Evaluating the Presentations

For E grade describe the features of commercially produced interactive multimedia products that make them good or bad.

For A grade you need to evaluate existing interactive multimedia presentations and show how your research affected the design of your own presentation.

There are a large number of commercially produced interactive multimedia products available, for a range of different purposes; for example, training, entertainment, giving information. You must be able to describe:

• what makes a good interactive multimedia product
• what makes a bad interactive multimedia product
• identify the intended audience, for example, children, teenagers, parents
• decide the overall impact on the audience, for example to inform, to shock, to amuse
• recognise any tactics being used, for example stereotyping so that the actors appeal to certain sections of the audience, or creating an atmosphere by the use of music
• the pace of filming, the setting, the clothes the actors wear and so on
• decide whether the multimedia product is appropriate and effective in communicating its message and in encouraging the viewer to remember the message.

In deciding whether a multimedia product is effective in communicating its message you must be able to take into account other considerations, such as:

• the timing through the product – does the product flow?
• the content of the material presented – is there enough time to take in the message?
• how easy it is for the user to interact with the system – what navigational tools are used?

The Demands Interactive Multimedia makes on an ICT System.

The packaging of commercially produced interactive multimedia products usually include the minimum systems requirements for it to run effectively. You must learn:

1. what demands using video and storing graphic images and sounds makes on a system
2. how these demands can be dealt with
3. You must also know the meaning of the technical terms:

• compression
• resolution
• frames per second
• colour depth

Having investigated commercially produced interactive multimedia products, you will be able to apply the principles you have learnt to specifying, designing and creating your own multimedia product.