Getting started with multimedia. Sound slides ROCK!

First off, let me clear the air to those of you who are just stopping by: By no means am i considered to be a great multimedia producer. Therefore, please take what i have to say with a grain of salt because this is all from my personal experience. Let's face it, the fate is near, and we (photojournalists) must learn how to use this new tool to our advantage. Multimedia is (aka sound slides, slide pro, imovie) anything you can throw a picture package and sound (audio/voice overs/actualities/sound bites, you get it) together to make a medium to convey a story.

In Wiki talk: "Multimedia is media that uses multiple forms of information content and information processing (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video, interactivity) to inform or entertain the (user) audience. Multimedia also refers to the use of (but not limited to) electronic media to store and experience multimedia content. In fine art it is a synonym for traditional mixed media as well as technological new media (ArtLex, NWD). Rich media is also a synonym for multimedia."

I've made only 5 total multimedia pieces so far in my college career (which is really nothing), and none of them are worth mentioning here. But I am working on something bigger than those all put together, which i will post soon!

Click Here for a link to the most recent multimedia piece i threw together in literally less than 45mins! If you want direct link to the soundslide click this!

Editing images was the toughest part of shooting a rivalry football (SJSU vs FSU) game because i had to show both sides of the story equally, but that's why we have photo editors to do that for us.

I know for those daily newspaper shooters out there that deadlines are fast approaching each day earlier, and earlier for each year that goes by. So don't be intimidated by the more workload, and less pay that goes along with this passion of ours. Because we love what we do, they shouldn't have to pay us to do this. But we do need to put food on the table.

Ok, so I'm going to post 3 easy steps on how to make a very simple sound slide just as i linked above in under 55 mins.

1. Using Audacity (sound editor, which is free, or garage band if you have it-not my preference) was easy and fast, drag drop, cut, amplify, fade, are just some of the basic tools you will use, and need to make your very first Multimedia project! Audio is key, (I use a Olympus DS2, you can buy them for around $70-90 new, cheap digital internal memory, works fine, could upgrade to $500 Flash card model, but not worth it!) this is probably the most important function of multimedia because the sound that the viewer hears, makes a personal connection immediately, and subjectively they then build with their imagination what that event was really like in their mind's eye. And to boot they have the photos sliding by to help aid their vision. In sound slides you will need to have your audio finished before you can even start to get an idea of how long it will be. UNDER 2 mins is a must because after that it just becomes so boring for the viewer, unless you add video/flash template where they can navigate themselves (another topic i'll post about when i have fully researched it)

2. Image quality, Audio timing and connecting with each image would be second because as they hear each audio sound bite/song what have you, they make a connection with the image displayed on the web page/tv, so this needs to reflect what the story is conveying truthfully and thus not misdirecting the audience down a decietful path of lies to get your one sided story across. To sum it up, make the images and sound coincide with each other to tell the story more coherently. (play simultaneously when the image displays a band member shouting with audio which that person shouting)

3. Captioning each image with coherent AP style so the viewer may see that additional information at the same time as viewing the sound slide. Don't think that because you make multimedia that you can skimp out on the journalism part! 1st you are a journalist, then 2nd a photographer, then 3rd a multimedia producer!


Ok, so keep the top three items in mind, now first go over your AUDIO and get an idea of what kind of story this will turn out to be, also think about how long will it be, and is the audio CLEAN and Audible? If not you may have to go back and re-record (hold the mic up to their mouth about a hand width away), don't ask them to say "XXXX XXX" but ask them to please repeat your answer to my question of "ZZZ ZZZ." Putting words in their mouth is obviously unethical.

EDIT your take, accordingly to the sound, watch how each image plays up the sound, and then transitions into the next sound element. This is crucial for any sound slide to be fluid and interesting to the viewer. Shoot a detail shot, followed by a sound it may make, then that brings you to the thing that made that sound, then that brings you to an overall shot. something like that would work, but not necessarily in that order.

Jean-Luc Godard:

I like a film to have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.

In sound slides it will do all the work for you, all you need to do is make an MP3 file from the Audio file you made with audacity (export as mp3, may need to download patch), import that, then a folder of all your images you wish to use. Then it formulates thumbnails for you to move around in any order that you wish, while playing the audio to see where each of them fit.

So, sounds pretty easy huh? It is! you can take 20-30 images, don't even bother toning them because online they will look decent, but you may want to auto-level them in PS, or make an action to do your specific preference. No need to resize them, sound slides does it all! Hope this helps, i will be posting every week if not sooner about multimedia and related topics. feel free to email me with questions, or post on here and i'll reply asap! Mini help guid by Zachary Beecher