Final Flash Project

https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/Huffman_Flash.swf

Preparing for Landing

My Flash movie will be pretty straightforward. My focus for the front-page will be simplicity rather than trying to cram everything on. I’ll have one large video player that takes up the right 80% of the frame. Then the left will be a column of buttons that link to the projects various features (e.g. “The story”, “The interviews”, “The data”, etc.).

Feature Assignment Link

Flash: https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/Huffman_Feature3.swf?uniq=-qs8nn6

MPEG: https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/Huffman_Feature.mpg?uniq=-qsb1qa

Spring Video Assignment Links

MPEG Link: https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/Ryan%20Spring.mpg?uniq=-gdlwpr

FLV Link: https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/Huffman_Spring_Vid.flv?uniq=-gdlozt

Audio Assignment 2

https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/Huffman_AudioAssignment2.mp3?uniq=-gejzoa

Final Project Topic

I have, I think settled on a final topic idea.

My idea is to cover the budgets of local school districts, and look most especially at the disparity between funding for sports and funding for the arts. I expect this will differ from area to area, so in addition to several graphs, perhaps a map will be in order. Additionally, I plan on conducting several on-camera interviews with school district personnel, teachers, conductors, and coaches, all of which can be available uncut as sidebar videos.

If I’m feeling really adventurous, I might create a Flash interactive that allows users to fill their own school budget, noting the costs of things like team uniforms and equipment, as well as musical instrument repairs and the like. I’ll still have to flesh this idea out a bit, but it seems like it could be pretty cool.

NAT Sound Assignment

https://depot.northwestern.edu/class/2008SP_EDIT_342-0_SEC20/huffman/UtonesNATS.mp3?uniq=1tl2yb

3 Final Ideas

Idea #1

 

I think an interactive feature of the Cubs or White Sox teams could be an interesting project. I would show a baseball field with the name of each player on the roster in a depth-chart format. From there, I would allow users to click on each position to get a video analysis of how each position is performing thus far.

 

Idea #2

 

Centered around a map of Chicago and the suburbs, I would like to post some of the issues facing each area of Chicagoland, and then demonstrate how the proposed policies of each of the presidential nominees would effect those problems.

 

Idea #3

 

An in-depth report into steroid use in high school sports, perhaps centered on some anonymous interviews with students who have used (blurred faces/distorted voices) and see if I can gather some numbers about which schools are the worst abusers.

Multimedia Assessment

Though it is now almost obsolete, I loved msnbc.com’s Candidates + Issues Matrix at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21116732 .

 

The interactive feature depicts a chart of each candidate who officially announced candidacy for the Republican or Democratic presidential nomination. Under each candidates column, it shows their stance on a host of key issues in this election cycle. It makes it very easy to identify which candidate is most closely identifiable with one’s own beliefs on each issue.

 

I particularly liked that in each cell, a brief summary was accompanied by an additional video of the candidate explaining his or her viewpoint on the issue. When clicking right down the row, a person can see or read each candidate’s stance on the same issue. Alternately, by clicking down the column, the user can see each candidate state their stance on a bevy of issues. This allows users to become educated very quickly about how each candidate matches his or her own belief system.

 

Furthermore, it allows users to vote on whether the agreed or disagreed with the candidate’s viewpoint, giving an (albeit unscientific) account of where the people lie on the same issues. It’s just another little added bonus that will cause users to stick around the page even longer.

 

By now, with only a few candidates remaining, it serves as a reminder of how far the race has come, and how many once-presidential hopefuls have been left behind.

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