EPJ_Multimedia Critique I

For Multimedia Critique I, I chose The Letter From Iwo Jima by Erik Olsen and Lizette Alvarez. The content of the project is poignant, which is effectively conveyed by multimedia.

The content of the project is appropriate for the multimedia. Voice over narrative, interviews, video clips, historical documents (including film clips), still images, and background sound are effectively interwoven for telling this poignant story. The integrity of this project is so high that the application of multimedia technology is a conscious choice.

Interactivity is fair enough. The buttons to forward or pause the project works just fine. A moving slide bar is easy to use, and it works. Interactivity is very minimal, but those functions are enough. An advertisement, which starts automatically before the project, is annoying, but that is inevitable. If there is a button to skip the ad, that would be better.

Navigation is simple and clear. There do not seem to be any confusing or unclear navigation buttons, bars, and titles.

Layout, color scheme and overall presentation do not interfere with the theme of the project. Middle gray background and white texts do not distract an audience.
Technically speaking, the project is built professionally. Vide clips, still images, and audio are shot or recorded with great care. Voice over narrative has a nice pacing, which makes it easy to follow the storyline. In addition, relevant video clips or still images correspond to the narrative. The content of interview is profound, which adds meaning to the whole story.

A typical length of multimedia project tends to be between 2 to 3 minutes. If a project exceeds this range, it is considered to be too long. In spite of its 8-minute length, The Letter from Iwo Jima never seems to be long enough. Nevertheless, I would change the length of the project. There are unnecessary parts that can be cut out without changing the content of the project.

An ethical concern is the use of a historical (or old) image that corresponds to the content of narrative. For example, voice over narrative describes Franklin W. Hobbs’s duty as setting up telecommunication. An old photograph of a soldier setting it up corresponds to that narrative. An audience may get an impression that the soldier in the photo is Franklin Hobbs back then.

Overall, this multimedia project is professionally created with a great storyline, video clips, still images, audio, and background sound.