Our interactive small scale content involved the qualities of Hyperlinks and having a Cross Platform environment. These two qualities worked together very effectively because you are able to implement many different diverse platforms that attract lots of unique demographics. As seen on the website there are five or so ways the audience are able to interact with our project of Maria Ridolph’s unsolved mystery. Audience interaction is an interesting aspect that I’m only now coming to grips about, but I’ve been able to learn that its a lot more operative to have an active audience rather than a passive one. Due to the distinct amount of platforms involved we think that there’ll be an increase in hits, we also find that having it hyperlinked also creates the website to look further than the facts. It reaches out to other opinions and groups that share new and exciting content about the case.
The Facebook element of the website links you to a page that was created in order to inform the population of this dangerous world and how easily something like this can happen. It also uses the platform to post new visual content of the primary suspect ‘Jack McCullough’ and how the police and court officials are dealing with him. Hyperlinking this page on our website allows for the viewers to not only interact with ‘our’ page but with others. It kind of creates a multi faceted interaction website. I guess all websites are like this. But when thinking about why we are making these choices, and why we are implementing it, makes it all the more real and how we are kind of helping people connect socially and care about more stories that aren’t universally known. The Instagram #hashtag that we’ve hyperlinked also allows for the younger generation to get involved and spread the word in their own way.
Content; pictures were uploaded to the website to give a deeper understanding of the story and the depth that newspapers felt and what the victims and perpetrators looked like. Video content was uploaded via Youtube hyperlink in order to give a practical and narrator-isc view of the story details as well. The sound was put behind my voice to create a suspenseful feel and I think became a successful component to the visual, one would say immersive. We used editing techniques of type to enforce the information whilst including an interactive strategy of who they think the killer is. This is achieved through asking this very question at the end of the video and including a poll on the website, separate to the video. This idea of interacting can also be done in the way of commenting on the Youtube website itself and telling us what you think, who the killer is and any other comments. Which highlights the cross platform intractability, and how well these qualities work together in our project.
Whilst I completed this assessment, I found out how easy it is to make a website. Now being a media communications student you would think id know which one is the best, how to do it, ect ect. But I didn’t, until now. Using WIX, was an easy device that allowed me to pick and choose what I wanted to hyperlink, what I wanted to apply and what type and colours I could choose from.
During the development stage I was hoping to use two cameras during the filming process and edit two views simultaneously in order to create a more interesting and captivating video. However, due to the shooting location and not being able to choose and plan a proper area (away from RMIT) to shoot, we were left with not the most aesthetically pleasing background. When we placed the second camera it captured an ugly background and the lighting was off. Therefore, in producing the video I learnt to always plan ahead and even pre shoot to work out if it looks good, evaluate the options and possibly move if feasible. I was also thinking of using a forceful tone like the Netwars project did, but I found that it’d feel too demanding and having a lighter, calmer tone let the viewers feel more at home with the information.
Overall, online content opens up lots of new ways to collaborate with each other, as we are no longer limited to having to talk to someone in at the same place at the same time. Instead, we can create content and share it, we can comment and bring forth a discussion, or even send a picture or video and inform and educate others about something they haven’t heard of. The characteristics of cross platform and hyperlink; I believe work together in my project to create an expansive result into online screen collaboration. The only thing I want to find out next is, what other sites and platforms can we use to increase collaboration that includes an enormous amount of mediums and forms?