You may have seen a fellow scientist using the iPad to shoot video, but wondered how they were going to turn those random clips into something useful.  In this series of tutorials, I am showing how to use the iMovie app for the iPad to edit video clips and produce a movie that follows a storyline.

In this tutorial, I show how to shoot video with your iPad and insert the footage directly into iMovie as well as how to import footage you’ve taken with other devices such as a camcorder or digital camera (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).

Much of what we do as scientists is visual, yet our traditional means of communication, scientific papers, consist mostly of text and perhaps a few figures or diagrams. What if you were able to film every step of an intricate technique you’ve developed so that others could truly replicate it and avoid mistakes?

In this series of posts, I’m describing how easy it is to use your iPad to document your work and create a visual record of an ongoing science project, a particular method, a study site, or some other aspect of your research, which you can then use to enhance lectures or to submit as supplementary material to a journal article.

In this video, I continue with instructions for using the iMovie app for the iPad to create professional-looking science videos. In this tutorial, I finish up with the audio instructions: how to add music and sound effects to your video (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).

This post continues with another in a series of tutorials on how to use the iMovie app for the iPad to create science videos.  You may want to make a video about a method, about a project you are starting, about your field site or research team, or to summarize the findings of a recent paper you’ve just published.

In this tutorial, I focus on audio and how to do voice-over and to add sound effects and music (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).

If you are a scientist, you are probably thinking that you don’t have time to learn how to make videos.  However, it is much easier than you think.

If you already have an iPad, then you have all the equipment needed to begin making videos.  In this series of tutorials, each about 10 minutes in length, I am covering all the basic information you need to get started.  So with about an hour’s investment, you will be able to begin using your iPad to make science videos.

In this post, I’ve uploaded the second tutorial, which finishes up how to manipulate images and how to work with themes and add text to your movie project (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).

Scientists are using video to illustrate their research and to create products that complement their traditional means of science communication (journal articles and conference presentations).  Journals are now publishing movies and animations created by authors to supplement their written articles.  Funding agencies are expecting PIs to show the broader impacts of their work by developing outreach products such as videos and podcasts in which scientists explain their research in an interesting and understandable way.  Online journals, such as JoVE, are being developed to publish peer-reviewed videos in which basic and intricate research techniques are described. 

Don’t get left behind.

Discover how easy it is to use the iMovie app for the iPad to create your own science video. You may want to make a video about a method, about a project you are starting, about your field site or research team, or to summarize the findings of a recent paper you’ve just published.

Follow along as I describe how to navigate iMovie for the iPad.  In this first tutorial, I will cover the basics of adding and manipulating video and still images (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window):