Defining Multimedia

Multimedia has infiltrated innumerable aspects of our daily lives.  It appears in the commercial you see on tv while watching your favorite show, your phone screen as you endlessly scroll through your Instagram feed, and the music videos, vlogs, and instructional videos you binge watch on youtube in your free time.  You may be wondering, "what exactly is multimedia?" Well multimedia is the combined use of multiple mediums of communication or artistic expression.  

Marketing heavily uses multimedia.  Commercials use video, audio, and often animation and text as well.  Advertisements that appear on apps or websites also are multimedia as they contain text, graphics, animation, and often audio as well. 

Social media is a very common use of multimedia.  You probably have various social media accounts or at least have used some form of it in your life.  Most social media apps use text and graphics as their main medium of communication, however many also include audio, animation, and video also.  

Online videos and short films such as on Youtube or Vimeo also are a prime example of multimedia.  While these obviously contain video, most include animations (such as transitions), graphics (images in slideshows or added into youtube videos), text (titles, subtitles, and captions), and audio (music, people talking, or sound effects) as well.