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Paper puppets and beautiful {de}composition

Sweetfern Productions has produced a wonderful and novel science film about the decomposition of a whale. What? Awesome and inspiring:

Whale Fall (after life of a whale) from Sharon Shattuck on Vimeo.

October 14th, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: Technology, Videos | Leave a comment

Creativity in wildlife shooting

60-minutes has posted a great behind-the-scenes look at a new Animal Planet program called ‘Spy on the Ice’. (click here) It is a close-up look at polar bears, filmed with extremely creative techniques: remote control cameras disguised as ice, cameras that move on skis, etc. This is the work of John Downer, who pioneered [...]

September 21st, 2011 | Tags: , , | Category: How-to, Technology, Uncategorized, Video | Leave a comment

Final Cut X is here

Despite being Final Cut Pro users since 2007, we use iMovie ’11 as an editing standard for our ScienceFilm courses. And why not? It comes free with every Mac, and it really covers the basic needs of an editor quite well. In fact, it does things better than FCP7 (faster output, ease of image [...]

June 25th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Announcements, Technology | Leave a comment

ScienceFilm Forum is live!

We have created the ScienceFilm forum, a place for everyone interested in science film making to discuss gear and techniques, make announcements, and connect with others who share the same interest. There is also workshop-specific forums for participants to connect before the workshop, and stay in touch after the workshop. We hope it will [...]

May 2nd, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: Announcements, How-to, Technology | Leave a comment

$14 camera stabilizer

One of the easiest ways to improve the quality of your video production is to make sure that your camera work is either rock solid (i.e. use a tripod), or that your camera movements are fluid and smooth.

There are software plugins (e.g. Stabilizer in iMovie ’09 and newer, or SmoothCam in Final [...]

April 29th, 2011 | Tags: , , , | Category: How-to, Technology | Leave a comment

Code of Best Practices for Sustainable Filmmaking

The Centre for Social Media at American University has a great webpage outlining the ‘Best Practices for Sustainable Filmmaking’. They cover everything from feeding yourself ethically on a shoot to calculating the carbon budget for your project. Some great tips here to help you practice what you preach if you are making films about [...]

March 21st, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: How-to, Technology | Leave a comment

Some of the earliest ‘science’ films

The roots of science filmmaking are revealed in this short video from New Scientist. There are some ingenious techniques described here, including a neat intervalometer (for doing timelapse) based on several tin cans and some water. Check it out:

March 19th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Technology | Comments are closed

SustainableFocus.org is online!

Check out SustainableFocus.org, a new web magazine and online community dedicated to visual communication about science and the environment! 

Click here for more info

February 14th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Announcements, Technology | Leave a comment

Creative research about your improvising brain

In the process of discussing creativity with scientists (and trying to encourage scientists to engage with their own creativity), many questions arise about the origins, the process, and the nature of creativity. In this emerging field of research, there are more questions than answers!

I am always looking for new insights about the creative [...]

January 7th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Technology, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Welcome to the ScienceFilm Blog

Hello past and future ScienceFilm participants!

We are pleased to launch our new website and blog. Check back here frequently to get updates on ScienceFilm activities, workshops, links, contests, tech news and more!

Cheers, Colin & Jeff

January 6th, 2011 | Category: Announcements, Technology | Comments are closed