We hear lots of conflicting reports on essentially all software packages — what works for some people seems to crash constantly for others. So our advice is to download trial versions of the various packages, and see which works with your combination of computer and camera, before you buy.

The photos from the glittering Awards event at the Royal Institution are up: see portraits of the nominees and winners, the ceremony itself, and a glimpse behind-the-scenes of us setting up during the morning.

We’ll be scurrying around trying to caption and label as many of the stills as we can, but do jump in and leave notes and comments if you like. You should also be able to download full-size versions of each photograph by clicking the ‘All sizes’ button that appears above the image when you click through to its page.

Congratulations to all the winners, and the other nominees who made it to the final stage and gave them such tough competition. It was lovely to see so many of you at the Royal Institution; I hope you had a fantastic day.

Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical

Award for Technical & Artistic Achievement 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films

Best Original Score 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical

Best Presenter 2009

• The Floating Tea Bag — Teabag Techs

Best Biology Film 2009

• Photosynthesis — BB Productions

Best Chemistry Film 2009

• Chemistry Attack!! — LangClang

Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2009

• The Formation of Crude Oil — Crazy Chemistry Demonstrations

The Engineering and Technology Board Best Engineering Film 2009

• EMP Launcher v2 — The Tinkerers

The Institute of Physics’ Best SciCast Physics Film 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical

EPSRC Best Film (Adults) 2009

• It’s About Time (you switched off your television set and did physics instead) — Small Dog Productions

Best Film (Primary) 2009

• Absolute Absorbency or Not? — Barnes Primary 61!

Best Film (Secondary) 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films

Best Presenter 2009

• Music to Our Ears — Thunderbolt Three
• Why do Boats Float? — Floating Physics
• Sound — Duke and Dave
• The Floating Tea Bag — Teabag Techs

Award for Technical & Artistic Achievement 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films
• Explaining Fibre Optics — Nower Hill High School
• Volcanic Islands — Helston Science
• How Wavelength Affects Pitch — Team Phree

Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2009

• Wibbly Wobbly Jelly — Le Hom
• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• Pressure and the Gas Laws — It’s Physics Time
• Boat Bother — Super Hero Scientists
• Relativity and Warp Drives — Space Hoppers
• Atmospheric Pressure — The Air Heads

Best Original Score 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• Transcription and Translation: The Latest Sensation! — Demented Student Productions
• Photosynthesis — BB Productions
• Levitating Lime — Team Jayman

Best Chemistry Film 2009

• Professor Hartley’s Science Lesson (2M) — Year 2M
• Chemistry Attack!! — LangClang
• Exploding Water — Team Tom
• The Screaming Jelly Baby — Josh & Mathew

Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2009

• Breezeblocks — Legotown Productions
• Pollution — Aaarrgghh!! — Eagle Eye 9
• The Formation of Crude Oil — Crazy Chemistry Demonstrations
• Volcanic Islands — Helston Science

Best Biology Film 2009

• Why do Ants Wear Sunglasses? — BaSSic Studios
• Photosynthesis — BB Productions
• Six Steps to a Perfect Poo — Helston Science
• Olympic Flowers — Badminton Junior School
• Mrs. Gren — Badminton Junior School

The Engineering and Technology Board Best Engineering Film 2009

• Building Bridges — Treacherous Two
• Water Rockets — How They Work — SAS JGS Productions
• Death of a Toothbrush — Protons for Breakfast
• EMP Launcher v2 — The Tinkerers

The Institute of Physics’ Best SciCast Physics Film 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• Pollution — Aaarrgghh!! — Eagle Eye 9
• Explaining Fibre Optics — Nower Hill High School
• How Wavelength Affects Pitch — Team Phree
• Lasers — thegroupwithnoname
• Atmospheric Pressure — The Air Heads

EPSRC Best Film (Adults) 2009

• The Immiscible Love Story — Aksheusz Studios
• It’s About Time (you switched off your television set and did physics instead) — Small Dog Productions
• Buckley’s Double-Acting Baking Powder — Dan and Agnes
• Levitation: Science or Magic? — Shift Productions

Best Film (Primary) 2009

• Absolute Absorbency or Not? — Barnes Primary 61!
• Orbiting X-Factor — 5R Orbiting X-Factor Script Editors
• Mrs. Gren — Badminton Junior School
• Electricity — Team SciStars

Best Film (Secondary) 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films
• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• The Formation of Crude Oil — Crazy Demonstrations
• Atmospheric Pressure — The Air Heads

Notes

Nominees will receive certificates, together with invitations to the glittering Awards Ceremony, to be held at the Royal Institution in London on 30^th March 2009. Category winners will be announced at the Ceremony: winning teams will receive individual mini-awards and a coveted ‘SciCastie’ block award for the team, along with Amazon vouchers.

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees, and our thanks to everyone who submitted a film.

Here we go…

OOooooooh… suspense.

• Best Presenter 2009
• Best Original Score 2009
• Award for Technical and Artistic Achievement 2009
  
• Best Biology Film 2009
  
• Best Chemistry Film 2009
  
• Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2009
• The Engineering and Technology Board Best Engineering Film 2009
• The Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2009
• The Institute of Physics Best Physics Film 2009
• EPSRC Best Film (Adults) 2009
• Best Film (Primary) 2009
• Best Film (Secondary) 2009

You’ll see lots of Richmond films appearing on the SciCast website in the coming days and weeks, and they’ll be back for even more with their 2009 event this autumn.

Also watch out for at least one more SciCast-affiliated regional competition. Details soon!

That’s right, the floodgates are open, and new films are pouring — mark you, pouring — in, and will continue to do so for the next few days.

Take a look, and don’t forget to leave comments for the film-makers to read.

I won’t flood this blog with updates every time I publish a film, but if you want that level of detail you’ll find it at our Twitter page. At the time of writing, it’s pointing you to the wonderful Immiscible Love Story.

I should publish a few before the end of the week, with the deluge proper starting next week. So keep watching.

Also: if you’ve submitted a film, keep watching your email. We may need to contact you to check things like sources of music you’ve used.

I rather lost count of the times when I was explaining the project to one teacher when another came up and gushed about how much their students had enjoyed it — excellent work, you lot. Your cheques are in the post, as they say.

We also had some excellent ad-hoc meetings, with everyone from the research councils folks two stands down, to SciCast alumnus Matthew Tosh (who now runs the BA’s network of after-school science clubs, henceforth known as ‘ToshClubs’), and Science Learning Centres people.

Speaking of whom: want to see our (in?)famous video skills CPD workshops in your local SLC? Pester them! We didn’t manage to make it happen when we last did a teachers’ workshop tour, but they’re sounding very positive on the concept now.

Right, back to inputting film submissions for me… more soon.

We’ve tried to make things like licensing and consent clearer, and the bits of paper you have to print out should make much more sense now. You still have to send your film by the good old-fashioned post, but there are good reasons for this:

• We need signatures from parents or carers, in some cases. Proper signatures. Written with a pen.
• Not having a database of users’ details anywhere on the web removes that risk entirely.
• Sending us a DVD or CD of your film is cheap, relatively easy, and removes all the ‘mucking around uploading films’ stuff.

If you have any questions or comments on the new forms, please drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

And yes, it is ‘piles’ this year, plural. A couple of weeks ago you had us worried, and it’s not a flood of entries (we’ll leave the hyperbole to the press), but we’ve seen a steady stream of submission in the last few days. It’s hard to know for sure until everything’s physically in our grubby mitts, but we think we’re already ahead of last year’s total… and last year, the majority of entries came right up against the deadline. Is twice last year’s total on the cards? More? Maybe?

Something like 40 films are winging their way into the national competition from last week’s terrific local event in Richmond, and a school in Wimbledon have gone completely crazy and submitted — frankly, I’ve lost count, so don’t hold me to this — ten films all on their own. Good effort, we say.

It’s lovely to see so many entrants from last year come back with more; there are lots of names I recognise from our first Awards. Perhaps even more welcome, however, are all the submitters pointing their lenses in our direction for the first time. There are a gratifying number of schools and other groups we’ve never heard of, which is terrific news. Welcome, all!

Keep the films coming. They’ll start to trickle through onto the website soon, and the trickle will turn into — oh, drat, I’ve backed myself into a corner there — a flood [wince] in January.

Deadline: 9^th January
Entry process: starts here.

1. They’re competitively priced.
2. They’re at least comparable in picture quality to other cameras around the same price.
3. They have microphone input sockets.

That last is key. Really key. Very very key. Built-in microphones are one thing, but being able to plug in a cheap lapel microphone makes a huge difference.

Right now, we’ve a fourth reason to like Canon’s cameras: they’re doing a cashback offer. £50 back on high-definition models like the HF100, and £30 back on the standard-definition FS100.

The offer’s valid until January 12th 2009, and you’ll find honest reviews of these cameras at CamcorderInfo.com. Look, we’ll even point you straight there: HF100, FS100.