EPJ- Multimedia Critique 2

Never Coming Home is an excellent project by Andrew Lictenstein, hosted by Media Storm.

http://www.mediastorm.org/0006.htm

The project has been presented in the same format that the website uses for all its projects. It is simple and easy to navigate. The representation of the casualties in Iraq along-with the changing dates on the upper right corner of the project screen, in the first chapter, serves as a dynamic pre-loader to the project. The project requires a multimedia platform, as the real impact of the project is the combined effect of the audio interviews and the still images. Just audio or just still images would not have been so powerful as this project is. The layout and the color scheme do fit well with the theme of the project. Another good thing about the project is that the different chapters are visible all the time as thumbnails and can be accessed easily. But what I do not like about the project design is that how the consecutive chapters start playing automatically and the viewer does not have a control on that. Secondly, the screen option on the lower right corner actually does not make the project full screen. It simple makes it a little bigger. I wonder why the full screen option was not considered by Media Storm. Although the audio quality is excellent, the consistent sound of gunshots, fake of course, used as fillers for the project is a bit irritating. From the second project onwards, it really starts annoying.

Picture Story - Video Job Profile

http://www.latimes.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=e64a196e-03d3-4ec7-9198-ead5d9eef928&src=front

EPJ- Multimedia Critique

I have always admired the Denver post for its efforts to produce high quality Multimedia reports. Here I talk about their special project titled ‘5 years of War’.

http://photos.denverpost.com/photoprojects/warstuff/iraqwar.html

It is big old project with a lot of chapters within it. The presentation is quite impressive and prepares the audience for what the project is all about. The navigability and user controls are simple and easy to locate. But I will use my words here more to highlight what I did not like about the project.

First of all, once you have entered the project, the only way to go back to the Multimedia section of the newspaper is through the back button. There is a link to the Denver Post but not to the multimedia section, where from one begins to view all the different projects. Then each of the projects has an ‘info’ option next to buttons like ‘expand’ and ‘menu’. On clicking this button a window pops up on the ongoing image slideshow. I believe that when such a window pops up then the slideshow should pause automatically but that does not happen. And if one does not want to miss any of the images behind the ‘info’ screen, the pause button has to be clicked. Then the cancel or cross button on the upper right corner of the info screen is a bit tricky. It didn’t work on all the projects.

Then none of the projects opens in a new window except ‘Wounds of War’. Probably because it is also present as a separate special project. Now I do not understand the reason of having the same project under two separate heads. When we expand the projects, they open up in the upper left corner of the screen. I think center-aligning them is not that difficult or unimportant task. While viewing ‘Colorado’s Fallen’, you can see that the timeline bar goes in hiding once the mouse is moved. It might be another feature to increase the amount of interactivity with the viewer but I found it to be useless. Instead it’s a distraction as a slight movement of the mouse hides or reveals the bar. Then two consecutive projects, ‘The home-front’ and ‘US soldiers at war’ begin with same image. On one hand it is confusing as the viewer might think that s/he has just clicked the same project and on the other hand it is not a good sign of professional photography presentation. What one really misses in such a big project is some natural sound. None of the projects has any B roll audio.

EPJ- Photographer's Website Critique

I would like to share my opinion on one of my favorite photographer, Eugene Richards’ website. The address to his site is http://www.eugenerichards.com/

Having a good website is like being a good host. Good hosts put their visitors at ease and provide them with their needs. Eugene Richard’s site simulates the same experience. Web browsers do not have a lot of patience. If it takes them a lot of clicks to “get to the goods,” they will navigate to another site. This site is fairly simple and leads you directly to what you might be looking for.

Richards is serious about the work he does. And I believe that besides having a consistent feel throughout the site, that feel also reflects his work as a photographer. The website has a consistent navigation bar. The color code and the links are easy to see against the background color and images. The site is nice and should appeal to its target audience.

But having said that I would mention a few points which I surely would like to change in his website.

The navigation bar pops up as soon as the mouse rolls over it but it hides the existing content of the site, which is a lot of inconvenience. Then, unbelievably, the site has dead links. The ‘films’ and ‘store’ links do not work. Therefore the site is not being updated regularly.

While viewing his images, the thumbnails on the right side start moving upwards when the mouse moves towards the lower part of the page. Now this is one feature which is so inconvenient to use. The images keep on moving up and you have to find a way to stop that from happening.  Secondly the images take a while to upload, even though two seconds, but still the site isn’t fast enough as any photographers website should be. And finally, it does not have a ‘Home’ link. You cannot go to the home page until you refresh the URL. 

Picture Story- One Day Assignment - Eid Prayers

Members of the Muslim community prepare for their prayers on the morning of Eid, at Hearnes Center, Columbia, MO on September 20, 2009. Eid ul-Fitr, often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Typically, Muslims wake up early and have a small breakfast, as a sign of not being on a fast on that day, before attending a special Eid prayer that is performed in congregation at Mosques or open areas like fields, squares etc.

2-year old Waheeb Islam watches his father and others offer Eid prayers at the Heanres Center, Columbia, MO on September 20, 2009. Everyone, especially children, are encouraged to dress in their best clothes for the occasion.

Dr. Abdullah Smith, Imam of the Islamic Center of Central Missouri, Columbia speaks to the Muslim community members after their Eid paryers on September 20, 2009 at the Hearnes Center. The Eid prayer is followed by a sermon and then a supplication asking for forgiveness, mercy and help for all living beings across the world.

Donation boxes were kept near the entrance of the Center so that people could easily offer their donations while entering and leaving the area. This donation is called Zakat al Fitr which is an obligatory charity on every Muslim at the end of the month of Ramadan. This equates to about 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) of a basic foodstuff (wheat, barley, dates, raisins, etc.), or its cash equivalent which is then distributed to the needy local Muslims.

Nasrul Khan embraces his nephew Zia Khan after the end of the Eid prayers at the Hearnes Center, Columbia on September 20, 2009. It is customary to embrace the persons sitting on either side of oneself, whilst greeting them. After the prayers, people also visit their relatives, friends and acquaintances and some people also pay visits to the graveyards.

Feroz Tariqi inflates balloons for children who had come with their parents to attend the Eid prayers at the Hearnes Center, Columbia on September 20, 2009. Tariqi offered free balloons and candies to all the children. Children, on Eid, get Eid gifts, perks, sweets and best wishes from all their relatives and near and dear ones.

Members of the Muslim community leave the Hearnes Center, Columbia, after the Eid prayers on September 20, 2009.

EPJ - Final Multimedia Project

For the EPJ final project, I am planning to produce a multimedia piece. It tells the story about a young woman, Kelsey Rogers, who is an excellent ballet and Salsa dancer. Rogers is a student at Stephens College and has been dancing for the past 10 years. She now choreographs as well. The crux of the story lies in the passion Rogers has for life and for her dancing. I do not foresee any issues as I have already completed a lot of stills, audio and video for the project. I just need to spend some quality time now to start editing my work. This project had to be nothing but a multimedia work because of the music, noise, Kelsey’s interview and her dance moves which add so much to the story than what just stills could have done. Video was important because that is when the audience can actually see her dancing. I do not know whether it is a good story or not. But it is definitely a story worth telling. I believe that such stories give strength to the belief that when one passionately struggles to fulfill her or his dreams, even nature conspires to help these dreams come true.

What more can a story do. After all, it’s just a story….

 

EPJ- Website Critique

I would share my opinion about the World Press Photo website.

I always begin with finding out what is the purpose of a website. Is that purpose clearly stated or expressed by the site? I feel the WPP site mentions that it intends to promote an unrestricted exchange of information. I take this as the website’s purpose and believe that they have been successful in doing so. The URL is quite logical and even if you happen to type www.worldpressphoto.com instead of the correct www.worldpressphoto.org, you reach to the correct site. I do not know how.  

The few good points about the website

The site has a substantial amount of significant, interesting text and visual content for its target audience which is what any viewer would expect from it.  The site has a consistent feel and appearance and easily navigable. The site isn’t too deep where too many clicks are required to find desired info. The use of scrolling is minimized, especially on primary navigation pages. Navigation methods are consistent and in similar locations. The home page establishes the basic navigation methods. The WPP, Contest and Activities buttons or links are present in the same position on every page in the site. I consider it to be visually appealing by its target audience. The content of the site is updated regularly and finally, the width and length of the site does not require you to move a slider to the right to view the full width of the screen. Nor does it require extensive vertical scrolling. There are no dead links on the site and one is not left hanging at any page.

A few not so good points of the website.

The three main links on the page, the WPP, Contest and Activities links, open up on the existing content of the page, blocking the view, instead of dropping down on the blank white space. These links are too close to the content of the page. A little slide of the mouse and the link expands on the page. Then the size of the container, for the images and text, is a bit small considering the amount of blank space around it. Because of this the font size too is a bit small. Finally when you view the winners gallery, the font size and color is almost same for both the categories and the winning ranks, which requires some extra effort to figure out how to differentiate between them and move around.