Multimedia: An Illustration Of Finding LMI For Emerging Occupations

How can a person find labour market information for emerging fields that are not yet coded and captured by government occupational classification systems and projections, such as multimedia, organic farming, forestry under new forestry renewal strategies to restore damaged forest lands and increase yields through intensive silviculture, complementary medicine, or in medicine using new technologies? This obviously takes more investigation and analysis. fast and easy place to start is the public library with a review of newspaper and magazine articles on the subject. The following is an example of information on an emerging field - multimedia - that can be gleaned from current articles in a library.

One emerging field that is capturing the interest of many young people is multimedia. It has already captured the imagination of telephone, cable television, communication and entertainment companies and has created a vastly changing multi-billion dollar world of digital convergence where computer, graphics, text, video film and sound merge on the desktop. Multimedia has applications in business, education and the entertainment industry. But neither "multimedia specialist" nor "digital engineer" is in the indexes of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) manual or Work Futures. Even the information provided in the recent sector study on the Canadian broadcast industry is limited (although promising).

Post-production technology has changed considerably. The increase in the use of digital technology and computerization has helped to offset the high costs of some aspects of production. Realistic images can now be generated pixel by pixel to stimulate real characters and scenes, thereby blurring the distinction between reality and animation. For example, the ability to modify the appearance of a building explosion, through the use of computer technology, so that it can be used in different programming reduces production costs. This has resulted in the need for highly skilled computer technicians who are creative and understand the art of film-making. The work is so technically demanding that it is difficult to find people with the necessary skills. (Canadian Broadcasting Industry Human Resources Steering Committee, 1993, p. 81).

Ten articles published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper between June 1994 and January 1995 reveal the following information for someone interested in the emerging field of multimedia with applications in the film industry.

Status of the Industry: Canada

• Tax incentives and government funding that built Canada's film industry are fading out, but prospects for the film industry have never looked brighter.
• Throughout the recession, the film industry grew. Production of advertising took a hit, but production of corporate films, feature films and TV series continued strong.
• New opportunities are opening up in TV, with nine new cable stations licensed in Canada this year and up to 150 new stations to be operating in the United States by 2000.
• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved the video game giant, Sega, to deliver its games into the home via cable (digital delivery). This opens the door for smaller Canadian firms to have a shot at exposing their games to a wide audience. portion of the profits generated by the new Sega channel will go to an Interactive Entertainment Development Fund to help aspiring game designers. Nintendo of Canada has plans of its own to launch a similar service.

Status of the Industry: British Columbia

• The total number of feature film and TV productions from January to the end of November 1994 was 85, 12 more than in the whole of 1993. The net money spent in British Columbia in 1993 was 285 million, and the B.C. Film Commission estimates 1994 numbers at 350 million, with an added 50 million in post-production services, commercials, industrials and video.
• The main reason American studio projects choose to shoot in Vancouver is the relative value of the Canadian dollar, but more often producers now say there are other factors, including uncluttered/natural locations and talented crews.
• Most American movies and TV shows that film in British Columbia ship raw footage back to Los Angeles for post-production. Special effects, editing, scoring and credits are assembled in the United States. But post-production is starting to be done in Vancouver. The B.C. Film Commission isn't yet tracking the impact of the new business, but the director says The post-sound sector is doing some amazing things." And the situation could improve if there's enough qualified talent to do the work here.
• The 3-D software industry is nearly a decade old, but recent breakthroughs in hardware and software development costs have spurred strong growth.

Definition of Digital Imaging

Digital imaging works on the premise that an image, or a series of images can be turned into electrical patterns - like a TV signal, or video magnetic recording - which can in turn be digitized, or turned into computer binary code. Once the image has been translated into computer speak, it can essentially be manipulated into anything. For example, when Brandon Lee died unexpectedly on the set of The Crow, the director was left with gaping holes in the editing room. They needed Lee for seven more scenes. Digital engineers isolated Lee's face, digitally painted it onto a body double who walked through the action, and presto, Brandon Lee was alive and walking on screen.

Applications:

• interactive video games;
• films and TV special effects/graphics/animation;
• manufacturing for visualizing computer assisted design (CD) data;
• medicine for visualizing CT scans; and
• for forensic and legal reconstructions.

Digital Delivery

• Digital delivery can send everything from a full-length feature film, to a CD to a video game though the coaxial cable that hooks up to a TV C or the telephone wire that hooks up to a computer.
• The real benefit of the Digital delivery system is that it makes distribution more affordable by reducing the capital costs of printing electronic cartridges in Japan and abroad.

Skill Shortages

• Responding to a global shortage of video game designers, Nintendo of Canada Ltd. is helping to support a new school in Vancouver, the DigiPen Applied Computer Graphics School, to teach 60 students how to create video games.
• Toronto-based, Alias Research Inc., one of the world's leading providers of film animation and special effects software (creators of the computer special effects for Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park), is investing 650,000 worth of special-effects computer software in the Vancouver Film School's multimedia division to train computer animators. Alias has partnerships with about 40 schools worldwide because schools and students cannot keep up with the prohibitive cost of equipment.

The Downside

• Newspaper review of an article in The Economist (September 17, 1994) concludes that while multimedia may be heaven for consumers, it's shaping up to be hell for the industry, because consumers are not likely willing to spend the kind of dollars that getting multimedia products in their home will cost.
• Another of the newspaper articles quotes Bill Gates of Microsoft: People talk about video on demand because it's one of the few things in multimedia for which you can predict a revenue stream. But it won't generate enough revenue to pay for the infrastructure. The article goes on to calculate that a nationwide video-on-demand service in a country as large as the United States would need to generate 20 of revenue per week from each subscriber. The article concludes: "If the industry is ever to recoup the vast sums it is investing in computing, communications and interactive technology, its customers will have to do more than just trade in their cars for PCs: they will have to spend more on multimedia than they have ever done on TV, or films, or books, or CDs, or any other form of entertainment. Why should they?"
• Research by SRI International demonstrates that new media such as data stored on CD-ROM and interactive computer use on a broad scale, are at least 10 to 15 years away. Although huge works, like encyclopedias, are increasingly crammed into a small shiny CD-ROM disk, there are too many obstacles for the new media to quickly replace newspapers, books and paper reports. Impediments include the lack of infrastructure such as cable, high costs, complicated use and incompatibility of different media.

Qualifications/Earnings for Work in Computer Special Effects/Digital Engineering

• It takes a good computer background to get in and six years experience to earn 100 an hour.
• A graduate from Sheridan College in Toronto can get US 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. straight out of school.

Where is Work Available

• There are only a handful of Canadian firms that design video games or develop 3-D animation software for the film industry.
• A graduate is most likely to find work internationally.
• Nintendo products are designed in Japan, the United States and Europe.

Education

• At the DigiPen Applied Computer Graphics School in Vancouver entry into the program for video game designer requires high school or college graduation with a B average or better in math, with both artistic and scientific abilities. Tuition is 8,500 a year for the two-year program. Graduates should be ready to join an existing game software company or start their own business.
  
• The Vancouver Film School's multimedia division offers computer animator program.

Contact Names

The following organizations were cited in the articles (contact names were also provided).

• Federally funded Centre for Image and Sound Research, Vancouver
• University of B.C.'s MAGIC (Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre)
• B.C. Film Commission, Vancouver
• Nintendo of Canada Ltd., Richmond, B.C.
• Alias Research Inc., Toronto
• Sega of Canada
• Vertigo Technology Inc., Vancouver; developer of modeling and animation software for the film industry, 15 employees
• Northwest Imaging and FX; digital post production house in Vancouver, has grown from three employees to 18 full-time and 15 free-lance employees since 1990 (Credits: X-Files).
• Rainmaker Imaging Corp., Vancouver, 50 full-time staff; controls 50 percent to 60 percent of the video post-production market in British Columbia. recent joint venture with Gastown Post and Transfer, will provide technical services, such as digital compression and high-end computer graphics, for producers and publishers of interactive programs.
• Up and coming multimedia companies: Radical Entertainment Ltd. and Motion Works, Inc., Vancouver.

References to Further Reading

The Economist, September 17, 1994 issue

The Futurist Magazine, January, 1994

Now the client has some contact names of businesses and organizations to start verifying the information and for finding out more. Enough background information has been gained to start asking intelligent questions about the industry and the jobs available. Some possible questions to investigate follow.

Companies/Experts. Were any of the articles biased for or against the industry or company?

Companies. From which schools or programs do you prefer to hire? What is the best way to break into the field? Who else should I talk to?

People Already Working in the Field. Are there any volunteer activities or entry-level positions possible to test out the waters before committing to the field/training? What trade journals, professional groups should I be aware of?

Schools. How have your graduates fared in finding jobs?