J333 Writing for Multimedia

1. J333 Writing for Multimedia

2. Storytelling • Print • Image • Video • Audio • New Media

3. Visual Communication • Is a picture really worth a thousand words? • How do we communicate using the visual? • How do we deconstruct the visual? • Why are images so important? Think of an image as a bridge between the spiritual and the material.

4. A thousand words… What is an image? An image or picture is an artifact, usually two-dimensional, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a person, place or thing. A visual representation of an object, person, scene or abstraction.

5. This is not a pipe • If this is not a pipe, what is it? Established system of seeing that links reality with visual representation.

6. Visual Literacy • Ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. • Visual Literacy is based on an idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading. • The pipe is read as a pipe until the contradiction text informs you, it is actually a representation of a pipe. – • creating meaning • Turning to Semiotics

7. Semiotics • What is it? • The study of how meaning is constructed and understood through the use of signs and symbols. • It is anything that can stand for something else. • Example: • What do you think of when you see or smell roses? • Signifier and signified = complete sign/symbol • The sight or smell might trigger emotion or even a memory of the last time you received a rose, a marriage, funeral, etc. • It is a different feeling for each of us

8. Do all images have multiple meanings? • Semiotics leads to the notion of polysemic • Polysemic is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple meanings. • Open text is polysemic and open to many interpretations. • Closed text is one meaning • Propaganda • Advertisements

9. Open or closed text?

10. Changing meaning by camera shots, angles and movement • Angles • Normal • High • Low • Canted • Shots • ES-Establishing shot • LS-Long Shot • MS-Medium Shot • CU-close up • ECU-extreme close up • POV-Point of View • OTS-Over the Shoulder Don’t Forget! Mise-en-scene Camera Movement: Pan, Tilt, Pedestal, Dolly/Tracking, Hand-Held

11. Example of shots, angles and movement • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VMgLJJKiaA • M-Fritz Lang

12. Deconstructing video/images Herbert Zettl’s-Media Aesthetics Theory “Aesthetic mantra” Light Color 2-Dimensional space 3-Dimensional space Time-motion Sound

13. Light • Key ingredient of visual perception and orients us in space and time. • Affects our emotions • Is the signal that our eyes receive and our brain translates into perception.

14. Color • Color is the property of light • Color adds a new dimension to everything • Brings excitement and joy, makes us more aware of things around us • Helps organize our environment • Colors and Feelings • Color is extremely relative • Colors change with different contexts • Color symbolism (the red cross)

15. 2-Dimensional Space • Four structural factors of a screen space • Aspect ratio • relationship of screen width to screen height • Object size • How do you know how big a playing card that appears on a screen really is? • Using a universal size reference-human being’s hands holding the card. • Image size • Our perception is guided by size constancy • This means that we perceive people and their environments as normal sized regardless of screen size. • Deductive and inductive approaches to sequencing pictures • Deductive means moving from the general to the specific (wide establishing shot then zoom to a final close up) • Inductive means going from detail of an event to general overview.

16. 3-Dimensional Space • Projecting a 3-D world on a 2-D surface. • Depth • Graphic Depth Factors • Creates this illusion by overlapping planes (partially covering objects with other objects) • Using relative size to inform viewer of distance and space between objects (foreground/background and head sizes). • Major Graphication Devices • Lines and lettering (keying text over an image) • First and second order space (OTS in news broadcast) • Topological and structural changes (manipulation/effects)

17. Time/Motion • Time • Clock time/objective time • Time the clock records • Subjective time/psychological time • Time that we feel and experience • Perceived duration • Past, present and future • Biological time • Regulates body functions and determines when we feel alert/tired. • Motion • Motion is a function of frame density • Change of position of one object in relation to another. • Before and after • Motion is also an illusion (24fps) • Slow motion • Accelerated motion

18. Image Composition • Framing • Headroom • Empty Space • Vectors • Rule of Thirds

19. Example of Light, Color, 2-D, 3-D, Time and Motion • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvkEMO3JkXU Wizard of Oz

20. Sound • Sometimes considered an additional element to an already highly developed story. • Sound is an indispensable element in television and film communication. • Literal and non-literal sound • Sound function • Information (dialogue, direct address, narration) • Outer Orientation (orientation in time, space, situation, external event conditions) • Inner Orientation (orientation in mood, internal condition, energy, and structure)

21. More sound! • Five types of sound that often accompany a video or photo-montage • Music • Natural/ambient • Interview • Voice Over • Sound effects • Best time allotted for an interview clip is 30 sec • When writing for audio: • Avoid big words • Use colorful adjectives • Be short and concise • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmgD4S2_gyA