Entertainment technology is the discipline of using manufactured or created components to enhance or make possible any sort of entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

 experience. Because entertainment categories are so broad, and because entertainment models the world in many ways, the types of implemented technology are derived from a variety of sources. Thus, in theatre, for example, entertainment technology practitioners must be able to design and construct scenery, install electrical systems, build clothing, use motors if there is scenery automation, provide plumbing (if functioning kitchen fixtures are required, or if "singing in the rain"), etc. In this way, the entertainment technology field intersects with most other types of technology.

Traditionally, entertainment technology is derived from theatrical stagecraft

Stagecraft

Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...

, and in fact stagecraft is an important subset of the discipline. However, the rise of new types and venues for entertainment, as well as rapidly advancing technological development, has increased the range and scope of its practice.

Entertainment Technology includes:

• Scenery fabrication
• Properties
  Theatrical property
  A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
  
  
• Costume
  Costume
  The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...
  
  
• Lighting
  Lighting
  Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
  
  
• Sound
  Sound
  Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
  
  
• Video
  Video
  Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
  
  
• Show control
  Show control
  Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from entertainment control , which coordinates elements within a single entertainment discipline such as lighting, sound, video, rigging...
  
  
• Automation
  Automation
  Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
  
  
• Animatronics
  Animatronics
  Animatronics is the use of mechatronics to create machines which seem animate rather than robotic. Animatronic creations include animals , plants and even mythical creatures...
  
  
• Interactive environments
• Computer simulation

In animation and game design the phrase entertainment technology refers to a very real world of entertainment

Entertainment

Entertainment consists of any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time. Entertainment is generally passive, such as watching opera or a movie. Active forms of amusement, such as sports, are more often considered to be recreation...

 experiences made possible by the advent of primarily computer-mediated digital technologies.

Education

Traditionally, people interested in careers in this field either presented themselves as apprentices within craft unions, or attended college programs in theatre technology. Although both are appropriate in limited ways, the growing world of entertainment technology encompasses many different types of performance and display environments than the theatre. To this end, newer opportunities have arisen that provide a wider educational base than these more traditional environments. A seminal article "Rethinking Entertainment Technology Education" by Jon Huntington describes new teaching philosophies that resonate with the need for a richer and more flexible educational environment.

"We need to bridge the worlds of ivory-tower theatre education
with the commercial world of live entertainment production. I
believe this bridge would be beneficial not just to the technical
students, but to the whole art of performance. When high-tech
systems such as video, moving lights, computerized sound,
mechanized scenery and show control are mastered by even
average entertainment technicians, they can advance the state
of their craft, which will allow artists to advance the state of
their art."

Schools that offer programs or degrees in entertainment technology include:

• Carnegie Mellon University
  Carnegie Mellon University
  Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
  
   - Entertainment Technology Center
  Entertainment Technology Center
  The Entertainment Technology Center is a department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at the Pittsburgh Technology Center....
  
  
• New York City College of Technology
  New York City College of Technology
  New York City College of Technology , nicknamed City Tech, is the largest four-year public college of technology in the northeastern United States, and a constituent college of the City University of New York...
  
   Department of Entertainment Technology
• University of Southern California
  University of Southern California
  The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
  
   Entertainment Technology Center
• Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa http://www.tut.ac.za
• Entertainment Technology Training in New Zealand