Following is the presentation I created for the podCamp 2011 session on Have a Plan: Designing for Multimedia. My topic focused on how to narrow your ideas into a focused presentation. It covers the main concepts covered in my Multimedia Design (Storyboarding & Scriptwriting) class.
Do you have any ideas on how I can make it better? Leave a comment.
I want to invite all my readers to the March 26 Nashville podCamp 2011. Below, I’ll describe a little of what I want to talk about. But first… I was at the monthly meeting of the Nashville Instructional Designers Meeting today. The topic of discussion was motivation and learning. The speaker today was Michelle Alcott who spoke about the concepts behind the Daniel Pink’s acclaimed book Drive. According to Michelle, three main concepts underlie true motivation:
I had the opportunity to invited everyone there to Nashville’s podCamp on March 26 at the Cadillac Ranch on Broadway in downtown Nashville. I’ll be presenting a session on Designing for Multimedia. Several people at the meeting said that they were just getting ready to investigate how to create podcasts, so this announcement was timely. Why all the interest in podcasting?
I was struck at the how Daniel Pink’s observations apply to most podcasters. Most everyone has something to say. And most of us know more than we think. As an Assistant Professor in Multimedia Design at Nashville State Community College, my students have made a personal choice to enroll in the Multimedia Design program. They do so with the intent of creating content about a variety of subjects. Some have an affinity towards visual expression and want to be videographers, film-makers, game designers, web designers, or video podcasters. All of those media are different ways to engage an audience audibly and visually and tell a story.
Podcasting is special in that is provides a way to quickly and easily create that message and publish it to a global audience without the burden of creating physical media. The power of podcasting lies in its distribution method; i.e. someone subscribes to your podcast and are automatically notified when a new episode is available. The podcast aggregator takes care of the transmission for you. You don’t have to contact your subscriber. The RSS mechanism takes care of it for you. You just create, upload, and update the RSS file.
Both video and audio podcasting each have their strengths and weaknesses. Video can be very compelling if done right, yet the file sizes are larger, take longer to download, take a device that can play video, and the audience has to be still in order to watch the presentation.
Audio podcasting is a much lower file size, can be played over a wider assortment of stationary and mobile devices, and can be listened to while the audience does other activities. I listen to podcasts when commuting, exercising, walking, doing chores, and sometimes even while drifting off to sleep.
Regardless of the chosen media, you want a firm grasp of what you want to accomplish. Otherwise, it is easy to ramble on and loose the attention of your audience before you have engaged them, and therefore missing the opportunity to fulfillment of your purpose – to reach your audience with your message. My goal during my session is to outline some steps that podcasters can take to make sure they get clear on the outcomes, stay on point, and make their presentations more engaging.
Everyone brings their own experience to the table. Please come and join us in the discussion at the Have a Plan: Designing for Multimedia session. Hope to see you there.
Design is more than graphic. Design is about controlling the experience of your audience. There are many forces that influence whether a creation is embraced by the public. Following is an interesting 30 minute video by Jay Franks (FutureHit.DNA) on Indie Connect Magazine covering how the internet is changing the way people find music, and how the length of your song’s introduction can play a big part in whether it gets listened to.
Part 1
Part 2
I saw this video at the Design and Development workshop I attended today in Scottsbluff NE. It is an outstanding overview of the design process and shows the process of PBCL (Problem-based Case Learning) at work. This video is one part of 3. The other parts are available on YouTube.com and for sale on the ABC web site. Contact me for more information on using PBCL in the classroom.
Workshop: Screen writing with Gordy Hoffman
April 19, 2009 as part of the Nashville Film Festival
The following notes and exercises were taken from the workshop in the order experienced (more or less)
There are lots of approaches…
Take your script to production and connect with an audience.
Why does our script change? Because we keep changing.
Scripts are compressions of life. Dialog is not a transcription of actual dialog. It is a compression of a conversation. Practice. Sit down and write pages of dialog. Let the characters write what is on the page. “Damn this is a boring scene.” “What is this scene about?” “How am I supposed to act this scene if I don’t understand what it is about.” Write about my own emotional life.
When dialog doesn’t work (when it takes you out of the movie)
Compress the description. Don’t wear out your reader on insignificant details. Keep them engaged in the story. Make it clear (clarity). See just enough to visualize and get the reader through the script. Let the set designers, costume people, etc fill in the details. The script does not need that much detail. No one is going to follow the script exactly. Let the people do what they know. You sell the story, the scene. Let everyone else do their jobs.
Read scripts (download them from the internet) how does the author describe the scene.
Possible readers
About