Computers have now become an integral part of the entertainment industry. They are used for creating dazzling special effects in movies. They are used to edit movies, create full length cartoon movies, multimedia presentations etc. Computers are used to simulate games and to try out different game strategies. Thus the use of computers in the entertainment field - movies, music, presentations, sports and games - has increased over the last decade and now computers play a vital role in these fields.
Computers are used in film industries for music composition, film editing and creating animations in cartoon films. Here, Computer graphics and virtual reality modeling are the techniques used to make scenes, which cannot be produced in real. This gives stimulating special effects in the movie. Almost all the films produced today are using computers.
Multimedia systems incorporate text, voice, video, graphics and music to create an integrated platform. One important application of multimedia technology in research and entertainment is the electronic encyclopedia. Such an encyclopedia includes colorful imagery and animations with description in text. It also makes easy navigation through hyperlinks. A hyperlink is a highlighted text or image, which is linked to related page containing information. When the user makes a mouse-click on the hyperlink the page is brought to the display. Role of computers in the field of Entertainment are explained below.
Computers in Movies
Movies now contain many visual tricks and treats that could never be accomplished without the aid of computers. The film makers can then integrate these back-grounds and characters with the real actors effortlessly. Thus many special effects that arise from the director's creativity and imagination become real. Thus computers and information technology have helped the film industry in reducing the cost of production. They also reduce the time taken to make movies. In the past, to create a cartoon movie, the animator had to draw each and every frame manually, and it took many years to complete. But with today's computerized animation packages, the job is very easy. Now computers are used in almost all phases of movie making, writing scripts, creating special effects, editing, adding sound effects and so on.
Computers in Music
Any musical composition that we hear today is true when the piece of music is composed, when it is played or when it is reproduced. Most songs have some sort of electronic instrumentation. The same is the case with music in TV commercials, cartoons and popular movies. Computer applications are taking an active part in the music of our age. A synthesizer is a musical instrument that generates music electronically. In 1983 major electronic instrument manufacturers developed a communication standard called Musical Instrumental Digital Interface (MIDI). The problem of interfacing electronic musical instruments manufactured by different companies was solved with this standard developed. Computers are also very useful in creating patch librarians - programs that organize and store sounds. Using this, one can store thousands of synthesized sounds in a file. This information can be downloaded via MIDI into synthesizer and back.
Another MIDI oriented application is the sequencer. A sequencer memorizes anything you play, and plays it back on command. Later we can add melody lines and different instruments to the already existing piece of music. There are many music composition languages which resemble programming languages. Today digital audios are widely used. Digital audio in recording applications is stored on different recorders including Compact Disc (CD), DAT, DCC and MiniDisc. MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and AU files are different formats that can be created with the help of a computer. It can be kept in any storage devices.
Computers in Art
Since the stone age, art has evolved with mankind. The tools and the medium have changed but the function of art remains the same - arts transform and transport the viewers to alternate perceptions of reality. Computer art can be classified into two major categories - computer graphics and image processing. Computer graphics is used in computer animation. People involved in computer graphics need programming knowledge as well as understanding of perspective, shading, hidden-line, hidden-surface removal, shadowing, ray tracing etc. in image creation. Image processing on the other hand takes advantage of powerful easy to use software packages like Corel Draw, Microsoft PhotoDraw, Adobe Photoshop, Fractal Painter etc. The interactive art facility provided by the computer allows one to be the director and to experience the work in his own "time". The new media allows the artist to invoke emotions unreachable with a brush.
Computers in Home Entertainment
Regardless of how people say they use home computers, surveys suggested that they use them mostly to play games, browsing internet and watching videos. Computer games and video game machines (which are just special purpose computers) represent a huge industry with dazzling graphics, digitized sound and sophisticated effects, many of today's computer games represent state-of-the-art software. Various means of entertainment for children are computer games, interactive videos, video games, flight simulators and electronic puzzles. Some software helps people to learn from entertainment.