SciCast Notes:

This is fun, and much more professional than most SciCast films. Partly because there’s a professional film-maker involved, but also because the team have thought about their subject and constructed their film well. I suspect lots of storyboards were involved, perhaps even — gasp! — a script.

I love the animation style, vox pops (brief snippets of interviews with members of the public) are rare around here and very welcome, and the interviewee is rather senior too.

Personally, however, I think the film tries to do too much in its two-and-a-half minutes. Is it about the science of cloning mammoths, or the practicalities of bringing back such a specialised species? The film introduces some big ideas, and I’d have loved to see them developed a bit more. Perhaps it would have been more satisfying as two films around the same subject?

— Jonathan.