Online multimedia is a "new medium" different from newspaper and magazine photo essays, documentary films and television news spots, music videos, commercials and highway billboards. Each of those old media forms has its established styles and standards, but what are they for Web multimedia? What are its components and variables? What wins awards? What do you enjoy seeing? If you are looking at a common theme other than multimedia, what is it? Why is it worth your time and your readers' time?
For a good how-to discussion of multimedia tools that online journalists are exploring, see this free "book" by Mark Briggs: Journalism 2.0, including chapters on digital audio and podcasting, and video for news and features.
The Knight Citizen Journalists site, where those pages are housed, also has a list of innovative news sites. Like your projects, the list uses captured screen images and comments. Notice how sizes and shapes vary. Is there too much "trapped white space"? Would the page be more attractive if text and images were the same height, or aligned differently?
Why focus on multimedia? It's not required. Creating projects that DO multimedia isn't an official part of this class, but from YouTube to Hulu, multimedia is one of the biggest trends on the Web, so while you are learning the basics of HTML, this project lets you do some research on "online multimedia" trends. You can substitute another topic, but explain it clearly on your index page.
For multimedia projects, I recommend these sites:
- Doug Thompson's BlueRidgeMuse.com & 9/11 memorial
- NY Times multimedia
- http://www.mediastorm.org/
- http://www.flypmedia.com/
- San Jose Mercury
- Washington Post multimedia
- Washington Post innovation-news/
- 1000words.net foound these Times projects inspirational
- Innovative Interactivity.com said the same about these audio-slide stories
- Innovative Interactivity's list of best Times interactives of 2008
- Multimedia standards -- a new blog and resource site
- MultimediaShooter.com
Above all, find stuff you like -- stories that make you say "Hey, look at this..." to your best friend. (I'll use "story" to mean "any creative work of multimedia on the Web," whether news, advertising, artistic, editorial or social.)
Suggestions...
If you are comparing news stories done as multimedia, you might focus on a particular category -- sports, politics, international affairs -- or look at differences between categories. Does a site provide both long-form and short-clip video?
Is one style of presentation used more on one kind of story than another? Does a sports site provide "how-to" features for kids? Does a political site combine videos of a candidate's speeches with public opinion polling online? If you are comparing multimedia in advertising, you could look at different categories of products or different approaches to one product.
Do look for sites that show professional storytelling and website planning -- not just scrapbook-style "portfolio" sites that show limited clips from a photographer or designer's work.
Multimedia Site Review Contents
These "things to look for" notes were written with multimedia project reviews in mind, but may be adapted to other types of sites.
As part of each "site review" page, describe and analyze the storytelling and presentation techniques used on the site you are reviewing. Good descriptive reporting is enough for this project -- you don't have to be a "movie critic" or technical expert. Pick whichever aspects of the project struck you as most significant. Here are some possibilities:
- Purpose: What is the creator trying to accomplish? Is it a work of journalism, advertising, marketing, creative expression, propaganda, or what? How can you tell?
- Focus: What's the point? Why should we care?
- Opening (if multimedia): How does the story start? Title slide? Sound? Autostart or click-to-start?
- Closing (if multimedia): Credit slide or slides? Fade out? Other effects? Effective last image?
- Reporting/Voices: Is there a clear "author's voice" in text, sound or pictures? Or do we only hear the subjects of the story? If a video, is there narration? What do the spoken words accomplish? (Do they deliver facts, opinion, personality, ask questions, or what?)
- Advertising: Is the presentation itself an ad? Does it start or end with one? Is the ad intrusive? Do the ads and story work together?
- Sound: Narration by the reporter, interviews, "natsnd" (contextual natural sound recorded in the field), music, etc.
- Segments: Is the presentation broken up in some way? How? Why? Or does it seem seamless?
- Transitions: Narrative transitions, visual transitions, slides, sound as transition, etc. How are new speakers, places, sources or ideas identified or emphasized? What, if any, visual effects are used (wipes, fades etc.)? What audio cues are used (fills, fades, etc.)
- Text microcontent: titles and other text onscreen, bottom thirds (with or without shaded backgrounds?), "title slides," animated text, use of color, fonts, photo captions, photographer credits, identification of people and places, etc.
- Narrative text: Does the video, photo or audio material go along with a mostly-text story? If there is a text story, do it and multimedia components repeat or overlap with each other, or do they stand alone? (A TV-news version and a newspaper-style version, for example.)
- Tools and services: Does the project identify any software tools or Web services used? Look for clear credits visible by casual viewers, but also look for links to creators' home sites, and look for metadata comments in the HTML of the Web page. If the project doesn't say, what's your best guess? Why?
Descriptive terms and media jargon
To get the job done, you may want to use some of the language of television, radio and film production to describe what you see on screen, such as: 16x9 (wide-angle video), 4x3 (traditional TV aspect ratio); Super, superimposed text or "Bottom-third" (text in bottom third of image); CG (computer graphics); Natural Sound (NatSound or Ambient Sound); Voiceover (VO); Actuality or Sound On Tape (SOT); Voiceover-to-Sound (VO/SOT); B-Roll (video other than main shot of news subject); Running Time; Lead-in (voice introducing a story or reporter); Live shot (a reporter on the scene); Wrap (story with transition from announcer to actuality to announcer); panning (moving the camera to follow the action); zooming (optical transition toward or away from object); transitions, cuts and transition effects (fades, crossfades, wipes and other); Ken Burns effect or "pan & zoom" (video camera panning and zooming across a still photograph or other image).
If you really need more terminology or better definitions, see the FinalCut, MediaCollege.com, IMDB, public radio and Filmsite glossaries.
Learning more
You'll find great leads and info about multimedia and online video at
- Photojournalism prof Ken Kobre's blog: http://www.kobreguide.com/content/blog
- Online multimedia prof Mindy McAdams' comparison of two online video approaches
... plus her how-to Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency
... and food for thought in her cheat sheet for multimedia decisions - Tracy Boyer's Innovative Interactivity blog; use its categories list in the right column.
- The resource pages on video techniques and multimedia storytelling at UC Berkeley Knight Digital Media Center.
- Link-list from UMass Multimedia Bootcamp and student projects.
- Freedom Forum Diversity Center Multimedia Bootcamp, including student projects
See also: Site Structure for COMS 326
last updated 9/21/12