SCIENCE VIDEOS MADE SIMPLE
A short guide to making simple whiteboard-style videos for scientists
2. FOCUS
This guide was created in early 2017 to guide a bunch of graduate students through the process of creating simple science videos for general audiences using whiteboards, stick figures, and video capture devices like smartphones (we used Apple iPods, which are no longer available, but the techniques still stand).
Since then the available technologies have improved – for instance, most smart phones will record good audio without the help of an external microphone, and recording apps have evolved. But the basic approaches and principles remain the same. For a more in-depth article on the underlying ideas and process, see here.
One of the most important aspects of a short, engaging science video is having a crystal clear focus to the video. This means identifying some specific aspect of science (or engineering, technology etc.) that can be clearly and effectively conveyed to a non-expert audience in just 2-3 minutes.
This takes tremendous discipline, because it means picking one minutely small piece of knowledge or understanding our of everything you know (and no doubt think is cool and exciting), and just focusing on this.
This is hard, but there are some techniques that can help, including:
Thinking about what viewers will be interested in, not what you what to teach them. Viewer-oriented videos are far and away the most effective ones at engaging people and conveying useful information.
Picking a very specific topic that may seem simple, and even boring, to you; but will be fascinating to others. And if necessary narrow this down even further. For instance, “General principles of stimulated light emission and amplification” is not a good topic for a short video. “How lasers work” gets closer, but this is probably still too broad for a 2-3 minute video for non-experts. But “What’s inside a laser pointer” or “How do gas lasers work” begins to be manageable — albeit at a very simple level.
Making sure the topic and the vide title will appeal to viewers’ curiosity, and tell them what to expect from the video itself. Clever titles (like “Getting coherent with light” or “A light saber in your pocket”) rarely work. Instead, make it clear to potential viewers what to expect — and keep it short (just 4-7 words ideally).
Not using jargon! Keep the language of the focus and the title as clear and as simple as possible. This should be understandable and of interest to a middle schooler who’s curious about science, but doesn’t know much. At the same time, don’t be patronizing. For instance “How to magically make light beams for people who aren’t very smart” would be a really bad title!
Killing your darlings! This is an old editor’s adage. When you’re thinking about what you will want to make a video on, there’ll be stuff that you are desperate to cover that just doesn’t make a for good video from the viewer’s perspective. These are your “darlings”, and you need to be prepared to ditch them!
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