Category Archives: Science Video Tips

I provide various tips for improving your science videos, including information about lighting, sound, interviewing talent, shooting video, editing video, and sources of public domain images for use in your science video projects.

Fair Use

Posted on by

If you plan to use someone else’s work (photographs, video, or music) in your video, based on the assumption that it falls under the “fair use” umbrella, you might want to take a look at the video below by the Stanford Center for the Internet and Society.

It’s quite long (34:51 min) and not designed to entertain, but is one of the best general explanations of “fair use” as it applies to video.  CIS was asked by YouTube to answer a number of common questions about “fair use”, using specific examples to illustrate.  The information in the video is not legal advice, however, and the speakers caution that they are only providing “general guidance”.  Their recommendation is to get legal advice if you are not sure.

Below, I’ve summarized the definition of “fair use” as well as the four criteria that determine “fair use”.

What is “fair use”?  The term refers to a set of exceptions whereby someone can use copyrighted material without permission.  There are a lot of misconceptions about what one can use without permission, especially if it’s found on the internet.

What are the four criteria?

1.  What are you doing with the copyrighted material?  Is your use transformative?

2. What is the nature of the copyrighted material?  Fictional and non-fictional material are gauged slightly differently.

3.  Is the amount of the copyrighted material used in your creation reasonable?  That is, do you use only what is necessary to make your point and no more?

4. Will your use impact the market for the original copyrighted material?

Want to know how these criteria apply to common scenarios involving video?  Watch the video:

How to Make a Science Video Without Film Footage

Posted on by

What if you would like to make a video about a topic but you don’t have a lot of footage?  Or perhaps you would like to describe a new technique, but have only still shots of your equipment and procedures.  Maybe you would like to describe a science concept, but have only audio of someone explaining their work?  Can you still make a video?  Of course.  In fact, there is an editing technique called “montage”, in which the videographer creates a narrative using a sequence of still images to tell a story.  This approach can be very effective, as this video illustrates:

You’ll note that in this video, “Congo River: Artery of the Forest”, the creators not only used montage, but also some other ideas I’ve discussed in previous posts.  Like many scientists, they had taken lots of pictures of various scenes and people, known a B-roll, which were the basis for this video.  As I described earlier, it’s important to shoot lots of still images and video footage in addition to your primary footage (e.g., interviews with key subjects), which can be used for opening and closing credit sequences, for transitions between video segments, and especially to break up long interviews (“talking heads”).

In addition to B-roll, the video also asks (and answers) a dramatic question:  “Will the scientists get their samples despite all the logistical challenges?” In a previous post, I explained the purpose of the dramatic question and why we should try to identify and incorporate the dramatic question into science videos.  The basic idea is to grab the viewer’s attention and keep them watching to see how things turn out.

Finally, it’s possible to mesh film clips with still images very effectively to create a more interesting video than one that is composed entirely of video clips.  In fact, by using a Ken Burns effect on still images, you can create the impression of movement, which blends well with film clips; the viewer often does not notice that the video contains a montage of still images. Here is one of my videos in which I used a combination of footage and still images (as well as animations) to explain sea-level rise and impacts on coastal wetlands (see minute 6:50 to 7:22 for one sequence):

In addition, you can also incorporate sound effects and voiceover to enhance a montage of still images. The “Congo River: Artery of the Forest” video does this very effectively (sounds of stamping along with passport images, for example).  In my video, I added sounds of water movement and frogs chirping to give life to still images.

So if you have an idea for a video, don’t be deterred by the lack of film clips. If you have still images of your research and a good dramatic question, you still can develop a compelling video.  In upcoming tutorials, I’ll show in greater detail how to incorporate the montage technique into your movie editing repertoire.

Sources of Public Domain Images

Posted on by

The scientist videographer will often have occasion to use a still image or video footage that s/he has not shot. If you plan to publish your video (on the internet or elsewhere), you will need to get permission to use anyone else’s images.  The exception is when the images are in the public domain.  Where do you find such image collections?  Government websites are a good place to start.  Many government agencies (in the U.S., for example) are creating collections of images and video that are freely available to the public.  In some cases, the images were taken by government employees or were acquired with government funds, automatically placing them in the public domain. In other instances, the agency has compiled scanned images from historical books, maps, and other sources into collections on their websites that can be searched and then downloaded for free.

Below, I list a few of these websites; the list is not exhaustive, but is designed to give you an idea of where to look for images and footage you might need.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a nice gallery of images, including topics such as animals, plants, field research, lab research, illustrations, and education; you can download images at 72 or 300 dpi. The image at right is of Giant Salvinia (USDA, Peggy Greb).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has an extensive collection of images taken in a variety of places around the world by scientists and other employees; high resolution images are available. The photo to the right is of pancake ice taken by Michael Van Woert (NOAA, NESDIS) in Antarctica (located in the Art in Nature Gallery (Patterns and Textures)).

 

Related NOAA sites contain more still images, animations, and video. An example is the NGDC Digital Marine Geology and Geophysics Images collection, which contains, for example, animations of dives to the ocean floor such as the Mariana Trench (click on photo at right to go directly to the animation).

The NOAA Fisheries Service (Northeast Fisheries Science Center) maintains an archive of historical photos related to fisheries in the northeastern U.S.  Hundreds of photos are available for download and free use with proper credit.  See photo of a basking shark at right (NEFSC, Paul Galtsof).  There are also photo galleries of marine mammals, seabirds, invertebrates, sharks, ships, and scenic views.

 

The National Marine Sanctuaries maintains a media library containing still images and many video clips of coastal areas, waves, reefs, deep sea views, fish, sharks, and invertebrates.  The media library is searchable.

 

 

 

The NASA Goddard Space Visualization Studio is the premier location for finding photos and especially animations of the earth and space processes.  Whether you’re looking for animations of arctic sea ice changes or volcanic eruptions, you’ll find them here. The NASA Earth Observatory contains an extensive set of photos, maps, and animations of the world that are downloadable and free to use.  NASA’s Visible Earth contains a massive catalog of images and animations, which are searchable.  See a high resolution image of the Sri Lankan coast during the 2004 Asian Tsunami (NASA, VE) below:

If you are looking for images of hazards, land, oceans, atmosphere, life, snow and ice, or human impacts, these NASA sites will likely contain the image or animation you need.

 

Another site I often visit for historical photos is the Library of Congress (LOC).  Their American Environmental Photographs 1891-1936 collection is a treasure-trove of material. Many of the images in this collection were taken by or of Henry Chandler Cowles (the “father” of American plant ecology); see his photo to the right with students on a botany field trip (note they are all female students!) (LOC, unknown photographer). Interestingly, I can trace my scientific lineage through my graduate adviser and several generations of professors back to Cowles.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a digital photo collection containing many historical and modern images of earthquakes, national parks, and mines.  See photo at right of an earthquake at Hawkes Bay, New Zealand (1931) (USGS, unknown photographer).  There is also a large collection of historical images taken by pioneer photographers of early USGS expeditions (see stereo photo below of an expedition camp, part of the W.H. Jackson collection).

These are just a few of the many government sites where you can find media in the public domain. There are some sites that purport to catalog public domain images, but beware. Many of these are commercial sites and contain a mixture of images grabbed from government sites (public domain) and images that may be copyrighted.  Try to obtain such media from their original sources, which often offer them at different resolutions and contain all relevant information about the image.  If you do use media from secondary sites, be sure the image is really in the public domain and abide by any restrictions listed with the image you wish to use. For the media offered for download on government sites, the only restriction is that you cannot copyright any public domain image, and it’s always appropriate to credit the source and the photographer, if their name is given.

Shoot Video While You Do Research

Posted on by

It’s possible to film without a camera crew while doing field research. Much of my footage for science videos has been shot while conducting research alone or with one assistant. However, it’s essential to have a tripod or monopod to hold your camera while you are working. I typically set up the camera in one location and aim it at wherever I am sampling. It’s important, however, to shift the view around to get the action from different angles and distances. This approach will give you the variety of footage you need to edit an interesting video.

When shooting, I will film for short intervals, stopping and starting the camera periodically. In the following video, you can see how I set up the camera in one spot to capture a sequence of clips while we collected soil cores on an island off the coast of Belize (you can see the finished video here). I simply rotated the camera to different angles to record each part of the process. This approach facilitated filming while working and did not add too much time to the fieldwork.

Science Video Tip: How to Deal with Lighting Issues

Posted on by

Lighting is probably one of the biggest challenges for scientists making videos, especially while doing fieldwork.

Backlighting is a common mistake in which the subject is positioned in front of a window or other light source, putting their image in shadow. By moving the camera so that the light is behind the camera or to the side will solve this issue.  In the video below, I provide an example in which I wanted to shoot footage in a field station laboratory but the light from the windows was interfering with the shot.  Because of the configuration of the laboratory, it was not possible to shoot the lab bench in a way to put the light behind the camera.  I resolved the problem by blocking the light from the windows with some seat cushions and opening a door to introduce light from the side.

Outdoors, we have little control over light intensity and direction.  It’s difficult to avoid shadows during midday when the sun is overhead.   People often wear caps in the field, and these throw even more shadows on the person’s face.  One solution is to use a reflector.  You can buy one specifically for filming or you can use a folding car shade or even make your own with aluminum foil.  Then, you can use the reflector to light up your subject’s face with the sun overhead.  The limitation is that your subject must stay in one position, and you must also compose the shot so that the reflector is not visible.

Another solution to outdoor lighting and shadows is to shoot on an overcast day or when the sun is low on the horizon.  For me, an overcast day is the ideal shooting situation, which produces sharp images with little or no shadows.  Filming in the early morning or late afternoon is also good and can result in some beautiful, soft lighting and colors.  The latter may not always be possible, so the scientist videographer must be prepared to shoot under less than ideal lighting conditions.