An effective technique to use when you cannot afford to interview your subject in person or at their field site, is to do an online interview via Skype or similar service. You can record your computer screen while your interviewee answers your questions online. Then all you have to do is edit in footage and still images illustrating the points that your subject mentions. Here is an example of one such video:
Take a look at this video on birds of paradise and the scientist and photographer who have been documenting them. It was produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This and numerous other videos on the Cornell website illustrate how a university can advertise the research being done by staff and faculty in a format that’s interesting and accessible to the general public.
See this nice NASA video explaining why the world didn’t end on December 22, 2012 and what the Mayan calendar really predicted. This is the type of professional, informative video scientists need to produce about their respective fields to combat inaccurate, unscientific beliefs and predictions that divert attention away from real problems we need to face and solve. If you can’t see the video player box below, here is the URL for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wimiRUHMI4
Although not technically a science video, this film about Massoud Hassani, a designer who developed a low cost method to clear land mines, is a great example of telling a dramatic story (see earlier post about the dramatic question). It is a finalist in Focus Forward’s $200,000 Filmmaker Competition. See the film here:
See this entertaining and concise video spanning the 3.8 billion year history of life on earth. Note the use of the virtual white board method.