A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest/posttest study was implemented in Boston with adult viewers of the IMAX film "Dolphins." A majority of adults rated the film as 'very interesting,' reporting that they liked the film's cinematography, educational value and experiential quality. Viewing the film significantly increased adult viewers' knowledge about topics associated with dolphins. A second study focused on seventh grade students who viewed only the film or viewed the film and subsequently completed film-related activities in their school classroom setting. A quasi-experimental
Dr. Barbara Flagg's paper presented at the one-day symposium, Giant Screen Films and Lifelong Learning, focuses on what evaluations by Multimedia Research have taught us about making giant screen films an entertaining and effective tool for lifelong learning by adult audiences. In summary, giant film audiences are attracted mainly to the format by their expectations of vicarious experiences, vertigo feelings, exquisite cinematography and learning new and unusual information. These educated audiences also expect more from the format in the way of information and storyline than is typically
The NOVA Large-format Film unit of the WGBH Educational Foundation, in conjunction with the New England Aquarium, is producing a large format film about Cocos Island, a small, uninhabited island off the coast of Costa Rica that has not yet been affected by human activity. The waters around Cocos Island contain an extraordinary abundance of sharks, rays, tuna, marlins, swordfish, and other pelagic fishes, thanks to nearby upwellings of cold, nutrient-rich water that create a rich food source. The film will focus on the physical oceanography and behavioral marine ecology of Cocos Island, highlighting the animal behavior and interactions of the wide diversity of marine life. Executive Producer will be Paula Apsell, head of the WGBH science unit and Executive Producer of NOVA. Susanne Simpson, executive producer for NOVA Large-format Films will as a senior producer. Howard Hall Productions will produce and direct the film. Howard Hall will be director/producer, and Michele Hall will serve as producer. The Halls are experts in the field of marine natural history filmmaking and are world-renowned for their television programs on such series as National Geographic and Nature. They worked in the large format medium as producer/directors of Into the Deep. Joseph Levine, a marine biologist who has written both science textbooks and television scripts, will be the writer. William Spitzer, Associate Director for Education at the New England Aquarium, will be responsible for the educational outreach materials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Paula ApsellSusanne SimpsonJerry SchubelKenneth MalloryBarbara Flagg
Blue Mountain Films, in association with the American Museum of Natural History, is producing a multi-component project on biodiversity that will examine closely the risks we face if the web of life on Earth is progressively diminished. The central component of the project will be a large format film that seeks to locate and understand humans' place in, and impact upon, the natural order of life on this planet. The film will be based on what appears to be a critical paradox: while we humans, like all living things, have always been dependent upon natural systems for our survival, our unique cultural development and technological prowess have convinced us that we are somehow "above" nature. As a corollary theme, the Life in the Balance film will examine the urgency of the scientific effort to explore and understand ecosystems and the flora and fauna they contain before their unique genetic information is lost due to human actions. In addition, the film will convey an appreciation of how science actually is done in the field. The film will be augmented by: * The Life in the Balance Bookshelf of material currently being developed by the new National Center at the American Museum of Natural History: * Biodiversity: An Action Guide aimed at encouraging children and their families to explore together topics and issues surrounding biodiversity. * Teacher's Curriculum-Biodiversity Counts designed as a middle school-based activity that encourages students to engage in scientific exploration and discover the diversity of species in their own neighborhoods. * Book of Essays designed as a resource book for high school students and their teachers. * Teacher/Educator's Guide consisting of hands-on science activities that can be used independently of the film and as preparation for viewing and/or following screenings of the film. * Life in the Balance "Interactive" Poster with a four-color acetate overlay of pictures which, wen pulled away, reveals a seco nd sheet with science information. * Fun Facts Brochure with biodiversity facts and questions presented in a simple, fun fashion, such as quizzes and games. * Life in the Balance Website feature family activities, an extinction conference section, and a bio-bulletin. * Life in the Balance National Training Institute, a 10 day workshop brining together teams of science educators from community organizations, schools, and science centers and museums. The PI and producer/director/writer of the film will be Bayley Silleck who served in these same roles for the Cosmic Voyage film. The Co-PI and producer will be Jeffrey Marvin. The principal scientist will be Thomas Eisner, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology at Cornell University. This production team will work closely with an advisory committee that includes Jane Lubchenco, Peter H. Raven, Edward O. Wilson, Andrew Peter Dobson, Myles Gordon, Mary Elizabeth Murray-Wilson, and Lee Schmitt.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bayley SilleckJeffrey MarvinThomas Eisner
Big Ideas Entertainment, Inc. is producing a coherent test sequence, 30-seconds to 1-minute in length, that combines character animation with live action footage. The purpose is to assess the different methods of animation and compositing to produce an appropriate "marriage" between animation and live action footage, including testing the SANDDE hand-drawn animation system vs. traditional cel animation. The exploratory research also will test CGI processing (digital compositing) vs. optical printing. The footage to be produced, though short, will be developed with science content, a treatment, shooting script, and storyboard. Live action footage will be selected, animation characters designed, and one minute of animation and live action footage will be produced. The resulting footage will be evaluated by screening and focus group interviews with an audience of children and adults, as well as being assessed by professionals in the large-format film field.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kristin MartinValentine KassJocelyn StevensonMichael Templeton
The Science Museum of Minnesota, in collaboration with Discovery Place and Science North, is producing a pilot stage for a large format film on the life work of Dr. Jane Goodall; her principal research site, Gombe National park in Tanzania; and her study subject, chimpanzees. The film will be a journey into the world of the wild chimpanzee with Dr. Jane Goodall, the best know living woman scientist among adults in the United States. It will chronicle Goodall's life work as well as the work of other researchers in Gombe. Accompanying educational material will include a companion kiosk exhibit, a leadership institute for museum educators, an online program, and women-in-science classes for children and parents. During this pilot stage, the project team will produce large format test footage in Gombe and will further develop the script for the film. The principal science advisor for the project will be Dr. Anne Pusey, professor and director of the Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies at the University of Minnesota. She will serve as a Co-PI along with Mike Day of the Science Museum of Minnesota; Freda Nicholson, CEO of Discovery Place; and Sue Griswold, VP for Programs and Education at Discovery Place. Mike Day also will co-executive produce the film with Jim Marchbank, CEO of Science North.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mike DaySue GriswoldAnne PuseyFreda NicholsonBarbara Flagg
The Maryland Science Center is developing a large format film project on the inner workings of the human body. The film, to be produced in collaboration with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), SDA of Canada, and the Science Museum of London, will focus on the daily activities of the human body -- the simple yet astonishing things that happen throughout one's body on a single day. Emphasis will be placed on such everyday events as hearing, sneezing, eating, healing, crawling and seeing. It will be complemented by a range of ancillary educational materials including teachers' guides, a web site, and a small exhibit for placement in theater lobbies. The co-Executive Producers for the project are James O'Leary and Greg Andorfer, both from the Maryland Science Center; Richard Dale from the British Broadcasting System; Alison Roden from the Science Museum of London; and Andre Picard of SDA Productions. Michael Ackerman, Assistant Director for High Performance Computing and Communications at the National Library of Medicine of the NIH, and Lord Robert Winston, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at London's Imperial College, will be the project's principal advisors. Other advisors include: Harry Chugani, Neurochemistry, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit; Susan Greenfield, Neuropharmacology, Oxford University, London; Chris Firth, Wellcome Institute of Cognitive Neurology, London; Michael Preece, Institute of Child Health, University College, London; John B. West, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego; and Scott Frazer, Head of Biological Imaging, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
MacGillivray Freeman Films, in collaboration with Texas A&M University's Marine Mammal Research Program, Mote Marine Laboratory, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, ASPIRA Association, Inc, and Media Education Consultants, is producing a 40 minute, large format film on wild dolphins. The film will feature the research being done by two scientists: Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski, a young marine scientist investigating dolphin communication and social systems, and Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez, a young Hispanic Ph.D. researching dolphin behavior and ecology. The film will inform the audiences about the methods, tools and significance of dolphin research and immerse them in on-going scientific investigations of wild dolphins in their natural habitat. The film will be supported by teacher's guides, a Science Career Exploration Unit for Hispanic youth distributed through ASPIRA, a School Trip Package for distribution to 11,000 teachers, and a Museum Educator Kit. The project also will provide theaters with 2,000 free passes for minority and low-income outreach programs. Greg MacGillivray, President of MacGillivray Freeman Films will be Executive Producer/Co-Producer/Co-Director/Co-Director of Photography. The other Co-Producer will be Alec Lorimore, Vice President for Film Production and Development at MacGillivray Freeman Films. The Co-Director/Co-Director of Photography will be Bob Talbot, an independent marine photographer. Dr. Bernd Wursig, Professor of Marine Mammalogy, Director of the Marine Mammal research Program, and Co-Director of the Institute of Marine Life Science at Texas A&M University will serve as the chief content advisor. Other science advisors include Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez, Kathleen Dudzinski, Randy Wells, Peter Tyack, and the staff scientists from the Mote Marine Laboratory. Informal science education and outreach advisors include Raylene Decatur, David Ellis, Freda Nicholson, Simone Bloom-Nathan, and Hilda Crespo. Project evaluation will be conducted by Barbara Flagg.
The Reuben H. Fleet Space Center is developing "The Search for Infinity," a large-format film on mathematics and nature. The current concept, based on a film idea developed in collaboration with Sir Arthur C. Clarke, is to center the film on an intelligent computer running an unmanned space probe. By following the actions of the computer, audiences will learn about mathematical fractals and the relationships between fractals and the natural world. A key effect planned for the film will be a prolonged zoom into the endless details of the celebrated Mandelbrot Set fractal. Jeffrey Kirsch, Director of the Reuben H. Fleet Space Center, will be PI and Executive Producer for the film. The Co-Executive Producer will be Christina Schmidlin, Vice-President of XAOS, Inc, one of the world's leading computer graphics studios, and the Producer-Director will be Ronald Fricke. This production team will work with Sir Arthur Clarke to write the treatment for the film. Scientists working directly in the pre-production phase of the project include Ian Stewart, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick, and Rudy Rucker of San Jose State University. Other advisors include: Benoit Mandelbrot, Yale University; Maxine Brown, University of Illinois at Chicago; Bernard Pailthorpe, San Diego Supercomputer Center; and David Brin, Science Fiction author and astrophysicist. During this planning phase the project will: (1) identify subjects that are best suited to illustrate the fractal geometry of nature in large format film; (2) conduct front-end evaluation to assess the potential educational benefits of such a film; (3) write a treatment and develop a storyboard for the film; conduct formative evaluation of the treatment; (4) produce a motion picture sequence to demonstrate the educational power of the large format film medium to convey complicated ideas related to computer processes; and (5) develop interactive web-based activity concepts to exploit the film's distribution in the museum-dominated large format film community.
The large format film unit at NOVA/WGBH Boston, in association with the Liberty Science Center, is producing a 40-minute large format film about the science of volcanology. Volcano: Lost City of Pompeii will tell the story of a diverse group of scientists working together, each in his or her specific field, to understand better how Vesuvius can reasonably be expected to behave - today and in the years to come. Following the scientific teams, the film will impart a basic understanding of magma flow and plate tectonics, the geological building blocks out of which volcanoes emerge. The film will blend geology with archaeology to tell an ongoing detective story - a present-day scientific investigation that integrates state of the art techniques and technology with ancient evidence derived from buildings, victims' remains, and vivid eyewitness accounts that go back nearly 2,000 years to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The range of scientific disciplines involved in the film includes: geochemistry, geology, geophysics, remote sensing, plate tectonics, seismology, archaeology, and volcanology. The film will be available with both captioning for the hearing impaired and visual description for visually impaired members of the audience. The film will be supported by an extensive educational outreach plan that includes: Pompeii Earth Science Exploration, a program targeting underserved and disadvantaged youth at 100 Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide; Pompeii Museum Toolkit, a blueprint enabling museums to integrate existing exhibitry with use of the film and including models for outreach initiatives built around the film; Pompeii Activity Guide, an activity guide for us with upper elementary and middle school youth in both informal and form science education settings, and; Pompeii Idea Handbook, a booklet for museums that shares successful outreach programs implemented by museums showing the film during the first year. Paula Apsell, Executive Producer of N OVA and Director of the WGBH Science Unit, will be the PI. The Co-Executive Producer will be Susanne Simpson who previously produced such large format films as Storm Chasers and To the Limit. The Key Scientific Advisor will be Richard Fisher of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Others on the advisory committee include Lucia Civetta, Director of Osservatorio Vesuvio; Diane Favro, Assoc. Prof. in the School of Arts and Architecture at UCLA; Grant Heiken, President of the Earth and Environmental Science Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory and President of the International Society of volcanology; Dan Miller, Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Disaster Assistance Program; Haraldur Sigurdsson, Professor in the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island; and Barbara Tewksbury, Professor of Geology at Hamilton College and past president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. Emyln Koster, President and CEO of the Liberty Science Center, will act as key education advisor.
Stephen Low Productions, Inc., is testing the viability of shooting large format film of volcanic vents on the deep ocean floor. The tests will be carried out during the course of the currently scheduled November,1999, dives involving the deep sea submersible, Alvin, at the 9 Degree North site on the East Pacific Rise. The expedition plans to shoot approximately 20,000 feet of 15 perforation, 70 mm film resulting in approximately 10 to 20 minutes of footage. The objectives of this research are to confirm the feasibility of lighting and filming the deep sea volcanic vents in the large film format from Alvin, and to develop and optimize the deep water, large-format filming capabilities of Alvin. The research effort is proposed on behalf of a consortium of US based organizations now forming for the production of a 40-minute, large format film, Volcanoes of the Abyss. Key production personnel involved in this research will be: Stephen Low, Director/Producer; Pietro L. Serapiglia, Producer; William W. Reeve, Camera Specialist; and Alexander Low, Project Manager. Scientists working with the production crew in this phase are: Richard A. Lutz, biologist from Rutgers University; Fred Grassle, Director, Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University; Dave Gallo, Director, Special Projects, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Emory Kristof, Deep Sea Imaging Specialist, National Geographic Society.
Volcanic Ocean Films, Inc. is testing the viability of shooting large-format film of volcanic vents on the deep ocean floor. The tests will be carried out during the course of the currently scheduled November, 1999, dives involving the deep sea submersible, Alvin, at the 9 Degree North site on the East Pacific Rise. the expedition plans to shoot approximately 20,000 feet of 15 perforation, 70-mm film resulting in approximately 10 to 20 minutes of footage. The objectives of this research are: o To confirm the feasibility of lighting and filming the deep sea volcanic vents in the large film format from Alvin and o To develop and optimize the deep water, large-format filming capabilities of Alvin. The research effort is proposed on behalf of a consortium of US-based organizations now forming for the production of a 40-minute, large-format film, "Volcanoes of the Abyss." Key production personnel involved in this research will be: Stephen Low, Director/Producer; Pietro L. Serapiglia, Producer; William W. Reeve, Camera Specialist; and Alexander Low, Project Manager. Scientists working with the proudction crew in this phase are: Richard A. Lutz, biologist from Rutgers University; Fred Grassle, Director, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University; Dave Gallo, Director, Special Projects, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and Emory Kristof, Deep Sea Imaging Specialist, National Geographic Society.