The Potentials for Digital Media
Sustainability
There are many potentials for digital media, digital media has aided humanity for many years, and been around for decades. Computers and technology have given humanity a large advantage as digital media has made communication generally much more convenient for the planet, as we can communicate across the world using a computer, and various other devices that can be plugged into a PC.
Digital Media has several advantages over pen and paper, for example with digital media it isn't needed to print things out on paper, to hand documents out, it would only be necessary to email the recipient, and thus from there they would simply just need to open the digital email, rather than using paper and paying out for materials to send by post.
Digital media has another advantage, by which you cannot simply erase pen on paper, whereas digital media can be simply " deleted " even though you are able to erase pencil upon making a mistake, it leaves small dark marks on the paper, whereas eraser tools in digital media simply erases and cleans everything, and to add to it, it requires a lot less effort. Even though paying out for digital media i.e a PC can be rather expensive, in the long run for the purposes of digital media can save you money, as there is no distribution costs apart from having to pay for internet access and electricity which is probably the only part that would cost a bit of money, but effectively does work out a lot cheaper.
When you send physical based materials off you cannot retrieve them so easily, per say a video, whereas digital media enables you to re-edit videos and images, that have been uploaded by taking them back down and re-editing them, the same goes for example a file sent by email, you can simply just re-edit the saved/sent file, and re-send it with a note instantly claiming an error inside the file, whereas pen and paper format, it is not so fast, nor easy to re-edit files, as for starters you cannot simply retrieve it, instead it is a long and lengthy process.
Ease of Editing
The web allows access to many programs both freeware and software, which will allow you to modify and re-edit many different parts of your project. You have many different tools at your hand, obviously you have erase tools, but also you have tools which are capable of cloning, patching, and masking. Masking is seen in several creative programs including flash and photoshop, which enables you to place what could be described as an invisible layer, which lets you add and remove the work, without permanently deleting it; an effective way of editing work without causing any major damage. cloning is quite self explanatory, it is a method that enables you to clone areas of a project, and place it in other areas, primarily colours, but you can also clone parts of a project as well. Patching is a similar kind of method as cloning except, rather than cloning an area of colour, it copies one area, from another, and places it wherever you've patched it, so the ease of editing projects is rather advantageous. Another good method for editing projects and files is the "CTRL + Z " mechanic, which is a great way to reverse work, or reverse errors if you've made errors, much easier than using the erase tool.
Flash works in similar ways, including the " ctrl + z " mechanic but your also capable of changing entire animations by changing the lead library symbol. so editing appearances in flash will update all instances used for that specific library symbol. There is a vast amount of colours available to users of digital media, there are a couple hundred thousand different types of colours available to the user, and the ability to customise colour is almost limitless, and much easier than using pen's or pencil's as your fairly limited when it comes to pen's and pencil's.
Another prime example for the ease of editing is a program called 3DS max which we had recently been learning, 3DS max is a program which many game developers use to model there characters, or even their maps. 3DS max models are made up of tiny blocks, which can be shifted and edited to create the correct shapes, you have a wide selection of tools which enable you to morph the object into any kind of shape, you can rotate, zoom in, and move around a 3D object, whereas creating a 3D drawing on paper would be a much more challenging task. Creating, editing and removing segments, if you have a bit of 3DS max knowledge, is much easier than creating, editing and removing areas of a drawing, the advantage digital media has over paper is rather proportional.
Production Costs
Production costs if you consider EVERYTHING that goes into technological costs, is quite pricey compared to getting a pen and paper and designing it from there, pencils and paper would cost less than 10 pounds, whereas a PC would cost a couple hundred, let alone the software which could vary from 40-100+ pounds, including the cost of electricity and the internet, one could argue that it does cost money, but in the long run, would probably benefit any business and/or company that is into using and taking advantage of technology to make money, as the time consumption and the limitless options you have, would benefit you financially in the long run.
Creative possibilities made by the use of digital media
I had previously researched Kiosks/Interactive stations to back up my understanding of digital media and its potential, one of the stations I took note on were the interactive stations found in a media store called HMV, the interactive station consisted of several different tablets, which had very few programs on them but enabled the user to get a rough feel for the use and experience of having a tablet. Demonstrated its ability to be a computerised smart phone, it achieves this goal perfectly.
Interactive media as previously mentioned has given humanity a good head start to the next age of advancement, these devices give humanity the ability to create, send, recieve, edit, remove and make money out of digital media, increasing our abilities to communicate and work effectively and much faster than the previous age of technology.
Interactive media as previously mentioned has given humanity a good head start to the next age of advancement, these devices give humanity the ability to create, send, recieve, edit, remove and make money out of digital media, increasing our abilities to communicate and work effectively and much faster than the previous age of technology.
The 2nd interactive station I researched was the new Wii U, HMV had a Kiosks which enabled a user to have a short demonstrational experience of the Wii U, a small control pad which lets you control mechanics on a tv while having a totally different display on the handheld device, you can browse media and games, and interact with different setups for mainstream entertainment.
I was also aware of another Kiosk in the city centre, which contains a computer and arcade games which enable you to find out where you are, where to go, access your email and access the internet and jobs, the Information Kiosk’s purpose is to aid visitors in getting to their destination and being able to navigate the city and find the information they need.
Both for entertainment and personal gain, along with many other plus's to digital media, this lets us communicate with one-another, enjoy entertainment with eachother, work effectively and faster in groups, and create new digital media over and over to further our lives, all in work, entertainment and advancement, I fully feel I understand the potentials of digital media, it is a great step forward for humanity in every way, and has increased the size of our footprint on the planet.
Interactive Stories based around digital media
Dracula
I decided to select an Interactive comic to study and analyse , the comic is called Dracula - the interactive comic. I wanted to try and go with something different instead of following all the other students with the direction of HOTEL and Dead on Arrival.
Dracula is a story that anyone would suspect in a classic style of, weary traveller goes to stay with Dracula in his castle.
How Effectively is the Narrative told and how does animation and sound contribute to the narrative?
The narrative is quite straight forward and simple, it is much simpler than clicking and changing scenes, Dracula's Narrative is in reels of images, that you can slowly scroll along to take in all the necessary information. It has speech boxes which are clearly and effectively placed by making them obvious yet out of the way of any important information. The Captions are done from 1st person of the traveller, so it has more of a story told effect on the reader, it brings the reader in. The music is extremely creepy and sketchy which really sets the atmosphere of the comic, there are several interactive sounds which set the feel of the comic, but there are not enough to make it feel over the top.
toy my knowledge there are no interactive items that are easter eggs, but you do interact with items to make your escape, if and when the traveller gets to dracula, you can choose to run or fight, and its interactive abilities allow you to use a webcam to bring a real life object into the game and use it as a weapon to fight dracula.
How does the interactivity increase user enjoyment?
as the Story continues and rolls on there are several things you can interact with, it appears hat as the story progresses you can interact with the comic more, including custom weapons and choices, when you scroll over certain scenes objects and images pop up to set the feel and try to make the reader feel uncomfortable and scared, which considering for a short comic, it does a very good job and setting the scare factor, by doing this it raises the enjoyment and the feeling for the comic for the reader.
How does this demonstrate potential for media?
My research here shows that an interactive comic has several advantages over a regular comic, you can surprise, scare and pull the reader in much more than what you can with a regular comic, regular comics do not have moving pictures, or interactive objects, you cannot give choice and multiple interactive endings in regular comics, whereas with dracula, this has been clearly demonstrated, with multiple choice scenarios, surprises and feeling.
Detention Nightmare
The Narrative is simple and straightforward, it starts with the teacher at his desk completing work and asking the student in detention to come in, the student then comes in and sits down down at the desk, and begins to fall asleep, that is the first Scene. The second part of the story consists of the student falling into a dream where he encounters a monster in a dark forest, the sounds enhance the feeling by adding thunder and lightning. the 3rd part is where he wakes up and realises it was all a dream.
Dr Villain
Dr villain is about a vigilante who must find and stop a evil scientist from destroying the world with the " crystal of order " its more of an interactive game than a movie, there are alot of interactions, which actually makes the game quite fun, while hunting for the doctor, the vigilante encounters a robot which is where the story goes into scene 2, you then choose how to defeat the robot, and after doing so do some more running, afterwards the game moves to the final bit of the plot to where you encounter the doctor, who escapes using a teleport. the game uses various sounds including robot sounds, burning flames, footsteps, explosions, and sword sounds along with various other sounds per scene, all in all creating quite an interesting arc, plot, and enjoyable user experience.
Selina rawless
Selina rawless appears to also have quite alot of user interaction and good use of sounds, the story appears to be about in the first part a normal girl going to go and see her friends, who had long ago defeated an evil being, until where it goes into scene 2, the evil being manages to somehow resurrect himself and returns to the town to terrorise it, him and Selina then lock into battle, in which it turns to scene 3 where the malevolent spirit is defeated, it uses a wide range of sounds like evil laughs, footsteps, rain, and electrical sounds to give the magic powers more effect.
Spider Spider Jason
Spider spider Jason is about a small spider who wants to become spiderman after reading the comic, he starts to work out and makes a spiderman costume, and jumps into a building and hurts himself, the story is clear and effective, clear speech bubbles are used to make the character feel alive, and to explain what goes on, different facial expressions are also animated and used to show how the character is feeling, there is small amounts of interactivity as well to increase user enjoyment and interest.
The Banner, The Poster and The Welcome Card
Taking what I have learnt from previous projects and research of digital media, and of course, taking what I have learnt, I was able to thoroughly design a web banner, a poster and a welcome card. I had used the sense of colour from the website to the campaign, linking yellow and black across all 3 projects, this would give the campaign a recognizable sense to any viewers. Flash had been fairly easy to use as I had previously worked on code and animation, so putting together a web banner was easier than I expected, and the other 2 projects were even easier as I had been working on them previously.
I understand how much change digital media can make to the world, and why people use it, it can be placed almost anywhere on the web, so that any user can see it, a much more effective and faster way to attract attention and a good client base.
Both for entertainment and personal gain, along with many other plus's to digital media, this lets us communicate with one-another, enjoy entertainment with eachother, work effectively and faster in groups, and create new digital media over and over to further our lives, all in work, entertainment and advancement, I fully feel I understand the potentials of digital media, it is a great step forward for humanity in every way, and has increased the size of our footprint on the planet.
Interactive Stories based around digital media
Class analysis of “DEAD ON ARRIVAL”
How is narrative told?
Pictures illustrate the story
Page turning device to further the story
speech bubbles tell the majority of the story
text captions written in the 1st person
music choice eg. Opening music was suspenseful, music pace picked up as story unfolded, on the hangover scene the music “jangly”
“easter egg” click able items gave information to move the narrative forward for example coffee cup, the phone, the office files.
Zooms on important items, e.g. the insurance documents to draw the viewer’s attention
“Spiked” drink
The variety of devices to tell the story and the amount of interactivity held the viewer’s attention well and made the storyline very clear. There wasn’t much animation as such, but the “shaking” animation on the hangover scene helped to contribute to the atmosphere.
User enjoyment through interactivity:
Searching for and finding click able items
These items popped up which drew attention
A character/text captioning gave hints to what was click able
The interactive pans were not very exciting.
The potential of digital media:
All the above points illustrating the use of interactivity, the use of sound and the fact that the user could guess who the murderer was show what potential digital media has to enhance user enjoyment. These features could not be included in a traditional comic book.
above is the class analysis of dead on arrival, we ran through this with our tutor, to try and analyse what makes a story, how it develops, and how it comes to an end at the end, we also analysed how sounds and interaction can make a better user experience. below are my examples of my own personal analysations.
Dracula
I decided to select an Interactive comic to study and analyse , the comic is called Dracula - the interactive comic. I wanted to try and go with something different instead of following all the other students with the direction of HOTEL and Dead on Arrival.
Dracula is a story that anyone would suspect in a classic style of, weary traveller goes to stay with Dracula in his castle.
How Effectively is the Narrative told and how does animation and sound contribute to the narrative?
The narrative is quite straight forward and simple, it is much simpler than clicking and changing scenes, Dracula's Narrative is in reels of images, that you can slowly scroll along to take in all the necessary information. It has speech boxes which are clearly and effectively placed by making them obvious yet out of the way of any important information. The Captions are done from 1st person of the traveller, so it has more of a story told effect on the reader, it brings the reader in. The music is extremely creepy and sketchy which really sets the atmosphere of the comic, there are several interactive sounds which set the feel of the comic, but there are not enough to make it feel over the top.
toy my knowledge there are no interactive items that are easter eggs, but you do interact with items to make your escape, if and when the traveller gets to dracula, you can choose to run or fight, and its interactive abilities allow you to use a webcam to bring a real life object into the game and use it as a weapon to fight dracula.
How does the interactivity increase user enjoyment?
as the Story continues and rolls on there are several things you can interact with, it appears hat as the story progresses you can interact with the comic more, including custom weapons and choices, when you scroll over certain scenes objects and images pop up to set the feel and try to make the reader feel uncomfortable and scared, which considering for a short comic, it does a very good job and setting the scare factor, by doing this it raises the enjoyment and the feeling for the comic for the reader.
How does this demonstrate potential for media?
My research here shows that an interactive comic has several advantages over a regular comic, you can surprise, scare and pull the reader in much more than what you can with a regular comic, regular comics do not have moving pictures, or interactive objects, you cannot give choice and multiple interactive endings in regular comics, whereas with dracula, this has been clearly demonstrated, with multiple choice scenarios, surprises and feeling.
Detention Nightmare
The Narrative is simple and straightforward, it starts with the teacher at his desk completing work and asking the student in detention to come in, the student then comes in and sits down down at the desk, and begins to fall asleep, that is the first Scene. The second part of the story consists of the student falling into a dream where he encounters a monster in a dark forest, the sounds enhance the feeling by adding thunder and lightning. the 3rd part is where he wakes up and realises it was all a dream.
Dr Villain
Dr villain is about a vigilante who must find and stop a evil scientist from destroying the world with the " crystal of order " its more of an interactive game than a movie, there are alot of interactions, which actually makes the game quite fun, while hunting for the doctor, the vigilante encounters a robot which is where the story goes into scene 2, you then choose how to defeat the robot, and after doing so do some more running, afterwards the game moves to the final bit of the plot to where you encounter the doctor, who escapes using a teleport. the game uses various sounds including robot sounds, burning flames, footsteps, explosions, and sword sounds along with various other sounds per scene, all in all creating quite an interesting arc, plot, and enjoyable user experience.
Selina rawless
Selina rawless appears to also have quite alot of user interaction and good use of sounds, the story appears to be about in the first part a normal girl going to go and see her friends, who had long ago defeated an evil being, until where it goes into scene 2, the evil being manages to somehow resurrect himself and returns to the town to terrorise it, him and Selina then lock into battle, in which it turns to scene 3 where the malevolent spirit is defeated, it uses a wide range of sounds like evil laughs, footsteps, rain, and electrical sounds to give the magic powers more effect.
Spider Spider Jason
Spider spider Jason is about a small spider who wants to become spiderman after reading the comic, he starts to work out and makes a spiderman costume, and jumps into a building and hurts himself, the story is clear and effective, clear speech bubbles are used to make the character feel alive, and to explain what goes on, different facial expressions are also animated and used to show how the character is feeling, there is small amounts of interactivity as well to increase user enjoyment and interest.
The Banner, The Poster and The Welcome Card
Taking what I have learnt from previous projects and research of digital media, and of course, taking what I have learnt, I was able to thoroughly design a web banner, a poster and a welcome card. I had used the sense of colour from the website to the campaign, linking yellow and black across all 3 projects, this would give the campaign a recognizable sense to any viewers. Flash had been fairly easy to use as I had previously worked on code and animation, so putting together a web banner was easier than I expected, and the other 2 projects were even easier as I had been working on them previously.
I understand how much change digital media can make to the world, and why people use it, it can be placed almost anywhere on the web, so that any user can see it, a much more effective and faster way to attract attention and a good client base.
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