INT1030 - Multimedia Communication Design
Unit Brief
Select two opposite concepts and give a computer-based impression/comparison of them through a sequence of still images, and/or moving images, and/or sound, and/or text.
Each concept should be given equal attention, and make good use of time and pace. Consider how the elements of the piece inter-relate and how they are sequenced together.
Proposal
I intend to give an impression of hot and cold as two opposite concepts. I chose these two concepts as they can be represented in many ways, therefore I have much more choice when choosing and creating content for my project. I will use Macromedia Director MX 2004 to create this project.
I plan to do this via a series of still images with different effects to bring them on to the stage and off again. I will use text to describe the items on stage, and add some background music to back up what the images on stage are representing.
Research
In this project I read the book Macromedia Director MX 2004 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide (ISBN: 0321246675) which helped me build my knowledge of Director and helped me overcome most problems I had.
I also found the following web site very useful:
- Director Support Center - Has lot's of tutorials and articles about Macromedia Director.
- Director Tutorials - Covers the basic aspects of Macromedia Director.
- Dean's Director Tutorials and Technotes - Some very useful tutorials on how to accomplish different thinks in Macromedia Director.
All images that I will use in this project will be taken by myself especially for this project or taken from my library of photographs which I have previously taken.
Planning
The final piece will be presented on a CD, as it will be not practical to put on my web site dues to the large file size. However, I will post some screen shots of the final piece.
To help me get idea for content, I decided to expand the concepts in a spider diagram which can be found in the sidebar.
Images I am using will all be made smaller in order to reduce the overall size of the director movie.
For the hot concept, I plan to use warm colours like oranges, yellows and reds. For the cold concept, I will use mainly blues and whites. By using these colours, it will reinforce the different concepts.
Final Piece
As the final director movie has a large file size, it was not feasible to have it on my web site. It will be handed in on CD instead, but I have taken a few screen shots showing parts of the director movie which can be found in the sidebar and also added a summary of each section below.
Hot
- Warm colours used
- Smooth motion between content
- Items represented:
- Beach
- Coffee
- Gas / Oven
- Fire
- Chillis
- Music: Hot Stuff (Want You Back) - Pussycat Dolls
Cold
- Cold colours used
- Smooth motion between content
- Items represented:
- Snow covered mountains
- Ice
- Water
- Mist
- Freezer
- Music: Cold as Ice - Chris Barrow
Review
Having not used Macromedia Director before, I initially found it quite difficult as I had to learn how to use the software. The Director workshops on Mondays really helped me discover how to use the software.
I feel the project could be improved by better integration of the two concepts, rather than separating them into two sections. This would have been harder to achieve but could possibly have improved the final piece quite a bit.
I didn't encounter any major problems despite my lack of knowledge in director. The minor problems I encountered were easily solved by referencing to the Macromedia Director book I purchased. One of the problems I had was making sure the sound synchronised with the content. To do this, I had to edit the sound files in Audacity to make them the lengths required and also fade in and out.
The project could be developed further by adding to more content to make the final piece longer, but it could get a bit boring if it went on too long, so I decided to keep it short.
Images
