinemas in India but this only amounts to 12 for every million residents, compared with 117 per million in the US. Even after the deregulation of the radio industry last year - India has just about 20 FM radio stations compared with 6,000 in the US.

All this points to huge possibilities. The Indian animation industry will grow from the current US$ 362 million to US$ 811 million by 2013. Indian special effects artists and animators are moving up the ranks of established US animation studios such as Walt Disney and DreamWorks Animation SKG and in the special effects market. Digital music sales account for 88 per cent of the total music industry revenue in India. Future growth is also expected to come from non-physical formats such as digital downloads and ringtones.