Making Multimedia & Multimedia Skills Introduction to Making Multimedia Guidance and suggestions for getting started Multimedia Skills What skills required

Making Multimedia & Multimedia Skills

Making Multimedia & Multimedia Skills

Introduction to Making Multimedia Guidance and suggestions for getting

started Multimedia Skills

What skills required

Introduction to Making Multimedia


The stages of a project: Planning and costing

Idea/objectives Multimedia expertise required Structure & navigation system Time & cost estimation

Designing & producing Testing Delivering



What we need? Hardware Software Good ideas Talent Skill Good organization of works



Hardware 2 most significance platforms:

Macintosh OS Intel-based IBM PC or PC Clone (MS Windows)

Development environment Powerful workstation (Silicon Graphics, Sun

Microsystems, or mainframe) Apple (Macintosh OS) more suitable for

multimedia editing Cross platform format (both Mac &

Windows)



Software: Multimedia software tells the hardware what

to do Text, images, sounds, and video.

Capturing images, translating between file formats, and editing your resources

Photoshop, soundForge, Premiere, GIF Animator, etc.

Multimedia authoring Macromedia Director or flash

Everybody can make multimedia project!!



Creativity: Develop a sense of its scope and content Difficult to learn creativity

“but like classical artists who work in paint, marble, or bronze, the better you know your medium, the better able you are to express your creativity”

Know your hardware & software first!!



Organization Develop an organized outline a a plan that

rationally details the skills, time, budget, tools, and resources we will need for a project

Multimedia SkillsMultimedia Skills

Multimedia developers come from all corners of the computer, art, literacy, film, and audio worlds

To produce good multimedia, need detailed knowledge of computers, text, graphics arts, sound, and video

Normally multimedia project – team effort.

Multimedia Skills – The Team


Multimedia Team (Prof. Wes Baker – Cedarville University, Ohio): Executive Producer Producer/Project Manager Creative Director/Multimedia Designer Art Director/Visual Designer Artist Interface Designer Game Designer Subject Matter Expert Instructional Designer/Training Specialist Script Writer Animator (2D/3D) Sound Producer Music Composer Video Producer Multimedia Programmer HTML Coder Lawyer/Media Acquisition Marketing Director



Project Manager Center of action Responsible for overall development and implementation of a

project as well as day-to-day operations Budgets Schedules Creative sessions Time sheets Illness Invoices Team dynamics

Technical & operational expert



Multimedia Designer Designing the look & feel of a multimedia

project Screen color, visual consistency, meaningful

icons, simple screen elements, content layout, content structure

Graphics Designer, illustrators, animators, and image processing specialist – visual

Instructional Designer – navigation pathways and content maps

Information Designer – structure content, determine user pathways and feedback, and select presentation media



Interface Designer Interface provides control to the people who

use it Backgrounds, icons, control panels – result

of am interface designer



Writer Create character, action, and point of view –

create creativity Write proposals, script voice-over and

actors’ narrations, write text screens to deliver messages, and develop characters designed for an interactive environment

Glean information from content experts, synthesize it, and then communicate it in a clear and concise manner



Video Specialist Videographers, sound technician, lighting

designers, set designers, script supervisors, grips, production assistants, and actors.

Skilled in managing all phases of production, from concept to final edit



Audio Specialist Wizards who make a multimedia program

come alive, designing and producing music, voice-over narrations, and sound effects.

Selecting suitable music and talent, scheduling recording sessions, and digitizing and editing recorded material into computer files



Multimedia Programmer Software engineer Integrates all the multimedia elements of a

project into a seamless whole using authoring system or programming language

JavaScript, OpenScript, Lingo, Authorware, Java, C++, etc.



Producer, Multimedia for the Web Network Engineer Putting together a coordinated set of pages

for the World Wide Web Creative process, skillsets Website never finished, remain dynamics Most of the time maintaining the multimedia

program for easily access by user

Planning & CostingPlanning & Costing Project Planning

The process of Making Multimedia Idea Analysis Pretesting Prototype Development Alpha Development Beta Development Delivery

Hardware Available Skills and Software Idea Management Software Building a Team Pilot Projects and Prototyping Task Planning Scheduling

Costing Billing rates Example Cost Sheets

Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia


Idea Analysis Ideas = purpose or goal against the feasibility and cost of production and

delivery Use note paper

What is the essence of what you want to do? What is your purpose and message How can you organize your project? What multimedia element will best deliver your message? Content material? Creating something new or improvise old version? Hardware? Enough? Storage needed? How much? Hardware available for your end user? Multimedia software available? Capabilities & skills – hardware & software Team or individual? Time? Money? How to distribute the final project?

Who, what, why, where, when & how? Audience analysis: Who is it for? Needs analysis: Why develop it? Content analysis: What will it cover? Resource analysis: How and how much? Estimate: When will it get done? Think about marketing and distribution.



Pretesting Define project goals in greater detail Skills required Content Costing (money & time) How to sell it Prototype on paper with an explanation of

how it will work



Prototype Development Develop working prototype Building screen mock-ups, human interface menu &

button Select a small portion of a large project & get that

part working as it would in the final product Test your prototype along several fronts:

Cost Market Human Interface

Purpose: test the initial implementation of your idea and improve on it based upon test results.



Alpha Development Detail the storyboard – bring in end user for

gathered information Graphic art Sound and video production Test on working prototype



Beta Development Too late to bail out Committed serious money, time and energy Wider tester Concern should be simply successfully

steering the project to its well-defined goal.



Delivery Worries toward the marketplace How will your project be received by its

intended audience? Issues:

Hotline, after sales maintenance, server co-location,



Project Planning: HardwareProject Planning: Hardware

Most common limiting factor for realizing a multimedia idea: no sound board; no sound effects; no synthesizer; no MIDI composer by you on-site; no high-resolution color display; no modem or network; no network

Listing the hardware capabilities of the end users’ computer platform If the capabilities are not enough, discuss

with end user (examine the cost)

Project Planning: Available Skills and Software

Project Planning: Available Skills and Software

Make a list of skills & software capabilities available

Budget for new and more powerful software and for the learning curve required

SiteSpring, Microsoft Project, Designer’s Edge, Screenplay System’s Screenwriter and Story View ~ useful for arranging ideas and tasks, work items, employee resources, and cost required for multimedia project

To help you stay within tight schedule and budget

Project Management Software provides Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling functions to calculate the total duration of a project based upon each identified task, earmarking task that are critical and that, if lengthened, will result a delay in project completion

Used of Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT), Gantt Chart

Project Planning: Idea Management Software

Project Planning: Idea Management Software

Multimedia requires a set of skills so broad Need a team, know what expertise required for a project Building a matrix chart of required skills is helpful

Project Planning: Building a Team

Project Planning: Building a Team

Pilot project phase Test ideas, mock up interfaces, exercise the

hardware platform Determine the actual cost of the project

Project Planning: Pilot Projects and Prototyping

Project Planning: Pilot Projects and Prototyping

Brief checklist of action item for which we should plan ahead: Design Instructional Framework Hold Creative Idea Session Determine Delivery Platform Assay Available Content Draw navigation Map Create Storyboard Design Interface Design Information Containers Research/Gather Content Assemble Team Build Prototype Conduct User Test Revise Design Create Graphics Create Animations Produce Audio Produce Video

Project Planning: Task Planning

Project Planning: Task Planning

Digitize Audio and VideoTake Still PhotographsProgram and AuthorTest FunctionalityFix BugsConduct Beta TestCreate Golden MasterReplicatePrepare PackageDeliver or Install at Web SiteAward BonusesThrow Party

Timeline Estimate total time required for each

task and then allocate this time among the number of persons will be asynchronously working on the project

Scheduling difficult for multimedia: Making multimedia is artistic trial and error Technological upgrade during development Client feedback

Project Planning: SchedulingProject Planning: Scheduling

CostingCosting Production and manufacturing industries – simple matter to

estimate cost and effort Multimedia is not a repetitive manufacturing process

Multimedia development is a continuous research and development effort characterized by creative trial and error

Production cost (30-second commercial spot storyboard costs about RM50K)

Storyboard production Postproduction editing Actor (per hour) Composer (audio production) Animator (graphical production)

Administration and management cost Three elements in project estimates:

Time Money People

Costing: Billing RatesCosting: Billing Rates

Set according cost of doing business plus a reasonable profit margin

Contractor and consultant can bring specialized skills such as graphic art. Programming, database expertise, music composition. Make sure your billing rate is higher than

theirs

Costing: Example Cost Sheets

Costing: Example Cost Sheets

ProposalProposal

Executive summary, briefly describing the project;s goal, how the goal will be achieved and the cost

Creative issues, technical issues, project estimation and project plan, cost estimation for each phase, contract terms.

Assignment 1: ProposalDateline: Week 4 (4th August 2006)

Assignment 1: ProposalDateline: Week 4 (4th August 2006)

The cover page Table of contents Need Analysis and Description Target audience Creative strategy

A description of the look and feel of the project Project implementation

Gantt Chart/PERT, task scheduling Budget

Relate directly to the scope of work in Project implementation

Limitations of the proposal (if any)

Documents

Making Multimedia & Multimedia Skills Introduction to Making Multimedia Guidance and suggestions for getting started Multimedia Skills What skills required