Category Archives: Science Video Tutorials

I produce tutorials showing how to make science videos, for example with an iPad. Other tutorials include how to do animations for your science video project, how to use the rule of thirds in video composition, and many other aspects of videography.

GoPro Hero 3+ Slow Motion Tutorial

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You can shoot a lot of neat action footage with a GoPro. To create a really interesting effect in a video, you might want to slow that action down. For example, you might want to film a fast-moving animal such as a flying insect or bird but be able to slow the film down to see movements more clearly. My subject was a hummingbird, which you can see in the short clip below (footage was shot at 120 fps and slowed to play at 30 fps). If you can’t see the player window, here is the direct link.

How did I do that? Well, I’ve created a tutorial that shows how to set up a GoPro Hero 3+ (Black Edition) to capture footage at 120 fps (frames per second) and then how to convert the footage in GoPro Studio (free download) to produce a slow motion film. Here is the direct link to the tutorial in case you can’t see the player window on your device.

You can set up the GoPro to shoot at 240 fps, but you will no longer be able to shoot in HD. Anyway, I had great fun filming the hummingbird and am looking forward to using my GoPro in the future to produce slow motion action footage for my science videos.

Want to learn more techniques like this? If so, you may be interested in my ebook, The Scientist Videographer, which covers everything you need to know to produce an effective and professional video. Available in iTunes Store (fully interactive version for iPad, iPhone, & Mac), Smashwords (text version), and Amazon Kindle (text version).

Student Video: Should We Fund Basic or Applied Research?

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It’s the year 1960, and you are asked this question: Which would you donate $10 toward: Research to develop an affordable treatment for diabetes OR basic research on how bacteria protect themselves? What would your answer be?

Those of you who are scientists likely recognize this as a trick question. However, it’s a great way to get a viewer interested in watching a video about why basic research is important. The video was created by five graduate students and a post-doctoral scientist and recently won a national video contest called “Stand Up For Science“. Take a look:

Create a Visual Abstract for a Research Article With This Template

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visual_abstract_template_klmckeeDo you want to raise the visibility of your research articles but don’t know how? One way to make your work more visible online is to create a video or other visual description of your work and post it online. A text link to your paper may be buried on page 43 of a Google search, but a visual link (image or video) is likely to be ranked higher (and possibly featured on the first page of search results if there are few competing visuals on your research topic).

A number of journals and scientists are using video or visual abstracts to promote papers, but it can be a challenge to create a visual abstract from scratch. So I’ve been working on a template to help those researchers who would like to create a visual abstract for a journal article. I finally finished it and am making it available to everyone.

I created the visual abstract template with Prezi and posted it on the Prezi website where anyone can reuse it. You will need to set up an account (free) on Prezi (or purchase an upgrade if you want to work on your computer). The template has a basic design for a visual abstract and contains media and text placeholders, which allow someone to easily substitute their own material. Instructions are built into the template so that the user can follow along and understand how to modify the template and create their own visual abstract. There are tutorials on the Prezi website that provide additional instructions for using Prezi.

I’ve embedded a player window below so that you can view the visual abstract template (be sure to select full-screen for best viewing):

If you would like to use this template, go to this webpage and download it. Once downloaded to your account, you will be able to make whatever changes you like—even change the entire theme, if you wish.

You don’t have to acknowledge me as the source of the template (although that would be nice) but please consider retaining the link and embed code for the template so that anyone viewing your abstract will know where to find the template for their use.

More Resources and Guidance for Creating Visual/Video Abstracts:

1. The Scientist Videographer eBook (contains more in-depth guidance and tutorials on developing a visual abstract)

2. 8 Steps to a Good Video Abstract (another embeddable slide show with more dos and don’ts)

3. Getting Started with Prezi (official guide to using Prezi–good for beginners)

Use Time Lapse To Reveal Unseen Biological Phenomena

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I’ve written previously about how useful time-lapse video can be in showing biological or physical phenomena that cannot be readily observed in real time. Most people are fascinated by time-lapse movies—a reaction the scientist videographer can use to advantage. I came across an article in the BBC News Magazine about “Underwater time-lapse shows secret life of a coral reef“.

You can see the video that accompanies the BBC article here. It includes a lot of amazing time-lapse footage of coral reefs. You can also get an idea of how the scientist (Dr. Pim Bongaerts of the University of Queensland) captured some of the footage in aquaria or in the field.

If you are interested in using time-lapse photography in your research or in a science video, check out my tutorials explaining how to shoot time lapse below:

How to create a time-lapse video with a smartphone

How to make a time-lapse video from still images

Coming Soon to a Journal Near You: Video Abstracts

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[note that this is an updated version of an article I wrote for another blog]

pointatcomputer copyA relatively new trend at some science journals is the publication of video abstracts alongside the written article—in which the authors explain their findings on camera. Video abstracts are typically short (3-5 minutes) and often are freely accessible, either on the journal’s website or on a video-sharing site.

What are the advantages for an author? By using video, authors can explain their work in a way that they are not able to do in print, such as showing footage of their experimental methods, field sites, and/or study organisms. The authors are able to provide a more personal explanation of their findings and put their work into a broader perspective. By posting a video on the internet, an author can raise the visibility of their research because search engines rank video high in comparison with text-only descriptions (especially if it’s the only video out there on the topic). People searching for information on a topic will be more likely to find their video abstract, and the video will lead viewers to the technical paper. The more people who are aware of the work, the more likely they are to cite it. Also, if the video is published on YouTube, the authors are free to embed their video abstract on their own websites, something they often cannot do with their journal publication because of copyright restrictions.

Another important point, often overlooked by authors, is that they can reach a broader audience with a video abstract. For example, a video abstract may reach end-users such as resource managers or health-care workers who might not read the technical paper but would watch a five-minute video. Colleagues in other fields might also find your video interesting even though they would not read your paper. For example, as a scientist, I’m interested in keeping up with major discoveries in other fields. Although I’m not likely to read a technical paper about the Higgs boson, I would watch a video that explains what’s been discovered and what it means. In other words, a video abstract can greatly expand your audience beyond fellow scientists who read your journal articles.

A video abstract that explains your work in everyday language also can be used to show the “broader impacts” of your work, for example, in a grant proposal to a government funding agency such as NSF or NIH. NSF, for example, requires proposers to show both the technical merit as well as the broader impact of the proposed activity on society. Videos that are accessible and understandable by a diverse audience meet the second criterion and serve as documentation of a scientist’s previous contributions in this regard.

What are the advantages for the reader? Video can provide a richer, more interactive experience for a reader. Anyone can access such media without having a subscription or paying a fee—unlike the journal article locked behind a paywall. For non-specialist readers, a video in which the authors explain their work in everyday language would provide greater insight, spark their curiosity about the topic, and possibly encourage them to learn more about it.

What if my journal does not publish video abstracts? Not that many journals support publication of video abstracts. However, this should not stop you from creating and publishing a video abstract on your own. The benefits, as outlined above, should be sufficiently motivating to justify the effort. You can publish your video abstracts on your own website on on a video-sharing site such as YouTube. In fact, because millions of people are searching YouTube for information, your video abstract will be more visible than if hidden on a less frequently visited website.

What will the future hold? Video abstracts are part of an overall trend in multimedia communication of information on the internet, which has been facilitated by the wide availability of digital devices and software for creating and sharing videos. Some science disciplines seem to be getting on the video abstract bandwagon faster than others. Whatever the future of video abstracts, we are clearly in a learning phase. Many of my colleagues have either never heard of video abstracts or expressed little interest in doing one, even if offered the opportunity. Students seem to be more receptive to the idea, possibly because they are more technically-savy and accustomed to watching YouTube videos than their professors.

If video abstracts become standard practice, authors will need to develop some skills at creating such videos (or have someone else do it for them (most likely for a fee)). At a minimum, scientists must understand how to design an effective video abstract. Unfortunately, there are few guidelines for authors who do want to create a video abstract.

To help, I’ve put together a short guide to creating an effective video abstract. It covers eight basic steps involved in planning and creating a video abstract and has links to other resources, including a tutorial showing how to make a video abstract with a smartphone and a simple movie-editing application. Feel free to download the pdf and share with colleagues and students:

Download (PDF, 1.25MB)