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.
No, this post is not about my recent trip to Sri Lanka and riding in their infamous tuc-tucs in crazy traffic. It is the title of the recent video released by NASA describing the anticipated descent of the Mars rover Curiosity from orbit to the surface of the red planet planned for August 6 at 1:31 am ET. The “seven minutes of terror” phrase refers to the time it will take for the vehicle to descend through the atmosphere and be deposited intact and functioning on the ground. The terror will be experienced by the NASA scientists back on Earth as they wait to learn whether the mission has succeeded or not (60% of Mars missions have failed).
The video has been called “stunning”, “exciting”, and “terrifying” by various news outlets and bloggers. I don’t think I would go that far, but I would describe the video as excellent and a successful effort to dramatize and advertise the upcoming Mars landing. It also manages to get across some technical information but in a palatable way. It’s short: 5:07 minutes and highly visual, with outstanding animations and graphics. Take a look and then read my assessment below:
The video starts off with a good “hook”: The opening sequence shows Adam Steltzner (EDL engineer) who says, “When people look at it, it looks crazy. That’s a natural thing. Sometimes when we look at it, it looks crazy. It is the result of reasoned engineering and thought. But it still looks crazy.” The video creators have identified an intriguing aspect of the landing, which is the untested approach to putting the rover safely onto the surface of Mars. The viewer is immediately curious about what’s crazy and why NASA would be trying something so crazy. The title is also a good attention grabber. Right from the start, the viewer is wondering what the connection is between this crazy idea and the seven minutes of terror. This video thus provides a good example of how to capture the attention of viewers and keep them watching.
Information and images are continually introduced, keeping the video moving forward at a steady clip. Each new segment adds a bit more information, e.g., about the challenges of the landing (thin atmosphere), the mechanics of the landing, what will happen if some step fails, how long it will take for scientists waiting back on Earth to learn if the rover has safely landed. Each new aspect is illustrated with a different animation and described by a different scientist who worked on that aspect of the landing.
They kept the text to a minimum and used it to get across startling statistics: 6 vehicle configurations, 76 pyrotechnic devices, 500,000 lines of code…..ZERO margin of error. This text is superimposed on animations and other graphic sequences that illustrate what those numbers represent. And the text is moving across the screen, further adding to the impression of movement. This is the way to use text in a science video.
There is no traditional beginning, middle, and end. That’s OK, as I’ve described previously. The lack of these traditional components does not mean that the video is not organized around a logical manner. In fact, the video has a definite sequence to it, which is highly organized and keyed to the actual landing sequence it is discussing: what the 7 minutes refers to and what it means to the scientists waiting back on Earth, an explanation of EDL (entry, descent, landing) and all the steps in the landing sequence, violent entry through the atmosphere, Mars atmospheric characteristics and what it means for the landing process, the supersonic parachute and why it’s important, getting the heat shield off, cutting the parachute and coming down on rocket motors, the skycrane maneuver to avoid stirring up dust, and avoiding a collision between the descent vehicle and the rover once it’s on the ground. The ending screen image has a single, bold statement: “Dare Mighty Things” followed by the date and time of the landing event.
The style of the NASA video is more like a movie trailer than a movie, which is appealing and immediately recognizable by the average video viewer. Most people have seen hundreds of movie trailers and are familiar with the format, so will readily relate to this style. Even the music sounds reminiscent of movie trailers. The major difference is the lack of a voice-over narrator, which is more typical of a movie trailer. Instead, they used the voices of the scientists to substitute for the narration.
Overall, the NASA video has all ten attributes I identified previously as being important in making an interesting and appealing science video. I recommend studying this video yourself to better understand the features that will help you create better science videos.
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.
Showing is almost always better than telling. I select aspects of a topic I’m talking about and then shoot footage or create a graphic to illustrate key points. When I interview other scientists, I try to think of ways to have them demonstrate something on camera. One tip is to always ask, “Can you show me what you mean?”, when doing an on-site interview (in a lab or at a field site). This question will often elicit some valuable footage for your movie project.
See this clip that resulted when I asked a scientist to show me what he meant by “relative buoyancy” of a floating marsh:
Shooting interviews is one of the most challenging exercises a videographer will face. It’s even more difficult if you have to be the interviewer and also the camera operator. If you have a lab assistant or student who can help with the camerawork, you can concentrate on the interview. In many cases, though, you will be working alone or don’t want to risk having someone else mess up your shoot (however, they might actually be better than you with the camera, so it’s worth a try).
I like to treat the interview like a conversation. I go to the interview armed with a few, carefully-selected questions designed to elicit interesting answers, but just use these as starting points. I let the subject’s answers guide me to ask more questions….much like a normal conversation would flow. I think this approach produces a more natural and relaxed result, rather than the typical news report style of grilling the subject. My objective is to make my interview subject look knowledgeable and likable.
We are so accustomed to seeing professionals conducting interviews on TV, which seem effortless, that we mistakenly think they are easy to replicate. It’s not. See the video below, which does a good job of showing how to and how not to conduct an interview on camera.
