What is a Review???

A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews.

Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries too. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:

• First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
• Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
• Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.

Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion about something that you may feel unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison’s new book if you’ve never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work’s creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.

What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand. While the questions specifically consider book reviews, you can easily transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don’t feel obligated to address each of the questions; some will be more relevant than others to the book in question.

• What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
• What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
• How does the author support her argument? What evidence does she use to prove her point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
• How does the author structure her argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• How has this book helped you understand the subject? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text’s production:

• Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject’s best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events she writes about?
• What is the book’s genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming “firsts”—alongside naming “bests” and “onlys”—can be a risky business unless you’re absolutely certain.

Introduction

Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Center’s handout on introductions can help you find an approach that works. In general, you should include:

• The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
• Relevant details about who the author is and where he/she stands in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
• The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
• The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments. But identifying the book’s particular novelty, angle, or originality allows you to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
• Your thesis about the book.
• This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.
• The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for example—you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book’s contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book—such as an class assignment on the same work—you may have more liberty to explore  more subtle points and to emphasize your own argument.
• Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly.
• You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book.
• If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight.
• Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.
• Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis.
• This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center’s handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.

Summary of content

Analysis and evaluation of the book

Conclusion

In Review

Finally, a few general considerations:

• Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don’t criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
• With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
• Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
• Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You’re entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.

Some handy tips-

Reviews make great blog posts: they’re not only a novel answer to the perpetual blogger’s conundrum of “what shall I write about today?”, but also a cool way to attract readers. Lots of people want to know if the new U2 record (for example) is any good, so why not write to cater for an audience that’s already there?

Furthermore, if you write an interesting and comprehensive article, it’s just the sort of thing that readers will bookmark for later reference, e-mail to friends or link to from their own blogs. This is especially true for high-investment purchases like technology or household electronics. A detailed review can even mean you or your blog become recognised as an authority on the subject.

But how to write those great reviews? I’ve been reviewing music for ages, and I always try to stick to these 10 rules. Although they’re from a music journalism point of view, they’ll work for most subjects. Let me know how you get on, whether it’s reviewing books, movies, software, or something different altogether.

1. Ask yourself  “what does the reader want to know?”

This is the most important thing to remember when writing a review. You can craft the wittiest prose with the cleverest metaphors, but unless the reader finds out what they want to know, you’ve not done your job as a reviewer.

Think of the sort of questions they’re likely to be asking themselves – these will vary depending on what you’re writing about: “Is this book a light, enjoyable read for on the beach?”, “Why should I upgrade to Windows Vista?”, or even “Does Justin Timberlake’s new CD have anything on it as good as Cry Me A River?”

Find that one question, and make the sole aim of your article to answer it.

2. Decide on the overall point you want to get across to the reader.

If you know your subject matter well (which, as a reviewer, you should do), you’ll no doubt have a whole ream of opinions, both good and bad, that you can knock back and forth like a review-writing game of tennis. All those viewpoints can get confusing, so simplify it.

Decide on an overall basic opinion of the product, such as “An hilarious, if overlong movie – just don’t expect anything groundbreaking”, and use that as a framework for your review. Hang everything else off this one idea. How does the movie’s acting influence this opinion? Why isn’t the plot that groundbreaking?

You can get all your points across, but just relate them all to this central theme (in conjunction with number 1 above) and your review will seem less like the sort of conversation you have in a bar after the movie, and more like real journalism!

3. Be ruthless when editing – don’t be precious about your “art”.

If it doesn’t help you answer the reader’s question (point number 1, above), or isn’t directly conducive to getting your main point across (number 2), then get rid of it! You might be really proud of a line you’ve written, but unless it helps the review as a whole it’s no good.

Review writing isn’t art – save that for your novel – so don’t get precious about it. Remember the words of science fiction author James Patrick Kelly on this subject: “murder your darlings”. Readers don’t think someone’s a great writer because of a single sharp-but-irrelevant observation; they’ll think you’re a great writer if all the cogs in the machine of your review work together.

This is something I sometimes struggle with, but Copy-blogger further underlines the importance of keeping your writing simple.

4. Don’t write about yourself; it’s about the band, book, movie or whatever you’re reviewing.

A classic novice’s mistake this one. Look at any page of Amazon customer reviews, and you’ll no doubt come across someone who tells a story all about how the guy they work with said The Da Vinci Code is great, but I wasn’t sure because he’s not too smart, but then he did recommend that other book to me that was pretty good, although he’s a religious nut so it probably won’t be my thing, but I suppose I should because otherwise he’ll never shut up about it…WHO CARES?

As we’ve said already, reviewers want to know about the product, and that should be what you concentrate on. Of course, blogging is a personal medium, and it can be great for personal anecdotes, but within a review isn’t the place. As mentioned previously, one of the main benefits of review writing is that your posts can become a point of reference for people, and even an authority on a product depending on what it is you choose to review. But if you cloud the matter with irrelevancies, you won’t get the linkbacks and word-of-mouth publicity that these things merit.

By all means stamp a bit of your personality and thoughts on the review, but stick to the subject matter; the reader shouldn’t really know the reviewer is there. A good rule of thumb is to try not to say “I” at all.

5. Ask yourself “what makes my review unique?”

Well-anticipated products like Hollywood movies or a new release from Apple (hurry up iPhone!) can generate thousands of reviews both across the blogosphere and the more traditional media. So why would anyone want to read yours?

That’s not meant to be a criticism of your writing – I’m sure it’s great. But it’s meant to make you think about having a “unique selling point” – something that your review can offer that people won’t be able to find elsewhere. Do you manage to bring a humorous slant to it? Do you have a specific or rare expertise (eg. wouldn’t it have been an interesting take on things if a priest posted his thoughts on the aforementioned Da Vinci Code)? Is your opinion vastly different to that of everyone else? Have you managed to be the first one to review something?

Whatever you decide your unique selling point is, make sure you emphasize it! There’s some good advice along these lines in Matt Cutts’ article on a blogging technique known as linkbait.

6. You don’t always need to be a smartypants – sometimes it’s better to write as if you’re chatting to your friends.

Writing like a smartypants is something I must admit to being (very!) guilty of at times. It can be very tempting to get wrapped up in metaphors and tie yourself in linguistic knots. While this may make you feel like Charles Dickens, often it can just confuse the reader. By all means write well and write interestingly, but don’t try to translate everything to purple prose – sometimes it really is better to just write exactly what you said as you walked out of the cinema, without looking up 27 different synonyms for “crappy chic-flick”.

7. Compare to other similar products – but not too much!

One of the advantages of being an expert in your field is that you can place a new release in context – is it better or worse than the author’s previous work, are there other better alternatives in a similar genre, and so on. This is something it’s definitely worth doing if you don’t already, as it can lend your writing an air of expertise and authority.

The thing to remember though is not to do it too much, as it’s easy to end up writing more about other products than the one you’re meant to be reviewing. This is something beginners tend to do a lot – many of my early music reviews read like a who’s who of the genre (probably in an attempt to show off my knowledge!), so watch out for it.

8. Strong quotable sentences are great, but let them come naturally.

One of the best ways to learn to write good reviews is to read professional ones, and try to imitate them. What bits of their style do you like? What ideas can you borrow? One of the dangers of this though is that you can easily write reviews full of the sort of phrases that appear on movie posters – “a rip-roaring thrill ride for all the family!”.

Needless to say, clichés like that should be avoided at all costs. And even if they’re not clichés, such sentences can often be superficial. So don’t go looking for them. If they genuinely serve a purpose and help you say what you want to say, then great. But if you’re just writing something because it sounds like a movie poster quote, then really it’s just a platitude.

Having said that, if you do come up with a killer quote, you may want to consider using it as your review’s headline; Freelance Switch outlines the importance of “writing headlines that kill” in order to attract readers.

9. Be specific!

Used in conjunction with the tips on comparison (above) and stating the obvious (below), this can be one of the things that really makes your review a resource that people are going to return to months, or even years, after you’ve written it.

Much of this applies to reviews of events: touring bands, theatre shows etc. It’s easy to write a cookie-cutter review of a gig that does a good job of describing the music and the songs that were played. But be specific: what happened on the night you saw the show that will differentiate your review from that of anyone who saw the show on a different night? For example, in live music reviews, try and include a notable quote from the stage. Mention the atmosphere. What about context: has the artist been in the news recently? If you’re reviewing a popstar’s first show after a big court case, this could even form part of your unique selling point, as described above.

Although mostly useful in a performing arts sense, these same techniques are useful for anything: just ask yourself, “what was unique about my experience?” This stops your reviews committing the cardinal sin of reading like a press-release, and as long as you don’t start telling boring personal anecdotes like our friend from the Amazon review above, you’ll be fine!

10. Don’t be afraid to state the obvious.

You’re an expert in your field – anything you don’t know about the works of Stephen King isn’t worth knowing! So it can be a bit frustrating as a reviewer to have to hold your reader’s hand and explain to them that he’s a quite well-known horror writer, and that they may even have heard of The Shining – it was made into a film, you know?

Obviously, that depends on your audience. If it’s for the Stephen King fanclub, by all means go straight into depth. But if it’s for a more general audience, don’t underestimate how little your reader may actually know about the subject. There’s no need to give a full life story, but a bit of background info is always good. When reviewing bands for example: where are they from, how many members are there, what’s their biggest hit, and so on. If nothing else, it means your first paragraph’s sorted!

Now , what are you waiting for?

Our country is one famed for the importance that it gives to education. Since time, immemorial education has been considered a very important aspect of growing life and knowledge has been given utmost importance in individual lives. It is for this reason that choosing the right college becomes so very important especially when the chosen stream is something like Media. While our country is so open to the idea of higher education and its importance, at the same time there are some preferences in terms of the choices that are put forth to the youngsters who are at the verge of a college education. Unfortunately Media is not yet one of them. But it is surely growing and that is definitely a positive sign. There are several pointers that need to be kept in mind while choosing a media college. Few of these have been elaborated below.

1. Choose Early- On The Job Or Off The Job:

In an industry like Media a lot of emphasis is put on the fact that on the job training is exceptionally important and no amount of college education can get you that. In such a situation, it is important to ask yourself which is more relevant to you as a person. If your area of work is more befitting a college education then search for a good college. If not get yourself a relevant job.

2. Keep Your Horizons Open:

A lot of the learning that happens at a post graduate level depends on the individual. While a good college and a good faculty can help in moulding the individual a lot depends on ones own drive and passion for the arts. In this situation it is important to keep your horizons open and explore ones creativity.

3. Do Your Research:

Media colleges have been springing up in every corner of the country. Owing to the growing popularity of the stream, there are a lot of fly by night institutions that con students into unhappy courses and later on unhappy or no jobs. Hence it is imperative to do a good quality of research on the colleges that are available and choose from among the best alternative.

4. Express As Much As Possible:

A very important selection procedure in most leading media colleges look into the portfolio of the individual before actually joining the college. A portfolio is an expression of ones creativity. Hence it needs to be as inclusive as possible. It is important that the portfolio is extensive and displays all the aspects of the individual’s personality.

5. Do Not Keep All Your Eggs In One Basket:

While there are a lot of mediocre media institutions operating around the country, the few that are good are extremely strict with their selection process. Also the seats available are far and fairly in between. Hence it is important to keep the options open and try to as many good places as possible. While it is alright to get into more than one place and choose among the best, keeping all your hopes on one college alone could spell disaster.

6. Check On The Internships:

A sign of a good media college is the number of internships it offers. Check before hand on the number and quality of the internships that the college insists on as well as the kind of organizations it has tie ups with. A long and exhaustive list of organizations with a variety of agency as well as corporate exposure is a sign that the college is serious about its work and its students.

7. Placements?

While it is all good to be confident on one’s own abilities, it is also important to check on the kind of placement history that the institute boasts off. There are a lot of opportunities out there for willing and hard working students with talent but to get a break into the industry, it is imperative to join a good place with a good job. Here by a good job I do not mean a job that solely pays well but one that gives you a good exposure and quality work. The initial years are the ones that involve the highest learning curve and hence getting quality work at that point in life would do a lot of good.

8. Prepare Yourself Mentally:

This point is relevant for all post graduate students entering into whatsoever field. It is important to realize that choosing to study further is a choice that you have made. There are pros and cons for everything and even here there can be times when one feels that working would have been a better option. It is not easy when a lot of your peers start working early on while you are still studying and honing your skills. At times like these it is important to look at the bigger picture and think of the benefits that you will possess at a later stage in your career. Once this understanding is in place, things are a lot smoother
Thus, post graduate study is a very important decision in an individual’s life and needs to be thought thorough well before entering into.

Keeping the afore mentioned points as well as few other individual considerations will ensure that the made choice is the best one. So go ahead, once you have made your choice, the world is literally your oyster!

All reporters collect, confirm, record and interpret information. Good news must have access to special information and must recognize the makings of a news story and act immediately.

Specifically following are the sources of news for any reporter:

1. Personal Participation: Although the reporter is never part of the news, occasionally it can’t be evaded. The normal role is of a disinterested observer, politically and ideologically neutral. A reporter becomes a name in the news when he or she is gassed, or injured or taken prisoner. It hardly ever happens but when it does, the reporter is entitled to write a first person account.

2. Direct Observation: In the language of an editor, a newspaper “staffs” an event when one or more reporters are sent to cover it in person. Staffing is an expensive, time consuming way to cover the news and the decision is seldom taken lightly. Reporters must ask questions in order to confirm what they have seen or heard.  The reporter who staffs an event should recognize his or her own limitations and always seek other viewpoints and information.

3. Asking Questions: The interview is a highly flexible method of getting information. It may be conducted face-to-face or by telephone, television, or mail. It may be highly structured with the reporter preparing a list of carefully phrased questions, or it may be a little more than an informal conversation. In the press conference several reporters interview one source; in the panel discussion one or more reporters interview a group. A reporter must be an interrogator and empathic listener. Persistence may also be necessary to keep the interview in control.

4. Reference Material: Print is as important a source of news as people. Specialized reporters read trade magazines, scientific journals. The police reporter scans officers’ accident reports, the dispatcher’s log and a variety of records. Reporters begin each day by reading the most recent edition of their own newspaper and many of their stories are based on developments in continuing situations. Often a story results from last year’s files to see what’s likely to be happening in the present. The reporter reads many things mainly in order to get ideas for stories.

5. Scientific Research Methods: Reporters often use the findings of social scientists as the basis of stories. Many newspapers publish syndicated opinion polls regularly. On occasion a journalist may also use some of the scientist’s methods. A growing practice is to use scientific methods to investigate special problems. The basic requirement of a scientific poll is that everyone in the population to be surveyed has an equal chance of being interviewed. Questions must be prepared so as to eliminate persons who are uninformed. And this method should not be confused with “the man on the street” interviews.

6. Unofficial Sources: These sources include people closest to us – relatives, friends, people we have known for years and people we meet everyday.

•Own experiences and acquaintances.

•People we work with; like, print person, advertising salesmen, circulation workers and other newsmen. For instance, a casual chat with a fellow reporter may yield a scrap of information that completes a puzzle, that has baffled us for weeks.

•People who hear a lot; salespeople, barbers, waitresses, hotel porters, receptionists etc.

7. Cultivating Sources-Official And Unofficial Sources: The next thing to do is to develop sources. Official spokesmen are not usually sources. It’s generally not the job of a source to begin with: not the mayor, but the mayor’s assistants; not a company president, but the vice-president in charge of operations. The big names make pronouncements, but the mid-level sources often originate policy changes, and can help a reporter to understand them. In addition, they can describe their bosses’ motives, fears, regrets and follow-up moves.

Sources usually have pet products or projects and many reporters will sometimes admit to having filed newsworthy stories on these primarily to cultivate the sources. Another way to get acquainted is to do a series of portraits of people behind the scenes. Never pass up the opportunity to meet a source.

8. Reporting From Releases And Hand-Outs: Announcement stories that companies or individuals send out often plague the newspaper office. Obviously a newspaper can use very little information that comes into the office this way, even if it is high quality because of space limitations. While most releases are self-serving, telling the general public what the person or company wants the public to know; nevertheless, sometimes releases can provide sources and ideas for news.

The professional release has the name and address of the PR officer and the company which can be used as contacts. Most newspapers rewrite any releases they decide to use, for several reasons. First, an editor can never be sure of the veracity of all releases. Certainly many releases are incomplete and the newspaper person must make a call to flesh out or verify information. A reporter should check the authenticity of the material and in turn may find matter which could give the lead story or another angle to the story.

9. Press Conferences: As far as press conferences are concerned, the reporters usually keep a list of questions ready when they interview a panel or a person individually. The list is very liberating, because it allows the reporter to explore tangents or new directions without worrying that he’ll forget to ask an important question.

10. Public Meetings: They are extremely important because the issue or the opinions expressed can be of common knowledge but they are being said by a new person i.e. the speaker is not necessarily known or is representing his group or party for the first time. It can be the same person giving the same statement but at two different places and in a different context. Meetings can also lead to the formulation of new opinions. Also, meetings are analyzed in greater depth and therefore lead to detailed reports.

If the above factors are considered, one can make a good news story that can cater to the reader as well as do justice to his work.

What is marketing communication in today’s corporate world all about? For one, it is not simply all about advertising any longer. For advertising in today’s world can at times be more of a marketing nuisance than the marketing strategy. However, nothing has truly replaced it completely either, as not even the fast growing Public Relations industry has been able to eliminate its place yet. And perhaps here lies our clue to solving the mystery of what marketing communication is. Perhaps there is no need for replacing all that is, as may be our marketing world has grown and evolved and carved itself a place where there is a mutually beneficial, interdependent, symbiotic relationship being built between its various tentacles.

Today’s Marketing Communication Mix is the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. These are the tactical elements of marketing that a company makes use of in order to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. And the entire success or failure of the marketing plan depends on how harmoniously the company’s promotion mix elements  together. Evidently, each of these has its own importance, and therefore all are indispensable. Therefore, extreme care must be taken while creating a company’s marketing strategy so that the potential of each can be used to the fullest in a manner which will be most profitable for the company both in the long and short run.

Let us now discuss each of these individually so as to better understand the importance of their role in the company’s marketing strategy and the role that the media plays in all of this.

1. Advertising

Advertising is any form of paid, non-personal, persuasive presentation and promotion of ideas, products, and services by an identified sponsor. This form of marketing is perhaps the most heavily dependent on the media- the role of advertising being first and foremost to create awareness of the brand/product etc. Through its various forms (print, TVC, OOH, internet etc.),  advertising has been able to maintain its hold on the audience even as newer marketing tactics make place for themselves in the promotional mix.

2. Personal selling

This is that sphere of marketing where the intermediaries do not play a part. The firm arranges for personal presentations by its sales force for the purpose of making direct sales and building customer relationships. Ideally this is taken up during the introduction phase of a product or service and is generally used to supplement or is supplemented by other marketing elements that may or may not be delivered through the media.

3. Sales Promotion

The sales promotion element of the promotional mix of marketing is a short term one in most cases. It is used to further short term gains and is generally heavily dependent on the media for the spread of the message. And the message generally is some sort of an incentive to encourage the buying or the selling of some product or service.

4. Public Relations

Like advertising, public relations are also one of the older and more stable promotional tools. The aim is to simply build good relations between the company’s various people. This is accomplished by obtaining favourable publicity from reliable third persons and building up a good corporate image. Apart from this, damage control is another very important function of the PR industry. Needless to say, it is heavily dependent on the media for carrying out its functions successfully.

5. Direct Marketing

This is aimed specifically at a chosen few individual customers. This part of the promotional mix too has limited use for the media. But the upcoming ‘New Media’ has great potential as far as direct marketing goes.

However, at the end of the day, it is not how many of these, or how much of these marketing mix tools a company is able to use that determines the success of the product marketing , but rather how well it can formulate a marketing strategy, using only the right amount of the right tools. Essentially the marketing mix is extremely product/service specific. And therefore it is absolutely impossible to come up with some formula for it. And more often than not, the wrong marketing mix does backfire. This is why the right balance of the marketing tools in the marketing mix is a must. For, just like an exquisite cuisine, the success rate of any marketing mix is subject to whether or not the chef/marketing communications guy has been able to come up with ‘the right ingredients’ that will work for you.

The real fun time of the day is actually at night. Media students definitely know this. For them, awake in the day- is a mortal sin almost. Not their fault of course. Class room lectures are too boring. So the nodding heads syndrome automatically begins. Rightfully so. Nights are so much more interesting after all. Night is when the intelligent lot seek to educate themselves. Being awake at night thus becomes a spontaneous mission –  a voluntary act which enriches the mind- purifies the soul!

There are myriad reasons why these students have lost their sleep at night. True the rods and cones of the eye are attuned to shutting down naturally, following one’s bio-rhythm as the night progresses. Yet, the diligent ‘pupils’ function on an inverted reality.

Insomnia rules all corridors. If the student life is happily resided in a hostel, then Insomnia is most certainly a religion devotedly espoused. If the student has the luxury of staying at his/her own place, insomnia, is still a virtue.

The endless cups of coffee- in canteens, in between lectures, in between dates, in between multi-tasking- day and night- is one of the most important catalysts of this highly followed practice. Caffeine gives the adrenaline rush the much needed energy push and keeps minds happy and thoughts carefree easily. Alert of course to non academic matters.

For the media life ,weed is the symbol of freedom. The puffs of freedom predominates all beings. Pervades deep into the conscience and drives sleep away. Floating empty is thus a dream- with eyes wide open.

Assignment- deadlines- rush to beat the time is always there in the media students’ lives. Part and parcel of it as most tend to procrastinate till the last moment- as an unspoken rule. When the death knell rings, most hit the panic button. Sleeplessness is then a habitual mode-which leaves people unaffected-yet vindicated of the joy of insomnia.

College memories are always full of downloads at every possible opportunity. When the firewalls are phased out, this favourite nocturnal activity picks up speed. Weird and weirder downloads are tried and tested by all. Shared and  laughed over. Seen again and again. Shared some more.

6 am, the lights are still on. The pillow fights are in full swing. The steam from the Maggi bowls are still rising – punctuated by smell of coffee. Darts go flying through the air and so do paper aeroplanes in their helter skelter ways.Music still blares out loud from all speakers. Sometimes its just a band of the creative few , playing its own music. Some on guitar, some on drums- all heads together, putting the final touches to their compositions.

So what’s new?? Some might turn back and say. “Impatience, is the new life”- after all.

Many lose themselves in the virtual world of games. Shouts of victory, anger, peals of laughter- all filter across periodically. The choices are many. The time is unlimited.

Why most are still awake-  For watching movies of course. Torrent is a buzz word. All the latest releases, the unreleased, the flops, the hits- are all avidly watched. Watched and learned. The action sequences played ten times. The “censored” parts seen with unabashed eyes. The cheers, jeers, curses, claps-all rage on –  unmindful of the stealthy way of the night as it creeps out.

For most, its another Tequila Sunrise, stirring across the sky.  Excited debates on who’s who, crushes, likes, dislikes, the 5 w-s and 1 h (strictly in different contexts) chirp on over the drags and sips. Topics are endless- when the mind is at its most active. Sharp witty remarks flow back and forth as the banter carries on incessantly. Night is young, they say. Why not live for every moment then? Night is the time when all the students can come out of their hibernating shells and show their true colours unfazed. Night is that time of the day when the mind is at its receptive best. Redbull gives all the energy needed thus.

The chat sessions in g-talk or facebook are unanimously one of the addictive reasons for the hyperactive mind- specially when “multi is no longer a task.” Facebook, Orkut, Twitter and other social networking sites have multitudes of the media mass parked at its shelter around the clock. Many a times these amiable students have peers and associates scattered in all parts of the globe- with whom it becomes an imperative  must to keep in touch daily almost. The eyes thus get well adjusted to the laptop screens- glued to every new development. Sleep has no place in this life-sadly.

Many are habituated to the party scenario- as a healthy participant or simply part of the pg 3 editorial team. Media students, after all, update themselves on the latest happenings “at the crack of dawn.”

There is no conscious attempt to drive sleep away. What happens, is a natural process.

Among all these, rather “unusual” factors, there are students of course, who love to study at night. Will power and passion drive them to the point of full wakefulness 24/7. Their minds are always loaded with question marks as they picture reality as a matrix, which enable them to establish a causal relationship to all happening of world. They cant sleep until they know enough. And like we all know, knowledge has no end.

For  the media students, life is a thus a brook un-ebbed. From one point to the other, their thoughts traverse through unchartered channels. Therein lies the beauty of life. The lack of restraint in any action. The bleary beady eyes in the morning, sleeping through lectures, alive at the dynamic flow of life- thus symbolize freedom. A norm need not be followed. After all as media students, “We weren’t born to follow.”

For media students, the online virtual world is the one of reality per se. it is that world from where they educate themselves and learn to spread their wings to fly.

The online world is full of dynamic facts and figures- of all shapes, sizes and forms- that ignite the mind and make the media students put their thinking caps on.

But is the online world enough?

The flip side of the story is that the online world which is so enriched with all the information in the world, can however, stunt growth. In one way, it can prevent the mind to knowing on its own- through practical channels of application of thoughts and acts.

This is a serious human error therefore- to limit one’s empowerment of knowledge to the virtual online world.

In the offline periods therefore, one can do multiple things. One can learn how to play the guitar. It might be helpful if one wants to get into jingle making or become a music director. Or even for that matter be in a bar- band. The bottom-line remains that one can definitely learn an instrument in the offline time because music not only soothes the mind- but also channelizes the brain waves along the right neural paths.

Apart from this, one can easily follow the adage of health is wealth. One can really spend his or her time exercising- simple running, playing  or yoga. In all this both the mind and body are benefited.

One can simply write. Sit down with the laptop or a pen and paper and write out anything under the sun. for media students, writing and therefore the power of expression is a weapon indeed. Writing frees the mind and empowers the soul to take flight into boundaries hitherto unchased.

Painting or sketching can be another option. It is a release of senses, and people who have a knack for them, should pursue their passion in full swing.

Read. Read anything under the sun. Newspapers, bill boards, hoardings, pamphlets, packaging covers along with books etc should be considered precious sources of knowledge of any form.

Gardening or cooking or even  getting involved in creating something which can be called one’s own is a very inspiring act indeed. It gives the right motivation and the aspirational values to the mind- to free itself of the pessimism “of the human bondage.”

In fact, even gossiping with friends can work wonders for the person’s life in a day. Laughing, joking about and even playing can unshackle the  mind from the blueprints of horror scripted assignments and relax the tired red eyes from the lack luster computer screens.

Walk the talk philosophy can even serve as bountiful of knowledge building blocks in ones life,  if obviously pursued with the right spirit of the intellect.

Sometimes, you may be walking down the road and suddenly when you spot something, you would want to capture the beauty of the moment forever. Photography thus is a beautiful passion to be followed. It does not matter if you have the most expensive DSLR or a simple VGA camera in your cell phone, as long as you are able to capture what you see.

Many a times, you may have a lot of children in your own house or neighbourhood. Offline times can be easily used to play with the innocent kids. This will not only serve to bring up the child in you, but also make you feel lighter and be able to think clearly about anything that might be bothering you- especially assignments.

One can admire the beauty of the nature. We seldom do so. So cooped are we in our gloomy rooms with the blues of the music and the screen predominating.

One can happily take a solitary walk and smell the fresh air. To be honest, the polluted air everywhere, contaminates the purity of senses. And as Wordsworth said, “Poetry is  emotions recollected in tranquility…”

Offline times- periodically used- should be times of rejuvenation, recharging, and refreshing. It is the time to reconnect with oneself and let go of emotions suppressed. To know more. To aspire higher. And raise the bar.

One of the first ‘big person’ decisions that one makes is invariably the college and course to choose just after school. While the opportunities available today make it a lot better in terms of choices available it also acts as a source of confusion for the many who haven’t quite figured out what they want to do in life. While it is true that choices are many, unfortunately the knowledge about these choices is limited and hence it becomes tough to make an appropriate decision. Often this leads to an upset child and a confused parent.

Such issues become all the more prominent while choosing a somewhat ‘offbeat’ career like media. There are a lot of misconceptions and ideas about the industry which act against it. On the other hand, there is an idea of it being all about glitz and glamour, which again is a lop sided view. In both situations, there are chances that once the student joins, they feel that it’s not exactly what they bargained for. It is because of this reason that it becomes imperative to take a well informed decision while choosing a media college for UG. A few steps that would make this job a little easier have been enunciated below:

1.  Ask yourself- is this what I want?

While this step is easier said than done, it is important to ask oneself if they really want to do a course in media. Choosing to take the less traveled path is always a big step and a challenge. It is important to decide whether it is a risk that you are willing to take as, like all careers,  it requires a lot of hard work.

2.  Confused? Read up!

It is but natural for youngsters to be confused and unclear about what exactly they want to do with their lives when they are fresh out of school. Trust me everyone has been there. It isn’t something to be alarmed about. However the smart thing to do is to reduce the confusion by reading up as much as possible about the industry,  so that you have an idea what you’re getting into.

3.  Think you’re convinced? Put yourself to the test!

Sometimes things just seem right till you get down to business. It is easy to get mesmerized by the razzle-dazzle that the media industry offers. It is important to figure out for yourself if this is something you really want to do. Passion is the key to a successful career in this industry. Actually it is the only way to go. Without a true passion for the industry nothing else can help. It is the right combination of hard work and passion for the art.

4.  Do you have it in you?

Talent is key in the media industry. While a good college can help you to hone your skills, it is useless without creativity and talent. This is not something that can be bought off a counter; it needs to be within you, like a fire burning in your heart. It is this fire, this talent and creative energy that will take you far. That and a good college to back you can be a recipe for success and contentment.

5. Build a support system

One you yourself are convinced, it is important to convince those around you as negativity can be a big killer. Try and convince those who matter to you so that they keep encouraging you and keeping you in good spirits, even through the good times, as they are bound to come from time to time.

6. Now the college!

The previous steps are very important while choosing a media school as it is very important to make the media school choose you rather than it being the other way round. This is because the specifications of the course make it so subjective that what one makes out of it is mostly very individual. While looking for a college, one needs to do a lot of research about the kind of colleges available and more importantly the courses they offer.

7. What about the ‘perks’?

By perks in a media school, what I refer to are the various supporting clubs and course that one gets to take. The beauty of such a course is that it offers you so much more than an average run off the mill course. Additional clubs and courses like photography, film making, script writing etc help in broadening ones horizons and thought processes thus enhancing ones creativity.

8. Internships

It is very important to identify whether the college offers internships as these are a major source for identifying the ‘real thing’. Most of what is taught in a media school can be put practically to the test during the internships, and this would also help in making a mark in the industry early on.

9. Guest and external faculty

It is important to find out what kind of external faculty teaches at the college. Due to the nature of the industry it is important to have more number of people from the industry who can interact with the students. This is also a sign to show how serious the college is about giving the students a well rounded exposure into the industry.

10. Believe

Finally the last step is to believe. In the college that one chooses and in oneself. It makes the journey a lot easier.

Choosing a college has always being a trying decision, but it can be made a lot simpler just by finding out what one wants exactly, after that everything almost always, will fall into place.

Don’t you love clicking pictures? Aren’t you really awed by great pictures clicked by your friends or professional photographers? Don’t you wish that you knew how to capture the best moments at your college, during festivals at home, or even at your friend’s birthday party?

Here’s your chance to get your photography basics right! Enhance your photographic skills by these simple tips, get clicking now, and capture the moments that ‘capture’ you!

1.    Good Photo Opportunities – If one does not have specific reasons to shoot particular scenes or subjects, then the best photo opportunities for anyone can be those things that a person enjoys. When planning a trip,  give yourself some time to stay and take photographs. You can spend an entire day or more at a site and not have good enough light to shoot. Photography takes time, and time is often the most important factor in getting great pictures. When you find a good location to take photographs, visit it again and again. Your photographs will improve each time you revisit the location, because you will learn when to visit and what to shoot.

2.    Master Your Camera – The cameras today are sophisticated and with the advent of digital cameras, anyone can take good pictures by simply using an automatic shooting mode. However most of the digital cameras have additional features that give photographers a considerable creative control over how photos are taken to ensure that a higher percentage of photos are as desired. The LCD screen shows you whether you have composed the photo as you wanted. Some cameras even provide a histogram to give a graphical view of the exposure. Learn how to quickly check your settings or to set them to default settings to avoid shooting with wrong settings. The most common settings that can ruin photos are exposure compensation, white balance, auto-ISO change and the image size.

3.    White Balance – One of the most significant challenges faced by photographers is to take photographs with the accurate colour. A common problem with the photograph is getting a photo that has a colour cast, which means that the photo has too much of a certain colour, such as blue, red or yellow. An improper white balance setting often causes this problem. But camera with balance setting allows you to record correct colours when shooting under a variety of different lighting conditions such as incandescent light, tungsten light, sunshine, or clouds. Besides letting users choose an appropriate white balance setting, it can also record accurate colours even if you first take a photo of a white card. If your camera has a feature, it is worth learning and using. One of the surer ways to get accurate colour is to shoot in RAW mode, which enables you to change the white balance setting using a RAW converter after you take the photo. Sometimes you can add a preset white balance setting to add a desirable colour tone to a photo. E.g. using a cloudy white balance setting can add warmth to an otherwise cold or blue toned image.

4.    Possibilities – Each time you take a picture, you should analyze dozens of different variables, including exposure, composition, lighting, depth of field, angle of view and ISO setting. To get better photos, think how you can change the variables to take many different photographs. Study the results to find the one that looks the best. The more you experiment and study the results you get a better understanding of what you like and how you can further develop your style. For good practice consider how you can shoot an object differently. You can, at times, get new and interesting results by going to extremes. Shoot using f-stops, extreme shutter speeds and extreme angles of views.

5.    Compose – The composition of the picture is one of the most important factors in taking a picture. There are a number of guidelines which help you take a good picture. Some of them are broken but still resulting in an outstanding picture. Some of the common rules that should be kept in mind are ‘The Rule of Thirds’, though it can be defied. Angle of view and vantage points are two important factors which can be controlled by a zoom lens. Look for angles that accentuate the picture in terms of pattern, texture.

6.    Theme – You should try to shoot photos based on themes. Take a theme which interests you so that you enjoy taking the pictures and it can be a motivating factor for you. You will also get better and better by taking pictures of a similar subject.  Having more than one picture of a subject helps compare what is good and what is not as good in each shot you take. Take themes that can be completed e.g. antique automobiles.

7.    Understanding Exposure – Exposure is the correct combination of shutter speed, ISO speed needed and aperture. Exposure can be determined solely by the camera, by the photographer and the camera together or solely by the photographer. Whenever the camera helps choose exposure settings, the camera’s built in meter takes a reading of the reflected light in the scene and then sets appropriate camera settings. When taking photos there is no such thing as perfect exposure, only one that is how you want it to be. Overexposed photos are overly light and detail is lost in the highlights. Underexposed photos are overly dark and the details are lost in the shadows.

8.    Achieve Sharp Focus – If you shoot at low light conditions, slow shutter speed, or you want to maximize depth of field by shooting with a small aperture, you will need to use  a tripod to take sharply focused photos. The longer the focal length of lens you use, the more important it is to use a tripod. Because the slightest movement can blur a photo. Besides enabling you to get a sharp focus it enables you to shoot a more precisely and carefully composed photo.

9.    Control Focus Creatively – A sharp focused picture may not always be what you want. Imaginative photographers experiment with the kind of pictures they take. Focus is one of the variables you can change to dramatically alter the picture. A ‘soft out of focus’ can create a mood that cannot be created by a sharp focused picture. You can intentionally focus on one part of a picture that may be important part of the composition or to place emphasis on it. When your intent is to take a picture that is out of focus, or you want to have a precise control over focus and where to position the depth of field, use manual focus to get exactly what you want.

10. Take Advantage Of The Golden Hour – The best sunlight is often found an hour or less before the sunset until twenty minutes past sunset. This time is often referred to as the golden hour for photographers. Having the light low in the sky gives you a directional light that adds wonderful depth to the picture because of the shadows and the directional light. The evening light is also richer and warmer than the morning light. If you want to shoot a landscape this is an ideal time to shoot. When you plan to take advantage of the sun in the golden hour be well prepared to shoot quickly, because the best of that time may come and go in just a few minutes. You should wait until 20 minutes after the sunset for any possible ‘after glow’ which occasionally makes for a spectacular landscape photograph.

Hopefully now you can use your weapon and shoot ’em sharp.