Multimedia design project
You will develop a short (approximately 3 minute) digital story, delivered online. This project will integrate the following elements, which will grow out of our course reading and class exercises:
- Point (of view)
- Dramatic question
- The gift of your voice
- The power of the soundtrack
- Economy
- Pacing
Required components
The story must skillfully blend all of the selected media elements from this course to support a central idea—the main message of your piece. Your main message should be profound, meaningful, rewarding, and worthwhile for your audience.
Your final project will be presented via your course web page and will be presented in class.
You are stongly encouraged to align their project with a service need and an corresponding audience outside the classroom.
- Required elements
- your own audio narration (i.e., using your own voice). A narrated piece does not mean your are talking from the start through the finish—your narration should work in concert with the other media elements, as needed.
- images to support the message and improve its memorability
- title screen (can be placed anywhere in the piece)
- closing credits (at a minimum, include your name along with sources for any media elements that are not of your own creation)
- [optional: additional text may be included as necessary to deliver the message]
- the finished project must be viewable online and linked to your course home page
- Your final project must include some original video footage, i.e., video shot for this project using any digital video camera. Additional footage can be derived from public domain video sources, experimenting with the idea of mashup.
- sound track (music and/or sound effects)
- animation, transitions, and other effects (use only as appropriate, as needed)
What this project is not
This is not a commercial. Develop something more substantial than a 30-90 second spot.
This is not a music video.
Develop something based on your own script, not someone else's lyrics.
This is not a comedy movie. Some humor is acceptable, but don't count on humor alone to deliver your message.
This is not a stop-frame animation project. Those are fine but are covered in other courses.
Examples of possible topics
- public service announcement
- personal introduction to a portfolio
- promotional pitch for product-based web site
- express an opinion that is based on facts or data
- make a factual case (prove something that is not widely known)
- make a persuasive case (try to change a commonly held opinion)
- solve a problem (answer a question that would be helpful for people to know)
- have another idea? Get it "green-lighted" before developing it fully.
Roles
One way is to think of of multimedia production is through the roles it involves, such as the list below (not an exhaustive list). With so many roles and so little time in this course, you will have to juggle multiple tasks judiciously.- Graphics artist
- The person in charge of graphics may search for visual elements that support the story line, shoot photos that capture the message, or modify images from other team members to develop a consistent presentation feel across the entire piece--or a combination of all three.
- Typographer
- Type is one way to make your message memorable. It can reinforce the narration or contrast with it. Having someone on your team pay attention to the judicious use of typography will ensure your team doesn't miss out on this potentially strong asset.
- Writer and storyboard/script supervisor
- Sticking to the point and maintaining focus is a key element of any successful short video. A concise and succinct script with a supporting storyboard is a start. During production, someone should maintain integrity with the original concept and message.
- Narrator
- The narrator does more than read the script. To a large extent, the narrator sets the emotional tone for the project. Their vocal inflection and pacing can change the reception that a story receives.
- Videographer
- The person behind the camera, they have the opportunity to think creatively about camera placement, framing the shot, ambient lighting, foreground and background settings, etc.
- Video editor
- Putting it all together is the role of the video editor. In addition to knowing the functions and capabilities of the Final Cut Express video editing program, the video editor should have excellent file management capabilities. The video editor will need to keep track of files from different team members and multiple versions of files as the project progresses.
- Audio mixer
- Audio comprises voice narration, on-camera audio recording of speech and ambient sound, a musical sound track, and (optionally) sound effects.
- On-screen talent
- The on-screen talent could be a narrator talking to the screen, as you would see in a documentary, or an actor/actress playing a role, as you might see in the recreation of an event that happened in the past.
