Dimensions of Media and Information: Audio

• Audio and motion are dimensions of media and information.

Dimensions of Media and Information

Audio

• Audio is sound, particularly when its recorded, transmitted, or reproduced.
• Sound is an essential component of media.
• Sound in multimedia presentations can be in different types.

Commonly Used Audio File Formats

• Windows Media Audio (WMA) is readily available on Windows computers but isn't supported by many players.
• Compact Disc Audio (CDA) generates file types for audio CD tracks.
• Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) was developed by Apple as the standard uncompressed format on Mac.
• Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)is a lossless compressed audio format.
• Ogg Vorbis (OGG) is "open source", so OGG compression doesn't cost and is freely available.
• Lossless means that no signal components are removed, sound quality is as high as in uncompressed formats.
• Uncompressed audio file formats contain the digital data generated during digital recording.
• MPEG (1 or 2) Audio Layer 3 (MP3) is supported by almost all players, so it's suitable for computers, smartphones, streaming or portable players.
• Wave (WAV) is the default format on Windows for uncompressed audio, the name "Wave" refers to waveform to represent audio signals.

What Audio Format Should You Use?

• The ideal audio format depends on priorities.WAV is the best choice if sound quality matters most and storage isn't an issue.
• WAV is supported by almost all devices so can be played and shared without problems.
• A compressed lossless audio format such as FLAC or ALAC can be employed if you know the playback device and want to save as much music as possible at the highest quality.
• Compressed lossless audio format takes up around half the space of WAV, so you can store twice the amount of music.
• MP3 is still the best option if small file size, metadata, sound quality, compatibility with varied range of devices are all equally important, it is the most versatile audio file format.
• MP3 sound can be lower quality than WAV, FLAC or AAC.
• Setting the MP3 encoder to 128 kbit/s or higher, hearing a difference to the original is not possible, even on professional headphones.
• AAC produces smaller files than MP3 without losing sound quality.

Three Types of Sound in Films

• Narration.
• Music.
• Sound effects.

Some Tips for Low-Cost Sound Designing

• Never underestimate the power of natural sound.
• Sounds made by nature and by industry is the best musical score to use in videos.
• Keep everybody silent when shooting a scenario and let the natural ambient sound go with the action.
• Create your own sound bank: this comes in handy in case all natural and original sounds need to be used.
• Keep a sound recorder handy and record sounds.
• Social media platforms may mute videos with copyrighted music: instead ask somebody to do a cover of it for your use, use royalty-free music, creators of these music don't ask for any royalty or talent fee except that their works must be cited in the end.
• Eliminate unnecessary noise as much as possible.
• If complete silence isn't possible, use natural sound downloaded from a free source on the internet.
• Be careful with your voice recordings, directing recording equipment as close as possible to the sound source is the basic rule in sound recording.
• Balance layers of sound: when using more than one layer of sound in a video (such as voice, music, and ambient sound), decrease the volume of the secondary and tertiary sound to make the primary sound stand out.

Motion

• Movement affects media and information.
• Movement incorporated in a video production contributes to the storytelling process or elicits the desired emotions from viewers.

Purposes of Movement in Video

• Creating dynamic scenes: camera is the viewer's eyes on a story, so the camera moves to dictate how the viewers see a scene, making a scene more interesting.
• Influencing audiences' emotional reactions: movement stands for the audience's view and so influences emotions, using shake hand-held camera in a gang war scene lets the audience feel the chaos of the event.
• Directing audiences' attention: camera movements can hide audiences' vision and pull audiences away from elements on screen.
• Controlling reveals: adding camera movements is a way to provide narrative information, uncover offscreen objects that would be unseen otherwise, foreshadow or create ironic tension that characters are unaware of.

Basic Camera Movements

• Dolly shots are often used to focus on a character when they're lost in thought or when they've come to a sudden realization.
• Pedestal movement is best used to shoot a tall character or subject, moving the camera up or down on a tripod.
• Panning establishes the location of a scene, follows a moving character, and reveals objects that were once off-screen.
• Tilting the camera reveals an object or person that wasn't on screen before to add an element of surprise.

Audio is a key dimension of media, encompassing recorded and reproduced sound. Different audio file formats exist, including Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Compact Disc Audio (CDA). Lossless formats like FLAC preserve high sound quality.