End of 2009 placement

I will shortly be coming to the end of my placement so I’m currently trying to finish off and pass on various pieces of work.

Since my last blog I have been working on a couple of new things along with the work in progress. I have started making ‘vodcasts’ (video podcasts) to go with the relevant written news articles on the website. This has included acquiring new footage along with making use of that previously filmed.

The videos I have been making are more of an extension of the usual vodcast style, which is just a short visual piece, traditionally with no text or sound. It was decided to add text and later a score so a brief message can be understood in the video alone. There has been an English and Greek version made of each video, though not all videos have been uploaded onto both sites yet.

The vodcasts I have made, which are on the website, reflect the following news articles:

‘Creating a monitoring network for water quality in the Eastern Aegean islands’ - (Greek site).
This involved editing footage filmed by a team member on the trip to Agathonisi, and also creating some of my own footage here at the lab.
http://archipelago.gr/en/VideoPlayer/TabId/200/VideoId/21/Agathonisi-Water-Analysis.aspx

‘Preliminary biological mapping in south west Samos’ - (Greek site)
For this article, which talks about Posidonia Oceanica (sea grass), I put a short video together (filming and editing) showing trawler fishing, as this is one of the many threats to this productive habitat.
http://www.archipelago.gr/en/Home/NewsofArchipelagos/tabid/100/xmmid/441/xmid/965/xmview/2/Default.aspx

‘Opening the research bases in the North Eastern Dodecanese, and the phenomenon of illegal recreational fishing activities’
For this I simply edited down donated footage.
http://archipelago.gr/en/Home/NewsofArchipelagos/tabid/100/xmmid/441/xmid/966/xmview/2/Default.aspx

‘A juvenile Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) is returned to its natural habitat after being looked after for 12 daysat the Archipelagos research base in Samos’
This involved filming and editing the feeding and release of the owl (English and Greek site).
http://archipelago.gr/en/Home/NewsofArchipelagos/tabid/100/xmmid/441/xmid/1003/xmview/2/Default.aspx

Other vodcasts I have made which are yet to be put on the website are on threats to the common chameleon, Posidonia Oceanica (sea grass), and a piece showing the contrast between biological and chemical farms in response to a recent news article. This article in a national Greek paper claimed that organic food has the same nutritional value as chemically engineered food, and the vodcast was to go with Archipelagos’ news article contending this. Archipelagos will soon be conducting more scientific research into this.

I also made a piece using existing footage, for a presentation Archipelagos did to the village of Ormos about our work. Unfortunately due to technical problems this was unable to be shown but will now be used as a general video to show our work.

The ongoing pesticide documentary is nearly finished now. I just need one more interview with a biological farmer and some panoramic shots. A translator also needs to help me edit down the interviews (as it must be in Greek which I am limited at).

From the 20th to the 27th September the two new media volunteers and I filmed Cardiff University Marine Biology students, who came to Samos for a field course. This included social such as evening meals, and work such as snorkeling, sonar and other scientific practices.

This week (from the 27th – 2nd October) I am assisting an award winning freelance film-maker who has come here to film and edit previous footage to make some pieces for Archipelagos.