Can we have the Internet everywhere? How did zebras get stripes?
Can we have the Internet everywhere? How did zebras get stripes? These and many other science-related questions are answered via in-house produced videos on the Science Museum of Virginia’s YouTube channel.
“It’s all about harnessing the existing science in day-to-day stuff and then transferring it to a fun, cute video piece,” says Prabir Mehta, the media specialist at the Science Museum.
Mehta has been designing and producing videos for the channel for over three years, and his masterpieces include “Pulp Friction,” “Covalent Bond,” and “Real World: ISS.” Since the videos are produced in-house, Mehta works with museum scientists in writing the scripts, and Science Museum staff act in all of the pieces.
According to Mehta, filming is a “very fun and borderline awkward process.”
Filming at the Museum requires creative and low-cost solutions, particularly when videos are set in faraway places like the International Space Station. Mehta recalls making a video about Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, by creating an “ice hole” out of white poster-board. He laughs, “I always prefer the stuff where we do live action because it’s more fun, it’s crazy, it’s silly.”
The Science Museum also partners with WCVE to produce weekly blog posts and radio pieces through Science Matters. Mehta says that although science discoveries don’t often make the 5 o’clock news, the WCVE pieces aim to reach people with relevant science topics that are less than a week old. He explains that in the science world, “It’s as breaking news as you can get.”
“I try to keep a very Conan O’Brien approach to things,” said Mehta about when he’s coming up with ideas for the productions. He’s keenly aware of what you need to succeed on the internet. “[You] must be silly and to the point when doing these types of things!”
Chrissy Caldwell, Manager for Communications & Curiosity at the Science Museum, adds, “I think that a lot of Prabir’s stuff is the tip of the iceberg for accessible science. It gives you that flavor and taste that’s fun and quirky–it’s opening up a conversation.” Mehta says he wants his videos to be “accessible to everyone,” from Pulp Fiction fans to physics teachers.
Tyler Rhodes is the man behind most of the graphics work. He helps turn the more regular radio pieces into visual productions.
“He’s great at finding the look for the content for things that we can’t possibly film ourselves like supernovas, the inner workings of printers, and so on,” said Prabir.
Check the Science Museum of Virginia’s youtube page for more amazing videos, and check back every few weeks as they add new videos about once a month.
