MULTIMEDIA COMPONENTS

Chapter 12, White Space Is Not Your Enemy

DEFINITION

Multimedia may combine type, image, audio, video,

infographics, and interactivity

MULTIMEDIA IN SILENT FILMS

Interspersed type frames to deliver dialogue and

establish context

Theatre organists provided musical

accompaniments

THUMBNAILS, STORYB OARDS, S ITEMAPS

Sketch thumbnail layouts

Storyboard slideshows, animations, videos

Site map content relationships along with user flow

STORYBOARDS

SLIDESHOWS AND IMAGES

Don’t let transitions outshine your actual slides.

Pick just one.

Sort, crop, and edit photos before assembling a

slideshow

Consider image content, theme (colour and

subject), orientation

Focus on narrative continuity more than technical

superiority

Storyboarding can help if the slideshow has a

narrative

SLIDESHOWS

PACING.

“KEN BURNS’ EFFECT.

CAPTIONS/CUTLINES.

LOOPING.

INTERACTIVE IMAGE GALLERIES.

INTERACTIVE IMAGE GALLERIES

Generate more viewing traffic than automated

slideshows

Commonly offer an automated slideshow option

WORKING WITH AUDIO

Use ambient audio sparingly

Give the user control

For narration, use the best microphone possible

…Digital stock sites offer free music

VIDEO – SHOOTING TIPS

• Steady your camera• Bright even lighting• Shoot more than you think you need• Capture a variety of angles (close-up, medium, full,

wide, long)• Zooming and Panning• Composition (rule of thirds)• Don’t talk while shooting

RULE OF THIRDS

VIDEO CONT’D

Interviews, monologues (talking heads)• Shoot in a quiet location• Select talking head subject wisely• Test footage

Editing• Best quality video possible (uncompressed, raw)• Best quality audio• Transitions

… Stock video

TALKING HEADS

VIDEO ENCODING

MPEG4 (MP4) is the most popular file format

Aspect ratio

Video-sharing sites (YouTube) offer embedding

codes

ANIMATION

Motion tweens.

Pacing frames.

Duration.

File formats.

Use restraint, don’t clutter.

ANIMATION

APPS, PLUG-INS, WIDGETS

Apps are programs designed to run on computers,

tablets, smartphones, websites, or social media sites

Plug-ins are code that give browsers or websites

additional functionality

Widgets are the visible expression of a plug-in.

MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING

Not every story or subject lends itself to

multimedia treatment

Choose the best multimedia elements for your

content

Select a primary medium and let other media play

a supporting role

Make the interface intuitive

Don’t let technology get in the way of the

information

INTERACTIVE COMPONENTS…

Interactive music videos

Augmented reality

Comment boxes

Interactive image galleries

TWEET #1

Name 1 multimedia component used on Montrealites

or EatingCrow

E.g. Twitter Widget - EatingCrow Homepage

#eatingcrows

MULTIMEDIA TOOLBOX

Text (headlines, summaries, captions, external links, blogs)

Data (statistics, spreadsheets, numbers, archives, lottery results)

Images (still photos, illustrations, info-graphics, slideshows, galleries)

Video (recorded clips, live feeds, historical footage, animation, tutorials)

Audio (narration, music, sound effects, ambient sound,)

User-Contributed Content (anecdotes, comments, photos, social networks)

Mobile Content (RSS feeds, social networks, GPS applications)

Site exposure (content and media sharing sites for video, photo, news, info)

TWEET #2

Give an example of something that uses multimedia,

and list its components

e.g. Silent film: video, text, music

#eatingcrows

TWEET #3

Give an example of Interactive Media

E.g. The Wilderness Downtown-Arcade Fire,

Interactive video #eatingcrows