Planet SciCast Blog

More films. More films. More films. Also: Norway.

2010-08-14T12:23:48Z

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you. I’m about to head to North Wales to see a 101 year-old, then mid Wales to see my nieces and nephew at a random campsite somewhere. I’ll be back towards the end of next week, at which point I’ll resume posting films. There are lots to get through, and you’ll love them. Really, you will.

In the meantime, somebody from Norway sent us a very interesting email, which was promptly eaten by a mail server move. If you happen to see this, could you get in touch again, please? jonathan[at]planet-scicast.org.uk.

Awards 2010 photographs

2010-07-21T07:23:42Z

Photos are up!

Last night I posted a few hundred photos from last Friday’s Awards event to our Flickr account. So far the formal team portraits are up (not that many of them are particularly ‘formal’ as such — it looks like photographer Laura Mtungwazi is as mad as you lot). I’ve also sorted through stills from the event and reception, so you’ll find lots of photos of people eating cake and messing about with balloons, and of me looking nervous from earlier in the day.

SciCast photos on Flickr

Still to come are pictures from the ceremony itself, which I’ll sort through as soon as I can. I’ll also get cracking on tagging and titling and all that jazz.

Meanwhile, if you’ve any photos yourself that you’d like others to see, and you’re a Flickr user, tag them with ‘scicast’ and we’ll invite them to the group pool. Or just add them to the pool yourself. Thanks!

I’m off to a conference for a few days, but over the weekend I’ll try to match up people and films, so you’ll see little thumbnails like those below appear over on the main site.

SciCast Awards 2010 - Winners

2010-07-18T18:39:00Z

The winners of the Planet SciCast Awards 2010, as announced at the Awards Ceremony at the Royal Institution on Friday 16^th March, were:

Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2010

Rockets!, by The Neutrons

Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2010

Gettin Down Wiv Global Warming!, by Radical Rappers

Best Chemistry Film 2010

The Squeaky Pop Test, by Parkside Federation Pictures

Award for Technical & Artistic Achievement 2010

Gravity, Mass and Weight, by Oliver Madgwick

EngineeringUK Best Engineering Film 2010

Surviving in Space, by It’s Space Time

Gratnells’ Best Film from a Science Technician 2010

Building an Igloo, by Chris Bell

Institute of Physics Best SciCast Physics (Primary) 2010

The Last Straw, by The Extrawdinary Experimenters

Institute of Physics Best SciCast Physics (11-15) 2010

The Doppler Effect, by Simple Science Productions

Institute of Physics Best SciCast Physics (16+) 2010

The Leidenfrost Effect, by The HotBuds

Best Biology Film 2010 (Primary)

Seed Dispersal, by Class 5T Brecknock Primary School

Best Biology Film 2010 (Secondary)

Animated Rat Dissection, by By Wrights

Judges’ Awards

Ignition* Best Film from the East Midlands

How Hot Air Balloons Fly, by FALB

Future Morph Best Careers Film

Where STEM Can Take You, by Genevieve Hinde

Judges’ Special Awards

Sonoluminescence, by It’s Physics Time
Spooky Siphoning, by Supertastic Scientists

Best Film 2010

Gravity, Mass and Weight, by Oliver Madgwick

SciCast Awards 2010 - Nominations

2010-06-18T07:54:05Z

We’ve whittled. We’ve sifted. We’ve fallen out. We’ve made friends again. We’ve — finally — agreed on the nominations for this year’s SciCast Awards.

It’s been an epic battle. Not only have there been as many films this year as there were in both previous years put together, but the average standard has clearly gone up. Well up. It’s been unbelievably difficult to sort out a final set of categories and nominations, but here, at last, they are:

Institute of Physics Best SciCast Physics (Primary) 2010

The Electric Lemon, by The Electricians
What’s the Matter at St. Johns, by Year 4’s Weird Science
The Fortugue Smythes and the Plastic Bag Kebab, by Year 5’s Weird Science
The Last Straw, by The Extrawdinary Experimenters

Institute of Physics Best SciCast Physics (11-15) 2010

The Doppler Effect, by Simple Science Productions
The LeGO mAN spectrum, by Lydia and Heather
Dark Matter — Cookie Monster Style!, by The Cookie Monsters
Jack and Jenny’s Space Adventure, by Shuper Sheep
The Eggsperimenters, by The Eggybreads

Institute of Physics Best SciCast Physics (16+) 2010

Physics Tonight: Momentum, by Revolutionary Reporters
Noise-Reducing Headphones, by Bede Bad Boys
Why Do Cats Always Land On Their Feet?, by nomomentum
The Leidenfrost Effect, by The HotBuds
Conservation of Energy, by SAS Stop Motion

EngineeringUK Best Engineering Film 2010

Let’s Talk Winglets, by The Falangists
Surviving in Space, by It’s Space Time
Sunny Side Up Pizza, by The Grays Media and Arts College

Gratnells’ Best Film from a Science Technician 2010

Building an Igloo, by Chris Bell
Diffusion Cloud Chamber, by Hobbs Girls

Best Chemistry Film 2010

The Squeaky Pop Test, by Parkside Federation Pictures
How do Fireworks have colour?, by Chemkings
Crystals, by Team NEF
Electrolysis, by BHBS Class 11Ho
Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions, by Hannah

Best Biology Film 2010 (Primary)

Seed Dispersal, by Class 5T Brecknock Primary School
The Big Chew, by The Chompers
Terrible Teeth, by Year 4
Field of Vision, by The Fiery 4

Best Biology Film 2010 (Secondary)

Animated Rat Dissection, by By Wrights
A Punctured Lung, by Isaac and Daniel
Photo-tropism-thing-a-ma-jig, by Green Hippos
What really happens inside, by Team Whits

Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2010

Rock Pools, by rock pools
Thor God of Thunder, by Thunder and Lightning
Gettin Down Wiv Global Warming!, by Radical Rappers

Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2010

The Science Inspectors, by The Sidcot Science Inspectors
The Marshmallow Man, by Boom
Rockets!, by The Neutrons
The Adventures of Carrot and Friends, by Atomic Productions
Custard Woohoo!!, by The Crazy Chefs
FABLAB Chickens: I’m a Worm Get Me Out Of Here! by FABLAB Sam, Ronnie, Jessica

Award for Technical & Artistic Achievement 2010

Whose Twin?, by Vibrant Films
Fluorescence, by Exeter School Fluorescence
Gravity, Mass and Weight, by Oliver Madgwick
Standing Waves, by Tom, Byrne, Amal

Judges’ Special Awards 2010

The judges wished to recognise a range of films that met the standard expected of nominees, but didn’t sit within the existing categories. A number of trophies selected from the following nominations will be presented at the Ceremony.

Fire Balls, by Alan and Joe
Sonoluminescence, by It’s Physics Time
The Genetic Malfunction of Down Syndrome, by Down Syndrome
Spooky Siphoning, by Supertastic Scientists
Brineshrimp — Our distant cousins?, by Real Science
Groovy Gravity, by Science Stars
Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend, by Diamond Girls
Balloonium Experimento, by ReverseInertia?
Where STEM Can Take You, by Genevieve Hinde
How Hot Air Balloons Fly, by FALB
Smashing Bananas, by The Smashing Bananas

SciCast Best Film 2010

The nominees for the overall Best Film award will be drawn from the winners of the categories above, and hence will be announced during the ceremony.

What happens now?

Nominees will shortly — probably before they see this — receive an emailed invitation to our glittering Awards Ceremony, which will take place at the Royal Institution in London on Friday July 16^th. If your film is listed above, and you don’t hear from us, drop us a line to theteam@planet-scicast.org.uk.

We’ll get all the films on the main SciCast website just as quickly as we can, and we’ll link through to them from here once they’re in place.

Huge congratulations to all the nominees; we look forward to meeting you at the Awards.

Our sincere thanks also to everyone else who took part, not just for your efforts but also for making the competition so tough this year. We hope you’ll agree that the nominees have earned their places, but standing out this year was extremely hard, with many of the categories very closely-contested. That couldn’t have happened without your efforts, raising both the range and standard of submissions.

Where are the nominations?

2010-06-15T15:05:55Z

Soon. Soooooooon.

Watch this space.

Soooooooon.

Here. They. Come.

2010-05-23T16:16:17Z

Think it’s been quiet over in SciCast-ville? Not so! We may have been all serene on the surface, but behind the scenes we’ve been trashing our way frantically through more films than ever before. More films, and later, too — you lot don’t half like leaving it until the last minute, huh?

However, our labours are starting to bear fruit. Judging for the Awards is underway, and over on the main site you’ll see… dun-dun-durrrrr!

New films!

Oh yes indeed, a little flurry of them. Stay tuned for more through the week. Actually, there are enough that they’ll burst through this week and into the month beyond.

Deadlines

2010-04-15T15:34:03Z

The submission deadline for SciCast 2010 is: TOMORROW!

Wait — for many schools that’s right at the end of the Easter holidays, and hence about the worst possible date we could have picked. Can we be serious? Well, no, not really.

We checked and re-checked when picking the date, double-checked and checked again, and still Easter has ended up leaping out of nowhere and ambushing us. Sorry about that. However, we’ve always been a little… flexible about our deadlines.

If you want to enter but can’t quite do it in time, go to the submission page and start the process, then upload your film and post us the paperwork as soon as you can.

So long as everything arrives next week you should be fine — the week after may be pushing things too far, but if there are particular circumstances you can’t avoid then drop us a line and we’ll do our very best to accommodate you.

Comments working again

2010-03-21T12:20:49Z

Just a quick notice: comments are working again at the main SciCast site. Sorry about the extended problems.

Things I want to try: camera stabilisers

2010-03-09T12:58:04Z

Regular readers will know I’m a bit of a fan of the Kodak Zi8 stick camera — similar to the ubiquitous Flip range, but arguably better quality, a close-up focus mode that’s surprisingly effective, and featuring the all-important jack for a decent microphone. For my money it’s as good as anything several times its price.

If it has an achilles heel, however, it’s shot steadiness. Although the camera does apply a smidge of anti-shake processing, it’s simply impossible to hold the thing without jostling it slightly, as if your heartbeat is making the camera tremble. It helps if you try to imagine you’re holding a priceless vase filled to the brim with water, but the Zi8 is still a bit too light.

Attaching an accessory grip does help a little. However, what I really want to try is one of a new breed of ultra-light (and relatively cheap) Steadicam alternatives. Steadicam themselves make an astonishing bit of kit called the Merlin, but it’s far too costly for our pockets. However, there are a couple of similar products available for around £80, which might just solve the Zi8’s greatest weaknesses.

The things I want to try are the Manfrotto 585 Modosteady, or the Hague Mini Motion-Cam. Most reviews of the former are pretty poor, but expectations may have been too high; the latter may be more effective, but by the time it’s balanced for a very light camera it may be more expensive than the Modosteady.

Neither of these is going to be a patch on the Steadicam Merlin. But if they make a £200 package that rivals £400 camcorders for smoothness, they might just be worthwhile.

Comment problems (film pages)

2010-03-01T14:22:22Z

We’re aware of problems with comments on the films — you can submit comments, but they’re not showing up in the moderation system, so we’ve no way of making them visible. It’s possible that comments are simply getting lost.

Our colleagues at EngineeringUK are aware of the issue, and are working to solve it. In the meantime, our apologies.

[update Wednesday 3^rd March: sorry, no change to the site so far, and we don’t have an estimated fix date. We’ll keep you posted.]

Rat Dissection ahoy!

2010-02-27T13:20:42Z

We won’t post notice of every new film to the blog, but this one’s a bit special — an animated rat dissection. We receive relatively few biology films, so one of this standard is all the more welcome. It’s informative, entertaining, and short, so it has the SciCast rules covered, then.

Animated Rat Dissection. No rats were harmed during the making of this film.

Shiny new blog design!

2010-02-25T13:07:33Z

Notice anything different?

That’s right — no longer do you have to strain to read white text and near-invisible red links on a black background. We’ve finally rebuilt this blog so it’s more in keeping with the rest of the SciCast site. In fact, it’s even more up-to-date than the main site is, and we have all sorts of plans for things we could do with this new layout.

There will doubtless be a few niggles and problems as we work things out. We’re reasonably confident that this design isn’t more broken than the previous one, but if you spot anything that’s gone haywire, please leave a comment here or drop us a line by email.

Internet Explorer 6

OK, so things are a little funkier than we’d intended in IE6. Sorry about that. IE6 has been past its use-by date for years, so if you can, install Firefox, Chrome or IE8. They’re all much faster and more secure browsers anyway.

If you’re on a managed network and can’t update your browser, you have our sympathies. The site does still work, though, so you’re not missing much. Please note that we’re not alone in phasing out support for IE6; YouTube is about to do the same. If they can’t justify the engineering resources to support a buggy nine year-old browser, SciCast certainly can’t!

[update: we’re receiving word that things are a little funky in IE7 as well. That’s hard for me to test, but I’ll see if I can get it sorted.]

How the Earth Made Us

2010-01-19T08:48:55Z

When he isn’t judging SciCast, geologist Iain Stewart manages to squeeze in a series or two for the BBC. His latest starts on BBC2 tonight, and there’s an astounding sneak preview.

Iain travels to the Naica Cave in Mexico, where he and his crew battle 50°C temperatures and 100% humidity to bring remarkable footage of the world’s largest crystals, in a deep underground cavern. It’s phenomenal stuff.

I can’t embed the video, sadly, but do check out the link. You’ll be glad you did. And remember, we do have a geology category for the SciCast Awards…

[update 20^th Jan: 3.5 million viewers! The highest figures for a science programme on BBC2 in four years, according to the Guardian. Fantastic news — congratulations Iain!]

Site problems

2010-01-16T12:58:22Z

We’re aware that the main SciCast site is having problems at the moment. Most of the sections are working as intended, and the individual film pages are fine, too. However, the ‘front page’ list of films — the view you see most of the time when you come to the site — is throwing an error.

We noticed this just after everyone at our hosting partner went home last night. There doesn’t seem to be anything we can do to fix it, sadly, so we’ll have to live like this for the weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the site fixed up first thing next week.

Apologies for the inconvenience, and all that. Perhaps it’s a cue for everyone to pick up cameras and spend the weekend making films rather than watching them?

Free music!

2010-01-06T16:16:41Z

I’ve just stumbled across what looks to be a terrific archive of music that looks to be entirely usable. It’s termed ‘Royalty Free’ which is usually a sign that it isn’t (see this link for an explanation), however in this case it really is free. It’s all under Creative Commons Attribution licenses, the same ones we use. It’s great stuff, too.

Here’s the archive.

You can browse by genre, or search by style/feel/tone — then you can preview the tracks before you download them and put them in your movies. Most of the tracks I’ve previewed have more than long enough for a SciCast film, which saves trying to loop them. You can try editing them so they finish neatly, or simply add a fade at the end of your film.

The composer/performer is Kevin MacLeod; if you use his work, remember to credit him in your film, and make sure you keep a note of which track you’ve used (so you can tell us, and we can link to it from the SciCast site).