Multimedia Case Studies
The following are just a few examples of the many multimedia projects that Sounds Good has undertaken on behalf of our customers...
• How to turn a conference into a CD-ROM:
Client Brief: The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health hold an annual conference in York. Two thousand delegates attend over three and a half days during which over two hundred scientific papers are presented. Paediatric speciality groups hold parallel sessions throughout the week and there are also 'Plenary Sessions' in the Central Hall. However, not everybody can get to all the meetings they would like, and over seven thousand members are unable to attend at all!
Our Solution: Sounds Good supervised audio and video recording of all of the presentations. The videos enabled each presentation to be peer-reviewed, and twenty seven presentations were selected for inclusion to create a CD-ROM containing over nine hours of content.
The audio recordings were then edited to synchronise with the speaker's PowerPoint slideshows, which were also processed to provide input files for the multimedia presentation. Sounds Good's designers programmed the graphical navigation structure to bring the ingredients together into a CD-ROM which would be searchable for speaker and content, and would allow the presentation to be replayed, paused and discussed.
A production run of the CD-ROM was then manufactured in an eye-catching card wallet package, and mailed out to the members. For the last few years we've also created versions of the presentation for Online delivery.
Client Comment: "The CD has been a
great success. We send a copy to all members
with our Autumn Newsletter and it makes a
striking feature on the front cover. Feedback
shows that members in the UK and abroad
value it highly. Those who attended the meeting
welcome the chance to hear presentations again
and those who could not go can catch up on
important messages that they would otherwise
have missed. The design of the CD is excellent
and makes for easy navigation of the content. The
CD is a powerful resource for personal learning,
for sharing and discussion
with colleagues and
for wider teaching
purposes. It is also
effective in raising
the profile of the
meeting, which in
itself is a highlight
of the College year."
Rosalind Topping, Head of Education, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Bespoke end-user training presentation:
Client Brief: One of our corporate clients produces a leading software system used by brokers for quoting for financial services. They needed a training programme for online delivery to let the brokers familiarise themselves with new aspects of the software.
Our Solution: It was decided that the multimedia programme would consist of segments of 'straight-to-camera' presentation, mixed with sequences of screen shots of the software with an audio commentary on top. So our technicians went to the client's premises to record a specially devised and scripted training session given by one of the company's top product specialists. A quiet meeting room was used, and the sesssion was recorded on video and audio, along with a screen capture of everything that happened on the laptop screen. Back at Sounds Good, technicians from the appropriate departments prepared the audio and video segments, and edited the screen capture sequences. Our programmer was then able to assemble the presentation by slotting the content into our modular 'Presenter' platform. Time from recording to having the finished presentation online - 11 days!
• Turn a printed directory into a CD-ROM and online searchable resource:
Client Brief: Another client publishes a monthly technical journal and trade directory. They need to take the directory information and have it made into both an online directory and a CD-ROM to give away as a cover mount on a forthcoming edition of the journal.
Our Solution: Our design team take the client’s text and logo graphics for the directory entries, designs extra navigation and menu screens, then programs it into a functional website ready for uploading, and a version for CD-ROM. Our packaging designers create artwork for the CD-ROM packaging and label. We produce 25,000 discs with printed Pochette packaging and deliver to the fulfilment house with plenty of time for mounting onto the journal and mailing out to the subscribers.
• Enhanced CD: Audio plus video clips or data files:
Client Brief: One of our band clients had a CD album ready to go. They also had some good quality video footage shot at a recent festival. They asked us to put it together as an Enhanced CD, i.e. audio playable as normal on a CD player, plus a data portion containing the live video clips for PC/Mac playback.
Our Solution: From the client’s video masters we edit the video clips, then encode them into MPEG1 files. Our designers produce a front-end menu screen from which each clip can be run. Our audio mastering engineers take the audio tracks, processing them for optimum sound quality and level, and assemble the audio into a red-book audio master, then add the data files as a second session on the disc to produce the Enhanced CD master. At the same time the artwork for the packaging is designed by our graphics team. The manufacturing team take over and 10 days later the band have 1,000 pressed CD albums to sell to their fans - with the value-added attraction of four extra full-length live video tracks.
