Hints and Tips

This competition was all about creatively communicate scientific discoveries from using the Survival Rivals kits. Judges are looking for original ideas: films and photographs that will wow, excite and inspire the audience to want to know more about evolution.

The hints and tips below can help you produce other creative photographs and films.

Man with camera

Competition

More information

Survival Rivals news

Read about recent news and events from the Survival Rivals team.

Find out more »

Useful links

Find out about other resources for teachers and students.

Find out more »

Creative tips:

For photographs you may wish to consider:

  • the most interesting composition (symmetry, patterns, depth of field, lines, perspective, colour)…
  • the device (mobile phone camera, Polaroid, digital, web-cam, SLR) that will give the best results…
  • the shots that will sum up everything you have learnt from using the kit(s)…
  • the amount of creative thinking behind the photographs, e.g. images do not need to be limited to the classroom…

For films you may wish to consider:

  • the story that will be told…
  • the genre (the kind of film e.g. stop-frame animation, documentary, drama…)
  • the creative direction: special effects, actors, entertainment…
  • the way in which the film sums up everything learnt from using the kit(s)…
  • the creative presentation of the entry (will there be dancing, musical items, comedy…how will your entry stand out?)…

Remember, creativity will be rewarded! And why not work with another department at your school to pool all your ideas and talents?

Technical tips:

  • Utilise the functions on your device: zoom, flash, macro settings and shutter speed can all help in creating a great photograph or film when used well.
  • Larger file sizes take longer to upload, but usually offer a better quality. There is advice on the Internet about compressing files, but we just think keep it simple: edit out the bits that are not necessary.
  • For images: the screen-shot (capture) function on Macs and PCs can allow you to take a shot of a digital image on the computer screen and save it as a smaller size.
  • Keep your device still: images and films do not always turn out the way we think because the device wobbled!
  • Remember: do not use pieces of well-known music as soundtracks, or video footage and images from other websites, as copyright laws will prevent us from accepting your entry.
  • There are plenty of software options to use for stop-frame animation as well as general movie making (depending on whether you are using a Mac or a PC): iStopmotion, Scratch, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker. There is also an app for the iPhone called iMotion.
  • Keep safety in mind at all times: we don’t want a member of the winning team to have tripped over some cables and not be able to travel to the Galapagos…

Other useful information:

With further development there may be potential for the competition entry work to be accredited with a British Science Association CREST (CREativity in Science and Technology) Award. For more information about CREST, please visit the website.

Planet Sci Cast Have a look on the Planet Sci Cast website for some great hints and tips, helpful advice on cameras and gear, and for details of the Planet Sci Cast film competition http://www.planet-scicast.com/film_school.cfm.

And there are other useful tips on the following sites:

Wellcome Trust Darwin 200