HR: 0800h
AN: ED31A-0735 [Abstracts]
TI: Making an outreach movie -The Puerto Rico Trench: Exploring the deepest place in the Atlantic
Ocean
AU: ten Brink, J
EM: J.Tenbrink@westminster.ac.uk
AF: Westminster Film School, Westminster University, London, HA13TP
United Kingdom
AU: * ten Brink, U S
EM: utenbrink@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, 384 Woods Hole Rd., Woods Hole, MA 02543
United States
AB:
A new movie will be screened that describes the exploration of the Puerto Rico trench with a multibeam echosounder and its
significance to scientific research and tsunami hazard assessment. The movie audience is the general public including high
school students. It aims to stimulate interest in Oceanography and to demonstrate scientific processes as they are applied in
Geological Oceanography. The extensive use of 3-D visualization fly-bys over the dramatic ocean floor of the Puerto Rico
trench should be particularly appealing to a generation growing up on video games and 3-D visualizations. The film is the
product of close cooperation between a film maker and a scientist through all stages of its production and post production.
This level of close cooperation is necessary because scientists' and film makers' approaches to presentation of information
can differ greatly. In making an educational or outreach movie, the scientist must be responsible for the contents of the
message, but the film maker has to design an effective delivery method. The creation of this movie was the result of
following stages: (1) live action filming during a short research cruise; (2) generating 3-D fly-by using Fledermausr
software; (3) rendering the fly-by sequences to a high-definition film; (4) collecting still photos and other supporting
material; (5) generating graphs illustrating crucial scientific information and concepts; (6) preparing the script for
voiceover narration; (7) working with a professional actor in order to ensure accurate delivery of the information. The
biggest challenge in making the movie was the editing stage when the different elements of the movie were put together,
incorporating music and voiceover into an aesthetically pleasing, interesting, and above all, scientifically accurate and
coherent movie. Post-editing steps included replication of the master copy, package design, and distribution. The movie was
completed in several weeks on a modest budget, thanks to modern desktop digital video, editing, voice recording, mixing, and
replication technologies. Free copies of the film can be obtained by contacting the second author.
DE: 8107 Continental neotectonics
DE: 4564 Tsunamis and storm surges
DE: 3045 Seafloor morphology and bottom photography
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0825 Teaching methods
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting