Filmmaking for Scientists

Aims

At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to prepare their own films, including script & storyboard, camera & lighting and editing.

Content

A major challenge for us as scientists is to communicate complex concepts and detailed content in ways that are appropriate for a wide audience. Films are powerful tools of scientific communication and can be used in a number of different contexts. And hence scientists can benefit from the inspirational, educational, and motivational power of films to communicate their knowledge and expertise.

The technical skills for filming and editing, as well as developing a strong narrative, lie outside our training as academic scientists. In this workshop, participants will learn about camera, audio, lighting equipment, and how to use film editing software, together with how to write, design and carry out the basics of making a documentary. This practice-focused workshop will include filming short documentary films in small groups.

Methods

I. Theory and practice
* Camera and lighting (using different Canon and Sony cameras).
* Screenwriting and storyboard (using examples from fiction and documentary films).
* Film editing (using CapCut and Premiere Pro CC program).

II. Projects
Filming short documentary films or interviews

Target Group

All Doctoral Candidates & Postdocs

About the Trainer

Samer Angelone
Angelone is a filmmaker and scientist. He is the founder of the Global Science Film Festival, and works as a jury-member for prestigious international film festivals. Angelone has directed several fiction and documentary films. He teaches 'Filmmaking for Scientists', 'Storytelling & Storyboarding Science', and 'Video-journalism for Scientists' at different universities, research institutes and film festivals.
Angelone holds two PhDs in Film Studies and Biology

To know more about my research and films, please see:
Science: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Samer_Angelone
Film: https://vimeo.com/samerangelone

Workload

• Hours of preparatory work: 1h (brainstorming to find good stories to be filmed as short films, where/when to film and how to film)
• Hours spent in the workshop: 16h (2 days workshop)
• Hours to be spent during workshop assignments: 5h

Feature

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours and course places allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24h period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by e-mail. Course registrations can only be canceled before the registration period ends (send an e-mail to grace@unibas.ch). Full course attendance is mandatory. Participants who fail to attend a course without prior notification or withdraw after the registration deadline are subject to a fee of CHF 30. In addition, participants who cancel their course registration at a later point in time, are absent without an excuse or do not attend the entire course will, for reasons of fairness, not be considered for course registration in the following semester and will be removed from other courses offered in the same semester. Please find the detailed regulations on the Transferable Skills Homepage.