ISO 9001:2000 Certified

View by Interest
View by Centre
View Alphabetically

Printer friendly version

Feature Story

Email Contact:
Kim Horrelt

khorrelt@hollandc.pe.ca

The individual components of this program are also available in modular format through our Continuing Education Department. Click here for further programming information.

Interactive Multimedia

The next intake for this program will be September 2008.

Multimedia— the combination of graphics and programming to produce interactive computer environments— has become one of the most important ways of accessing business, education, and cultural information. This change in communication technologies has propelled the growth of Canadian new media sector, and created new employment possibilities. In addition to positions in visual and technical production, the industry has a pronounced need for professionals who can manage communication solutions, producing designs that are both informative and engaging. New media demands not only programming and visual design, but project strategies for ensuring the end result meets client demands and audience expectations.

The Interactive Multimedia (IMM) program provides learners with the opportunity to engage with new media technologies in a creative and applied atmosphere. Students learn how to produce usable and attractive interactive products that fuse multiple media elements (text, graphics, animation, audio, video) with programmed and database-driven navigation. Students engage in formal, hands-on instruction, building the three core skill sets necessary for the creation of internet, CD, and DVD environments:

1. Technical production methods: design tools and programming languages, including Macromedia Flash and ActionScript; Macromedia Dreamweaver and PHP/MySQL database-driven web development; internet development tools including HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, Javascript, and XML; Macromedia Director and Lingo; DVD Studio Pro and video development using Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe AfterEffects;
2. Interface and navigational design techniques to build functionality and usability, using visual programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Macromedia Flash and Fireworks, as well as courses on design and implementation;
3. Project management, business principles, and problem solving techniques to match solutions to client needs. Each term, students will partner with community groups, institutions, and organizations, and address their communication goals with fully functional multimedia environments. Past partners of our program include art galleries and museums, health promotion agencies, community sporting and recreation groups, book publishing companies, and college and university research institutes.

Areas of Competency

First Term

CD-ROM Authoring using Director
Students learn to program and develop multimedia presentations for distribution on the web, CD-ROM and DVD. Students will use Macromedia Director and other multimedia authoring environments to integrate text, sound, images, and video, with computer programming to produce interactive applications. Through the production of personal and client projects, in addition to in-class assignments, students acquire experience with introductory programming concepts and all stages of the development process. All elements required in the application, including media and scripting, are developed by the students and do not rely on pre-made libraries. Students will use programming to add heightened interactivity to their projects.

Web Design using Dreamweaver
Although Web editors have become more powerful, efficient, and commonplace, it is still important for multimedia creators to know the basics of HTML or preferably the XML compliant XHTML. This course will provide such a foundation including text formatting, graphics, links, tables, forms, and Cascading Style Sheets. The organization of websites will be examined, as will effective interface layouts. Each student will have their own server space and will practice with domain names, FTP, site directory, and file naming conventions. Students will learn how to test and troubleshoot websites, and to design to client specifications.

Introduction to Project Management
This course focuses on the foundation project management tools and techniques required to prepare interactive multimedia projects. Students will complete a major multimedia project, and will examine and analyze all elements of its lifecycle - activities, guidelines, deliverables, and evaluation. Tools such as Microsoft Visio and Project will be used to plan and track project progress. Students get experience in managing and developing a fully integrated design from initial client requirements through planning, budgeting, and design to implementation and delivery.

Visual Design using Photoshop and Illustrator
This course is designed to enhance a student’s understanding of how visual information can be organized and presented in multimedia applications through proper interface design. It focuses on fundamental design principles and methodologies essential for the production of effective multimedia presentations. Computer graphic tools for raster and vector image manipulation, such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, are examined in-depth as the means for creating images suitable for screen-based environments.

Audio Video using Premiere
Students will learn to create and prepare digital audio and video optimized for use in multimedia applications and websites. Using Adobe Premiere Pro as a platform the course covers basic aspects of A/V production including: scripting and storyboarding; camera technology and shooting, lighting, editing; and compression for distribution on DVD and the web through technologies such as Quicktime, Flash, and Shockwave. Through the use of various software tools, students will learn non-linear video editing, implement basic digital special effects, and digitize and build sound tracks.

Web Authoring using Flash
Students will use Macromedia Flash to create engaging digital presentations that inform and entertain their audience. Interactivity beyond navigation will be explored to create features where the user can not only view content but also make and manipulate content. Text, animation, motion graphics, audio and video will be controlled using rollovers, clicks, and keyboard entry. Students will learn to dynamically control movieclips using properties such as rotation, movement, transparency, and size. Using Actionscript, Flash’s object-oriented language, students will cover programming basics suitable to a designer and advance through use of variables, functions, loops, conditionals, and arrays.

Second Term

DVD Authoring using Encore and DVD Studio Pro
In this course, students will learn to program and develop advanced multimedia applications for DVD delivery. Students will use the Adobe Encore and the Apple DVD Studio Pro authoring environments to integrate text, sound, images, and video. The class will extend into new DVD development formats, and consider topics in the development process such as working with multiple video tracks, MPEG-2 compression, and multiplexing for set top delivery.

Web Development using Dreamweaver and PHP/mySQL
Students will learn to build data-driven sites that can be updated by a visitor or an administrator for sharing or personalizing content. Using Macromedia Dreamweaver, students will learn how to use a web editor to store content and configuration in a database (mySQL), manipulate it with a server-side script (PHP) and present it with HTML. Control of dynamic HTML (dHTML) and Javascript code within Dreamweaver will also be introduced. Throughout the course, interface architecture will be examined in light of the newly learned skills.

Techniques in Project Management
This course is a continuation of Introduction to Project Management. In addition to applying techniques learned in the prerequisite course, students will consider strategies for proposing, developing, and marketing a larger scale multimedia product. Additional topics will include requirement analysis, formal proposals, project estimates, budgets, risk analysis and recommendations, content management, usability testing, and evaluation and signoff.

Interface Design using Photoshop and Illustrator
This course looks at the development of well-designed architectures and coherent interfaces for multimedia, and emphasizes how user-centered design can shape information to meet audience needs. Organizational schemes, navigational structures, modular layout, principles of interface design, and usability approaches will all be examined. Students will use concepts from color theory, iconography, and typography to develop fully articulated visual languages.

Audio Video using AfterEffects and Final Cut Pro
Students will learn advanced audio/video media creation and distribution. In addition to creating videos for CD/DVD-ROM and web distribution, students will edit and master video for DVD-Video disks using Apple Final Cut Pro, and work with post-production compositing tools such as Adobe AfterEffects. The course focuses on the technical requirements and limitations of digital video, with particular emphasis on preparing video for DVD-Video. Students will also examine bandwidth requirements for video distribution, and implement streaming technologies.

Web Authoring using Flash Actionscript
Students will learn to create interactive multimedia environments through which users can interact on the web. Students will learn to use Macromedia Flash to create projects that send and receive data to and from a server. They will then learn server-side scripting (PHP) and database access (mySQL) so that data can be shared to facilitate communication, shared states, and administration. These techniques will allow students to create remotely updated websites. Ways that data is passed back and forth will be examined, such as URL encoded variables and XML.

Graduate Opportunities

Graduates find employment in multimedia production firms, web development companies, corporate environments (including marketing, communications, information management and training divisions), educational and government institutions, and the entertainment industry. Careers include, but are not limited to, multimedia programmer, web developer, digital media specialist, creative director, web graphic designer, project manager, multimedia marketer, instructional designer, applications trainer, and communications manager.

Admission Requirements

Program Eligibility

• Grade 12 diploma or equivalent
• Students are expected to have computer literacy skills prior to admission (Microsoft Windows, office administration software, image editing and some webpage understanding an asset)

Applicant Selection
Eligible applicants are selected on the basis of:

• Previous academic achievement (particularily in Graphic Design, Computer Studies or Communications, or equivalent professional experience
• Response to a questionnaire, and review of submitted examples of professional/project/design/project work

Transcripts, indicating courses completed to date, must be submitted at the time of application.

Portfolio Requirements
Examples of screen-based design (i.e. web design, electronic images, CD-ROMs) always make excellent additions to your application. However, we do not require digital or even strictly graphical work as part of your portfolio. We are looking for pieces that demonstrate dedicated and challenging work with previous projects, both educational and professional, and an indication that these capabilities will shift well into new media. Portfolios submitted should consist of at least four examples of your previous project work.

Those interested in the program are always invited to contact theinstructor for more program information, or tours of the Interactive Multimedia lab space.

Holland College graduates, or those currently enrolled in a Holland College program who wish to take the Interactive Multimedia program, are eligible to receive a student assistantship valued at $2400 for continued study in Interactive Multimedia. Those students who receive an assistantship will apply their skills toward ongoing College projects. A limited number of these assistantships are available. Please apply early.

If you have any questions concerning the Interactive Multimedia program, contact April Condon at: ajcondon@hollandc.pe.ca