1.

 Steps in Multimedia Production
\ Adequate time and efficient planning is required for multimedia production. This
assures that the project will proceed smoothly and ensures that the

information reaches the target audience. Following are the phases for development
of complex multimedia projects.

1. Conceptual Analysis and Planning

The process of multimedia making begins with a conceptual ignition point.

Conceptual analysis identifies a appropriate theme, budget and content availability
on that selected theme. Additional criteria like copyright issues also are considered
in this phase.

2. Project design

Once the theme is finalized objectives, goals, and activities are drawn for the
multimedia project. General statements are termed as goals. The specific
statements in the project is known as the objectives. Activities are series of actions
performed to implement an objective. These activities contribute to the Project
design phase.1

3. Pre-productio

Based on the planning and design, it is necessary to develop the project. The
following are the steps involved in pre-production:

4. Budgeting

Budgeting for each phases like consultants, hardware, software, travel,

communication and publishing is estimated for all the multimedia projects.

5. Multimedia Production Team

The production team for a high-end multimedia project requires a team effort. The
team comprises of members playing various roles and responsibilities like Script
writer, Production manager, Editor, Graphics Architect, Multimedia Architect and
Web Master.

6. Hardware/Software Selection

All multimedia Application requires appropriate tools to develop and playback the
application. Hardware includes the selection of fastest CPU, RAM and huge
monitors, sufficient disc for storing the records. Selection of the suitable software
and file formats depends on the funds available for the project being developed.

7. Defining the Content

Content is the “stuff” provided by content specialist to the multimedia architect

with which the application is developed, who prepares the narration, bullets, charts
and tables etc.

8. Preparing the structure

A detailed structure must have information about all the steps along with the
timeline of the future action. This structure defines the activities, responsible
person for each activity and the start/end time for each activity.

9. Production

In the multimedia application, after the pre-production activities, the production

phase starts. This phase includes the activities like background music selection,
sound recording and so on. Text is incorporated using OCR software, Pictures shot
by digital camera, Video clips are shot, edited and compressed. A pilot project is
ready by this time.

10. Testing

The complete testing of the pilot product is done before the mass production to
ensure that everything is in place, thereby avoiding the failure after launch. If it’s
an web based product, its functioning is tested with different browsers like Internet
Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla and Netscape Navigator. After the testing process is
over, the product is incorporated with valid suggested changes.

11. Documentation

User documentation is a mandatory feature of all multimedia projects. The

documentation has all the valuable information’s starting from the system
requirement till the completion of testing. Contact details, e-mail address and
phone numbers are provided for technical support and sending suggestions and
comments.

12. Delivering the Multimedia Product

Multimedia applications are best delivered on CD/DVD or in the website . In

reality various challenges are faced while delivering through internet, like
bandwidth problems, huge number of plug-ins required to play audio and video
and long downloading time. Finally, a multimedia application is delivered in a
more effective way by the integration of two mediums CD-ROM/DVD and
Internet.

2. Multimedia Production Team

Managing team members in a way to get maximum outcome with high degree
of efficiency is mandatory in multimedia production. 

The fine quality high-end multimedia production application requires a specialized

team comprising of the following members:

1. Production Manager

In a multimedia production, the role of production manager is to define, and

coordinate, the production of the multimedia project in time and with full quality.
The production manager should be an expertise in the technology, good at proposal
writing, good communication skills and budget management skills. Also must have
experience in human resource management and act as an efficient team leader.

2. Content Specialist

Content specialist is responsible for performing all research activities concerned

with the proposed application’s content. Program content refers to projects
information, graphics, data or facts presented through the multimedia production.

3. Script Writer

Video and film scripts represents a linear sequence of events. The script writer
visualizes the concepts in three dimensional environment and if needed uses the
virtual reality integration into the program.

4. Text Editor

The content of a multimedia production always must flow logically and the text
should always be structured and correct grammatically. Text and narration is an
integrated part of the application.

5. Multimedia Architect

The multimedia architect integrates all the multimedia building blocks like
graphics, text, audio, music, video, photos and animation by using an authoring
software.

6. Computer Graphic Artist

The role of Computer Graphic Artist is to deal with the graphic elements of the
programs like backgrounds, bullets, buttons, pictures editing, 3-D objects,
animation, and logos etc.

7. Audio and Video Specialist

The roles of these specialists are needed for dealing with narration and digitized
videos to be added in a multimedia presentation. They are responsible for
recording, editing sound effects and digitizing.

8. Computer Programmer

The computer programmer writes the lines of code or scripts in the appropriate
language. These scripts usually develops special functions like developing the
 software to give  the size and shape of video windows, controlling peripherals and
so on.

9. Web Master

The responsibility of the web master is to create and maintain an Internet web
page. They convert a multimedia presentation into a web page. Final multimedia
product is a joint effort of the entire team. Initially, the production manager
identifies the project content, while the web master provides access to a wide range
of community through web-services.

Animation
What is animation?

Animation is a method of photographing successive drawings,

models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of movement in a
sequence. Because our eyes can only retain an image for approx. 1/10
of a second, when multiple images appear in fast succession, the brain
blends them into a single moving image. In traditional animation,
pictures are drawn or painted on transparent celluloid sheets to be
photographed. Early cartoons are examples of this, but today, most
animated movies are made with computer-generated imagery or CGI.

To create the appearance of smooth motion from these drawn,

painted, or computer-generated images, frame rate, or the number of
consecutive images that are displayed each second, is considered.
Moving characters are usually shot “on twos” which just means one
image is shown for two frames, totaling in at 12 drawings per second.
12 frames per second allows for motion but may look choppy. In the
film, a frame rate of 24 frames per second is often used for smooth
motion. 

Different Types of Animation:

 Traditional Animation
 Path or Sprit Animation
 2D Animation (Vector-based)
 3D Animation
 Computer based animation

Traditional
This is one of the oldest forms of animation in film. It’s sometimes
called cel animation. As mentioned above, in traditional animation,
objects are drawn on celluloid transparent paper. In order to create
the animated sequence, the animator must draw every frame. It’s the
same mechanism as a flipbook, just on a grander scale. 

Traditional is most often 2D animation. Aladdin, The Lion King, and

other earlier cartoons are the best examples of this. *Though, not all
2D is traditional. But we'll get to that in a minute. 

In the earlier years, the animator would draw on a table that had a
light inside of it, so the creator could see his or her previous
animation. While the traditional style is not nearly as prevalent today,
drawings are generally done on tablets. And manual coloring hasn’t
been used by Disney since The Little Mermaid in 1989. 

Here's an explanation of how animator Aaron Blaise creates

traditional, hand-drawn animated movies.

Path Based animation

Path based animationd works similarly to cell based animations.
The main differences are that in path based animations the background is
fixed and the software creates 'in between' frames between the first and last
frame (also called keyframe). 
This process is called tweening.

A subject (either character or shape) is

selected from the first frame
and moved along, creating a path. 
A path can either be straight or curved. 
The subject  will follow this path creating movement. 
2D (Vector)
2D animation can fall under traditional animation like most early
Disney movies — Pinocchio, Beauty and the Beast, etc. But there is
something called Vector-based animation that can be 2D without
being traditional. 

With Vector-based, the motion here can be controlled

by vectors rather than pixels. So, what the heck does that mean? 

Images with familiar formats like JPG, GIF, BMP, are pixel images.
These images cannot be enlarged or shrunk without affecting image
quality. Vector graphics don’t need to worry about resolution. Vectors
are characterized by pathways with various start and end points, lines
connecting these points to build the graphic. Shapes can be created to
form a character or other image. Below is an example.

3D
Today, 3D or computer animation is the most common type. But just
because computers have stepped in instead of actual drawings, it’s not
necessarily easier. The computer is just another tool, and 3D
animation is still a long, intense process. 

In 3D animated movies, the animator uses a program to move the

character’s body parts around. They set their digital frames when all of
the parts of the character are in the right position. They do this for
each frame, and the computer calculates the motion from each frame. 

Animators adjust and tweak the curvatures and movements their

characters make throughout. From Toy Story in 1995 to today’s Coco,
3D animation has become the dominant style in animated films.

3D animation is also unique in that, unlike 2D or other traditional

methods, the character’s entire body is always visible. If a character
turns to the side, the animator only needs to draw the side profile in
2D animation, but in 3D, the entire body still needs to be visible. So
again, even though computers are being used, with new technology
comes with way more considerations. 

Whether you’re using drawing in 2D or computing in 3D, animators

and filmmakers alike look to storyboards to plan out each frame.
Unlike live- action, animation movies can’t rely on camera tricks in a
shot. Storyboards are the lifeline for creating animation. Here are the
storyboards used for Disney's classic animated
feature Aladdin organized in StudioBinder’s storyboard tool.

Computer Based Animation

Computer animation, the branch of computer-generated imagery
(CGI) dealing with generating moving digital images, is more in-
demand than ever. Special effects are an everyday part of modern
entertainment, including television shows, movies, and video
games. These media images require the specialized skills of
computer animators. This article offers international students an
overview of the field of computer animation, as well as the academic
and professional options available within the field.
It has never been easier for an international student to receive a computer animation
degree from an institution in the United States and begin working in the industry. This
article will offer international students an overview of what the field of computer
animation actually is, the academic options for attaining a computer animation degree,
and the professional options for putting that degree to use in the field.

What is Digital Audio

Digital audio is a technology that is used to record, store, manipulate,
generate and reproduce sound using audio signals that have been encoded
in digital form.

It also refers to the sequence of discreet samples that are taken from an
analog audio waveform. Instead of a continuous sinusoidal wave, digital
audio is composed of discreet points which represent the amplitude of the
waveform approximately.

The more samples taken, the better the representation, and hence impacts
the quality of the digital audio. Most modern multimedia devices can only
process digital audio, and in the case of cellphones requiring analog audio
input, they still convert it to digital before transmission.

What is a digital video?

Digital video is audio/visual content in a binary format, with information is
presented as a sequence of digital data rather than in a continuous signal as
analog information is.

Information in the natural world, received through the five senses, is analog.
That means that it is infinitely variable. Digital A/V information, on the other
hand, consists of discrete units of data that are placed so close together that
the human senses perceive them as a continuous flow.

Analog data, such as video recorded on tape, is transmitted as electronic

signals of varying frequency or amplitude that are added to carrier waves of a
given frequency.
Distributed Multimedia System
Definition:Distributed multimedia systems consist of multimedia databases,
proxy and information servers, and clients, and are intended to for the
distribution of multimedia content over the networks.
1. Hypertext : Hypertext is a cross referencing tool which connects the links to
other text using hyperlinks. Hypertext is non-linear and multi sequential and it is
different from our normal text. By the help of hypertext one organized way is
achieved to present information. This makes the user to move from one part of
the information to another part of the information which is in same page or any
other page. It makes the documentation simple by providing a way of easy
accessible to the end user. Example of Hypertext is that GeeksForGeeks is a
computer science portal, when we read one article it uses hypertext to link other
pages and when we click on that hypertext it takes to us to that page so that we
can gather more information related to the topic. 
2. Hypermedia : Hypermedia is the extension of Hypertext which includes
multiple forms of media such as text, graphics, audio or video etc rather than
only text based like hypertext. It provides a facility to connect the web pages to
create a network with multimedia elements with a simple click for a better
multimedia experience. Hypermedia allows links to be integrate in multimedia
elements like images and videos and when we click on that it takes us to that
page. Example of hypermedia is that when we use e-commerce site say flipkart
and when we click on any product it takes us to the specific product page which
belongs to that. So here the link is embedded to the image. 
 What is a Storyboard?
A storyboard is a graphic representation of how your video will unfold, shot by shot. It’s
made up of a number of squares with illustrations or pictures representing each shot,
with notes about what’s going on in the scene and what’s being said in the script during
that shot. Think of it as sort of a comic book version of your script.

A storyboard is your roadmap when you make a video. Like a script, your storyboard
visually guides you throughout the production process. By planning your video, you
know which shots you need to create and how to create them when filming begins. You
can get others’ feedback early on and make simple adjustments to your storyboard,
rather than making major changes while filming.

To make a good storyboard, you don’t need to be a visual artist (though you can be). A
storyboard can be anything from comic book-like rough sketches to stick figures to
computer-generated drawings. To help you plan your own video, we’ll walk through the
basics of creating storyboards, including:

 The basic elements of every storyboard

 A breakdown of two popular storyboarding methods
Understanding different ways to storyboard, you’ll be set to visually plan your own
video. Regardless of your budget or design experience, you’ll be able to create a clear
map that seamlessly guides you through production.

 
Why Do You Need a Storyboard?
Creating a storyboard might just sound like an extra step in the process of making a
video, but trust us,  it’s a step you won’t want to ignore. Here are three reasons why
you need a storyboard:

What is copyright act?

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