My task is primerily a communication artifact and therefor I have decided to do some background reading into the theory of this topic to apply to my situation and brief.
This was the best book I found throughout the day. This will be the primary source of background reading into film shorts and the general requirements and process needed to be taken when taking on a project like this.
I started to read in the message and relationship to motion media. It explains that we are in the midst of a communication development era. With motion media dominating the modern day with mass audiences subjected to revolutionising kinestic photography. Today motion-media is our primary source of information and we send and consume information through the internet.
The Communication Challange-
Graphics and motion images are the most powerful way of enhancing our perceptual thinking. As this book was writen in 2004, some of the information may seem outdated or when tlaking about the future I will refer to this as the present day. For example Shelton states 'In the future, it matters not what communication tool we work with....what matters is that we use our communication skills and techhnology to design and produce shows that communicate our messsage to the target audiences readily, effectively, and economically.'
Information, Communication and Meaning-
I will now look in greater detail into the 'communication business' by analysing sheltons theory of communication and Claude Shannons Information Theory.
A message is whatever stimulates our senses. David K.Berlo defines messages as 'Ordered selection of symbols intented to communicate information.' It is how we encode these symbols into filmic design that defines scripting. 'Meaning is a phychological function that involves cultral, social, and environmental facors. Though meaning is contianed in the message, Its sender and reciever who give meaning to messages through their common understanding' There are 3 main interpretaions of a message
-Intended message: What the sender meant to communicate
-Transmitted message: What was actually sent and recieved
-Understood message: What the audience percieved the sender sent.
It states that whatever message is convayed over motion-media, however well constructed. The strue meaning of our message can never be totaly successful in our communication.
For me my intended message is to create an awareness of the red sea tank in the london sea life aquarium and how it is run and monitored. Hopefully i will be able to transmit this message effectively through the visuals and get a good link between the understood message and the my intended.
Communication Theory-
Shannons theory states that communication is 'the encoding of information into electronic signals or messages, transmitting and recieving the messages, and decoding the messages back into information that is error free or nearly so.'
The General Communication System
This consists of several elementary components-
Noise, Channel and Feedback...This is shown below.
Shelton's communication Theory:
Importance: How important is the information to the audience? whats their advantage to know the information? The more important the information, the easier the communication. For instance, if the audience members know that to get promoted they must demonstrate skill in operaating the acme Thingamajig, they'll probably work to a fare-thee-well our multimedia program that deals with the acnme thingamajig.
Urgency:When must the audience use the information? when must they take the required action? the more urgent the information, the easier our communication task- a hurricane warning, for instance.
Currency: When does the value of the information expire, become nearly worthless, or become historical? The more current the message, the easier the communication task.
Motivation:Why is the audience interacting with the media:viewing, listening, reading? Is their interaction voluntary or compelled?Are they bored or interested in the subject matter?
Anticipation:It there a heads-up that alerts the audience that a message is coming? What is the lead time before the communication process begins? Does the audience do preparatory work?
Distribution: What media do we use to transmit the information to the audience: speech, newspaper, motion media, radio? Some of the factors affecting the distribution mediums influence on the audience are heir familiatiry with the medium, preference, access and trust.
Environment: Is the ambience of the environment conductive to communications? What are the effects of the physical surroundings: ambient noise and light, climate, decor, and furniture?
With regard to content of the video. the book states that the message needs to be short and to the point. Cute gimmicks often backfire and become noise that obscures the primary image. Most messages should be visual. About 70-80% of the information should be pictoral content. Auditory messages must be secondary and used sparingly only to reinforce the visuals. With his in mind I believe that my video should be largely visual based with pictoral content being the main focus. any audio message should be backed up with visual explination.
Importance: How important is the information to the audience? whats their advantage to know the information? The more important the information, the easier the communication. For instance, if the audience members know that to get promoted they must demonstrate skill in operaating the acme Thingamajig, they'll probably work to a fare-thee-well our multimedia program that deals with the acnme thingamajig.
Urgency:When must the audience use the information? when must they take the required action? the more urgent the information, the easier our communication task- a hurricane warning, for instance.
Currency: When does the value of the information expire, become nearly worthless, or become historical? The more current the message, the easier the communication task.
Motivation:Why is the audience interacting with the media:viewing, listening, reading? Is their interaction voluntary or compelled?Are they bored or interested in the subject matter?
Anticipation:It there a heads-up that alerts the audience that a message is coming? What is the lead time before the communication process begins? Does the audience do preparatory work?
Distribution: What media do we use to transmit the information to the audience: speech, newspaper, motion media, radio? Some of the factors affecting the distribution mediums influence on the audience are heir familiatiry with the medium, preference, access and trust.
Environment: Is the ambience of the environment conductive to communications? What are the effects of the physical surroundings: ambient noise and light, climate, decor, and furniture?
With regard to content of the video. the book states that the message needs to be short and to the point. Cute gimmicks often backfire and become noise that obscures the primary image. Most messages should be visual. About 70-80% of the information should be pictoral content. Auditory messages must be secondary and used sparingly only to reinforce the visuals. With his in mind I believe that my video should be largely visual based with pictoral content being the main focus. any audio message should be backed up with visual explination.
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