The Death of the Demo

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:00:00 GMT

Chairman - New Media Committee

The term “demo” is having an identity crisis. In the old days (from the dawn of time until about 3 years ago) “demos” were what you did when you didn’t have money to do “finals.” The term applied to every kind of creative project: music, video, film, flat art, graphics, etc. The package designers call them “comps” but it’s basically still a demo.

Whole industries emerged to meet the needs of demo makers: Animatic houses, video storyboard producers, music demo or “project” studios – aah … those were the days.

Today, desktop production technology has, for all practical purposes, killed the old meaning of the term. It is reborn to mean, “not yet approved by the client.”

This is causing a huge problem for creatives and producers who have not yet acquired desktop production skills. And, it is causing even bigger problems for creatives and producers who liked “the good old days.”

Although this is the perfect segue into a philosophical or, at least, a semantic discussion about how creatives and producers are supposed to spend their time, let’s get practical!

Your first step into the New World of production is to get in the game. This is simple and relatively cheap. You can do this with a Mac or a PC … it doesn’t really matter. Here’s a short list of desktop production programs and the disciplines they cover. These are not the only programs available and every professional will have their own favorites. That being said, I like these programs in their current versions.

Your job is to select one, buy it, and learn to use it. You can take classes at the New School, SVA or even CompUSA. And, Borders, Barnes & Noble and Amazon are full of text books and manuals of every kind. This is a first step – one I highly recommend you take.

31-Aug-06 4:00 PM

New York Emmy Awards - Articles

The Death of the Demo