Digital Multi Media

So what exactly is digital multi media? 

adj. 1. Of or relating to the combined use of several media: a multimedia installation at the art gallery. 2. Computers Of or relating to an application that integrates different media, such as text, graphics, video, and sound. - Free Dictionary, September 2021

Example 1 

Waterwall (2020) Maggie Lambert, Emily Lowery and Jonathan Meacock

Waterwall was an immersive Digital Muli Media installation celebrating the physical and mystical properties of water. It was commissioned for the Lewes Light 2020 Festival. 

https://www.leweslight.uk/copy-of-through-the-window

The visuals were magnified footage of both droplets and running water looped and colour treated. This gave the viewer a totally immersive experience as the back projected images bounced off the installations walls.

The music, a sometimes cacophony of field recorded water sounds, bells and prayer bowls added further to the viewers immersive experience 

The result was one of the highlights of the festival as viewers found the immersive installation at times calming, at times challenging and forcing them to ask questions about our relationship to water. 

The main components of the installation were two looped AVI projections and four looped WAV audio playbacks. 

Example 2

Golden Eye 007 (N64 Console Game 1997) 

Golden Eye 007 was a console game designed for the then newly released Nintendo 64 games console. Considered a landmark game in the world of FPS (First Person Shooter) titles and frequently considered one of the best games of all time. 

Whilst previous FPS games had combined the visuals and music - Golden Eye also took advantage of the N64's capability to provide haptic feedback via the game controllers furthering the immersive appeal of the game.

The Visuals, while dated by todays standards made full use of the then powerful N64's capabilities and coupled with the use of atmospheric music in keeping with its James Bond origins. 

The Text was in keeping with the atmosphere of the game and further enhanced the immersive experience and the clever use of the text with the Maurice Binder inspired opening credits further sets the scene 

The result was a thoroughly immersive, atmospheric and playable game which is a true testament to its legacy and also a highpoint in the early development of games consoles. 

Example 3 

The NME - https://www.nme.com/

The New Musical Express formerly Britain's biggest selling print music newspaper/magazine was a quite early adopter of digital media formatting. Printed originally as a weekly in 1952 the NME launched its first website in 1996 encompassing a variety of digital Media concepts like audio, images, text and sound. At the time it was the worlds biggest music website with an estimated 16 million users per month, The NME was also an early adopter of the use of online advertising, eventually moving both online and print to a fully advert supported business model (the print edition went free in 2015 before finally ceasing in 2018)

The visuals/graphics have varied over the years ranging from initially a pretty straight up rendition of the paper through to todays more minimalist monochrome look. The style changes are a good representation of what is considered 'in' for website design over the years. 

Overall the NME's advert rather than subscription based model does make the site quite difficult to use and this coupled with a heavy reliance of contrasting videos and sound often leads to issues with accessibility UI design . 

As a predominately music (although the paper has always covered film and books to a certain extent) there is a high element of sound and video for the most part directly embedded although occasionally as a follow up link. 

The website is also host to an online version of the paper itself available via Ebook or PDF.