Key Ingredients for a Science Video

In the sixth and final video in our series (Eric and Karen Talk about DIY Science Videos), we focus on key ingredients for a successful science video:

How Long Should a Video Be?

Check out the latest video in which Eric Brennan (USDA-Agricultural Research Service) and Karen McKee (The Scientist Videographer) talk about DIY science videos. In this series, they answer questions that science professionals may have about making videos to share information about themselves and their research. This video series was inspired by a paper Eric published in Frontiers in Communication: “Why Should Scientists Be On YouTube? It’s All About Bamboo, Oil and Ice Cream”: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/

This is the fourth video in the series and focuses on the question of how long should a video be.

Who Should Make Videos for the Scientist?

In the video embedded below, I continue my conversation with Eric Brennan, a researcher with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, who recently published a paper in Frontiers in Communication called “Why Should Scientists Be On YouTube? It’s All About Bamboo, Oil, and Ice Cream“.

That paper inspired us to join forces and initiate a video series to answer questions that science professionals may have about making videos. Each video focuses on a different question. In this one, we discuss who should make videos for scientists.

In case you missed it, here is the first video in the series: Why Should Scientists Use Video as a Communication Tool?

Why Should Scientists Be on YouTube?

Eric Brennan, a researcher with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, recently published a paper in Frontiers in Communication called “Why Should Scientists Be On YouTube? It’s All About Bamboo, Oil, and Ice Cream“. Eric and I began corresponding about eight years ago, sharing our experiences making videos and encouraging other scientists to use video to communicate their work. When I saw his paper, I contacted him and suggested we collaborate on a video project.

We’ve decided to initiate a joint video series to answer questions that science professionals may have about making videos. Each video will focus on a different question. This is the first video in the series and focuses on the question of why scientists should be using video as a communication tool. Future videos will address other questions listed in Eric’s paper (Table 1).

How to Make Your Science Videos More Appealing to Viewers

Viewers quickly become bored with science videos that present only facts and figures. What holds their attention are stories about the scientists or their subjects. In this video, I talk about how to make your science video more appealing to viewers and describe 12 ways to do this. By including human-interest angles, your video will appeal to a wider audience and put a human face on the science story.