Eric’s Blog
Telling the story of your scientific research on video
I do a lot of work with scientists and researchers, and many of them want to know how to make a short film about their research for their presentations, the websites of their institutions and research centers and for online platforms.
My message to scientists is, telling the story of your research in a short film or video is possible. It’s a LOT of work and it takes a lot of time. But it is a fun process, and helps you think differently about your work (which is good). Your audience will respond.
First, answer the most basic question of all: who is your film “for?” Your film is for an audience. That means, you must express your ideas about your research in a way that your audience understands. That’s an easy concept to understand but much more difficult to execute properly.
For example, audiences within your scientific discipline might have one expectation for your film. People in science, but outside the discipline might have another expectation. And the general public has another expectation altogether. So, it’s tricky. It is essential that you keep your target audience in mind when you think about how you want to tell your story film or video.
The two key story structures can help you explain scientific research in the television medium: processes and character-driven stories
A “process” is simply describing step-by-step, in a logical way, to your audience how a certain result was reached. Obviously because that matches your work process, it’s an ideal structure for expressing scientific research on video. But what’s essential is the process is explained clearly and understandably for your audience. “Processes” in films about science are quite common and usually quite effective.
Process: animation
The most basic approaches involve simple computer animation. Some creative scientists have taken animation a step further, to tell a short story about their research:
Proteins Protagonistes by Ignasi Buch and Inés Navarro
Process: live action
The next level of telling your science story using a process involves live-action and “real people.” It’s a step above simple animation, but the principle of showing a process is still very clear. Here is an example of a process using live action. This one uses a very technical, step-by-step approach. Videos like this are quite common in science today:
Gene Transfer to the Developing Mouse Inner Ear by Oregon Hearing Research Center
Process: visual metaphors
The next step up in making your process more interesting for audiences is using a “visual metaphor” to explain your process. What’s most important is that the metaphor is a simple one, easy for your audience to understand. That also makes it easier to visualize (shoot).
Chemical Party by EC EU Science
Alcohol Consumption during Pregnancy by Susana Eva Martinez PRBB Intervals Programme
The Epigenetics of Identical Twins by LearnGenetics
Character-driven stories
Now the next level up from “process” stories are what are called “character-driven stories.” The topic must be strong enough to support a character driven structure with enough built-in, ever worsening conflicts to keep the audience with you, and the character, and what is happening to them, has to be strongly compelling for the audience.
That’s a tall order and obviously means not every scientific or research theme is suitable for a character-driven story. But when everything comes together there are few structures more powerful for audiences:
Bicycle Spoon Apple by Carlos Bosch
If you want to do a character-driven film about your research, here are the key points to consider when it comes to structuring and planning your idea:
- Who is affected (your “character”)?
- The stakes must be the highest possible for the character (the loss of life being the highest)
- You don’t tell what happens until the end
A character-driven story is the “gold standard” for storytelling in television because audiences respond extremely well, if they are done well. But there’s a big drawback: while process stories are relatively easy, character driven stories are very, very hard to do well.
“Sense of wonder”
This is quite possibly why a lot of researchers got into science in the first place. It is the “sense of wonder” about scientific research, and the challenge of visualizing that on film.
This is perhaps the most famous example of inspiring a “sense of wonder” about science in audiences.
Powers of 10 by Charles and Ray Eames
Millions of people have seen “Powers of 10” since it was made in the 1960s. It is directly responsible for inspiring tens of thousands of young people around the world to pursue a career in science. That’s not a bad goal for your own video about your research!