Integrated Multimedia Design

I elaborated on the dolphin theme I started earlier with my digital book cover. I already had a couple of images from my previous project and found other public domain images from various sources including Pixabay, where I obtained some of my best high-resolution images. I found most of my material for the script from ActiveWild.com and modified the content to fit the flow of my presentation. The first narration of my script was over five minutes long, so I whittled it down and accelerated the pace until I got it to just under two minutes. I imported the images into MovieMaker and timed each section of the script with the corresponding image, and pre-set the image time accordingly to get a close approximation so the timing of the video file would be easier. I used several different types of panning and zoom effects, transitions and screen captions. I also incorporated a few video effects, including a wave effect to give the dolphins the appearance of undulating motion in one of the images. Then I added a title page to the start and a credits page to the end. What I didn't account for earlier on was that the extra pages along with the transitions added more time to the movie. I tried removing some of the images and altering the script, but it seemed too choppy and rushed, so in the end, I opted for running into overtime with a better quality product. Next time, I'll produce the audio file first allowing extra time for a title, credits and transitions.

I selected a music audio track from Incompetech.com which I thought would work well with my format, but when I played the video side-by-side with the music piece, it just didn't seem to have the right tempo. I searched the site again and eventually found an audio track that was more upbeat, harmonizing with the dolphin's lively nature. I combined the audio and voice tracks, following along step-by-step with Dr. Ritzhaupt's tutorial and it worked beautifully, just as described. I found toggling back-and-forth between the tutorial and Audacity every few steps was very helpful. Getting the timing of the audio synchronized with the timing of each image took some effort. I played around with it for a couple of hours before I got it the way I wanted it, but I was pleased with the final result. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this video and I'm looking forward to working on my next creation. Please enlarge the video to full screen for best viewing and click on the link below to add a comment.

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