Making Multimedia & Multimedia Skills

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

2. 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

3. Introduction to Making Multimedia • What we need? • Hardware • Software • Good ideas • Talent • Skill • Good organization of works

4. Introduction to Making Multimedia • 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)

5. Introduction to Making Multimedia • 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!!

6. Introduction to Making Multimedia • 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!!

7. Introduction to Making Multimedia • Organization • Develop an organized outline a a plan that rationally details the skills, time, budget, tools, and resources we will need for a project

8. Multimedia 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.

9. Class Activity 1 • Suppose you are assign to build a project of telefilm on Pakistan Movement what will be your team to accomplish this task? • Write member of telefilm production team and mention their roles and responsibilities?

10. 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

11. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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

12. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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

13. Multimedia Skills – The Team • Interface Designer • Interface provides control to the people who use it • Backgrounds, icons, control panels – result of an interface designer

14. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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

15. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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

16. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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

17. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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.

18. Multimedia Skills – The Team • 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

19. Planning & 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

20. Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia

21. 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.

22. Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia • 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

23. Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia • 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.

24. Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia • Alpha Development • Detail the storyboard – bring in end user for gathered information • Graphic art • Sound and video production • Test on working prototype

25. Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia • 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.

26. Project Planning:The Process of Making Multimedia • Delivery • Worries toward the marketplace • How will your project be received by its intended audience? • Issues: • Hotline, after sales maintenance, server co-location,

27. Project 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)

28. 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

29. Project Planning: Idea Management Software • 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

30. Project Planning: Building a Team • 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

31. Project Planning: Pilot Projects and Prototyping • Pilot project phase • Test ideas, mock up interfaces, exercise the hardware platform • Determine the actual cost of the project

32. Project Planning: Task Planning • 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 • Digitize Audio and Video • Take Still Photographs • Program and Author • Test Functionality • Fix Bugs • Conduct Beta Test • Create Golden Master • Replicate • Prepare Package • Deliver or Install at Web Site • Award Bonuses • Throw Party

33. Project Planning: Scheduling • 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

34. Costing • 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)……………… Malaysian Ringgit • 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

35. Costing: 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

36. Costing: Example Cost Sheets

37. Proposal • 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.

38. The CPM approach

39. Background and History • Developed in the 1950s by the US Navy • Originally, the critical path method considered only logical • dependencies between terminal elements • Since then, it has been expanded to allow for the inclusion of • resources related to each activity, through processes called • activity-based resource assignments and resource leveling. • Critical Path Method for the construction industry • Non-computer approach

40. What is CPM? • The Critical Path Method or Critical Path Analysis, is a • mathematically based algorithm for scheduling a set of project • activities • It is an important tool for effective project management • Commonly used with all forms of projects, including • construction, software development, research projects, product • development, engineering, and plant maintenance, among • others • Any project with interdependent activities can apply this • method of scheduling

41. What is CPM? • CPM calculates • The longest path of planned activities to the end of the project • The earliest and latest that each activity can start and finish without making the project longer • Determines “critical” activities (on the longest path) • Prioritize activities for the effective management and to shorten the planned critical path of a project by: • Pruning critical path activities • “Fast tracking" (performing more activities in parallel) • “Crashing the critical path" (shortening the durations of critical path activities by adding resources)

42. Definitions • Float (slack) - amount of time that a task can be delayed without causing a delay to: • subsequent tasks (free float) • project completion date (total float) • Critical path is the sequence of activities which add up to the longest overall duration. It is the shortest time possible to complete the project. Any delay of an activity on the critical path directly impacts the planned project completion date (there is no float on the critical path). A project can have several, parallel, near critical paths. An additional parallel path through the network with the total durations shorter than the critical path is called a sub-critical or non-critical path. • Critical activity – activity with zero float • Resource leveling – iterative process of assigning crews to activities in order to calculate their duration

43. Activity Identity Box

44. Class Exercise?

45. Class Exercise?

46. Class Exercise ?

47. Gant Chart

48. Assignment 1: ProposalDeadline: (7th May 2014) • The cover page • Table of contents • Need Analysis and Description • Target audience • Scheduling • Relate directly the time consumed • 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)