Jonathan: November 2007 Archives

30
Nov
2007

Finding high-quality royalty-free photographs you can use in your film can be tricky, but it’s not impossible. This post at the Presentation Zen blog provides a terrific list of links.

We’d add Flickr to that list; there, you can search for pictures published under Creative Commons licenses, many of which you could use in your SciCast film. Anything that’s ‘Attribution’, ‘Attribution Non-commercial’ or ‘Attribution Non-commercial Share-alike’ is OK for us (the ‘no-derivs’ licenses won’t work — you’re not allowed to change the picture by, for example, cropping it to fit in your movie).

Just remember to add a note in your film’s credits explaining the source of the stills: ideally, provide a link to the page from which you snagged the image.

27
Nov
2007
iain.jpg
Iain Stewart's new series continues on BBC2 tonight, at 9pm. Why do we care? Firstly because Iain's a genuinely nice guy, and secondly because last week's show was rather good, but mostly because he's one of SciCast's brilliant judging panel.

OK, so it's going to be hard to match Stewart's globe-trotting series with your own earth science film (anyone taking a Christmas break near a handy volcano? No?), but check out the geodes film for an idea of the sort of thing you might manage yourself.

Make a film, send it in, and If it's any good we'll make Iain watch it.

Hey, you could even try pinching an idea from his series, and see if he notices.
26
Nov
2007

SciCast-Curly_Wurly-Thumb.jpgHave you seen the Curly-Wurly stretching film?

As of today, it's an official Guinness World Record. Hurray! And congratulations to Helen.

Go and watch the film to find out what I'm talking about.


26
Nov
2007

I can't begin to say how much I want one of these construction sets, available from Think Geek in the US (yes, they will ship internationally, but if you find a UK distributor please let us know in the comments here). The retailer have done a perfectly good introductory film here, but there must be more one can get out of the set for a SciCast audience.

26
Nov
2007
Me and my movie.pngWe're not the only ones running a web video competition, of course. One that ran over the summer is CBBC's Me and My Movie. The site (nominated for an interactive BAFTA last night, no less) is very slick, though frustratingly slow to use when you're trying to find something specific. There also aren't very many films, at least that I could find.

Probably the best part for SciCasters is the excellent film-makers' pack, a PDF download that's beautifully designed, and full of useful hints and tips on making your own films. Click 'How to' to get it at the CBBC site, or bypass the nifty animation via this link (right-click to download).

My only caveat is that it's written very much for people making drama. SciCast films (usually) need a whole lot less planning – you're better off just getting on with it, then using any spare time you have while editing to think about whether you need to re-shoot any part of your film.
23
Nov
2007
We're obviously still fiddling with the layout and design here – don't worry, it'll be fixed up and looking gorgeous very soon, then we can get on with the business of passing on helpful little snippets and links.

[update: 3:15pm – getting there! There's still too much grey text around here, and lots of twiddly things need fixing, but it's coming together.]
19
Nov
2007

hovercraft.jpg

I guess we’ve all seen the hovercraft made from an old CD, a balloon, and a squeezy bottle top (you haven’t? Instructions here) – next up in complexity is the foam-tray-and-propeller variety. Here’s a nice write-up of one such design at Instructables.

It can be tricky to get hold of suitable motors and propellers in the UK, but your local branch of Maplin will likely have something usable.

If you try making one, point a camera at yourself doing so and send us the result. Obviously.

(ed’s note: woohoo! First ‘proper’ entry!)

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This page is a archive of recent entries written by Jonathan in November 2007.

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