Lights, Camera, Science! Using Video to Communicate Scientific Studies
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One goal of science communication is to use a variety of different tools to reach a diversity of audiences. Video can be an effective tool that reaches beyond the scientific community and helps put a face to both scientists and their science. For the last five years, FISHBIO has produced short videos to help communicate the findings of several scientific studies and projects. This talk describes how FISHBIO scientists used the Message Box communication tool developed by COMPASS to distill and simplify messages for a video from a scientific publication. We also discuss the process of creating a science-based video using a mix of interviews, narration, and B-roll (supplemental footage), and how other communication tools such as newsletters, blog posts, and social media can be used to amplify the impact of a video. Ultimately, communicating science with video requires translating complex and technical concepts into clear, compelling, and visually appealing stories.
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Lights, Camera, Science! Using Video to Communicate Scientific Studies
- 1. Lights, Camera, Science! Using Video to Communicate Scientific Studies AFS / TWS Annual Meeting Reno, Nevada Sept 28 – Nov 3, 2019 Presenter: Erin Loury Co-Presenters: Dee Thao, Tyler Pilger, and Doug Demko
- 2. Video as a Science Communication Tool Publications = info-dense, limited audience Videos = engaging, broader & different audience • Put a (friendly!) face to scientists • Visually depict unique environments & species www.FISHBIO.com
- 3. How Do You Translate a Publication into a Video? Clear message + Compelling visuals www.FISHBIO.com
- 4. Talk Overview www.FISHBIO.com 1. Planning the Video • Using the Message Box 2. Producing the Video • Interviews • B-roll/animations • Editing 3. Sharing the Video • Social media
- 5. Our Example • We published a paper on long-term monitoring of juvenile salmon • Pilger et al. 2019 • Video: “And the Cycle Continues: Estimating Juvenile Chinook Salmon Abundances in the Stanislaus River” www.FISHBIO.com
- 6. Planning the Video • Message Box = tool for distilling your message • Developed by COMPASS • Used to come up with talking points for video • What will you focus on? www.FISHBIO.com Photo by Scott Mandia
- 8. Parts of the Message Box • Audience: Tailor the message to specific group • Issue: “Big picture” context of your work • Problem: Specific aspect of the issue your work addresses • Solution: What you are doing to address the problem • So-What: Why this matters • Benefits: Positive outcomes of taking action to address the problem or implement solutions www.FISHBIO.com
- 9. Solutions: Insights from our analysis to improve long-term monitoring www.FISHBIO.com
- 10. Producing the Video • Interviews – Clear message • B-roll – Compelling visuals • Editing – Magic! www.FISHBIO.com
- 11. Interviews • Talking points • Quiet place • Simple or scenic background • Relaxed, conversational tone • Practice! www.FISHBIO.com
- 12. B-roll • Scene-setting or action shots that illustrate interviews • Our field staff regularly document activities • Waterproof cameras for underwater fish shots www.FISHBIO.com
- 13. B-roll: Shot Composition Think creatively, film from a variety of angles and distances www.FISHBIO.com Go-Pro on a net Close-up of screw trap “Over the shoulder” shot
- 14. Animated Graphs: Break it Down www.FISHBIO.com
- 15. Editing • Videography is a skill! • Select shots that illustrate interviews • Music conveys emotion • Editing software options: • iMovie • Final Cut • Adobe Premiere www.FISHBIO.com
- 16. B-roll to Illustrate Mark-Recapture Test www.FISHBIO.com
- 17. Videos = Shareable • Share on multiple communication platforms • YouTube/Vimeo • Facebook • Instagram • Twitter • Newsletter • Increase return on energy invested in publication www.FISHBIO.com
- 18. So What: We hope our results can help improve other salmon monitoring programs www.FISHBIO.com
- 19. FISHBIO Oakdale, California Chico, California Santa Cruz, California FISHBIO Laos Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR FISHBIO CR Boca del Rio Sierpe Costa Rica Questions? Erin Loury erinloury@fishbio.com 831.600.8762 www.FISHBIO.com
Editor's Notes
- Hi, I’m Erin Loury the communications director at FISHBIO and I’m excited to take you behind the scenes of how we make videos about our science. I wanted to introduce Dee Thao, who is an author on this talk, videographer at FISHBIO, who is responsible for the parts of videomaking I’m calling “magic.” So she’s hear to answer any of your more technical questions, and she’s also making a video about this conference, so if you see her, give her camera a wave, or if you’re really inspired after this talk you can give her a quick interview.
- So to get into it, As the last talk before lunch mentioned, video is an excellent tool for science communication. Especially for publications, which are information-dense material with a pretty limited audience. Videos on the other hand can be engaging and reach a broader, different audience from the ones who might read your paper. I think they’re really valuable because the put face to scientists. And in an age of mistrust and misunderstanding about science, this humanizing aspect is really important. Also as fish and wildlife scientists, we get to work in some pretty incredible natural environments with some pretty amazing species. Video helps the audience experience those things too. And ultimately, video might entice more people to read your paper.
- So a publication and a video are pretty different communication tools. How do you translate one in to the other? I think a good rule of thumb is to have a clear message and compelling videos. Even if you’re not a professional film maker, if you have those to things you are well on your way.
- So today I’ll walk you through three different phases of making a video, which include planning and deciding on your key messages, producing the video, including the filming and editing process, and sharing the video
- Throughout this talk I’ll be using examples from a video we made this year at FISHBIO about paper we published on long-term juvenile salmon monitoring on the Stanislaus River. The paper is by Tyler Pilger et al. in the March issue of San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science. I’ll show you some clips throughout my talk, but the full Video is on our YouTube page called “And the Cycle Continues.” Luckily, Tyler was game to get out in front of the camera to talk about this work. So one of the first things we had to do was figure out what did we want him to say.
- As I mentioned, one of the most important things is to have a clear message. We used a tool called the message box which was developed by a group called COMPASS, which essentially helps you distill your work into a few key messages that you can keep by the phone in case a reporter calls. Or in this case come up with talking points for a video. Who here has heard of the Message Box. Has anyone actually used on before? Essentially helps you decide what you will focus on
- Here’s what the message box looks like. I’ll go over each of these sections on the next slide, but the key is it’s cyclical rather than linear because you are meant to be able to jump and talk about your work from any of these angles depending on what people ask you.
- So briefly, the parts of the message box.
- To give you an example of how we used the solutions part of the message box to make sure our video included messages about how we can use the insights from our analysis could improve our long-term monitoring. I’ll let Tyler describe it. So hopefully you caught that we need to start monitoring early, and also conduct trap more efficiency tests during peak migration.
- So now I’ll walk you through some different aspects of producing the video, including filming interviews which gives you your clear message, filming what’s called the B-roll, which gives your compelling visuals, and the editing process which to a lot of us can seem like magic.
- So a few tips on interview conducting interveiws. Hopefully you will have key talking points after using the message box. For our video we took the talking points and turned them into questions and answers. And the questions are essentially like prompts. So we worked with Tyler and said, when we aske you this question, you can give this answer, which hits on these talking points. And we turned those talking points essentially into a script that Dee could use as an outline. when editing the video together.
- So in the film world, interview is often called A-roll, and everything else is called B-roll. As scientists you have unique opportunities and be out in the field and seeing cool things, so take advantage of it and film yourselves. We can We us a lot of go-pros and Olympus cameras in the field
- So Dee could give you a whole talk on shot composition, but one thing she told our team is that our default for filming is often chest height, with no variation. Which gets a little boring afer a while. One of the simplest things you can do to make your visuals more compelling is to vary your shot composition.
- If you’re communicating a scientific paper, it is possible to put figures or graphs in your video. But you want to maybe simplify them and find a way to break them down for the viewer. So ne way you can do that is with animation, so here’s an example of how we included a graph in our video using animation.
- Ok so now about editing. I know I called it magic, but videography is actually a skill. And like any other skill like using R or Arc GIS, it can be learned in practiced. So here are few tips from Dee. When your piecing shots together, try to find ones that illustrate what the interview is talking about. And one the key pieces of video is music. If you’re willing to invest $20 extra in your video, I would use it to pay for music. Yes there is free music out there, but it’s a little limited, and if you’re willing to pay you can choose just the right song to set the tone and the pace for the video. Like Dee says, the music conveys emotion. When it comes to software, there’s a range of options out there, so it’s about finding what suits your budget and your skill level.
- Here’s an example of editing together different b-roll shots to illustrate an interview. So drone shot is another unique angle you can add to your tool box.
- The nice thing about videos is that they are very shareable on social media. You can upload them to sites like YouTube or Vimeo and then post links, or you can upload the full video or clips of your video directly to Facebook or Instagram. Here’s an example about how we wrote a Fish Report newsletter about the paper and included a link to the video. Ultimately you’ve invested a lot of energy in producing your paper, and making a video and share can help increase the return on the energy you’ve invested.
- So ultimately the reason we make videos is the same reason why we publish papers. We want people to learn about what we’re doing. So I’ll end with the end of our video, which is Tyler sharing part of the “So What” component of our message box.