Course Description
This course provides an opportunity to learn the art and science of designing communications that combine several media, and are interactive on the computer. Using software tools such as Macromedia Director, that are used in the multimedia industry, students learn to conceptualize, design, prepare, and program works for eventual publication on CD-ROM and the internet. Topics include planning, animation, user interface design, prototyping, scripting, and usability testing. Students learn to analyze and critique multimedia works according to five principles of interactive communication design. Student projects incorporate photographs, music, sound, video, and extensive user interactivity. As much as possible, work in the course parallels the product development process in the real-world multimedia industry.

Designing Interactive Communication is a hands-on course of study. Every Wednesday morning class meeting includes work with a Macintosh G3 multimedia workstation by every student. The weekly assignments require further hands-on work that is completed in the Multimedia Lab at the College of Communication. The lab is open for student use for about 30 hours each week. The schedule of open hours for student project work is available online at http://mmcom.bu.edu/Comweb/labsked/206.html. An experienced Multimedia Teaching Assistant is available at all times in the lab to help you with your project.

Prerequisites
Students wishing to take this course must already know how to:
• Work with text, typography, and page layout on the computer.
• Capture images with a scanner, video digitizer, and digital camera.
• Use PhotoShop to edit and manipulate images on the computer.
• Capture and digitize motion video on the computer.
• Use Premiere to edit and combine digital video.
• Capture sound and music on the computer, and edit it with SoundEdit.
• Create and compress the various digital files, in their proper formats.
• Assemble multimedia elements into an interactive presentation with PowerPoint, Persuasion or other presentation tools.
Students who complete successfully CM 414 or CM 716, Computers in Communication, or JO 540, Multimedia Publishing, will meet these prerequisites. Other students should seek the permission of the instructor.

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Requirements
The four requirements of this course are full participation, weekly assignments, readings, and a final project. Students attend and participate in each class unless excused in advance. The assignment for each week is due at the beginning of the next class meeting. The assigned reading for each week should be completed before the class meets. And the final project is intended to demonstrate your mastery of the concepts taught in this course.

Materials
Students should purchase the books listed below, as well as at least three 100-megabyte Zip cartridges and a Hi-8 videotape. Near the end of the course, students will need to purchase one or more CD-ROM blanks for submission of their final project.

Required texts
Director 7 for Macintosh & Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide, by Andre Persidsky and Helmut Kobler, published by Peachpit Press. This book gets you started building things with Director, and is used early in the course. It introduces Director’s software tools, and provides lots of specific “how-to” sections. ISBN 0201353989

Director 7 Demystified, by Jason Roberts and Phil Gross, published by Hayden Books. We use this book in the second part of the course. It teaches you how to program advanced user interactivity using Director’s scripting language. It comes with a CD-ROM full of examples. ISBN 0201354454

Student Project
The major work of this course is a student-designed and produced work of interactive communication. Students begin work on this project at the beginning of the course, and complete a working product on CD-ROM or the internet by the end of the semester. Along the way, students submit planning documents, flow charts, and prototypes as evidence of their progress. Students are encouraged to come to this course with a clear idea for a product actively in mind. A “real” product, developed for an outside client, will be the most valuable learning experience. It is the student’s responsibility to find a client for his or her project.

Course Topics
The course topics run in two threads. One thread follows the sequence of designing, developing, and testing an interactive communication product. We learn what is done at each step, as each student builds a project from the ground up. The second thread teaches how to use the many interactive tools and techniques that are part of Director.

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Course Schedule

1. Possibilities and Principles. January 12.
An introduction to the course. The possibilities offered by interactive multimedia, and the principles of effective communication. The process of planning and building a project. Introduction to Director’s stage and tool windows.

Assignment: Develop a preliminary project plan.

Readings:
Director 7 for Mac & Windows, Chapter 1.

2. Defining the Basic Media Elements. January 19.
Gathering cast members from image files and other sources. Director’s Cast, Score, and Tools windows. Director’s Control Panel.

Assignment: Develop a flow chart of the project. Illustrate one scene from the project.

Readings:
Director 7 for Mac & Windows, Chapters 2 - 5.

3. Preparing the Cast of Characters. January 26.
Editing images and sounds to the optimal size and resolution. Acquiring permission to use copyright material. Importing elements into Director. Using Director’s image tools.

Assignment: Create a movie of several images from the project.

Readings:
Director 7 for Mac & Windows, Chapters 6 - 7.

4. Putting the Cast onto the Stage. February 2.
Elements of screen design. Designing for simple elegance. Placing media elements onto Director’s Stage. Sprite channels in Director’s Score window. Basic animation. Sprite behaviors.

Assignment: Add movement and change to the project.

Readings:
Director 7 for Mac & Windows, Chapter 10.

5. Preparing Sound and Video. February 9.
Data rates, sampling frequency, fades and dissolves. Using SoundEdit, Premiere, and MovieShop to optimize sound and video files. Importing sound and video into Director. Controlling sound and video from the score.
Assignment: Incorporate sound and video into the project.

Readings:
Director 7 for Mac & Windows, Chapters 12-13.

6. Designing Interactivity. February 16.
Building user control. Designing tools for navigation. Building and programming buttons. Creating markers in Director. Adding a script to a button. How scripts work.

Assignment: Add markers, pauses, and scripted buttons to the project.

Readings:
Director 7 for Mac & Windows, Chapters 14-15.
Lingo Workshop, Chapters 1-2.

7. Project Workshop, February 23.
Implementing the skills and concepts of weeks 1-6 into your project. Class period devoted to catching up and solving indivdual programming and design issues. All raw material for your project: images, sounds, and videos: should be complete and saved on your Zip disk by this point.

8. Programming Interactivity. March 1.
Advanced techniques for user control and feedback. Designing and programming branches. Controlling pauses, delays, and transitions with Director.

Assignment: Add user-controlled branching to the project.

Readings:
Lingo Workshop, Chapter 4.

No class on March 8. This is Spring Break week.

9. Text and Hypertext. March 15.
Designing text for reading on the computer screen. Designing hypertext systems. Using text for feedback. Text fields in Director. If-then logic in Lingo scripts. Programming handlers and movie scripts.

Assignment: Make the project respond to user input.

Readings:
Lingo Workshop, Chapters 7-8.

10. Feedback to the User. March 22.
Designing quick, natural responses. Rollover and mouseup scripts. Controlling sprites with Lingo scripts. Using variables and parameters in Director.

Assignment: Use scripts to control cast members and program operation in the project.

Readings:
Lingo Workshop, Chapters 9-10.

11. Optimizing Speed and Performance. March 29.
Livening up the pace. Controlling memory. Minimizing overhead. Optimizing cast members. Using handlers and puppet sprites in Lingo scripts.

Assignment: Make your project run faster and smoother.

Readings:
Lingo Workshop, Chapter 5.

12. Project Development. April 5.
With coaching from the instructor, work to complete the project for next week’s beta test.

Assignment: Make the project ready for in-class beta testing next week.

13. Beta Testing. April 12.
Projects are put through their paces by fellow students. Revisions made as necessary.

Assignment: Revise the project based on results of beta test.

14. Project Development. April 19.
With coaching from the instructor, work to complete the project for next week’s presentation.

Assignment: Make the project ready for final presentation next week.

15. Project Presentations. April 26.
Present your project on the big screen for comment and critique.

Assignment: revise your project based on critiques from class.

16. Prepare for publication. May 3.
Creating Projectors and Shockwave files for publishing your work on CD-ROM or on the Internet. Cross-platform publication techniques.

Assignment: Prepare Projectors and Shockwaves files as appropriate. Test on both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

17. Project due in published form on May 10.