Sunday, January 25, 2015

Multimedia Systems- Labsheet 01 (Interactive Media-SLIIT)



SRI LANKA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS & MULTIMEDIA
B.Sc. (Hons) Degree in IT specialization in Interactive Multimedia Technology
Tute 1
IT13107956-Ekanayake E.M.D.C.M



      1.     Briefly discuss the history and future of multimedia. How might multimedia be        used to improve the lives of its users?
·        Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic art, sound, animation, and video that is delivered by computer and this term 'Multimedia' was created by a singer and artist Bob Goldstein in July 1966
·        Newspapers can be considered the beginning of use of multimedia as means of communication of ideas because they were the first mass communication medium using text, graphic and images.
·        Animations or motion pictures are known to be the next huge stepping stone in multimedia, which was based on the persistence of vision theory, and was initialized in 1830s.
·        Interactive multimedia is a new evolution of multimedia which allows the user to control what and when these elements are delivered.
·        The future of multimedia will depend mostly on the development of current technology. It has become very important and essential to many fields such as education, shopping and retail, entertainment, communications and etc. In this technology advanced environment, many multimedia tools are involved when organizing the events or activities such as lecture in class, open ceremony, seminar, presentation and others that may combine all forms of media content.
·        Hence multimedia is going to play an essential role in almost every field especially in marketing and communication.
·        Multimedia is very prominently used for the improvement of quality of lives of people. Such very common fields in which multimedia has been able to enhance the lifestyles is education. E-books, PowerPoint presentations and graphical study materials are very widely used multimedia applications.
·        In addition, fields of entertainment, medicine and  science, advertising makes maximum use out of multimedia in the enhancement of their functionality and give out people their maximum benefits.

  2.  How might it influence users in negative ways?
       a.     What might be its shortcomings?

·        Since today multimedia is basically technology oriented, the creativity of the artists has become very limited. They have less thinking to do because most of the thinking parts are done by the digital software. Therefor human relationships have also become mechanical.
·        Some people use multimedia in adverse ways. Along with the advance technical tools such as Photoshop which supplies unbelievable techniques in photo editing. These are used by some people to upload harmful, unethical photos to internet and social media websites such as Facebook, violating human rights,
·        Field of advertising can be also sometimes seen using multimedia in negative ways which give out wrong messages to public.

    3.     You are a marketing director for a small telecommunications company. You are considering using multimedia to market your company’s product. Put together an outline detailing the benefits and drawbacks of using a CD-ROM presentation, a multimedia website, or a television advertisement.

1.     CD-ROM
·        Advantages
ü Mobile- easy to use anywhere
ü Can keep backups- data can be more secured.
ü Easy and quick access
ü Less expensive
ü Less errors
ü Can be made attractive to capture the attention of audience
ü More durable.
·        Disadvantages
ü Reliability is less- malfunctions may occur due to damages
ü File sharing is not convenient due to large file sizes.
ü Editing and adding more information is not possible

2.     Multimedia website
·        Advantages
ü Increase learning effectiveness.
ü This is more appealing over traditional, lecture-based learning methods.
ü Reduces training costs.
ü Easy to use.
ü Provide high-quality video images and audio.
ü Offers system portability.

·        Disadvantages

ü Expensive.
ü Required special hardware.
ü Not always compatible.
ü Not always easy to configure.
3.     Television ad.
·        Advantages
ü  Permits you to reach large numbers of people on a national or regional level in a short period of time.
ü Independent stations and cable offer new opportunities to pinpoint local audiences.
ü Offers the ability to convey message with sight, sound and motion.
·        Disadvantages
ü Message is temporary.
ü Preferred ad times are often sold out far in advance.
ü Limited length of exposure, as most ads are only thirty seconds long or less, which limits the amount of information you can communicate.
ü Relatively expensive in terms of creative, production and airtime cost

       4.      Multimedia is shifting from being localized (contained on a CD-ROM) to being distributed (available on the World Wide Web).
a.     What are some of the implications of this?
·        By being distributed through WWW, it increases the audience and make visible to whole world.
·        Enables to control all aspects of businesses in efficient ways, expand their market growth, produce a product or service with lower total cost such as lower cost of advertising.
·        Minimize the problems of using CD-ROM such as packaging, copyrights, distribution and production.

b.     Who will have access to the presentation?
·        Many people around the world can access multimedia or data simultaneously without limitation but firstly required some specific software and hardware such as flash player and network cable in order to run a multimedia presentation such as blogs, product reviews and feedback

c.      How will you keep it secure? How will you distribute it?
·        Apply memberships and require passwords
·        By using encryption methods and other available methods
 such as compressing and processing.

Distribution
·        By using different kind of advertisement available in the websites.
·        Make it on the top of the search engines.


Lab Projects

Multimedia Systems -Tutorial 01 (Interactive Media- SLIIT)



 SRI LANKA INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS & MULTIMEDIA
B.Sc. (Hons) Degree in IT specialization in Interactive Multimedia Technology
Tute 1


 Exercise 1

You have been given the task of creating an interactive Web presentation for marketing a new Mobile phone.

Task 1

a) Visit four different bicycle web sites using a suitable search tool.

b) For each web site you visit, write in the table below the name of the site, its URL, and Describe each site in terms of its multimedia incorporation.

c) Discuss whether its multimedia content is appropriate and where and how additional media content might improve the site.

d) Describe what multimedia presentation formats it uses. Video? Virtual reality? 3-D animations?


Site 1
 
i.

URL (address):
http://www.bikesoup.com

 ii.

 Describe the GUI. What navigational elements does it have?
The GUI is very user friendly. It has a search bar which provides convenient search facility for any user according to his/her needs. It can be easily understood at one glance.

iii.

 What colors does it use?
Green, black and white.

iv.
  
 Is it cluttered?
No

 v.

 Is the content relevant and appropriate?
Yes. The website is totally focused on bicycles.

vi.

 What additions/deletions of content might improve the site?
Addition of flash player and a slide show could have been much useful and attractive.

vii.

 Describe any multimedia presentations of specific products.

Using text, image and graphics to advertise bikes.

viii.

 What formats did they use?
User interactive. Graphical, text , animations and image formats have been used.

Site 2
 
i.

URL (address):
http://www.pinkbike.com

 ii.

 Describe the GUI. What navigational elements does it have?
GUI consists of a lot of information and news section is given the main focus. User friendly.
Navigation elements are available to change pages.

iii.

 What colors does it use?
Red, black, white, blue

iv.
  
 Is it cluttered?
A little bit cluttered

 v.

 Is the content relevant and appropriate?
Yes

vi.

 What additions/deletions of content might improve the site?
It is better if the advertisements were much lesser.
A more advanced search bar could be added for the convenience of users.

vii.

 Describe any multimedia presentations of specific products.

There are hyperlinks to videos and images promoting news about bikes around the world.

viii.

 What formats did they use?
User interactive and nonlinear.

Site 3
 
i.

URL (address):
http://www.lankabike.com/

 ii.

 Describe the GUI. What navigational elements does it have?
User friendly
Simple
Categories are shown from a side.

iii.

 What colors does it use?
Blue, white.

iv.
  
 Is it cluttered?
No

 v.

 Is the content relevant and appropriate?
Yes

vi.

 What additions/deletions of content might improve the site?
A user friendly search facility could be added to enhance the site.
More real images of bikes instead of graphical images should be added.


vii.

 Describe any multimedia presentations of specific products.

Using flash player for advertising

viii.

 What formats did they use?
User interactive


Site 4
 
i.

URL (address):
http://www.usjcycles.com

 ii.

 Describe the GUI. What navigational elements does it have?
GUI user is attractive, friendly, and clear. Navigation elements to see another part of bicycle.

iii.

 What colors does it use?
Grey, white

iv.
  
 Is it cluttered?
No

 v.

 Is the content relevant and appropriate?
Yes. Content is totally focused on bikes.

vi.

 What additions/deletions of content might improve the site?
Can add flash player for descriptions and some videos.

vii.

 Describe any multimedia presentations of specific products.

Using text, image, and graphic art. Flash animation for advertising.

viii.

 What formats did they use?
User interactive and nonlinear.



Exercise 2
Review an educational multimedia CD-ROM title

Task 1

a)      Fill out the table that follows.

i
Title of CD

Practical English
ii
Describe the GUI. What navigational elements does it have?

GUI is appropriate and attractive. There are navigational elements which are suit with DVD player.
iii
What color scheme(s) does it use? Is it cluttered?

Mostly GUI has used purple colour. It is not cluttered. Very neat.
iv
Describe the educational content. Is it well organized?

Educational content is well organized.
v
Would you be able to easily learn the subject matter using this package?

Yes. Using this package I could able to easily learn the subject. There are some videos and demonstrations. Those are helpful for understanding.

b) Describe the product in terms of its multimedia incorporation.
In this program the visual displays of text, graphics, videos and photographs are also synchronized with the audio information. Such techniques enable the audio medium to carry most of the information in a clear natural voice, while the text is used to hold attention.

c) Discuss whether its multimedia content is appropriate and where and how additional media content     might improve the site.
 The multimedia content is appropriate, attractive and well organized. There are some videos but accent of that acting is not matching.


Exercise 3
Contact a local multimedia company
Task 1
Ask them what kind of products they develop and whether they would describe two projects they have recently completed. Be sure that they provide you with enough information to answer each of the following questions.

Multimedia Project 1
i.
Name of project
Soovisi Vivarana
Best Movie, Best Director (2014 SAARC Film Festival)
ii.
Kind of project created
Movie
iii.
What authoring tools were used to create the project?
Cameras- Sony F3
                    Arri alexa
                    Arriflex 435 xtreme
Software- Final cut pro
                   Davinci resolve
                  Adobe After Effects
                  Adobe premiere cc
                  Adobe audition
DCP (Digital Cinema Package)
Negative cutting machine
iv.
Who made up the development team for the project?
Director- Sarath Dharmasiri
Producer- jayantha Samarakoon (Vision Link Media)
TVT Sri Lanka
Anand Cine Service-India
Editor- Ravindra Guruge
              Ajith Ramanayake
Cinamatography- Sumedha Liyanage
v.
How did the production of the project develop?
Cinamatography- Sumedha Liyanage
Locations- Pinnawala
                     Colombo
                     Rambukkana
                     Kithulgala
Editor- Ravindra Guruge
              Ajith Ramanayake

·        Editing was done in TVT Sri Lanka
·        Negative cutting and color corrections were done in Anand Cine Service-India.
·        The DCP format files were exported to India for colour corrections
·        Final DCP file was converted to cine format after color corrections.
·        Dubbing was done both in India and Sri Lanka

vi.
How long did the project take to complete?
4 years (2008-2012)
vi.
What problems were encountered?
·        Occurred a chemical problem in footages made by the camera ARRI3 due to a fungus and gave out blares when played. Therefor they had to be removed. Hence some scenes were reshot while some other scenes had to be changed. Some other scenes with blares could be fixed through color corrections.
·        Budget was not enough for all the artists to fly to India for dubbing. Therefore only the main artists were taken to India for dubbing while other artists’ dubbing was done in Sri Lanka, before finalizing in India.




Multimedia Project 2
i.
Name of project
Sathpaththini
ii.
Kind of project created
Tele Drama
iii.
What authoring tools were used to create the project?
Cameras-Sony FX100 (1st schedule)
                  Sony FX700 (2nd schedule)
                  Canon 5D- Mark iii (3rd schedule)
                  Go Pro Hero 4
                  After effects
                  Adobe Premiere CC
                  Adobe Audition
                  Vegas Pro
iv.
Who made up the development team for the project?
Director – Sarath Dharmasiri
                    Ananda Jayalath
v.
How did the production of the project develop?
Shooting Locations- Negombo
                                       Wariyapola
                                       Anamaduwa
                                       Puttlam
                                       Kalpitiya

vi.
How long did the project take to complete?
8 months (2014 May- 2015 January)
vi.
What problems were encountered?
·        Budget was not enough for color corrections. Therefor only selected footages were subjected to full color corrections while others were given basic color corrections.
·        A lot of time was taken to shoot since several lenses were used.
·        Since it was a period story (Historical), background sounds were disturbing (sounds of vehicles and machineries). Therefor it had to be redubbed although usually dubbing is not necessary for teledramas.

Exercise 4
Visit a large public area such as a shopping mall, the downtown area of a city, or a museum. Locate a
kiosk or other public multimedia installation.
Task 1
a)     Spend 15 minutes observing who uses it and for how long.
·         HNB ATM Machine
b) Describe the installation.
i. Where was it located?
·         By the Colombo- Kandy main road, in front of SLIIT, Malabe.
ii. Is there a lot of foot traffic going past it?
·         Yes
iii. Is it conveniently located?
·         Yes
iv. Is it accessible to a wide range of users (tall, short, disabled, wheelchair, or vision
impaired)?
·         It is accessible to moderate height persons. But there were no special facilities for disabled or vision impaired people.  None such people came to use the ATM and even if such person wanted to use it, he/she has to ask for someone else’s help.

c) Describe the usage pattern.
i. Characterize the users.
·         Normal people, mostly students of SLIIT used it. Children and old people could hardly be seen using it. There were no special users like disabled people.
ii. Were children attracted to it?
·         No
iii. Did users “play” with it?

·         No