Script Design for Information Film, Video, and Multimedia  

In this all-day seminar we'll explore the basic concepts in the grammar of film, video, and multimedia; and we'll learn some filmic design techniques. Throughout the seminar we'll view and critique a number of films and videos to see how other producers have applied such filmic techniques to solving specific communication problems.

Shelton, S. Martin 'Marty'. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Multimedia

Script Design for Information Film, Video, and Multimedia  

In this all-day seminar we'll explore the basic concepts in the grammars and syntax of kinetic sight-and sound media: film, video, and multimedia. We'll not discuss how to write scipts. Rather we'll concentrate on learning how to encode information into kinetic visual images using filmic design techniques. Throughout this seminar we'll view and critique award-winning j%ns and videos, and explore a multimedia flowchart to see how others have applied such filmic techniques to solve specific communication problems.

Shelton, S. Martin 'Marty'. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Multimedia>Video

Script Design for Information: Film, Video, and Multimedia  

In this all-day seminar we’ll explore the basic concepts in the grammar of film, video, and multimedia; and we’ll learn some filmic design techniques. Throughout the seminar we’ll view and critique a number of films and videos to see how other producers have applied such filmic techniques to solving specific communication problems.

Shelton, S. Martin 'Marty' and Nicole van Beeck. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Multimedia

Selection and Use of Lavalier Microphones

Hiding a microphone under clothing requires a great deal of attention to detail. Not only must the mic be hidden from view, but you must also contend with the problems of clothing noise.

Ginsburg, Fred. Equipment Emporium (2006). Articles>Multimedia>Audio

Semantic Flash: Slippery When Wet

There's a belief within the web standards community that Flash is part of a different world. While all approaches have limitations and drawbacks, Flash has been scorned to the point that many refuse to acknowledge its benefits. Ultimately, this has led to the creation of a virtual separation among web designers; those who use Flash use it exclusively (leading to a saturation of full-screen, 'Skip Intro'-rich Flash sites on the web) and those who don't ever give it a second thought. Although the brilliant option of the hybrid (part Flash, part HTML) site had always existed, it's never really made it far past the typical Flash intro on a corporate homepage. Throughout the history of Flash on the web, the technology has always been intended to be embedded within HTML. Yet it has often seemed a foreign concept to use the two technologies to complement one another.

Mall, Dan. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Sennheiser Wireless Lavalier Microphones

Discusses how to use Sennheiser EW112P(A) Wireless Lavalier Microphones to ensure high-quality audio in video multimedia projects.

Tesdell, Ramsey and Zach Paskiet. Studio for New Media (2004). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Audio

Show Me Demos and Captivate

In this audio-visual age, technical writers need an easy way to deliver Flash-based, dynamic screen demos for their help content.

Johnson, Tom H. and Kevin Siegel. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Flash

A Slideshow in HTML+TIME

What if you wanted your Web page to give a visual presentation of rotating graphics and text? You could create a massive animated GIF and let it do its work. Or you could create a RealPix and RealText presentation using RealPlayer. Or, with the SMIL power of HTML+TIME, you could do the same in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Kennedy, Tim. Streaming Media World (2001). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>SMIL

SMIL Tips and Tricks

SMIL, as more people are beginning to appreciate, can be used for a variety of applications, such as interactive video, video on demand, online training, audio, animation, and more, in ways that were previously unavailable. With SMIL, the ability to create rich media presentations is simplified and is available to any user with a computer and an Internet connection.

Segal, Nathan. Streaming Media World (2002). Design>Multimedia>Streaming>SMIL

SMIL When You Play That: A Gentle Introduction to SMIL + SVG

SMIL is an easy-to-learn, HTML-like language for creating 'TV-like multimedia presentations such as training courses on the Web,' according to the W3C. The current SMIL recommendation is 1.0, and you can read all about it at the W3C address cited immediately above, and at another one we’ll mention later. This is our way of avoiding adding fifty pages to this article.

Zeldman, Jeffrey. List Apart, A (2001). Design>Information Design>Multimedia>SMIL

Some Notes on Simulacra Machines, Flash in First-Year Composition, and Tactics in Spaces of Interruption  

This article is an examination of the discourse surrounding a new media tool, Macromedia's Flash, and a discussion of a qualitative study of Flash's use by students as part of an electronic portfolio assignment in a first-year composition course. My article explores how the software industry constructs Flash as a discursive object for the regulation of information flow, while also examining how the present generation of students interacts with these new media environments, making meaning within them through the use of simulacra tools.

Ellertson, Anthony. Kairos (2003). Articles>Education>Multimedia>Flash

Stairway to Expertise

Tools like Captivate, Camtasia, and TurboDemo make it possible for teachers and communicators to create effective software simulations--without programming. Even simple presentation tools, such as PowerPoint can create truly interactive simulations.

Horton, William K. III. WritersUA (2005). Articles>Multimedia>Interaction Design

Storyboarding and Collaboration  

For technical communicators, storyboarding is a path to collaboration with team members and users. Collaboration and storyboarding help technical communicators get new ideas, find new structures, and discover new modes of expression. In this workshop, you will learn about storyboards and how to develop them. You will also participate in exercises on conducting and collaborating on a storyboard review and on writing a storyboard specification. You will discover how collaboration helps create the context, organization, and design of a document through the use of storyboards.

Trapasso, Linda S. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Multimedia>Collaboration>Writing

Strategies for Using Compressed Video Effectively  

Interactive media for distance training require special presentational strategies. Compressed video, an interactive medium using fiber optics, has unique characteristics which users must know. The video creates a lack of direct eye contact and a sense of separation. The compression creates flattened images and extremes of colors. Effective presenters in this medium must plan concise, horizontal graphics. They must schedule short, varied activities with limited use of uninterrupted lecture. And they must plan frequent interactive activities--such as questions, group work, and demonstrations--for an effective session.

Connors, Patricia E. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Multimedia>Streaming>Video

Strategies of Influence for Interaction Designers

Unless you have the power to make business and development decisions for your project, some of your energy will be spent influencing those who do. Experienced usability engineers or interaction designers may have limited skill in influence, despite how significantly it can effect their ability to contribute to projects. It’s the smartest and most effective designers that work to understand the human to human interaction within their project teams, as part of their work towards better human to computer interaction.

Berkun, Scott. UIWeb (2001). Design>Web Design>Interaction Design>Multimedia

Streaming Media

Streaming media is a method for delivering multimedia content, where video, audio, graphics, and animation can all play simultaneous roles in the presentation.

The advantage of streaming media is that you can start viewing the presentation almost immediately while the file itself is still being sent from the server; there is no waiting period while all the component files are first downloaded to your hard drive. When the presentation is over, none of the component files remain on your computer.

Dereg, Tim. Orange Journal, The (2001). Design>Web Design>Streaming>Multimedia

The Structure of FlashHelp Skins

The real magic of FlashHelp, however, lies in its Flash-based presentation layer, or 'skin.' You can completely customize FlashHelp skins to match the look and feel of any application, no matter how unique.

Joseph, Amar 'AJ'. Adobe (2004). Articles>Documentation>Multimedia>Flash

Structuring Complex Interactive Information

To improve the structure of complex information when it is to be presented electronically, technical communicators may turn to ideas taken from object-oriented programming, to clarify and revive the structure of the material in existing documents before mounting them online. But when an organization starts moving information onto the Web, technical communicators may go through a phase transition, as the system becomes so much more complex it exhibits emergent behaviors, and demands new attitudes, concepts, and work from the technical communicator.

Price, Jonathan R. Communication Circle, The (1997). Articles>Information Design>Multimedia

Studio for New Media

The Studio for New Media is an interdisciplinary research institute organized to support, further, and coordinate work with digital media.

Studio for New Media. Organizations>Web Design>Multimedia>Iowa

A Survey Of Multimedia On CD-ROM  

CD-ROM (compact disk read only memory) multimedia technology has opened the door to vast quantities of readily accessible information for personal computer users. For a product to qualify as a multimedia effort., it must incorporate sound (recorded music and voice) and dynamic graphics (video and/or animation), as well as static text and graphics.

Owens, Raymond P. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Multimedia>CD ROM

Sympathy for the Plug-in

If Flash is indeed a cancer on the Web, how come so many artists (and viewers) adore it? The much-maligned multimedia plug-in bites back, with help from Flash artist Peter Balogh.

Balogh, Peter. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Taking Flash Animation to DVD Video

This article is meant to inspire creators much more talented than ourselves to take the risk and dive in head-first with the idea of bringing their Flash animation work to industry-quality DVD. The efforts and obstacles involved in bringing Broken Saints out as a four-disc collectors' edition were overwhelming, and if we can give you some insights, save you some steps, keep you from making the same mistakes we did, or even inspire you to experience Broken Saints on your spiffy new home theatre, then it all will have been worth it.

Burgess, Brooke. Adobe (2005). Design>Multimedia>Flash>DVD

Talking-Head Video Is Boring Online

Eyetracking data show that users are easily distracted when watching video on websites, especially when the video shows a talking head and is optimized for broadcast rather than online viewing.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Multimedia>Video>Eye Tracking

Tech Head Stories

Interested in multimedia? Digital Cinema? Digital Storytelling? Do you want to make these things? How about story structure and digital technology? No matter, there's something here for you.

McLellan, Hilary and Roger Wyatt. McLellan Wyatt Digital (2002). Resources>Software>Ethnographies>Multimedia