Multimedia course at the International University in Geneva

I have been invited to teach part of the course “Multimedia” at the International University in Geneva.

This course is really a spin off of the seminary i gave with Patricia Goldsmith last semester. We thought that we could develop further the concept, and I will have 5 sessions (of 2 hours each, approximately) between April and June to explain in more detailed how to use video for the social media.
The schedule for my part is :

Day 1. Multimedia communication. From the idea to the storyboard.
Day 2. Introduction to video. Production workflow
Day 3. Video shooting and editing. Recording of interviews from a social journalism perspective
Day 4. Video editing. Which editing software? Basic principles of editing
Day 5. Video editing and dissemination. Video channels, formats, and virality

There will be also sessions from other teachers to explain the basics of motion graphics, and some insights on multimedia communication.

Class on “use of video and social media”

%A %B %e%q, %Y Posted by victor

I did yesterday a three hours course for the Master’s students in communication. It was a pretty intense session, and they all resisted very well when I explained the most technical part of the class; the variety of video formats and the compatibility issues to use video on the internet.

At the end, I let them use some gear I brought to the class to record an interview so that they were aware of the full workflow process in video production; From the conception of the idea to the internet diffusion through social media. It was a very interesting experience for me, and the students did a really great collaborative work.

We made two videos. I only have one of them, which is the one that we recorded on my own equipment. The second group used an iPhone to record the interview. The goal of the assessment was to show the differences on the workflow and the production depending on the equipment that one is using, and the pros and cons of using professional material or extremely light equipment as mobile phones or camcorders.

This is the video made by group 1, using a Youtube embeding.

This is the video by the second group (made with iphone) using a Youtube embedding

It’s a clear demonstration that a better equipment really changes the perception of the viewer towards the content of the video. I think in this case is specially true due to the sound differences (professional microphone versus iPhone integrated microphone)

It is interesting also to compare the same video (in this case the video made by groop 1), but using a different video hosting service, for instance Vimeo.

Can you see any difference with the Youtbe embeding? Which one is better? From the uploading perspective-, both took more or less the same time. The uploaded version was a quicktime movie (codec: h.264, dimensions: 640 × 360) of about 210 MB

Non Linear Narratives. Seminaire by Guy Meredith

%A %B %e%q, %Y Posted by victor

Last week, I had the chance to attend a seminar by scriptwriter Guy Meredith about Non linear narrative structures. The seminar was free and organized by Fonction Cinema.

Guy comes to Geneva from time to time to deliver interesting one day courses. I would recommend his seminars to anyone who approach movies from a storytelling perspective, in opposition to a ‘Goddard’-like vision (or should I say hallucination?)

Seminar about new media at the International University of Geneva

%A %B %e%q, %Y Posted by victor

I have been asked by a friend to deliver a seminar on video and podcast as part of the course New Media at the Master in Arts Media and Communication.

I accepted right away as i thought it would be very interesting also for me to take the time to prepare this talk. Things have been moving fast in video communication and It’s not even clear where is the frontier between video, web, street performance, etc.

After a couple of days thinking on how I could organize this talk, I realized that there is not much reliable information on how the evolution of video streaming and equipment prices are changing the way that business communicate, and the way they compute their ROI.

This could be an interesting area for research, whether for Media Communication students, or for Business Administrations students. How should companies react to the decrease of production costs and to the shift of the traditional diffusion channels towards the alternative ones? One can envisage some alternative scenarios. Companies could:

Shift towards creativity by reallocating their existing budgets to look for better creative agencies.
Shift towards diffusion by reallocating their existing budget into more power of diffusion.
Downsize their marketing budget to accommodate to new costs.

Sure there will be other scenarios, and probably each company will decide what works for it, but I really think (and hope) that option 1 will be the predominant scenario.

Being the seminar a 2 hours presentation, I’m afraid oi will not have time probably to go into that much detail, so i prepare a much more classical programme, to introduce the students to the different tools and workflows for podcasting. (video and audio)

This is the program

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INTRODUCTION
- Rich Media vs Traditional Media. Where’s is the frontier?
- What, who, when where, Why, How?
- The new language of Audiovisual Communications: podcast, vlog, syndication, RSS, etc.
- How did we get here? A little of history
AUDIO PODCAST
- Integration on Communication Strategy
- Creative Workflow
- Delivery & diffusion
- Tools and resources.
VIDEO
- Integration on Communication Strategy
- Creative workflow
- Technical workflow
- Delivery & diffusion
- Tools and Resources
NEW TRENDS
- Interactive video
- 3D video
- Guerrilla Marketing: flash-Mob, LipDub, viral video campaign
OTHER ASPECTS
- Legal & Copyrights issues
- Music & image licenses, releases forms, etc.
QUESTIONS

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