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Managing Multimedia: AND Macromedia Director MX and Lingo, Training from the Source: Project Management for Web and Convergent Mediabook 1 People and Processes - Softcover
From the Inside Flap
How to use the book and CD-ROM Who is it for? This book is useful for anyone studying or practising multimedia. It addresses the multimedia management role of head of a project. There are a variety of titles that are used to denote this--Producer, Managing Editor, Analyst or Senior Software Engineer--for example. The term Project Manager is used here because it is a neutral term which does not betray any media origins since multimedia is produced from a fusion of talents across several media. Project management theory and practice also offers insights to help keep control of projects. Multimedia projects are notoriously difficult to keep within time and budget because there are so many variables. This book analyses all the variables within multimedia projects from clients to techniques, team members to applying project management principles.
Because the book follows the life cycle of a project, it broadens the understanding of the multimedia context for those with a single specialism such as programming or graphics, while giving a practical business and management slant for others. It will prove useful for those commissioning multimedia as the clients' roles and responsibilities are defined in parallel with the project manager's. It clearly identifies the phases of a project and acts as an introduction to the process. It can act as a reference for those new to multimedia. The structure of the book The chapters are organized around the development of a project from initiation to completion. Administration, management and production processes are interweaved reflecting the way they happen during a project. Because some phases occur simultaneously, the linear nature of the chapters misrepresents the overall process to an extent. However, we have tried to cover all the phases for developing a team-based, client-driven, commercial project which uses the equivalent of some original video footage, a range of audio assets, and commercially sourced and in-house produced graphics. We used this type of project as the default because it has the greatest number of tasks and resources. Other multimedia projects--non-commercial and non-team based--would need many but not all of the aspects covered here. Multimedia games and entertainment titles sometimes have a different development cycle if they are truly market-driven. This market-driven model is mentioned as a point of comparison to client-centred projects but is not explained in detail. Research and international projects have more phases, and are referred to when appropriate. The major differences between non-commercial and commercial projects are the amount and type of rights clearances that are needed, as well as the smaller production scale where fewer staff are used in audio, video and graphics production. If you are working on these types of projects you may not have as many administrative and legal aspects to cover, but many will be the same, just needed on a smaller scale. The glossary will serve as a ready reference for any terms that need further explanation. We have tried to make it as comprehensive as possible and it is also included on the CD. The structure of the chapters Chapters 1 and 2 give the background knowledge for the topics of multimedia, projects and multimedia project management. These will provide a common base of understanding between us. From Chapter 3, we follow the development of a project. Each chapter begins with a resume of the project manager's responsibilities. These will prepare you for the concepts that will be covered, and help focus your interpretation of them to the role outlined. During the book, the complete range of responsibilities builds up into the equivalent of a job description. If you are reading the book for a general purpose, then you can skip the resumes and read the chapters for salient information. During the chapters you will find suggested tasks. These are to help you transfer the principles into practical activities of relevance to your own situation. Because there are so many types of multimedia projects, we have tried to stick to principles which can be applied across the greatest variety of projects. But, the principles will only serve you for your own situation if you take the time and effort to apply them. The theory into practice tasks can help you build up project-specific sets of reference materials that suit the range and type of projects you develop. Where appropriate during the chapters you will be referred to the CD for information which is represented better in an electronic form, as well as for practical exercises on visual and audio examples. Each chapter has a summary. These reinforce the main points covered in the chapter but can also be used as a quick reference when you are developing a project and reach the phase being discussed. Some people prefer to read the summaries prior to reading a chapter to decide if it has direct relevance for them. Others read them first to preview the chapter, to prepare them for it. Where possible we have included recommended reading at the end of chapters but quite a few of the aspects covered here have relied on practical experience and represent the authors' interpretation of that experience rather than insights from defined theory. The structure of the CD-ROM The CD with this book aims to be both a companion and an extension of the book itself and is a mixed mode disc combining digital audio and data. The structure of the CD-ROM corresponds to the chapters in the book and you can find the examples and exercises that are referenced during the text in the book. With these, we have tried to overcome the static and monochrome limitations of the printed page with colour illustrations, some audio, video and animation and hyperlinks. There is also an electronic, searchable copy of the glossary. Along with this there are a variety of demonstration software packages. These include examples of the kind of software that is commonly used in multimedia production and will give a good introduction to some of the tools that you will use as you produce your applications. They will help you to extend your understanding of the principles covered in the chapters dealing with audio, video and graphics. As well as CD-ROM data this disc contains a few CD-Audio tracks, which can be played on any compact disc player as well as on most CD-ROM drives. These are examples for Chapters 8 and 13 and they start with Track 2 of the disc. Please do not try to play Track 1 of the disc since this contains CD-ROM data and, if you hear it at all, it may damage your equipment. The CD-ROM is based around an HTML document which can be read with the same software you would use to surf the World Wide Web on the Internet. We have done this to allow the greatest access to the disc. In case you are not a Web surfer, Web browsers for PC/Windows 95 and Apple Macintosh are included on the disc itself. This disc is in a standard format, called ISO 9660, which can be read on a wide range of computers, including PC and Macintosh. Most of the material can be used with other platforms, as can the HTML document, since the files are stored, where possible, in standard formats. The most up-to-date information on the CD can be found in the ReadMe file on the CD-ROM itself. This is a text file and can be read with any word processor and is the best point for you to start. To start to explore the CD itself you use your browser to open the document called simply START.HTM and then follow the links. Acknowledgements Many thanks to all those who gave their time and expertise to comment on the drafts and helped shape the book: Judith Aston, Lecturer in Multimedia Production, Faculty of Art, Media and Design, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Chris Barlas, Chairman, Authors Licensing & Collecting Society, UK. Jardine Barrington Cook, Logica, UK. Birte Christensen-Dalsgaard, UNI.C, Danish Computing Centre for Research and Education, Anrhus, Denmark. Mark Dillon, Director, On-Line Services, GTE Entertainment, USA. Mike Philips, MediaLab Arts Course, School of Computing, University of Plymouth, UK. Malcolm Roberts, Senior Manager, Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. Gisella Rosano, Designer/Developer, Bank of Montreal Institute for Learning, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. William S. Strong, Partner, Kotin Crabtree & Strong Attorneys at Law, Boston, USA. Charles Walker, Partner, Walker Tomaszewski Solicitors, London, UK. We both recognize that many of our past and present colleagues have contributed to the span of experience covered here and thank you all--too numerous to name individually. Finally we also recognize the debt to all the pioneers who persevered against the odds and kept the faith that multimedia would be mainstream. You were right. Elaine England Andy Finney March 1996
From the Back Cover
This book is useful for anyone studying or practicing multimedia. It addresses the multimedia management role of head of a project. There are a variety of titles that are used to denote this--Producer, Managing Editor, Analyst or Senior Software Engineer--for example. The term Project Manager is used here because it is a neutral term which does not betray any media origins since multimedia is produced from a fusion of talents across several media. Project management theory and practice also offers insights to help keep control of projects. Multimedia projects are notoriously difficult to keep within time and budget because there are so many variables. This book analyzes all the variables within multimedia projects from clients to techniques, team members to applying project management principles.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
