Digital Content Resources
Help and advice
The biggest piece of advice is to start thinking about how you might your research story at the START of your research. Take photos, shoot films, open a social media account, set up a blog. All this means you will be ready to tell your research story when your first paper is ready to publish
Current kit in the Department
Contact webmaster@zoo.cam.ac.uk to organise booking
DSLR Camera
External hard drive for storing film content
Tripods
Light
Light-reflecting umbrella
Smartphone gimble
Wired and wireless lapel mics (to be purchased)
It may be possible to get other resources so just ask.
Filming
On location with a smartphone, this video is pretty thorough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvKJoER233w
Guidance for filming yourself
Watch this vlogger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmSeo50DNnI
Here are some of the things she does right:
- Filmed landscape, with enough space for head and torso
- When she's indoors she faces the window, so she has good natural light but not bright, direct sunshine.
- She uses a laptop but if you can only use a phone, keep it as still as you can, if you don’t have a steady hand place the phone on something solid or get somebody with a steady hand to film it for you.
- The distance is about 1- 1.5 m so we get good audio too
- The camera is at eye level so the angle isn't unflattering (i.e. will have massive chin if filmed from below). A laptop may have to be stacked on some books.
- Done in a quiet place to record. Best to do a quick test of this first before recording a message.
- If sound isn’t very good, connect your headphones into the laptop or mobile to improve the sound.
- Your background says something about you so beware of making it too chaotic or empty. A bookcase is usually the safest bet
- Check your video recording settings. Set it to HD, ideally 1080p. Just beware the file size will get bigger with higher quality.
Writing
The University Communications Office provides this advice for thinking about a press release: https://www.communications.cam.ac.uk/working-media#press
Research Stories on the Museum of Zoology blog
The Museum of Zoology are keen to highlight the fantastic research taking place across the Department of Zoology, and since we established our blog in April 2020 we have been publishing research stories where you can tell your story, the story of your research, or both.
Unlike a press release, research stories are written in the first person, and are more conversational in tone. They are for a general audience without any prior knowledge of the subject. You can get a feel for the content here: