When I start trying to define “multimedia,” I hope to veer away from simply saying “communicating in lots of ways at the same time.” But the medium itself is often framed not by what it is trying to say, but how it is being said. We as a technologically obsessed society often are distracted by the ways the bells and whistles ring rather than their melody.
For instance, with still art and media, some people find it boring to just go to a museum and look at a painting or even a photograph. Because we are surrounded by still images all the time (on the subway, on our coffee cups), we forget that some still art is created with more than just commerce as a message. Alfred Stieglitz didn’t just take photos of Georgia O’Keeffe to sell her paintings or to sell sewing products – he was exploring a message.
As for dynamic art, we also might be getting numb to time-based moving pieces. But moving images appeal to a different “sense”: our “perception of time,” usually in chronological order. So many that’s why I enjoy movies such as Memento, where the chronological order of plot is backwards and really challenges the viewer to pay attention or be lost.
I think interactive multimedia has the chance to improve our media savvy and hunger, by interacting with our imaginations (And I think Manovich would agree with me, but I think it’s about more than just the breakdown on the distinctions between types of media). Both The Corpse Bride and Harry Potter movies use a lot of special effects, but they only appease two senses – sight and hearing. The advantage of the website is interactivity, which we could contend appeals to our sense of touch but also has the greater capacity to amuse different users in different ways.
In the sites for the Tim Burton movie and the author J.K. Rowling, Macromedia Flash is used to create menus and games but also a user’s actions can change the experience. Looking at these types of websites, using such dynamic elements such as Flash menus dependent on correct actions such as putting a ring on a corpse’s finger or catching a butterfly, makes me excited about the content. It’s such an effective way to create an entire multi-sensory experience that you forget you’re using a web browser and can enter the worlds being explored.
However, I’m of a practical nature and worry about my fellow users who don’t have fast speed internet connections or the ability to see the screen as well as I. (Does the media convey the message in the forest if no one is there to see/hear it?) Multimedia has so much to do with providing multiple sensory inputs that I wonder about the people that have some disabilities and their reactions to such content. The J. K. Rowling site at least has accessibility tools such as words explaining the sounds and magnifying text that invite all sorts of users to enjoy the site.
So when I start to ponder the question of “what is multimedia?,” I’m thinking less of how it’s defined, or with what it is made, but how it can change how we perceive the message. And to be fair, I’m also thinking about how unique and cool it is as well. I am a product of my own environment!
[Reblogged from my Multimedia Authoring class blog, February 2006.]
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