Introduction to Media and Entertainment Industry
Where the industry sits
The media and entertainment (M&E) industry covers every business that creates and distributes content: film and television, OTT streaming, animation and VFX, gaming, advertising and ad films, print and comics, music and radio, and live events. In Punjab the strongest local employers are Punjabi feature films, music-video production houses, regional television, wedding and event video studios, and advertising agencies. All of them use the same production pipeline.
The three-stage pipeline
- Pre-production - idea, script, budget, casting, location recce, concept art, storyboard, shot list.
- Production - the shoot: camera, light, sound, performance.
- Post-production - edit, VFX, colour, sound mix, delivery.
The storyboard artist sits at the end of pre-production. Boards are the last cheap moment to change a film: a redrawn panel costs minutes, a re-shoot costs a day.
Who you answer to
You take notes from the director (what the scene means) and the DoP/cinematographer (lens, light, movement), and you work alongside the production designer (set, props, costume). Finished boards go to the editor and VFX supervisor, who plan cutting and effects from them.
Worked example
A shopkeeper commissions a 30-second ad. Someone on the team says, 'We will storyboard it during the edit.' Why is that wrong? Storyboards exist to plan what gets shot; if you board during editing, the footage is already fixed and no shot can be added or changed. Correct order: script, storyboard, shoot, edit.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating the storyboard as post-production work.
- Assuming animation and live-action boards are identical: animation boards carry timing and lip-sync, live-action boards carry lens and blocking.
- Describing M&E as 'only Bollywood' and ignoring regional cinema, advertising and games.