November 14, 2011

Movies and Video at ScienceOnline2011

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

From short educational videos to Hollywood blockbusters, movie is one of the most persuasive and important media that can influence what people know and how they think about science. Thus, we have prepared quite a line-up of sessions on this topic for this year:

Basic Video Making 101: An online tutorial (hands-on workshop) - Jim Hutchins and Joanne Manaster

This is a hands-on workshop where participants can begin to script and produce their own videos. Each video needs to tell a story. What are your objectives for the video you're making? What do you hope to accomplish? Just as we have clearly defined objectives and a "hidden curriculum" in the classroom, video production needs a set of decisions about level of presentation, lighting, dress, and setting that will affect how your audience reacts to your video. We will also work together to develop "best practices": what works, and what doesn't work, in online videos? Come prepared with your ideas and we will work together to turn them into ready-to-post videos.

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Filming and Communicating Your Research: The Power is Yours! (discussion) - Austin Gallagher and Carin Bondar

The combination of affordable portable video recording devices and streamlined, universal online video communication has paved the road for an emerging and exciting platform for science communication. We propose a discussion that brings together filmmakers, journalists, and scientists, to share experiences and success stories on how to use these technologies to one's advantage. For example, we share stories from a recent real-time video virtual expedition conducted from on white shark research in South Africa (called the White Shark Manifesto), and the lessons we have learned through creating and leading film festivals such as the Beneath the Waves Film Festival, a unique film festival held within a scientific conference. The discussion will be led by Austin Gallagher and Christine Shepard: one is a scientist who dabbles heavily in film--the other a filmmaker who dabbles heavily science. We hope to share exciting video clips and stories from the field, while moderating a session for tips, advice, and discussion with question and answer.

So You Want To Make A Science Documentary (discussion) - Tom Levenson

This workshop is aimed at those who want to take the next step into storytelling with moving images or sound in work that moves past straight news, commentary or illustration into documentary. It will be half practical, focusing on production much more than technical crafts, which is to say it will talk about how to organize a documentary project down to a quite nitty-gritty level more than how to use a camera or which microphone to buy. (Though some of that kind of stuff will, no doubt, slip in.) The other half of the workshop will look at/listen to a couple of short, well made science documentaries, including recent student work, to start the discussion on what the particular challenges and opportunities for telling stories the media of audio or video create.

"It's Good To Be The King" - Blogging the Mel Brooks Way! (discussion) - David Manly and @DrRubidium

How to get started, engage a audience, conduct blog research, establish collaborations, keep your writing fresh, appreciate your followers, effectively deal with detractors and many other blogging lessons can be gleaned from an unlikely source - Mel Brooks movies (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Space Balls, Robin Hood: Men in Tights...). We will present lessons learned through blogging and Brooks movies in this fun and informative session.

'Cyberscreen Science Film Festival' - hosted by Carin Bondar and Joanne Manaster. Last year, this was one of the break-out sessions. But it was such a great success, we decided to give it its own time-slot this time so everyone can see it. They will soon post more information about it on their blog.

Learn more:

Google Plus official page

Google Plus circle of participants