Searching for Exceptional Multimedia Productions?

ContinuousPark asks: "My local college has asked me to participate in a 120 hour course on multimedia production. I proposed that one of the modules should be called something like 'Multimedia Appreciation'; I will be teaching this one. During this 10 to 20 hour period, I intend to show students several examples of multimedia productions so they can get an idea of what's possible; what's has been done; and what's original or too common, so they can formulate their own projects, later. So I'm looking for interesting websites that could inspire students, that could help them understand what is a good multimedia production, what kind of effort goes into it, etc. In fact, I'm not just looking for websites, I would also like to include videogames, movies, opera productions, and any other work of art that uses multiple channels to convey a message. What are the most effective multimedia productions you've seen through the years? Examples easily available so that I can show it to them are of course preferable, I'm willing to buy any CD, DVD, book or whatever though. Thanks for the advice."

Comments

Flash animation

[Pope Slackman]

This is some really impressive flash work...

C-X C-S

The demoscene might be a good place to start

[mav[LAG]]

The very best demos have good design, good code, fantastic original art and great soundtracks. The productions are nearly always done for love not money which gives them a quality that you won't get in many commercial productions. This also means they can be a bit more fragile though. Try scouring:

• CFX Web
• Scene.org - especially the viewing tips section
• Assembly 2K

Some demos are classic "real-time" calculated, others have to fit within a size limit like 64k, still others are wirtten in Java. A study of the scene as a whole would show you some interesting trends e.g. the move to hardware accelerated effects over the last couple of years.

The best definition of "Multimedia" I ever heard:

[John Miles]

"Bad games."

I've forgotten who said that, but s/he pretty much nailed it.

lionhead's black and white page

[shren]

Lionhead has a shockwave/flash/whatever page that is reasonably astounding. I knew you could do all the stuff that they do, but I never considered putting it together like that. The scrolling landscape is particularly neat.

The link:

www.lionhead.com

Go to the shocked version, of course.

It might be the wrong kind of multimedia..

[BVis]

But the Blue Man Group's shows are some of the best use of multiple media I've seen. They use video, scrolling LED message boards, video tape, backlighting, electronic music, public address systems, water baloons.. It's quite the experience.