This package, reported by Scott LaPierre and Jeff Adkins, is a multimedia package that shows the behind the scenes of a non-pro fighting competition in Tennessee, which considered to be dangerous. In 2004, the Tennessee Legislature voted to ban the event. LaPierre was in charge with audio, video, text and flash design, while Adkins was in charge with photos. Therefore, this package uses all forms of media to convey a message.
From how it is presented, the intended purpose of this article is to take viewers inside the competition so that the viewers know what the competition is all about and understand why this competition is worth to be preserved. By watching this package, viewers can get the idea of what does this competition mean to many people who have participated. The package shows that this competition is actually a medium for people who want to deal with different emotions, for example, aggression, curiosity or love for exercise. This package definitely brings up the human side of the competition. The competition is portrayed positively rather than negatively because from how it is presented, the competition is portrayed to be very valuable and meaningful for the participants.
The video interviews are the best part to tell the story about the competition and of course to defend it because the people who were being interviewed are people who support the competition. Therefore, the message of how this fighting competition is OK was conveyed very clearly. The intended purpose was apparent during an interview with the promoter and a doctor because this part shows that even though this competition is for non-pro fighters, the competition is not that dangerous because safety prevention and health professionals are available for fighters.
This package is divided into three main parts, introduction, fight nights and fighters. The introduction part is a combination of text and sound. The background of the text is like a video that has been edited so that it doesn’t disturb the eyes when viewers read the introduction. Viewers can turn the text on and off by putting their cursor on the “Turn Text Off” button on the top right of the text box.
The second part, fight nights, is mainly videos with text to provide with background information. To activate the text, viewers just have to put their cursor on “Text/Pause” button. Whenever viewers do that, the video will automatically pause. The longest video is five minutes so the video is actually a very good tool to convey messages because it’s not too long and the videos have real people talking. The three videos under the fight nights category basically explain about the safety for fighters.
The third part, fighters, is a combination of text, videos and audio slideshow. The way to activate the text is similar to the first and second part. In this part, there are six fighters explaining why they decided to join the competition.
In my opinion, this package is a very rich multimedia package because the creators used different forms of media wisely. It is a good thing that the creators used both experts and just regular people, who were involved in the competition. Therefore, the content of the package is pretty much come from people who have experienced the competition first-hand. However, that causes lack of creators’ input. I think the different forms of media in this package are worth imitating. However, the fact that this package was somehow intended to show the positive sides of the competition made it seem like this package is bias. The main problem of this package is it did not really interview any source with opposite opinion about the competition.
In my opinion, the package is very clear, and in terms of quality, all videos, slideshow, text and audios were edited very well so that everything is easy to digest. I like the way the creators use interesting written quotes under each video and slideshow. Quotes, somehow, bring up the human aspect of the story.
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July 23, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Michelle
Awis,
First off, I’m surprised to see that you chose a package on fighting. I would expect one of the guys in the class to choose this, so the fact that you chose it made me want to read your reaction to violence.
Some of the “fighter” interviews I struggle with whether the producers should have polished the interviews to make them more language appropriate, but then I think of the audience that will watch this and it is probably ok.
I don’t particularly like the way that the video will pause and the text comes up. I would rather the video continues to run and text is added in addition to the video. The way it is becomes distracting as the text flies in.
Also, this website reminds me of our class project.
July 23, 2009 at 3:58 pm
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July 25, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Josh Flynn
Just to give a male perspective here, I agree with almost everything that was already said here. I feel like the design of the site was pretty good, but as Michelle said I didn’t like the integration of the text/pause feature. We should be able to view that text without having to stop the video.
As far as the language, I think it was fine, but there needs to be some kind of disclaimer that warns parents of violence and crude language. Awis pointed out that one really strong point of the project is how it humanizes these fighters. Especially the video footage really helped me to visualize what these guys look like.
It looks a little outdated, maybe they could simply redesign the page a bit, and change a few things around to have things flow in a different but still non-linear fashion.