Introduction to Multimedia

1. Introduction to Multimedia Topic 3 Multimedia Skills

2. Lecture Objectives • Understand the multimedia skillset and how it applies to multimedia projects • Identify the typical members of a multimedia project team and describe the skills they need for their work • Understand the importance of the skills needed to successfully manage a project team • List the multimedia skill categories related to the information and interface of a project • Identify the multimedia skill categories related to the media used in a project • Define the multimedia skill categories related to computer programming aspects of a project • Describe the special skills required for a Web-delivered multimedia project.

3. The team • Individual can play more than one role in the multimedia project • 18 discrete roles; • Executive producer • Project manager • Creative director • Art director • Artist • Interface designer • Game designer • Sound producer • Music composer • Video producer • Multimedia programmer • Lawyer/media acquisition • Marketing director

4. Defined skills to successfully manage a team • A project manager is responsible for overall development and implementation of a project as well as day-to-day operations • Teambuilding activities improves productivity by fostering communication and work culture

5. Multimedia skills categories • Instructional designers • Make sure subject matter is clear and properly presented • Interface designers • Devise the navigation pathways and content maps on screen that let the user access or modify that content. • Information designers • Structure content, determine user pathways and feedback, and select presentation media • Multimedia writers • Content writers; create characters, action, and point of view, creating interactivity

6. Project manager • Responsible in managing budget, schedules, creative sessions, time sheets, illness, invoices, and team dynamics • Glue that holds it together • Mark Williams (Microsoft)

7. Multimedia Designer • Look and feel should be pleasing and aesthetic, as well as inviting and engaging • Maintain visual consistency • Icons should be meaningful, screen elements should be simple and straightforward • Sensitive to the needs and styles of learners • Kurt Andersen (George Lucas Educational Foundation)

8. A draft work of a multimedia designer

9. Interface Designer • Creating interface that allows users to have control over the multimedia • Must provide elegant simplicity • Effective design and use of windows, backgrounds, icons and control panels

12. Writer • Create characters, actions and point of view;interactivity • Write proposals, script voice-overs and actor’s narrations • Write text screens to deliver messages/content writers

13. Video Specialist • Responsible for an entire team of videographers; sound technician, lighting designers, set designers, script supervisors, gaffers, grips, production assistants, and actors. • Basic skills include; needs to understand how to shoot quality video, to transfer video footage to a computer

14. Audio specialist • Quality of audio – can make or break a multimedia project • Designing and producing music, voice-over narration, and sound effects. • Responsible for locating and selecting suitable music and talent, scheduling recording sessions, and digitizing and editing material into computer files

15. Multimedia Programmer • a.k.a software engineer • Integrates all multimedia elements using authoring systems or programming languages

16. Question “Easter Eggs” are small features hidden in web sites, games, and CDROMs. They often include personal information about the development team that produced the project. Do a search for Easter eggs on the Web, and try to locate several. What do these hidden features represents and what are its potential use?