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Industry Overview
Multimedia is the merging of several mediums - typically video, audio and text - to form a new media experience. Webcasts, animation, video games, podcasting, these are all part of the rapidly evolving and expanding field. There are a variety of career paths you can take within multimedia depending on your interests and skills. Below are a few industries to explore along with roles multimedia professionals may fill within those industries.
Media and Entertainment: Movie and television production companies hire multimedia specialists for animation, electronic sound production, graphic design, and special effects for movies, television commercials and movie promotional materials.
Game: A love of games is a pre-requisite for a career in the game industry. Video game design, web game design, virtual reality designers and even traditional board game design are all areas for multimedia specialists.
Publishing: Book and magazine publishers employ web designers, computer graphics specialists, graphic artists, and multimedia specialists. Within book publishing houses, there are opportunities working with electronic book formats and interactive CD Rom materials accompanying educational publications and children’s publications, as well as working with emerging technologies.
Advertising/Marketing: Multimedia specialists of all types are employed within advertising agencies and in marketing and advertising departments to create innovative and memorable promotional materials for products and services that target a specific market.
Design (Fashion and Interior): Art directors, graphic designers and animators are employed to assist in designing fabrics, apparel, and creating simulations, and in marketing and promoting products and services.
In addition to the industries outlined above, corporations, manufacturers, non-profit organizations of all types are using multimedia professionals to design webpages, informational materials, and advertisements. The career options within the field are continuing to expand.
Getting Started
As with other industries, experience is essential. Experience can come from extracurricular activities or internships, as well as through projects completed as part of your coursework. The more experience you have, the more competitive you will be. There are internship opportunities available all across the country in a wide variety of industries, though certain industries, such as entertainment and design, are concentrated in particular areas, such as New York and California. When starting out, you may need to look into opportunities across all industries in order to gain experience. Keep samples of your work and be prepared to show and discuss the samples with potential employers.
Networking is also a key component of finding and expanding the opportunities available to you. Start developing connections early; maintain contact with those professionals with whom you’ve made a connection. Proactively seek out opportunities with employers of interest, don’t wait for them to post an opportunity.
Resources
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