Trap Jaw Ants

Trap Jaw Ants.

I have read that the speed of the jaws closing is the fastest known animal movement, around 150 miles/hour.

They use it to jump and avoid predators, but I would do it for fun, if I had the trap-jaws.

careful Carla

 

 

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Better news

Watermelon Cat? Dancing Nubian Goat? Man, this is the best  news.

I loves the interwebz.

Good News

Dunedin Festival of Film and TV Craft

On Friday and Saturday last week I attended the Dunedin Festival of Film and TV Craft. The event was organised by Allan Baddock from Screen Dunedin and was attended by a number of local film and TV freelancers; and some of the countries top Film and TV talent including representatives from Great Southern Film and TV, NHNZ and South Pacific Pictures, to name a few. What follows is a summary of the panels I attended. I didn’t take notes so this is a rough cut straight from my brain. I missed the daytime panels on Friday, so hopefully someone else can provide a rundown of those.

The International Television Market
Yvonne Donohoe (Great Southern) & Craig Meade (NHNZ).

Yvonne and Craig spoke about changes in the international market, Yvonne in the world of fiction programming in the UK and Ireland; Craig about the Factual television market in the US.

One important point that Yvonne made was that shifts in the American market trickle through to the international markets over a year or two. Craig concurred, adding that if you want to know what will be big on New Zealand TV in a few years you should see what’s coming out of America now. He even went as far to say that you could call up a commissioner in New Zealand and pitch Discovery’s latest show as New Zealand’s next big thing.

Great Southern’s Million Dollar Catch is case and point of this; it’s very similar to Discovery’s Deadliest Catch that had been running for a few years now. A member of the audience wondered this kind of copycat production was good for local production. Yvonne’s response was that Million Dollar Catch is bankrolling their company allowing them to make a number of risky investments on first time writers who are developing their own shows. Without the big budget copycat productions Great Southern would not be able to work with these writers.

According to Yvonne we are living in a post Lost world. Every television drama must have some sort of high concept narrative hook. It has to be clever and it has to keep the audience coming back for more.

Craig stressed two points: talent and formats.

All the networks are currently looking for fresh new talent, the next Mythbusters. Craig currently has a researcher whose sole job is to find new talent (that would be me). It’s got to the point where we can pitch some talent to the network without having a firm idea of what the show will be. Currently in high demand: women of non-European descent who speck English fluently without an over bearing accent.

Most producers and directors want to make glitzy one-hour docos, the networks do not want one hours – once they have hooked the audience want something to give them next week. A series with a strong format is what they are looking for; by format Craig means each week the show does something. Good examples are American Chopper, Mythbusters, Ice Road Truckers and Deadliest Catch. With a good format a show can go on forever and become very profitable for both the network and production company.

What Makes a Great Short Film?
Christina Milligan (Conbrio Media), Hone Kouka (NZ Film Commission), Stephen Downes (Local DP, Director, Writer and all Round Guru), Patrick Gilles (Independent Filmmaker).

This was a great panel discussion featuring clips from some great NZ shot films, sound advice and observations from the panel and a great Q&A with the audience. Christina guided the panel through a vast number of areas packing a great deal of information into the 45 minute session.

The first big point was that short film is not feature film nor is it a substitute for a feature, short film has it’s own unique form and style. Just like a short story is not a substitute for a novel. Christina stressed that of the 15 minute short film scripts she sees all should have at least five minutes cut out of them. The entire panel stressed economy of storytelling, economy of storytelling and in case you missed it the last two times economy of storytelling.

Keep it short, keep it simple and keep it powerful.

Both Patrick and Stephen emphasised the importance of editing, especially knowing when to let go of the script and let the film take on a life of its on in the edit. A film is born three times, first in the script then in the shooting and finally in the edit. Don’t be afraid to make radical changes to your story in editing.

Date Night Pitching
Yvonne Donohue (Great Southern), Craig Meade (NHNZ), Steve Zanoski (South Pacific Pictures), Christina Milligan (Conbrio Media), Zoe Hobson (38 Pictures), Alex Cole-Baker (Chocolate Fish Films).

12 writes pitched their projects to six producers during two fast paced rounds of ‘speed dating’ pitch sessions. Writers had just three minutes to introduce themselves, pitch their project, exchange contact details and move on. Steven Gannaway, of the New Zealand Writers guild, moderated the event; he ran a tight ship strictly enforcing the three-minute rule.

Producers were impressed the quality of the ideas and that the event ran to time. Writers were impressed by the producer’s openness and the quality of their feedback. Every one I spoke to was happy with their pitches so hopefully some of them will be coming to a small screen.

Stay Tuned…
Check back later in the week to read about Jonathan Brough’s epic directing workshop and Zoe Hobson’s career insights.

For more information about Screen Dunedin and the other organisations involved visit…

Screen Dunedin

Writers Room

Forget Lucy, meet the Puglodile!

The Puglodile - the ultimate missing-link?

Scientists are baffled following the discovery of what appears to be a mammalian-reptilian hybrid in a photo which surfaced recently. Paleontologists at the University of Otago are already saying this could be the greatest find of the new century, and have dubbed the creature the “Puglodile”, a reference to its uncanny resemblance to both the Pug dog (Canis puggis) and Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus). Many are already calling the creature “the missing link” between mammals and reptiles, possibly belonging to the order Therapsida – a group of mammal-like reptiles thought to have been extinct over 100 million years ago. The scientific community is excited at the questions that may be answered concerning the evolution of mammals and possibly even the origin of man.

Religious leaders are bracing themselves as they prepare for the fallout of such revelations.

Whilst doubts have been raised over the authenticity of the image, respected photo-analyst and philanthropist Neils Hargbrun has laughed off rumours that the image (seeabove) is nothing but a pug dressed in a crocodile outfit, dismissing the proposition as a “dogmatic response of skepticism in the age of digital media”.

Whilst more information is needed for scientists to complete thorough research on this relic of time, we can all rest a little bit easier knowing we are one step closer to answering the greatest question of all – what makes man man?

(Reuters)

market day

its eliza & olga at the farmers market

worth a peruse

Radiolab

Radiolab is a radio show from the New York City branch of NPR (National Public Radio).  Each episode is an hour long and is probably best described as ‘sexy’ science.  In an often goofy,  sometimes suspect, consistently compelling manner they cover exciting new ideas (1), eternal questions (2), controversial topics (3), and trippy thoughts (4 – really good in headphones).  I highly recommend it, particularly when you have an empty hour, e.g. long drive, bedtime lullaby.  I have not yet listened to them all- I save them for special occasions- but I encourage all or any of you to enjoy them.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome

This blog is updated by students at the University of Otago‘s Science Communication class of 2009 (beginning 2009).  Classmates, please post your favorite and most interesting articles, video clips, links or other bits of info pertaining to science communication.  Let’s share to create a solid collection of stories that will be a useful resource for all of us!