Thread by @iamscicomm

Showing off Character Animator pscp.tv/w/b0h47jFvTmps…

OMG, it worked!!

So, #SciComm-ers and #SciArt-ists! You're interested in animating or perhaps you're interested in hiring an animator & want to have a better idea of what you're looking for. I'm a total animation nerd and it's my dream to one day have an animated series of my own.

So I'm going to try not to geek out TOO much it's bound to happen.

(I already was having trouble concentrating on the LIVE bc I was so excited about the animation)

Just like with any form of art there are principles of animation. I'm not going to get into them. Instead, I really want to talk about the benefits of animation, especially in communicating science.

There is a great benefit to showing real scientists, especially diverse scientists, talking about their science.

But just like words can only do so much, and just like still infographics can only do so much, live video can only do so much.

The reason I fell in love with animation was bc it allowed me to see things I would never be able to see in real life.

I mentioned earlier that my goal in creating #SciArt was to transport people into another world where they could experience science as never before.

It's absolutely incredible the look inside a microscope for the first time and see a real live cell there. How cool is it when you see a phenotype come to life in your model organism?!

Unfortunately, a lot of scientific topics aren't accessible in that way. I can talk about them day and night and say how excited they make me, but I can't actually show you those things.

This is the exact reason why I fell in love with animation.

I fell in love with fantasy at a young age. Movies like FernGully and Titan AE inspired me a lot. When I started watching anime in my teens, I found out something interesting.

Many shows made in Japan were animated not necessarily because that was the first choice. The cost of an animated show (for a while at least) was less expensive. Special effects were extremely expensive, so it just made sense to animate everything.

Animation & special FX are much cheaper now. An animation can throw us in the middle of a cell doing cellular respiration without us having to build expensive sets, find places to store those sets, rent space to film, rent equipment, etc.

I definitely don't believe that animation is the answer to everything. (Although I would be okay with everything being animated)

When we're talking about actively engage an audience in science communication, animation should be used for a purpose.

People understand that animation is not reality, so we need to be careful to make sure that we are communicating properly, choosing the best medium for each project independently. When animation makes sense, we should use it. Just like any other medium.

I'm going to go take another break. But I'm going to come back one more time tonight because I want to share tips on how to get started creating your own animations.

#SciComm-ers, #SciArt-ists,
what do you think is the right way to get started?