1 00:00:00,090 --> 00:00:02,430 The following content is provided under a Creative 2 00:00:02,430 --> 00:00:03,820 Commons license. 3 00:00:03,820 --> 00:00:06,050 Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare 4 00:00:06,050 --> 00:00:10,150 continue to offer high quality educational resources for free. 5 00:00:10,150 --> 00:00:12,700 To make a donation or to view additional materials 6 00:00:12,700 --> 00:00:16,600 from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 7 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:17,265 at ocw.mit.edu. 8 00:00:27,350 --> 00:00:31,130 ELIZABETH CHOE: All right, so everyone is here for 20.219, 9 00:00:31,130 --> 00:00:32,910 correct, Becoming the Next Bill Nye? 10 00:00:32,910 --> 00:00:35,100 No one's in the wrong room? 11 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:35,830 All right. 12 00:00:39,820 --> 00:00:41,860 OK, well, welcome to the class. 13 00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:45,210 I'm Elizabeth, I run the K12 videos program. 14 00:00:45,210 --> 00:00:47,610 Maybe we can do a quick intro with the staff over here. 15 00:00:47,610 --> 00:00:48,569 So Jamie, you want to-- 16 00:00:48,569 --> 00:00:50,276 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: Hi, I'm Jaime Goldstein. 17 00:00:50,276 --> 00:00:52,715 I run the communication lab in Biological Engineering, 18 00:00:52,715 --> 00:00:54,840 and I oversee it in Nuclear Science and Engineering 19 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:56,305 as well. 20 00:00:56,305 --> 00:00:57,180 CERI RILEY: I'm Ceri. 21 00:00:57,180 --> 00:00:59,320 I am the TA for this class. 22 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:04,690 I'm a junior in Comparative Media Studies and Biology. 23 00:01:04,690 --> 00:01:06,000 JOSH GUNN: I'm Josh. 24 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,650 I run an animation studio here in Cambridge 25 00:01:08,650 --> 00:01:11,969 called Planet Nutshell. 26 00:01:11,969 --> 00:01:13,260 CHRIS BOEBEL: I'm Chris Boebel. 27 00:01:13,260 --> 00:01:16,940 I'm Media Development Director at MITx, 28 00:01:16,940 --> 00:01:19,660 and I also teach a class here at MIT 29 00:01:19,660 --> 00:01:22,226 called DV Lab on documentary, and I'll 30 00:01:22,226 --> 00:01:25,450 be guest lecturing for a couple of sessions. 31 00:01:25,450 --> 00:01:28,100 ELIZABETH CHOE: Come on in, take a seat. 32 00:01:28,100 --> 00:01:30,330 So just logistics stuff. 33 00:01:30,330 --> 00:01:31,860 All the information about this class 34 00:01:31,860 --> 00:01:34,460 is on our Tumblr, which I'll email it out to you guys, 35 00:01:34,460 --> 00:01:37,630 but it's mit219.tumblr.com. 36 00:01:37,630 --> 00:01:40,710 And you'll find the class syllabus, all the links, 37 00:01:40,710 --> 00:01:43,115 all the videos that I'll be showing you during class, 38 00:01:43,115 --> 00:01:44,490 and basically everything you need 39 00:01:44,490 --> 00:01:46,480 to know about just homework assignments 40 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:47,570 and things like that. 41 00:01:47,570 --> 00:01:51,500 So we're just going to go ahead and dive right in. 42 00:01:51,500 --> 00:01:55,870 This class is about writing, hosting, and producing video, 43 00:01:55,870 --> 00:02:00,910 short-form video, but in the context of this sort of scary, 44 00:02:00,910 --> 00:02:04,510 amorphous blob that people talk about a lot, the problems 45 00:02:04,510 --> 00:02:08,350 in science, technology, and engineering and math education. 46 00:02:08,350 --> 00:02:10,190 And the specific problems that we're 47 00:02:10,190 --> 00:02:11,840 going to be trying to be thinking 48 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,900 about in the context of making these videos 49 00:02:14,900 --> 00:02:16,400 are these three problems, which is 50 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,860 that the culture that we have right now, especially 51 00:02:18,860 --> 00:02:21,810 with video and science, is that it kind of implies 52 00:02:21,810 --> 00:02:23,602 that the door to science and engineering, 53 00:02:23,602 --> 00:02:25,310 whether or not you want to be a scientist 54 00:02:25,310 --> 00:02:26,935 or whether or not you want to study it, 55 00:02:26,935 --> 00:02:29,670 is only open to certain people. 56 00:02:29,670 --> 00:02:32,090 We also have this issue of maintaining 57 00:02:32,090 --> 00:02:34,117 a love of lifelong learning. 58 00:02:34,117 --> 00:02:36,200 Josh I were just talking about the dark ages, when 59 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:37,800 you quit playing with LEGOs. 60 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,960 But kids are very curious creatures, 61 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,930 and somehow our educational system 62 00:02:43,930 --> 00:02:46,000 squelches that curiosity. 63 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,630 And science and engineering are these topics 64 00:02:48,630 --> 00:02:51,220 that I'm sure you guys are very excited about. 65 00:02:51,220 --> 00:02:53,480 I'm very excited about it too. 66 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:57,720 But somehow it becomes this sort of boring subject, 67 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,050 and especially in high school, people think of chemistry 68 00:03:01,050 --> 00:03:03,180 as their least favorite class. 69 00:03:03,180 --> 00:03:05,760 It was my least favorite class in high school. 70 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,410 And then you have this civic responsibility 71 00:03:09,410 --> 00:03:11,280 as scientists and engineers to make sure 72 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,580 that you're promoting STEM literacy among the public. 73 00:03:15,580 --> 00:03:17,809 We don't want everyone in our culture 74 00:03:17,809 --> 00:03:19,350 to become a scientist or an engineer. 75 00:03:19,350 --> 00:03:21,850 That would be terrible, it would be super boring. 76 00:03:21,850 --> 00:03:23,910 It wouldn't really be helping our society at all. 77 00:03:23,910 --> 00:03:26,170 But at the same time, science and engineering 78 00:03:26,170 --> 00:03:27,830 affects your daily life. 79 00:03:27,830 --> 00:03:30,810 Whether or not you're an artist or you're an author, 80 00:03:30,810 --> 00:03:34,860 you're voting on issues that require a certain knowledge 81 00:03:34,860 --> 00:03:36,430 of science and engineering. 82 00:03:36,430 --> 00:03:38,655 And as scientists and engineers, we 83 00:03:38,655 --> 00:03:40,030 need to be making sure that we're 84 00:03:40,030 --> 00:03:42,290 promoting a basic level of literacy 85 00:03:42,290 --> 00:03:43,370 among the voting public. 86 00:03:43,370 --> 00:03:45,930 So it's a practical thing for us, 87 00:03:45,930 --> 00:03:47,220 as scientists and engineers. 88 00:03:47,220 --> 00:03:50,120 It's also sharing that excitement and love 89 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,120 of learning with other people that maybe they 90 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,120 lost in a boring class or something like that. 91 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,210 So the idea of this class is to bring together 92 00:03:59,210 --> 00:04:03,400 the best practices in education, and some of these problems 93 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,540 that I'm talking about with STEM education, 94 00:04:05,540 --> 00:04:07,700 and bringing it together with some of the tools 95 00:04:07,700 --> 00:04:09,190 that we have in entertainment. 96 00:04:09,190 --> 00:04:13,680 So how can we use video, how can we leverage video to address 97 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,050 that big, amorphous blob. 98 00:04:16,050 --> 00:04:18,649 So we're going to try to occupy this middle space. 99 00:04:18,649 --> 00:04:23,560 But the problem is that the best practices in this middle space 100 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:25,240 have not really been established. 101 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,280 Part of that is because there aren't really experts 102 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:30,820 in edutainment, necessarily. 103 00:04:30,820 --> 00:04:32,990 It's not a super academic field. 104 00:04:32,990 --> 00:04:34,200 It's also pretty new. 105 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,990 The advent of science entertainment on the web, 106 00:04:37,990 --> 00:04:41,520 especially now it's exploding, but it's all very new, 107 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,720 so it's hard to establish the best practices. 108 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,850 And on top of that, the best practices in education 109 00:04:47,850 --> 00:04:49,700 and the best practices in entertainment 110 00:04:49,700 --> 00:04:50,580 don't always align. 111 00:04:50,580 --> 00:04:52,960 A lot of times they conflict with each other. 112 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:56,770 So a lot of this class will be piecing together 113 00:04:56,770 --> 00:04:58,700 what's great about these two disciplines, 114 00:04:58,700 --> 00:05:01,580 and it'll also be sort of discovering on our own 115 00:05:01,580 --> 00:05:03,830 what are the pieces that we want to take and implement 116 00:05:03,830 --> 00:05:04,330 ourselves. 117 00:05:08,110 --> 00:05:12,630 At this point, I wanted you guys to think about this question, 118 00:05:12,630 --> 00:05:16,160 partially to inform us and help us help you guys 119 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,150 over the course of this month. 120 00:05:18,150 --> 00:05:21,000 But I wanted to get a sense of why you all 121 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,150 signed up for this class. 122 00:05:22,150 --> 00:05:25,680 Maybe it was because you needed six extra units to graduate, 123 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,370 which is totally fine. 124 00:05:27,370 --> 00:05:29,545 And also what you wanted to get out of this class. 125 00:05:29,545 --> 00:05:31,170 If you're coming into the class and you 126 00:05:31,170 --> 00:05:32,772 want to learn how to record video, 127 00:05:32,772 --> 00:05:34,480 we want to know if that's your objective. 128 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,000 If you came in because you thought 129 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,410 it sounded interesting or anything like that, 130 00:05:39,410 --> 00:05:40,650 we want to know, too. 131 00:05:40,650 --> 00:05:44,924 So you guys can think about it, maybe share. 132 00:05:44,924 --> 00:05:47,340 If you don't want to share right now, that's totally fine. 133 00:05:47,340 --> 00:05:49,274 But I will mention this at the end of class, 134 00:05:49,274 --> 00:05:50,940 but every day you're going to be writing 135 00:05:50,940 --> 00:05:52,609 blog posts and daily reflections, 136 00:05:52,609 --> 00:05:54,900 so hopefully this is something that you can incorporate 137 00:05:54,900 --> 00:05:56,960 into your reflection today. 138 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:58,960 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: Elizabeth, why don't you start? 139 00:05:58,960 --> 00:05:59,630 Why are you here? 140 00:05:59,630 --> 00:06:00,240 ELIZABETH CHOE: Why am I here? 141 00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,520 Well, I'm going to talk about why I'm here after this, 142 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:04,260 so I don't want to spoil it. 143 00:06:04,260 --> 00:06:05,726 But Jaime, why are you here? 144 00:06:05,726 --> 00:06:07,990 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: Oh, OK. 145 00:06:07,990 --> 00:06:09,490 Really good question. 146 00:06:09,490 --> 00:06:12,020 I run the communication lab in Biological Engineering, 147 00:06:12,020 --> 00:06:13,290 and that was it. 148 00:06:13,290 --> 00:06:15,117 I oversee Nuclear Science as well. 149 00:06:15,117 --> 00:06:17,700 And our goal is really to help scientists learn to communicate 150 00:06:17,700 --> 00:06:19,350 more effectively. 151 00:06:19,350 --> 00:06:21,630 And that's what I do now. 152 00:06:21,630 --> 00:06:23,808 I mostly train graduate students to talk 153 00:06:23,808 --> 00:06:26,860 to each other about their science, and to undergraduates, 154 00:06:26,860 --> 00:06:31,060 about how do you tell people about what you're doing. 155 00:06:31,060 --> 00:06:35,220 And when Elizabeth approached me-- she was an MBE originally, 156 00:06:35,220 --> 00:06:37,027 so she knew about our lab. 157 00:06:37,027 --> 00:06:39,360 This was a perfect match for me personally, this course, 158 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,640 because prior to my life here I taught 159 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,260 middle school for many years, among the many other things. 160 00:06:45,260 --> 00:06:47,690 I was a magazine editor for a little while. 161 00:06:47,690 --> 00:06:50,810 So this to me is a perfect intersection of things 162 00:06:50,810 --> 00:06:53,565 that I'm passionate about, because your videos are 163 00:06:53,565 --> 00:06:54,940 targeted, that you're going to be 164 00:06:54,940 --> 00:06:57,810 making for that middle school population. 165 00:06:57,810 --> 00:07:00,150 And that's one that I know very well 166 00:07:00,150 --> 00:07:01,680 and that I care about a lot. 167 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:03,970 So I'm looking forward to sharing with you 168 00:07:03,970 --> 00:07:07,680 what I know about the work that I do now blended with the work 169 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:08,430 that I used to do. 170 00:07:08,430 --> 00:07:11,038 So I'm excited to tap into your creativity. 171 00:07:14,512 --> 00:07:16,970 ELIZABETH CHOE: Anyone else want to share why they're here? 172 00:07:16,970 --> 00:07:17,700 No wrong answers. 173 00:07:23,145 --> 00:07:24,842 PAUL FOLINO: My name's Paul Folino. 174 00:07:24,842 --> 00:07:27,670 I came here to, kind of on what you were saying, 175 00:07:27,670 --> 00:07:30,590 just try to be able to convey technical concepts 176 00:07:30,590 --> 00:07:34,050 in a simple way, so I can explain to someone, 177 00:07:34,050 --> 00:07:36,720 whether it's one of my friends or someone 178 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:39,282 like my niece, what I do. 179 00:07:39,282 --> 00:07:40,281 ELIZABETH CHOE: Awesome. 180 00:07:43,090 --> 00:07:46,188 Anyone else? 181 00:07:46,188 --> 00:07:48,104 You will have to stay it in your blog, though. 182 00:07:48,104 --> 00:07:50,231 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: I want to hear from everyone. 183 00:07:50,231 --> 00:07:51,731 JOSH CHEONG: I'll probably go first. 184 00:07:51,731 --> 00:07:53,204 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: Sure. 185 00:07:53,204 --> 00:07:54,186 ELIZABETH CHOE: And what's your name? 186 00:07:54,186 --> 00:07:54,680 Sorry. 187 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:55,690 JOSH CHEONG: My name is Joshua. 188 00:07:55,690 --> 00:07:56,350 ELIZABETH CHOE: Joshua. 189 00:07:56,350 --> 00:07:58,060 JOSH CHEONG: You can call me Josh. 190 00:07:58,060 --> 00:07:59,020 I come from Singapore. 191 00:07:59,020 --> 00:08:04,120 So we're here on a really short exchange for about a month. 192 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:05,980 We come from Singapore University 193 00:08:05,980 --> 00:08:07,660 of Technology and Design. 194 00:08:07,660 --> 00:08:12,010 It's a university that was started in collaboration 195 00:08:12,010 --> 00:08:12,660 with MIT. 196 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:20,820 Well, I came to this class because we study OCW a lot, 197 00:08:20,820 --> 00:08:23,994 and that's because we are probably 198 00:08:23,994 --> 00:08:25,946 the first [? special ?] university and most 199 00:08:25,946 --> 00:08:27,740 of our curriculum comes from MIT. 200 00:08:27,740 --> 00:08:33,330 And honestly, I feel like close to 25% of my education 201 00:08:33,330 --> 00:08:35,070 comes from online. 202 00:08:35,070 --> 00:08:37,285 And I'm very comfortable with it, 203 00:08:37,285 --> 00:08:41,070 but-- my mom is a chemistry teacher, 204 00:08:41,070 --> 00:08:43,409 and she tells me that students don't necessarily 205 00:08:43,409 --> 00:08:45,100 like stuff like Khan Academy, because it 206 00:08:45,100 --> 00:08:47,810 might look too boring for them. 207 00:08:47,810 --> 00:08:50,660 And that's kind of my curiosity right now, 208 00:08:50,660 --> 00:08:53,810 how do I convey something that people might not 209 00:08:53,810 --> 00:08:57,233 find really interesting but very important for them, 210 00:08:57,233 --> 00:08:59,320 and make it very interactive. 211 00:09:02,764 --> 00:09:04,240 ELIZABETH CHOE: It's Yuliya, right? 212 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,210 YULIYA KLOCHAN: Mm-hm. 213 00:09:06,210 --> 00:09:10,980 So I was very interested in education in high school, 214 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:16,392 and I noticed that kids don't like STEM subjects, generally. 215 00:09:16,392 --> 00:09:20,820 And so I just wanted to, as a career, 216 00:09:20,820 --> 00:09:23,772 pursue promotion of STEM subjects. 217 00:09:23,772 --> 00:09:26,232 That's one of the things I'd like to do. 218 00:09:31,795 --> 00:09:32,628 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yes. 219 00:09:32,628 --> 00:09:34,104 JONATHAN: Hi, I'm Jonathan. 220 00:09:34,104 --> 00:09:35,479 ELIZABETH CHOE: Did you say John? 221 00:09:35,479 --> 00:09:36,072 Josh? 222 00:09:36,072 --> 00:09:36,564 JONATHAN: Jonathan. 223 00:09:36,564 --> 00:09:37,439 ELIZABETH CHOE: John. 224 00:09:37,439 --> 00:09:39,973 JONATHAN: John is fine, too. 225 00:09:39,973 --> 00:09:42,514 So I noticed there were a number of videos on YouTube popping 226 00:09:42,514 --> 00:09:45,986 up, a number of educational videos in range 227 00:09:45,986 --> 00:09:48,466 from exciting to pretty boring. 228 00:09:48,466 --> 00:09:50,450 And I think this is a very powerful medium 229 00:09:50,450 --> 00:09:52,930 to reach kids who wouldn't normally be 230 00:09:52,930 --> 00:09:54,914 interested in science, or math. 231 00:09:54,914 --> 00:09:57,890 And exposure, and how you receive 232 00:09:57,890 --> 00:09:59,874 and where you get information, usually 233 00:09:59,874 --> 00:10:02,354 tends to tip the scales as far as who's into something 234 00:10:02,354 --> 00:10:03,346 and who's not. 235 00:10:03,346 --> 00:10:07,314 So I think this is a really cool project. 236 00:10:07,314 --> 00:10:09,794 And I like to be on the other side of the camera as well. 237 00:10:17,234 --> 00:10:19,714 ANDREA DESROSIERS: I guess I'll go next. 238 00:10:19,714 --> 00:10:21,110 My name is Andrea. 239 00:10:21,110 --> 00:10:23,916 I'm a Sloan Fellow here at MIT. 240 00:10:23,916 --> 00:10:26,750 So I'm significantly older than maybe everybody. 241 00:10:29,292 --> 00:10:31,500 What I've been doing for the past 10 years of my life 242 00:10:31,500 --> 00:10:35,460 has been working in regulatory, so doing medical device 243 00:10:35,460 --> 00:10:37,800 submissions to the FDA. 244 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,860 So it's a lot of communicating highly technical information 245 00:10:41,860 --> 00:10:44,530 to people who aren't exactly laypeople, 246 00:10:44,530 --> 00:10:47,730 but they're not going to be as familiar with the topic 247 00:10:47,730 --> 00:10:48,560 as, say, I am. 248 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:50,050 So that's what I've been doing. 249 00:10:50,050 --> 00:10:53,380 And one of the things that I'd really like to introduce 250 00:10:53,380 --> 00:10:56,942 is using video as another tool to convey this information. 251 00:11:04,718 --> 00:11:06,662 NATHAN HERNANDEZ: Hi, I'm Nathan. 252 00:11:06,662 --> 00:11:11,432 I think why I'm taking this class is [INAUDIBLE] spread 253 00:11:11,432 --> 00:11:13,787 scientific information, too. 254 00:11:13,787 --> 00:11:16,340 At least for me, I think, not necessarily people 255 00:11:16,340 --> 00:11:19,707 who adore the science, but just people so they can 256 00:11:19,707 --> 00:11:22,112 be scientifically literate now. 257 00:11:22,112 --> 00:11:23,074 I don't know. 258 00:11:28,365 --> 00:11:32,690 KENNETH CHEAH: Hi, I'm Kenneth, from SUTD as well. 259 00:11:32,690 --> 00:11:35,260 Back when I first graduated from junior college, 260 00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:38,760 I actually went to have a teaching internship 261 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:40,790 for a period in Singapore, and that's 262 00:11:40,790 --> 00:11:43,640 when I realized that most students in Singapore 263 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:48,890 do not really like blackboard or whiteboard teaching. 264 00:11:48,890 --> 00:11:51,220 I realized that a little-- like halfway 265 00:11:51,220 --> 00:11:53,440 into my first week of doing the internship, 266 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,160 so that's when I revised everything that I had prepared, 267 00:11:56,160 --> 00:12:01,320 started creating multimedia tools and animations. 268 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:03,420 It's been like two, three years since then. 269 00:12:03,420 --> 00:12:06,700 But the whole idea of using multimedia as well 270 00:12:06,700 --> 00:12:09,495 as video tools has still stuck around. 271 00:12:09,495 --> 00:12:10,870 I still regularly, when I'm bored 272 00:12:10,870 --> 00:12:13,328 and I don't feel like doing my homework, I'll go on YouTube 273 00:12:13,328 --> 00:12:14,830 and watch all these random videos, 274 00:12:14,830 --> 00:12:17,070 because at least I learn something; not relevant, 275 00:12:17,070 --> 00:12:19,730 but something. 276 00:12:19,730 --> 00:12:21,710 So this has always been an interest. 277 00:12:24,692 --> 00:12:26,900 ELIZABETH CHOE: Does anyone have any particular goals 278 00:12:26,900 --> 00:12:29,260 out of this month or something that you want to get out 279 00:12:29,260 --> 00:12:30,285 of taking this class? 280 00:12:43,889 --> 00:12:44,780 That's OK. 281 00:12:44,780 --> 00:12:46,392 We'll give you goals, don't worry. 282 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:52,835 All right, well, I won't torture you any further. 283 00:12:52,835 --> 00:12:54,376 JOSH GUNN: I'll just mention that I'm 284 00:12:54,376 --> 00:12:55,594 excited about the class. 285 00:12:55,594 --> 00:12:58,690 I run an animation studio, as I said, 286 00:12:58,690 --> 00:13:01,040 and we do this work every day. 287 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,750 We're engaged in helping biotechs and technology 288 00:13:05,750 --> 00:13:10,660 companies and educators explain very complex things, 289 00:13:10,660 --> 00:13:15,129 and sometimes not-so-complex things, to very young kids. 290 00:13:15,129 --> 00:13:16,670 But I certainly don't have the market 291 00:13:16,670 --> 00:13:18,550 cornered on how to do this. 292 00:13:18,550 --> 00:13:21,390 And as you said, this isn't really an academic field, 293 00:13:21,390 --> 00:13:23,956 and there's no grand unified theory of how 294 00:13:23,956 --> 00:13:25,872 to do this most effectively. 295 00:13:25,872 --> 00:13:27,872 I think a lot of things are out there right now, 296 00:13:27,872 --> 00:13:32,713 but I'm just excited to be engaged 297 00:13:32,713 --> 00:13:35,671 in a conversation about techniques and strategies 298 00:13:35,671 --> 00:13:38,629 for doing this, because they'll help me in my own work, 299 00:13:38,629 --> 00:13:43,560 and help me understand the perspective that you guys have 300 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:44,065 as well. 301 00:13:44,065 --> 00:13:47,675 So thanks. 302 00:13:47,675 --> 00:13:48,870 ELIZABETH CHOE: Great. 303 00:13:48,870 --> 00:13:51,620 As I said in the beginning, I run the K12 videos program, 304 00:13:51,620 --> 00:13:56,477 which is a fairly new initiative out of the Office of Digital 305 00:13:56,477 --> 00:13:57,060 Learning here. 306 00:13:57,060 --> 00:13:58,580 So it's the same group that oversees 307 00:13:58,580 --> 00:13:59,640 MITx and OpenCourseWare. 308 00:14:02,250 --> 00:14:05,050 I produce a series called Science Out Loud, which 309 00:14:05,050 --> 00:14:10,680 is essentially trying to mix education and entertainment, 310 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:14,230 having students like you guys be the face of science 311 00:14:14,230 --> 00:14:15,790 and the face of engineering. 312 00:14:15,790 --> 00:14:19,810 And to get people not only educated and informed, but also 313 00:14:19,810 --> 00:14:21,930 inspired as well. 314 00:14:21,930 --> 00:14:25,170 So I've had an interest in the intersection 315 00:14:25,170 --> 00:14:27,660 of all that stuff, I guess, since I took Chris' class. 316 00:14:27,660 --> 00:14:30,710 When I was an undergrad I took his DV Lab class. 317 00:14:30,710 --> 00:14:32,830 But I think it's a very fascinating area. 318 00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:34,390 And like Josh said, it's this market 319 00:14:34,390 --> 00:14:37,190 that I don't think anyone really has cornered 320 00:14:37,190 --> 00:14:41,680 or really-- no one really has a good grasp on what the best 321 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,200 way to practice in it is. 322 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,250 So I think it's a really interesting problem, 323 00:14:46,250 --> 00:14:49,480 especially for people at MIT to think about, as well. 324 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:55,580 As some of you guys said, videos have exploded 325 00:14:55,580 --> 00:14:57,470 in the last decade or so. 326 00:14:57,470 --> 00:15:00,020 These are all science YouTube channels 327 00:15:00,020 --> 00:15:03,720 that have over a million subscribers each. 328 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:08,040 And it's not just video exploding in a certain area. 329 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,680 You have YouTube entertainment slash educational shows, 330 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:17,200 and then you have things that are very lucrative in our pop 331 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:17,700 culture. 332 00:15:17,700 --> 00:15:20,700 Cosmos was raking in like five million viewers a week. 333 00:15:20,700 --> 00:15:24,070 Which isn't a whole lot compared to some 334 00:15:24,070 --> 00:15:26,050 of the other primetime network shows, 335 00:15:26,050 --> 00:15:30,900 but thinking about the fact that a science-based show aired 336 00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:33,400 on the FOX Network during a primetime slot 337 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,130 and was raking in those views is pretty amazing. 338 00:15:36,130 --> 00:15:38,440 And then you have movies like Interstellar, 339 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:42,540 which are addressing a lot of real science topics, 340 00:15:42,540 --> 00:15:46,820 and is also making like $50 million during opening weekend. 341 00:15:46,820 --> 00:15:49,780 And then you have things like edX and OpenCourseWare, 342 00:15:49,780 --> 00:15:52,450 and all these open education resources that 343 00:15:52,450 --> 00:15:55,540 are video-based, and are also reaching 344 00:15:55,540 --> 00:15:59,790 this incredible audience and have a huge group 345 00:15:59,790 --> 00:16:01,730 of people investing in it. 346 00:16:01,730 --> 00:16:04,880 And these are all very, very different styles of video, 347 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,170 but they're all unified by this theme that they're using video 348 00:16:08,170 --> 00:16:12,680 and they're accumulating a huge database of users. 349 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,070 So something must be happening with video 350 00:16:16,070 --> 00:16:17,850 that's making it compelling for people 351 00:16:17,850 --> 00:16:21,540 to use to learn and to entertain. 352 00:16:21,540 --> 00:16:23,300 What can video do? 353 00:16:23,300 --> 00:16:25,090 What is it about video that makes it 354 00:16:25,090 --> 00:16:27,530 so compelling to use as a tool? 355 00:16:27,530 --> 00:16:31,410 Educationally, you have stuff like OpenCourseWare that's 356 00:16:31,410 --> 00:16:35,570 really great, because people can pause the video whenever 357 00:16:35,570 --> 00:16:39,500 they want, they can rewind and rewatch an explanation. 358 00:16:39,500 --> 00:16:41,180 And it's also super scalable, so it 359 00:16:41,180 --> 00:16:44,330 means that you don't have to be physically in Cambridge 360 00:16:44,330 --> 00:16:47,946 to hear Eric Lander talk about genetics in the 7.012 class. 361 00:16:47,946 --> 00:16:49,320 You can be anywhere in the world. 362 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:51,010 You can be in Singapore. 363 00:16:51,010 --> 00:16:54,871 You don't have to be restricted to the confines of room 26-100, 364 00:16:54,871 --> 00:16:55,370 right? 365 00:16:55,370 --> 00:16:59,910 It's a very scalable tool. 366 00:16:59,910 --> 00:17:03,840 And then in terms of movies, I mean the thing about movies 367 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:08,050 is we have this culture where people say that the attention 368 00:17:08,050 --> 00:17:11,890 span for video is like less than three minutes, yet you and I-- 369 00:17:11,890 --> 00:17:15,210 or at least I spend $10 to sit for two, 370 00:17:15,210 --> 00:17:17,130 three hours in a dark room. 371 00:17:17,130 --> 00:17:19,770 And it's because movies are these completely immersive 372 00:17:19,770 --> 00:17:22,099 experiences that give us a chance 373 00:17:22,099 --> 00:17:23,910 to sort of escape into this other world. 374 00:17:23,910 --> 00:17:26,440 And you don't see people paying $10 375 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,750 to sit in a room to listen to a radio podcast, right? 376 00:17:29,750 --> 00:17:31,840 There's something about the integration 377 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,210 of the visual with the storytelling and the acting 378 00:17:34,210 --> 00:17:36,250 that totally immerses you in this experience, 379 00:17:36,250 --> 00:17:42,670 and that's a very, very powerful element that video can do. 380 00:17:42,670 --> 00:17:45,400 I also think it's a window into a world 381 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,000 that you don't necessarily have access to. 382 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,420 So whether it's the world of 26-100 383 00:17:51,420 --> 00:17:53,660 where Eric Lander is teaching or if it's 384 00:17:53,660 --> 00:17:57,950 the world of Middle Earth-- I just 385 00:17:57,950 --> 00:18:01,810 went and saw Hobbit III-- you get this chance to look 386 00:18:01,810 --> 00:18:03,850 into this world that you don't have access to, 387 00:18:03,850 --> 00:18:06,090 and that's what video can do. 388 00:18:06,090 --> 00:18:09,230 And then, finally, especially in nonfiction video, 389 00:18:09,230 --> 00:18:11,800 there's this idea of the trusted guide, which 390 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,004 is a term that PBS Kids use to think about new shows 391 00:18:16,004 --> 00:18:16,670 that they pitch. 392 00:18:16,670 --> 00:18:18,130 They think about the person who's 393 00:18:18,130 --> 00:18:21,290 going to be the host, that it's more than just the person who's 394 00:18:21,290 --> 00:18:24,080 going to stand and transfer information to you. 395 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,270 It's someone who's relatable, somebody 396 00:18:26,270 --> 00:18:28,020 who's a role model, someone who you really 397 00:18:28,020 --> 00:18:31,210 trust, that you end up really growing up 398 00:18:31,210 --> 00:18:32,400 with people like Bill Nye. 399 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,450 I don't know if you guys have shows 400 00:18:34,450 --> 00:18:36,985 or show hosts that you remember growing up as kids. 401 00:18:36,985 --> 00:18:37,860 Mine was Jeff Corwin. 402 00:18:37,860 --> 00:18:41,030 I'm like obsessed with Jeff Corwin. 403 00:18:41,030 --> 00:18:43,240 Does anyone have a figure that they really 404 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:44,350 loved watching growing up? 405 00:18:47,410 --> 00:18:51,041 Did anyone watch the old Cosmos with Carl Sagan? 406 00:18:51,041 --> 00:18:51,540 Yeah? 407 00:18:51,540 --> 00:18:54,960 I feel like that's a big one for people here. 408 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:57,490 So the trusted guide is a really powerful thing 409 00:18:57,490 --> 00:18:59,750 that video can leverage. 410 00:18:59,750 --> 00:19:02,700 And I think that's a really big reason why we're here, 411 00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:04,330 at least the reason why I'm here, 412 00:19:04,330 --> 00:19:08,070 is because when you look at the landscape of trusted guides 413 00:19:08,070 --> 00:19:12,020 right now on especially science and technical TV, 414 00:19:12,020 --> 00:19:16,010 and not just TV but Hank Green hosts SciShow on YouTube. 415 00:19:16,010 --> 00:19:19,550 And the landscape of trusted guide looks very homogeneous. 416 00:19:19,550 --> 00:19:22,690 And I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to be a guy at all, 417 00:19:22,690 --> 00:19:26,920 but I do think that we have this opportunity with video 418 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:31,470 to showcase who the scientists and engineers really are. 419 00:19:31,470 --> 00:19:35,520 And this landscape is building a group 420 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,700 of advocates who are going to be sort 421 00:19:38,700 --> 00:19:42,430 of being the ambassadors to the public about what you're 422 00:19:42,430 --> 00:19:44,280 learning about and what you're studying. 423 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,180 And we have this opportunity to create a landscape that's 424 00:19:48,180 --> 00:19:50,090 just as diverse as the group of people 425 00:19:50,090 --> 00:19:52,580 it's trying to represent. 426 00:19:52,580 --> 00:19:55,930 And it's an opportunity that I think hasn't necessarily 427 00:19:55,930 --> 00:19:57,840 been capitalized upon. 428 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,350 Maybe it's because there are political things 429 00:20:00,350 --> 00:20:04,940 and it's hard to invest in a figure that looks different 430 00:20:04,940 --> 00:20:09,420 than the science hosts that we're used to seeing. 431 00:20:09,420 --> 00:20:13,440 But we have a chance here at MIT where the people are 432 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,690 so diverse, not just in ethnicity and gender, 433 00:20:15,690 --> 00:20:19,580 but in background and personalities and interests. 434 00:20:19,580 --> 00:20:24,150 We have this huge landscape here that we can tap into and start 435 00:20:24,150 --> 00:20:27,310 contributing to a picture that looks a little bit more 436 00:20:27,310 --> 00:20:31,110 like what science and engineering really is. 437 00:20:31,110 --> 00:20:34,140 And the other thing is literacy in digital media, which 438 00:20:34,140 --> 00:20:36,420 is the whole idea of understanding 439 00:20:36,420 --> 00:20:39,210 your video product as something more than the thing 440 00:20:39,210 --> 00:20:40,890 that you just hit play and watch, 441 00:20:40,890 --> 00:20:43,400 or understanding making video as something 442 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,730 more than just hitting certain buttons to record 443 00:20:46,730 --> 00:20:50,090 the present moment, is something that is going to become 444 00:20:50,090 --> 00:20:51,600 increasingly relevant. 445 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:54,670 I don't know you guys UROP in labs or anything, 446 00:20:54,670 --> 00:20:57,870 but a lot of labs right now have their own cameras. 447 00:20:57,870 --> 00:20:59,730 Many of you will probably end up having 448 00:20:59,730 --> 00:21:02,540 to give like a TED Talk or some sort of talk 449 00:21:02,540 --> 00:21:06,160 to the public where it's going to be more than just conveying 450 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:06,730 information. 451 00:21:06,730 --> 00:21:07,900 Like people were saying, you want 452 00:21:07,900 --> 00:21:09,274 to learn more about how to engage 453 00:21:09,274 --> 00:21:13,080 an audience in a way that is going to inspire and engage 454 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:14,890 them. 455 00:21:14,890 --> 00:21:17,460 So at the end of the day, this class 456 00:21:17,460 --> 00:21:20,150 is not about becoming the next Bill Nye. 457 00:21:20,150 --> 00:21:22,020 That title is just totally clickbait 458 00:21:22,020 --> 00:21:24,410 to get people to sign up for the class. 459 00:21:24,410 --> 00:21:27,220 And it's not even really about making videos, 460 00:21:27,220 --> 00:21:29,010 like I was saying. 461 00:21:29,010 --> 00:21:31,274 The eventual deliverable of this class, 462 00:21:31,274 --> 00:21:32,940 the thing that we're going to be working 463 00:21:32,940 --> 00:21:34,850 towards every single day of this month, 464 00:21:34,850 --> 00:21:38,670 is to eventually create around a three-minute episode 465 00:21:38,670 --> 00:21:42,567 that you host, that you're on camera for, 466 00:21:42,567 --> 00:21:44,400 where you talk about a science or technology 467 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,790 or engineering/math subject or topic that you're 468 00:21:47,790 --> 00:21:49,104 interested in. 469 00:21:49,104 --> 00:21:50,770 So that's the deliverable, it's a video. 470 00:21:50,770 --> 00:21:53,640 But it's not necessarily about what 471 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,190 are the technical steps I need to get there. 472 00:21:56,190 --> 00:21:59,000 Those are important, but eventually it's 473 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,960 about taking those skills of being a producer 474 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,310 and transferring them into your everyday life. 475 00:22:05,310 --> 00:22:08,010 So maybe some of you won't make a video 476 00:22:08,010 --> 00:22:09,944 after this month is over, and that's OK, 477 00:22:09,944 --> 00:22:11,860 but hopefully the skills that you've picked up 478 00:22:11,860 --> 00:22:14,940 along the way to becoming an effective video producer 479 00:22:14,940 --> 00:22:17,700 will help you become a great advocate for science 480 00:22:17,700 --> 00:22:18,790 and engineering later on. 481 00:22:21,570 --> 00:22:24,610 Every video that you guys will make in every assignment 482 00:22:24,610 --> 00:22:27,370 that you make, and every video that's online right now, 483 00:22:27,370 --> 00:22:28,720 has different objectives. 484 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,370 Some of you may want to do a video on physics, some of you 485 00:22:32,370 --> 00:22:34,860 may want to talk about math. 486 00:22:34,860 --> 00:22:38,230 But the thing that should be the overarching objective 487 00:22:38,230 --> 00:22:40,690 of everything you make during this month 488 00:22:40,690 --> 00:22:45,210 should be to address these three problems in that amorphous 489 00:22:45,210 --> 00:22:47,600 STEM blob that I was talking about earlier, that you want 490 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:51,030 to open the door to science and engineering, 491 00:22:51,030 --> 00:22:53,950 and really love of learning to everyone. 492 00:22:53,950 --> 00:22:57,470 So a lot of that will translate to making sure 493 00:22:57,470 --> 00:23:00,697 that your script isn't condescending to your audience, 494 00:23:00,697 --> 00:23:02,280 making sure that you're really meeting 495 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:03,780 and knowing your audience where they 496 00:23:03,780 --> 00:23:07,180 are, encouraging this lifelong learning. 497 00:23:07,180 --> 00:23:10,900 We want curiosity to drive a lot of what your objectives should 498 00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:11,400 be. 499 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,690 You want your audience to become curious. 500 00:23:14,690 --> 00:23:17,090 And then, of course, we want your science 501 00:23:17,090 --> 00:23:19,349 to be legit so you're educating the public, 502 00:23:19,349 --> 00:23:20,640 you're spreading STEM literacy. 503 00:23:23,950 --> 00:23:26,410 What makes a good video? 504 00:23:26,410 --> 00:23:30,390 Now, this is a quote from one of the optional readings that's 505 00:23:30,390 --> 00:23:31,602 listed on the syllabus. 506 00:23:31,602 --> 00:23:33,060 It's actually really great, we just 507 00:23:33,060 --> 00:23:36,170 don't have time in class to cover it. 508 00:23:36,170 --> 00:23:37,467 But I love this quote. 509 00:23:37,467 --> 00:23:39,300 "Learning how to make really effective video 510 00:23:39,300 --> 00:23:41,380 is like learning to speak a second language. 511 00:23:41,380 --> 00:23:45,120 You have to learn not just what to say but how what you say 512 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:46,700 will be received by others. 513 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:49,665 We understand video better than any humans 514 00:23:49,665 --> 00:23:50,540 that have ever lived. 515 00:23:50,540 --> 00:23:53,600 Most of us just don't speak it well." 516 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,865 We consume video all the time, like you were saying 517 00:23:55,865 --> 00:23:57,290 you watch YouTube videos. 518 00:23:57,290 --> 00:24:00,060 But that doesn't necessarily transfer into us 519 00:24:00,060 --> 00:24:01,870 knowing how to make videos. 520 00:24:01,870 --> 00:24:03,954 It's the argument of, oh, teaching 521 00:24:03,954 --> 00:24:05,870 can't be that hard because I've been a student 522 00:24:05,870 --> 00:24:07,350 this whole time, right? 523 00:24:07,350 --> 00:24:09,680 It's very hard to extrapolate what 524 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:11,440 it is about the practice of the video that 525 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,490 makes it good when all you are used to doing 526 00:24:14,490 --> 00:24:15,530 is being a consumer. 527 00:24:15,530 --> 00:24:18,120 So what makes a great video? 528 00:24:20,952 --> 00:24:22,410 Let's just take this piece by piece 529 00:24:22,410 --> 00:24:25,680 and look at best practices in established video realm. 530 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,690 So educational videos. 531 00:24:27,690 --> 00:24:29,760 There was this task force that MITx 532 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,840 had a couple years ago on what makes 533 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,440 an effective educational video, and the four traits 534 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,340 that they came up with were, one, that they were short, 535 00:24:39,340 --> 00:24:41,740 that they were digestible modules, usually 536 00:24:41,740 --> 00:24:44,080 under 10 minutes. 537 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,840 Another is that the learner could interact 538 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:51,100 with the speaker of the video, so maybe the speaker 539 00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:53,570 would mention a topic and it would be something 540 00:24:53,570 --> 00:24:56,120 that the viewer could end up looking up on their own 541 00:24:56,120 --> 00:24:59,540 and interacting with. 542 00:24:59,540 --> 00:25:02,360 The other thing was that the host had them engaged, 543 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:07,230 so it wasn't just this passive recording of them rambling on 544 00:25:07,230 --> 00:25:10,570 for an hour, the host would actually tell the viewer, 545 00:25:10,570 --> 00:25:14,880 OK, now try this problem at home, for instance. 546 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,530 And then the host would acknowledge the viewers, 547 00:25:18,530 --> 00:25:23,640 so it wasn't just, here's this math problem sent out 548 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,790 to this vague audience, it was, you try this at home. 549 00:25:30,310 --> 00:25:33,820 And this is also what a lot of what I call explainer videos 550 00:25:33,820 --> 00:25:35,090 do on YouTube. 551 00:25:35,090 --> 00:25:38,750 I don't know-- you guys must be familiar with Khan Academy, 552 00:25:38,750 --> 00:25:41,380 but there are also things like MIT BLOSSOMS, which 553 00:25:41,380 --> 00:25:45,630 is a set of videos that's developed by a group here. 554 00:25:45,630 --> 00:25:48,230 There's Bozeman Science, who's this high school teacher out 555 00:25:48,230 --> 00:25:52,020 in Montana, and he does tutorial videos on all the AP science 556 00:25:52,020 --> 00:25:53,060 subjects. 557 00:25:53,060 --> 00:25:55,580 Tyler DeWitt, a former grad student here, he 558 00:25:55,580 --> 00:25:57,140 does chemistry tutorial videos. 559 00:25:57,140 --> 00:25:59,820 And they're all very, very successful 560 00:25:59,820 --> 00:26:03,380 because they take an audience that's already 561 00:26:03,380 --> 00:26:05,890 motivated in learning something and they're 562 00:26:05,890 --> 00:26:06,900 sort of one-stop shops. 563 00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:11,430 So how do I calculate the molar mass of this compound? 564 00:26:11,430 --> 00:26:13,270 You can just go to one of Tyler's videos 565 00:26:13,270 --> 00:26:15,500 and learn how to do it. 566 00:26:15,500 --> 00:26:20,370 It's very misleading sometimes, though, because people see it 567 00:26:20,370 --> 00:26:24,030 and they often mistake it for it being a direct recording 568 00:26:24,030 --> 00:26:25,260 of an instruction. 569 00:26:25,260 --> 00:26:28,790 And so they say, oh, these explainer videos 570 00:26:28,790 --> 00:26:31,760 are much easier to do than big budget productions. 571 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:33,290 And that's not necessarily true. 572 00:26:33,290 --> 00:26:36,530 They still spend weeks and weeks writing a script 573 00:26:36,530 --> 00:26:38,790 and developing exactly what they're going to say. 574 00:26:38,790 --> 00:26:41,250 And they're so effective because it's 575 00:26:41,250 --> 00:26:44,680 a very talented host, a very talented teacher who 576 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,330 is engaging their audience in a way that helps them achieve 577 00:26:47,330 --> 00:26:48,590 mastery of the subject. 578 00:26:48,590 --> 00:26:50,470 So it gives them learning confidence. 579 00:26:50,470 --> 00:26:53,220 People love Sal Khan because they really 580 00:26:53,220 --> 00:26:55,560 feel connected to him beyond sort 581 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,120 of this robotic voice that's telling them how to calculate 582 00:26:58,120 --> 00:26:59,790 the derivative of something, and that's 583 00:26:59,790 --> 00:27:02,000 a very intentional thing I think that he does. 584 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,585 Now, for entertainment, even within the world of YouTuber 585 00:27:09,585 --> 00:27:11,680 or within the world of entertaining videos, 586 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,070 there are subcategories that have their own best practices. 587 00:27:15,070 --> 00:27:16,710 But in general, for entertainment, 588 00:27:16,710 --> 00:27:20,040 the thing that is most important, at least I think, 589 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,580 is building an emotional connection with your audience. 590 00:27:22,580 --> 00:27:26,030 And that's something that is repeated by some of the folks 591 00:27:26,030 --> 00:27:28,480 that I'll be quoting in a little bit. 592 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,480 And in terms of viral video, the way 593 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,010 to best establish that emotional connection 594 00:27:34,010 --> 00:27:37,240 is through authenticity. 595 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,410 By authenticity I mean when you see 596 00:27:39,410 --> 00:27:41,500 a video that goes viral on YouTube, 597 00:27:41,500 --> 00:27:43,040 it's not necessarily something that 598 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:44,530 has a super corporate sheen. 599 00:27:44,530 --> 00:27:46,130 It's not really polished. 600 00:27:46,130 --> 00:27:49,610 A lot of times it just looks like a very janky video 601 00:27:49,610 --> 00:27:51,620 that someone took with their iPhone. 602 00:27:51,620 --> 00:27:54,190 And that in some ways helps people 603 00:27:54,190 --> 00:27:57,402 feel really connected to the material that they're watching. 604 00:27:57,402 --> 00:27:58,860 And you have to be careful with it. 605 00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:02,620 But I did want to show a couple clips of two science videos 606 00:28:02,620 --> 00:28:06,000 that have each raked-- I think the first one has 607 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:07,680 over six million and the second one 608 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,520 has almost 10 million views. 609 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,300 And we'll just watch part of each. 610 00:28:19,258 --> 00:28:21,510 CRAZY RUSSIAN HACKER: All right, here is what we need. 611 00:28:21,510 --> 00:28:26,110 Empty soda cans and put a little bit of water. 612 00:28:26,110 --> 00:28:30,850 Just a little bit, so it will boil down, you know? 613 00:28:30,850 --> 00:28:35,030 And then turn on the stove. 614 00:28:35,030 --> 00:28:38,830 While this gets ready we're going to make a nice bowl. 615 00:28:38,830 --> 00:28:45,070 So right here we've got our ice water already. 616 00:28:45,070 --> 00:28:50,190 And you see how water is boiling and steam coming out. 617 00:28:50,190 --> 00:28:52,670 I don't know if you can see it, but this steam 618 00:28:52,670 --> 00:28:54,610 is coming out right now. 619 00:28:54,610 --> 00:28:58,430 So we're going to get it and drop it. 620 00:28:58,430 --> 00:29:01,090 Use the tongs, don't use hands. 621 00:29:01,090 --> 00:29:05,020 Get it and drop it upside-down. 622 00:29:05,020 --> 00:29:08,150 That kind of fell. 623 00:29:08,150 --> 00:29:09,710 Let's start with this one. 624 00:29:13,830 --> 00:29:14,950 So are you guys ready? 625 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,610 You see? 626 00:29:25,610 --> 00:29:27,630 They called this implosion. 627 00:29:27,630 --> 00:29:30,450 I want you to tell me why that happens. 628 00:29:34,460 --> 00:29:36,600 Why does it implode like that? 629 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:38,740 So we've got this pan. 630 00:29:38,740 --> 00:29:40,450 Here you go, a pan. 631 00:29:40,450 --> 00:29:43,210 And just we're going to turn this on. 632 00:29:43,210 --> 00:29:45,660 But remember, safety is first. 633 00:29:45,660 --> 00:29:48,640 Kids, you're going to need adults' permission. 634 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,662 So and there we're going to leave it for a minute. 635 00:29:51,662 --> 00:29:53,370 We're going to put a little bit of water. 636 00:29:53,370 --> 00:29:56,530 Do you see how water is boiling now because it's too hot? 637 00:30:06,710 --> 00:30:10,730 So all the water is gone, boiled out. 638 00:30:10,730 --> 00:30:13,480 And let's leave it for another two minutes. 639 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,670 So it's been about two minutes. 640 00:30:15,670 --> 00:30:17,420 You see how hot it is? 641 00:30:17,420 --> 00:30:22,100 Let's put just a little bit of water, just little drops. 642 00:30:25,180 --> 00:30:30,850 You see how all these drops just like spinning around and not 643 00:30:30,850 --> 00:30:32,430 boiling out? 644 00:30:32,430 --> 00:30:35,300 I want you to comment and tell me why. 645 00:30:35,300 --> 00:30:38,382 Let's drop some more. 646 00:30:38,382 --> 00:30:40,340 ELIZABETH CHOE: So the thing is like 10 minutes 647 00:30:40,340 --> 00:30:41,990 long so I'm not going to show it. 648 00:30:41,990 --> 00:30:44,900 But this video, which I personally cannot stand 649 00:30:44,900 --> 00:30:47,980 watching, this thing has gotten over five million views 650 00:30:47,980 --> 00:30:48,900 on YouTube. 651 00:30:48,900 --> 00:30:52,300 And Crazy Russian Hacker, who's the user who created it, 652 00:30:52,300 --> 00:30:54,590 he has millions and millions of subscribers. 653 00:30:54,590 --> 00:30:58,150 I have the co-worker whose son is 12 years old 654 00:30:58,150 --> 00:31:01,540 and he loves Crazy Russian Hacker. 655 00:31:01,540 --> 00:31:04,760 And I don't know how you guys feel about the video. 656 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,540 Were there any certain elements that you noticed about it 657 00:31:07,540 --> 00:31:09,980 that either you liked or you understood why 658 00:31:09,980 --> 00:31:11,520 people would like it so much? 659 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:18,479 Yes, John. 660 00:31:18,479 --> 00:31:21,020 JONATHAN: He asked the audience to explain what was going on, 661 00:31:21,020 --> 00:31:25,020 so that encouraged feedback and more posts 662 00:31:25,020 --> 00:31:27,496 by commenting on the video. 663 00:31:27,496 --> 00:31:29,370 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah, so there's that element 664 00:31:29,370 --> 00:31:33,300 of not only acknowledging your audience but engaging it. 665 00:31:33,300 --> 00:31:36,280 And that's something that a lot of YouTube videos do. 666 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,810 Maybe it's to get more comments, but it certainly 667 00:31:38,810 --> 00:31:40,620 works a lot of the time. 668 00:31:40,620 --> 00:31:41,220 Yes. 669 00:31:41,220 --> 00:31:42,040 PAUL FOLINO: That video seemed like it 670 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,010 was kind of-- it wasn't necessarily scripted, 671 00:31:44,010 --> 00:31:46,070 so it kind of shows that he really 672 00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:49,340 knows what he's talking about, he's not robotically 673 00:31:49,340 --> 00:31:51,428 following a script. 674 00:31:51,428 --> 00:31:53,970 Shows he knows a little bit about what he's doing. 675 00:31:53,970 --> 00:31:55,761 ELIZABETH CHOE: And he's quite a character. 676 00:31:55,761 --> 00:31:58,110 I mean, Crazy Russian Hacker has a huge brand, right? 677 00:31:58,110 --> 00:32:00,020 Like as soon as he starts talking 678 00:32:00,020 --> 00:32:02,330 you know that it's a Crazy Russian Hacker video. 679 00:32:02,330 --> 00:32:04,607 And he's kind of outrageous. 680 00:32:04,607 --> 00:32:06,190 Which is why it's hard to repeat that. 681 00:32:06,190 --> 00:32:08,170 It would be hard-- if I replicated 682 00:32:08,170 --> 00:32:12,290 that exact same video, it would probably not go viral. 683 00:32:12,290 --> 00:32:16,060 So his whole persona and the way that he 684 00:32:16,060 --> 00:32:19,266 has this sort of unpolished look about his videos 685 00:32:19,266 --> 00:32:21,640 is actually maybe one of the reasons why it's compelling. 686 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,122 Were you going to say something, Yuliya? 687 00:32:23,122 --> 00:32:24,104 YULIYA KLOCHAN: Yeah, I think it's also relatable. 688 00:32:24,104 --> 00:32:26,559 He dropped the can the first time, 689 00:32:26,559 --> 00:32:30,547 so that tells the viewers that they can also make mistakes. 690 00:32:30,547 --> 00:32:32,130 ELIZABETH CHOE: A lot of online videos 691 00:32:32,130 --> 00:32:34,340 have this single-take format. 692 00:32:34,340 --> 00:32:37,580 So instead of having two cameras like these guys 693 00:32:37,580 --> 00:32:40,410 set up where you're switching back and forth between angles, 694 00:32:40,410 --> 00:32:43,340 he kind of just held his iPhone where he was, right, 695 00:32:43,340 --> 00:32:45,360 or whatever camera, and followed along. 696 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,025 So you actually feel like you're right there with him. 697 00:32:48,025 --> 00:32:50,220 You feel like you're in the kitchen with him. 698 00:32:50,220 --> 00:32:53,400 There are no cuts back and forth to him talking. 699 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,650 It's just one long, continuous take 700 00:32:55,650 --> 00:32:58,610 with just a couple mess-ups taken out in between. 701 00:33:02,159 --> 00:33:03,950 JOSH CHEONG: Even though he asked comments, 702 00:33:03,950 --> 00:33:06,930 I'm very sure these comments are not all legitimate comments. 703 00:33:06,930 --> 00:33:10,060 I've very sure there will be probably one or two people who 704 00:33:10,060 --> 00:33:11,990 purposely are trolls and probably say, 705 00:33:11,990 --> 00:33:13,847 oh, this is black magic or something, 706 00:33:13,847 --> 00:33:16,180 and then someone will comment, and the virality probably 707 00:33:16,180 --> 00:33:18,390 gives him the extra few million views. 708 00:33:18,390 --> 00:33:19,960 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah, yeah. 709 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,120 Logan Smalley, who's the head of TED-Ed-- you guys 710 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:24,380 have seen TED Talks, right? 711 00:33:24,380 --> 00:33:27,060 Have you ever seen TED-Ed videos? 712 00:33:27,060 --> 00:33:30,790 They do a spin-off where they have animators and writers 713 00:33:30,790 --> 00:33:31,920 partner up. 714 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,390 He's the one who directs TED-Ed, and he 715 00:33:34,390 --> 00:33:38,460 had this talk where he was saying how a video online has 716 00:33:38,460 --> 00:33:41,055 a beginning, middle, and end, but the beginning, middle, 717 00:33:41,055 --> 00:33:43,000 and end isn't what's in the video itself. 718 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,470 The beginning is the tweet that announces the video, 719 00:33:45,470 --> 00:33:47,570 the middle is the video itself, and the end 720 00:33:47,570 --> 00:33:49,670 it is all the conversation that takes 721 00:33:49,670 --> 00:33:53,660 place afterwards in the comments online and social media. 722 00:33:53,660 --> 00:33:56,790 And so with things like Crazy Russian Hacker, 723 00:33:56,790 --> 00:33:59,650 the end, the conversation, is almost just as important 724 00:33:59,650 --> 00:34:01,630 or just as much a part of the experience 725 00:34:01,630 --> 00:34:03,899 as the 10-minute video itself. 726 00:34:03,899 --> 00:34:05,440 I wanted to show you one other video. 727 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:10,199 This is from Smarter Every Day, and this has also 728 00:34:10,199 --> 00:34:11,289 over five million views. 729 00:34:11,289 --> 00:34:12,830 DESTIN SANDLIN: Hey, it's me, Destin. 730 00:34:12,830 --> 00:34:14,246 Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. 731 00:34:14,246 --> 00:34:17,040 So you've probably observed that cats almost always 732 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:18,540 land on their feet. 733 00:34:18,540 --> 00:34:20,730 Today's question is why. 734 00:34:20,730 --> 00:34:23,389 Like most simple questions, there's a very complex answer. 735 00:34:23,389 --> 00:34:25,380 For instance, let me reword this question. 736 00:34:25,380 --> 00:34:28,060 How does a cat go from feet up to feet 737 00:34:28,060 --> 00:34:30,650 down in a falling reference frame 738 00:34:30,650 --> 00:34:32,780 without violating the conservation of angular 739 00:34:32,780 --> 00:34:33,929 momentum? 740 00:34:33,929 --> 00:34:36,334 Now, I've studied free-falling bodies-- my own, in fact-- 741 00:34:36,334 --> 00:34:37,750 in several different environments. 742 00:34:37,750 --> 00:34:39,889 And once I get my angular rotation started in one 743 00:34:39,889 --> 00:34:41,746 direction, I can't stop it. 744 00:34:41,746 --> 00:34:43,620 Today we're going to use a high-speed camera. 745 00:34:43,620 --> 00:34:45,350 We're not going to use Ally because this is my daughter's 746 00:34:45,350 --> 00:34:46,558 cat, I don't want to hurt it. 747 00:34:46,558 --> 00:34:48,270 We're going to use a stunt cat. 748 00:34:48,270 --> 00:34:50,699 Let me introduce you to Gigi, the stunt cat. 749 00:34:56,710 --> 00:34:59,250 I'll just flip the video vertical 750 00:34:59,250 --> 00:35:00,630 and then motion-track the cat. 751 00:35:00,630 --> 00:35:02,714 It's just going to take a lot more effort in post. 752 00:35:02,714 --> 00:35:04,421 We're going to try to do it in a way that 753 00:35:04,421 --> 00:35:05,520 doesn't make anybody mad. 754 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:08,580 That's pretty hard to do. 755 00:35:08,580 --> 00:35:09,871 You got to drop a cat. 756 00:35:09,871 --> 00:35:10,370 Ready, Gigi? 757 00:35:14,305 --> 00:35:16,179 Checking out the high-speed data there, Gigi? 758 00:35:36,831 --> 00:35:38,830 OK, the first thing a cat does when it's falling 759 00:35:38,830 --> 00:35:40,640 is try to figure out which way is up. 760 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,700 It does this either with a gyro in the ear or with its eyes. 761 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,610 Ready to talk cat physics? 762 00:35:53,610 --> 00:35:54,370 All right. 763 00:35:54,370 --> 00:35:56,786 So check out this footage I captured with the Phantom Miro 764 00:35:56,786 --> 00:35:58,500 while Gigi goes to get a drink of water. 765 00:35:58,500 --> 00:36:00,340 So here's what's interesting about this to me. 766 00:36:00,340 --> 00:36:02,256 If you'll notice, at the beginning of the drop 767 00:36:02,256 --> 00:36:03,760 the cat is not rotating. 768 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,890 Halfway through the drop the cat is rotating, 769 00:36:05,890 --> 00:36:09,130 and then at the very end Gigi somehow stops rotating. 770 00:36:09,130 --> 00:36:11,630 Newton's first law says that an object at rest 771 00:36:11,630 --> 00:36:14,780 will stay at rest unless acted on by an external force. 772 00:36:14,780 --> 00:36:17,080 I see no external forces on this cat. 773 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:18,420 So what's happening here? 774 00:36:18,420 --> 00:36:19,950 It's not making sense to me. 775 00:36:19,950 --> 00:36:22,122 OK, so in order to really get the right data, 776 00:36:22,122 --> 00:36:24,455 we're going to have to drop her 90 degrees out of phase. 777 00:36:24,455 --> 00:36:25,770 Ready, girl? 778 00:36:25,770 --> 00:36:27,220 This time watch her tail. 779 00:36:27,220 --> 00:36:29,400 Three, two, one. 780 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:00,530 OK, so you think you figured it out? 781 00:37:00,530 --> 00:37:01,460 Check this out. 782 00:37:01,460 --> 00:37:04,480 You probably noticed that when the cat was falling her tail 783 00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:06,800 was rotating in the direction opposite of where 784 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:08,230 her body was rotating. 785 00:37:08,230 --> 00:37:11,480 What's interesting about that is that that's not how it works. 786 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,410 In fact, even bobtail cats can do this. 787 00:37:14,410 --> 00:37:16,020 It's called the cat righting reflex. 788 00:37:16,020 --> 00:37:17,520 I'll prove it to you. 789 00:37:17,520 --> 00:37:19,280 I came across some video from the '60s 790 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,320 when the Air Force was researching microgravity 791 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,200 for future astronauts. 792 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,110 Turns out they took some cats up on parabolic flights. 793 00:37:26,110 --> 00:37:29,130 He turns to rotate his tail to flip over, but it doesn't work. 794 00:37:29,130 --> 00:37:31,092 He just ends up nutating wildly. 795 00:37:31,092 --> 00:37:32,550 Then he does something interesting. 796 00:37:32,550 --> 00:37:34,756 He takes his back and he bends it. 797 00:37:34,756 --> 00:37:36,880 And when he bends his back and then creates motion, 798 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:38,713 something interesting happens. 799 00:37:38,713 --> 00:37:41,407 Ahhh, now we're getting somewhere. 800 00:37:41,407 --> 00:37:43,490 So let me show you one more cat flip with the Miro 801 00:37:43,490 --> 00:37:44,573 and we'll figure this out. 802 00:37:48,250 --> 00:37:50,762 OK, the arched back ends up being pretty important. 803 00:37:50,762 --> 00:37:52,345 What he does is he divides his body up 804 00:37:52,345 --> 00:37:54,115 into two separate rotational axes that 805 00:37:54,115 --> 00:37:55,700 are tilted from one another. 806 00:37:55,700 --> 00:37:57,711 When he's released, he pulls his front paws in 807 00:37:57,711 --> 00:37:58,960 and does the ice skater trick. 808 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:01,220 He decreases his moment of inertia in the front 809 00:38:01,220 --> 00:38:02,840 so he can spin fast up there. 810 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,020 But in the back he pushes his legs away from him, 811 00:38:05,020 --> 00:38:06,890 increasing his moment of inertia. 812 00:38:06,890 --> 00:38:09,126 So a really large twist in the front 813 00:38:09,126 --> 00:38:10,750 equals a really small twist in the back 814 00:38:10,750 --> 00:38:13,520 in the opposite direction, and the torques equal out. 815 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:15,730 So as soon as he gets his front paws in under him, 816 00:38:15,730 --> 00:38:17,834 all he has to do is extend those legs back out 817 00:38:17,834 --> 00:38:19,250 to increase that moment of inertia 818 00:38:19,250 --> 00:38:22,560 and stop the front twist, and extend his back legs 819 00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:24,430 along that rear axis. 820 00:38:24,430 --> 00:38:26,650 That allows him to twist those around really fast. 821 00:38:26,650 --> 00:38:28,233 And then all he has to do is pull them 822 00:38:28,233 --> 00:38:31,520 back in under his body and then extend all four legs, 823 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:32,780 and brace for impact. 824 00:38:34,844 --> 00:38:36,260 ELIZABETH CHOE: All right, so very 825 00:38:36,260 --> 00:38:39,800 different from Crazy Russian Hacker but just as popular. 826 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,070 I personally really like Smarter Every Day. 827 00:38:42,070 --> 00:38:45,444 I think he's one of the best hosts, period. 828 00:38:45,444 --> 00:38:47,360 You can disagree with me, that's totally fine. 829 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,930 But the thing I like about him is even though he's 830 00:38:49,930 --> 00:38:51,360 maybe a little bit more scripted-- 831 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,130 he doesn't say um a lot, he doesn't really 832 00:38:53,130 --> 00:38:57,500 mess up as much-- I still feel like Destin is talking to me, 833 00:38:57,500 --> 00:39:00,060 that it's just this random guy in his backyard. 834 00:39:00,060 --> 00:39:03,360 He happens to be a rocket scientist down 835 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:07,470 at NASA or some similar engineering firm in Alabama, 836 00:39:07,470 --> 00:39:09,220 so he obviously knows his stuff very well. 837 00:39:09,220 --> 00:39:11,640 But there's something about him that's still 838 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:13,800 very relatable, very natural. 839 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,280 He seems like who he is on screen 840 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,130 is who he is in real life. 841 00:39:18,130 --> 00:39:21,824 Did anyone have any particular aspects about that video 842 00:39:21,824 --> 00:39:22,990 that they liked or disliked? 843 00:39:25,890 --> 00:39:27,140 Or anything that they noticed? 844 00:39:31,792 --> 00:39:33,167 KENNETH CHEAH: I think he thought 845 00:39:33,167 --> 00:39:39,715 about how [INAUDIBLE] tail was what affected the cat's 846 00:39:39,715 --> 00:39:43,152 movement, allowed the cat to-- but he mentioned that it wasn't 847 00:39:43,152 --> 00:39:45,442 the tail at all, so then that made 848 00:39:45,442 --> 00:39:48,128 us more interested in wanting to finish the rest of the video. 849 00:39:48,128 --> 00:39:49,044 ELIZABETH CHOE: Mm-hm. 850 00:39:49,044 --> 00:39:52,290 He anticipated the misconception [INAUDIBLE] the cat. 851 00:39:52,290 --> 00:39:53,890 And that's actually a really big tool 852 00:39:53,890 --> 00:39:56,560 that you can use in your videos to hook people in. 853 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,990 And Ceri, you take that summer MIT course, right? 854 00:39:59,990 --> 00:40:01,740 Where you were specifically addressing 855 00:40:01,740 --> 00:40:03,022 misconceptions in biology? 856 00:40:03,022 --> 00:40:05,355 CERI RILEY: Yeah, I actually took a summer class at MIT, 857 00:40:05,355 --> 00:40:07,710 and I personally made a video. 858 00:40:07,710 --> 00:40:09,620 But our whole objective of the class 859 00:40:09,620 --> 00:40:15,147 was to choose a topic in science that people often 860 00:40:15,147 --> 00:40:16,230 have misconceptions about. 861 00:40:16,230 --> 00:40:20,350 So some people did videos on you catch a cold 862 00:40:20,350 --> 00:40:21,910 if you're outside in the cold. 863 00:40:21,910 --> 00:40:25,150 And then mine was your deoxygenated blood 864 00:40:25,150 --> 00:40:27,465 in diagrams is always shown as blue 865 00:40:27,465 --> 00:40:29,930 and so people think our blood is blue sometimes, 866 00:40:29,930 --> 00:40:32,980 but it's always different shades of red. 867 00:40:32,980 --> 00:40:35,934 Yeah, and so our entire goal was to figure out not only 868 00:40:35,934 --> 00:40:37,350 the real science behind the topic, 869 00:40:37,350 --> 00:40:39,170 but how to explain it in a way that 870 00:40:39,170 --> 00:40:41,181 debunks the myths or the misconceptions 871 00:40:41,181 --> 00:40:42,769 that people have about them. 872 00:40:42,769 --> 00:40:44,310 ELIZABETH CHOE: And I don't know what 873 00:40:44,310 --> 00:40:45,990 it is about misconceptions, but it 874 00:40:45,990 --> 00:40:50,000 does seem to be something that not necessary predicates 875 00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:55,530 but can help launch a video into being something more engaging. 876 00:40:55,530 --> 00:40:59,800 And maybe it is because it taps into the audience itself 877 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,050 and it becomes more relatable, because it's acknowledging, 878 00:41:03,050 --> 00:41:05,122 hey, this is what you actually think. 879 00:41:05,122 --> 00:41:06,580 And it becomes surprising and maybe 880 00:41:06,580 --> 00:41:08,740 more memorable in that way. 881 00:41:08,740 --> 00:41:13,170 That you're more likely to remember that a cat doesn't use 882 00:41:13,170 --> 00:41:16,650 its tail to sort of out-balance the rotation 883 00:41:16,650 --> 00:41:19,220 that it feels when it's flipping but actually scrunches up. 884 00:41:19,220 --> 00:41:20,850 I mean, I'm going to remember that way more 885 00:41:20,850 --> 00:41:23,280 than I'm going to remember a single one of my 801 lectures 886 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,424 on rotational physics. 887 00:41:26,424 --> 00:41:28,090 So that's just something to think about. 888 00:41:30,671 --> 00:41:32,170 Now, something I do want to mention, 889 00:41:32,170 --> 00:41:34,440 and this is a conversation that Chris and I have 890 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:40,510 a lot, which is that people often confuse correlation 891 00:41:40,510 --> 00:41:41,660 for causation, right? 892 00:41:41,660 --> 00:41:44,450 They think, oh, well, all these videos did really well 893 00:41:44,450 --> 00:41:46,620 so I just need to make a crappy video 894 00:41:46,620 --> 00:41:48,810 and do really bad lighting and just 895 00:41:48,810 --> 00:41:51,375 be really terrible on camera, and it'll go viral, 896 00:41:51,375 --> 00:41:52,110 it'll be great. 897 00:41:52,110 --> 00:41:53,580 It'll be relatable and authentic. 898 00:41:53,580 --> 00:41:55,210 And that's not necessarily true, right? 899 00:41:55,210 --> 00:41:58,040 Low production value is not equal to 900 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:02,020 and does not predict a viral video. 901 00:42:02,020 --> 00:42:05,420 If any of us tried to recreate Crazy Russian Hacker 902 00:42:05,420 --> 00:42:07,784 it would probably not go viral for the same reasons 903 00:42:07,784 --> 00:42:09,200 that I talked about earlier, which 904 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,690 is that there are a lot of elements that 905 00:42:11,690 --> 00:42:16,980 go in play into creating something beyond what you see 906 00:42:16,980 --> 00:42:19,810 on screen when you're watching it. 907 00:42:19,810 --> 00:42:23,900 That it's OK to have good production. 908 00:42:23,900 --> 00:42:25,790 Smarter Every Day is actually pretty decent, 909 00:42:25,790 --> 00:42:27,930 and when you see his newer videos, his camera work, 910 00:42:27,930 --> 00:42:28,780 it's pretty good. 911 00:42:28,780 --> 00:42:31,330 And you can tell that he's gotten new equipment and things 912 00:42:31,330 --> 00:42:31,830 like that. 913 00:42:31,830 --> 00:42:34,060 And it doesn't take away at all from the experience, 914 00:42:34,060 --> 00:42:36,790 from the authenticity of the video. 915 00:42:36,790 --> 00:42:40,075 That authenticity starts at the core of the host, 916 00:42:40,075 --> 00:42:42,490 at the way they're creating it, the reasons 917 00:42:42,490 --> 00:42:43,980 why they're creating the video. 918 00:42:43,980 --> 00:42:47,170 And it's not created by the conditions of the production 919 00:42:47,170 --> 00:42:48,620 itself, necessarily. 920 00:42:48,620 --> 00:42:53,170 It's just that the conditions don't hinder the authenticity. 921 00:42:53,170 --> 00:42:55,220 But please don't mistake. 922 00:42:55,220 --> 00:42:59,230 Bad video production does not help you get to viral video. 923 00:42:59,230 --> 00:43:03,600 It just doesn't stop you from getting there. 924 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:07,010 Now, for YouTube-- and we sort of previewed this a little bit 925 00:43:07,010 --> 00:43:08,580 with the two videos that we watched-- 926 00:43:08,580 --> 00:43:10,496 there are a couple traits about YouTube videos 927 00:43:10,496 --> 00:43:13,410 that I think make them really great for learning 928 00:43:13,410 --> 00:43:16,950 and for educating, and for successfully 929 00:43:16,950 --> 00:43:17,870 engaging an audience. 930 00:43:17,870 --> 00:43:20,470 The first being just sort of the format 931 00:43:20,470 --> 00:43:21,900 in which they're written. 932 00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:26,350 A lot of viral YouTube videos or videos that are well known, 933 00:43:26,350 --> 00:43:28,620 or a lot of SciShow videos, for instance, 934 00:43:28,620 --> 00:43:31,410 they follow this format of asking the why, what, 935 00:43:31,410 --> 00:43:32,720 and how questions. 936 00:43:32,720 --> 00:43:36,030 So you'll notice that the Smarter Every Day video was not 937 00:43:36,030 --> 00:43:41,230 titled gravitational physics, Newton's second law, 938 00:43:41,230 --> 00:43:42,900 or rotational dynamics, right? 939 00:43:42,900 --> 00:43:46,670 It was why does a cat fall on its feet when it falls down, 940 00:43:46,670 --> 00:43:47,170 right? 941 00:43:47,170 --> 00:43:49,140 It's contextualizing the question. 942 00:43:49,140 --> 00:43:50,790 It's making it relatable. 943 00:43:50,790 --> 00:43:53,960 It's sort of tapping into the innate curiosity 944 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,660 that people have, even if they hate science. 945 00:43:56,660 --> 00:44:00,492 People who watch that video are not physics majors. 946 00:44:00,492 --> 00:44:01,825 And it makes them more sharable. 947 00:44:01,825 --> 00:44:03,810 It makes them more memorable. 948 00:44:03,810 --> 00:44:07,150 And I think it makes it a little bit more conducive 949 00:44:07,150 --> 00:44:08,940 to this idea of retrieval learning, 950 00:44:08,940 --> 00:44:11,940 that people aren't going to just end the video right there, 951 00:44:11,940 --> 00:44:12,440 right? 952 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:13,990 They're going to maybe share it with their friends 953 00:44:13,990 --> 00:44:14,790 or they're going to talk about it 954 00:44:14,790 --> 00:44:16,380 with their teacher at school. 955 00:44:16,380 --> 00:44:20,610 Which is such a powerful thing to happen with learning. 956 00:44:20,610 --> 00:44:23,190 I think that's what really everyone's objective is 957 00:44:23,190 --> 00:44:24,710 as a teacher, or a lot of teachers 958 00:44:24,710 --> 00:44:27,544 have this objective, that they don't want the lessons 959 00:44:27,544 --> 00:44:28,960 that they're teaching to just stop 960 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:30,400 once people leave the room. 961 00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:32,200 They want people to keep thinking about it 962 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:34,810 and thinking about it in the context of their life 963 00:44:34,810 --> 00:44:36,750 outside of the classroom. 964 00:44:36,750 --> 00:44:38,861 So this format really aids in doing that. 965 00:44:38,861 --> 00:44:40,360 And I have a couple of videos I want 966 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:42,740 to show you guys, the first being from AsapSCIENCE. 967 00:44:45,899 --> 00:44:46,940 ASAPSCIENCE: Ahhh, sleep. 968 00:44:46,940 --> 00:44:49,260 You can never have enough of it, it seems. 969 00:44:49,260 --> 00:44:51,150 In fact, sometimes it literally feels 970 00:44:51,150 --> 00:44:52,710 like you aren't getting enough. 971 00:44:52,710 --> 00:44:55,280 But what if you stopped sleeping altogether? 972 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:57,260 Strangely, science understands relatively 973 00:44:57,260 --> 00:45:00,420 little about why we sleep or how it evolved in the first place. 974 00:45:00,420 --> 00:45:03,310 After all, laying unconscious and dormant for hours on end 975 00:45:03,310 --> 00:45:06,850 while predators lurk hardly seems advantageous or smart. 976 00:45:06,850 --> 00:45:09,200 But we have discovered a few correlations. 977 00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:11,990 For example, adults who sleep between six to eight hours 978 00:45:11,990 --> 00:45:13,850 a night tend to live longer. 979 00:45:13,850 --> 00:45:16,610 Excessive sleep, however, can lead to medical problems, 980 00:45:16,610 --> 00:45:19,420 including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. 981 00:45:19,420 --> 00:45:21,870 Similarly, chronic sleep deprivation 982 00:45:21,870 --> 00:45:24,750 has been linked to aspects of cardiovascular disease, 983 00:45:24,750 --> 00:45:27,320 obesity, depression, and even brain damage. 984 00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:29,650 But what if you stopped sleeping right now? 985 00:45:29,650 --> 00:45:32,580 Well, after your first sleepless night, your mesolimbic system 986 00:45:32,580 --> 00:45:35,480 becomes stimulated and dopamine runs rampant. 987 00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,290 And this may actually trigger some extra energy, motivation, 988 00:45:38,290 --> 00:45:40,490 positivity, and even sex drive. 989 00:45:40,490 --> 00:45:43,020 Sounds appealing, but it's a slippery slope. 990 00:45:43,020 --> 00:45:44,680 Your brain slowly begins to shut off 991 00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:47,050 the regions responsible for planning and evaluating 992 00:45:47,050 --> 00:45:50,090 decisions, leading to more impulsive behavior. 993 00:45:50,090 --> 00:45:52,180 Once exhaustion sets in, you'll find yourself 994 00:45:52,180 --> 00:45:54,510 with slower reaction times, and reduced 995 00:45:54,510 --> 00:45:56,590 perceptual and cognitive functions. 996 00:45:56,590 --> 00:45:58,620 After a day or two of no sleep, the body 997 00:45:58,620 --> 00:46:01,590 loses its ability to properly metabolize glucose, 998 00:46:01,590 --> 00:46:03,890 and the immune system stops working as well. 999 00:46:03,890 --> 00:46:06,120 In some cases, three days of no sleep 1000 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,070 has led to hallucinations. 1001 00:46:08,070 --> 00:46:09,220 Care about how you look? 1002 00:46:09,220 --> 00:46:10,910 Studies have shown a direct correlation 1003 00:46:10,910 --> 00:46:14,340 between sleep deprivation and a person's perceived beauty. 1004 00:46:14,340 --> 00:46:16,730 That is to say, sleep-deprived individuals 1005 00:46:16,730 --> 00:46:19,330 appeared less healthy and less attractive than when 1006 00:46:19,330 --> 00:46:20,510 they were well-rested. 1007 00:46:20,510 --> 00:46:23,170 The longest scientifically documented case of being awake 1008 00:46:23,170 --> 00:46:25,842 was 264 hours, or 11 days. 1009 00:46:25,842 --> 00:46:27,300 And while they did develop problems 1010 00:46:27,300 --> 00:46:29,896 with concentration, perception, and irritability, 1011 00:46:29,896 --> 00:46:31,270 the surprising truth is that they 1012 00:46:31,270 --> 00:46:34,060 suffered no serious long-term health effects. 1013 00:46:34,060 --> 00:46:37,220 In fact, no individuals under these documented conditions 1014 00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:40,030 experienced medical, physiological, neurological, 1015 00:46:40,030 --> 00:46:41,710 or psychiatric problems. 1016 00:46:41,710 --> 00:46:43,400 But there are limited studies, and this 1017 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:45,070 doesn't mean permanent damage couldn't 1018 00:46:45,070 --> 00:46:46,990 be inflicted with more time. 1019 00:46:46,990 --> 00:46:49,710 Sleep deprivation experiments on rats, for example, 1020 00:46:49,710 --> 00:46:52,110 generally lead to death after about two weeks. 1021 00:46:52,110 --> 00:46:53,696 But scientists aren't totally sure 1022 00:46:53,696 --> 00:46:55,320 if they're dying from the lack of sleep 1023 00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:57,960 or from the stress of constantly being woken up. 1024 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,370 Perhaps we should look at fatal familial insomnia 1025 00:47:00,370 --> 00:47:02,680 for an answer, a rare genetic disease of the brain 1026 00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:05,080 which causes progressively worsening insomnia, 1027 00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:08,160 or sleeplessness, leading to hallucinations, dementia, 1028 00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:09,570 and ultimately death. 1029 00:47:09,570 --> 00:47:12,550 This disease has only affected around 100 people in the world, 1030 00:47:12,550 --> 00:47:15,700 but their average survival span was around 18 months. 1031 00:47:15,700 --> 00:47:17,920 Over time, the lack of sleep becomes worse 1032 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:20,150 and the body's organs begin to shut down. 1033 00:47:20,150 --> 00:47:23,100 So while lack of sleep won't necessarily kill you quickly, 1034 00:47:23,100 --> 00:47:25,120 continual sleep deprivation will have 1035 00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:26,970 a negative effect on your body. 1036 00:47:26,970 --> 00:47:28,420 Sleep tight. 1037 00:47:28,420 --> 00:47:30,201 But not too much. 1038 00:47:30,201 --> 00:47:30,700 Got a-- 1039 00:47:32,917 --> 00:47:35,250 ELIZABETH CHOE: So were there any elements of that video 1040 00:47:35,250 --> 00:47:40,900 that you found striking, that you liked, that you disliked? 1041 00:47:40,900 --> 00:47:41,650 Yes, Yuliya. 1042 00:47:41,650 --> 00:47:43,441 YULIYA KLOCHAN: I really liked the movement 1043 00:47:43,441 --> 00:47:45,152 and that he changed his materials. 1044 00:47:45,152 --> 00:47:47,610 ELIZABETH CHOE: Oh, like from drawing to construction paper 1045 00:47:47,610 --> 00:47:48,544 and things like that. 1046 00:47:51,391 --> 00:47:53,016 What did you think about the animation? 1047 00:47:53,016 --> 00:47:54,646 Did you like it or not? 1048 00:47:54,646 --> 00:47:56,020 JOSH GUNN: Oh, are you asking me? 1049 00:47:56,020 --> 00:47:56,320 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah. 1050 00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:57,986 JOSH GUNN: Yeah, I think it's effective. 1051 00:47:57,986 --> 00:48:01,160 I think one of the things about it that's nice 1052 00:48:01,160 --> 00:48:07,940 is that the animation allowed him to change to appeal to I 1053 00:48:07,940 --> 00:48:13,320 think a current need for a constant stream of images 1054 00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:14,160 that are different. 1055 00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:16,690 This kind of-- I think we've been conditioned 1056 00:48:16,690 --> 00:48:19,940 to be sort of bombarded with images, 1057 00:48:19,940 --> 00:48:24,510 and animation is great for that. 1058 00:48:24,510 --> 00:48:26,010 ELIZABETH CHOE: I mean, I personally 1059 00:48:26,010 --> 00:48:28,850 am not a huge fan of AsapSCIENCE style, 1060 00:48:28,850 --> 00:48:31,142 but I also recognize why it's super effective 1061 00:48:31,142 --> 00:48:32,600 and why other people would like it. 1062 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,210 Because like you said, it's very engaging, 1063 00:48:35,210 --> 00:48:39,932 if only for just the visual-- 1064 00:48:39,932 --> 00:48:41,640 JOSH GUNN: It's also really well written. 1065 00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:43,014 I actually think that it's better 1066 00:48:43,014 --> 00:48:45,830 written than it is-- I mean, I think 1067 00:48:45,830 --> 00:48:49,750 there are any number of ways it could have been performed. 1068 00:48:49,750 --> 00:48:51,460 But I think it's really well written. 1069 00:48:51,460 --> 00:48:52,680 It's very concise. 1070 00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:53,900 ELIZABETH CHOE: Right. 1071 00:48:53,900 --> 00:48:55,790 It's very shareable. 1072 00:48:55,790 --> 00:48:57,830 It's sort of written in this listicle form 1073 00:48:57,830 --> 00:49:01,950 that is dominating web media in general. 1074 00:49:01,950 --> 00:49:04,620 It's like basically taking a BuzzFeed article 1075 00:49:04,620 --> 00:49:06,310 and putting it into a video. 1076 00:49:06,310 --> 00:49:08,610 Yet with the visual elements, there 1077 00:49:08,610 --> 00:49:11,540 is a motivation for you to watch versus just 1078 00:49:11,540 --> 00:49:15,400 see it on text form, in BuzzFeed, for instance. 1079 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:19,270 JOSH GUNN: I actually thought that the cat video lost 1080 00:49:19,270 --> 00:49:21,140 some of its engagement for me when 1081 00:49:21,140 --> 00:49:24,300 he was-- there was this sort of stream 1082 00:49:24,300 --> 00:49:27,070 of scientific information and all you're doing 1083 00:49:27,070 --> 00:49:30,030 is just watching this cat in slow motion. 1084 00:49:30,030 --> 00:49:34,180 And for me, it lost that kind of key component 1085 00:49:34,180 --> 00:49:37,250 of what makes something engaging, which 1086 00:49:37,250 --> 00:49:39,865 is the tight cohesion between what you're seeing 1087 00:49:39,865 --> 00:49:41,440 and what's being said. 1088 00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:43,535 And also the streamlining of scripting. 1089 00:49:43,535 --> 00:49:44,910 ELIZABETH CHOE: And that's always 1090 00:49:44,910 --> 00:49:46,701 going to be a push-and-pull that everyone's 1091 00:49:46,701 --> 00:49:50,120 going to experience, too, with-- at some point, 1092 00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:52,500 are you explaining too much to the viewer? 1093 00:49:52,500 --> 00:49:55,594 Should you just rely on the visual? 1094 00:49:55,594 --> 00:49:57,260 Because you don't want to be too jargony 1095 00:49:57,260 --> 00:50:00,320 and end up alienating an audience, but at the same time 1096 00:50:00,320 --> 00:50:03,950 you have to cover-- you can't cover everything, right? 1097 00:50:03,950 --> 00:50:06,480 You can't go in it in detail and explain everything. 1098 00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:10,210 And that's a conflict that we'll hit in later lectures, 1099 00:50:10,210 --> 00:50:12,430 how you can use animation to help you 1100 00:50:12,430 --> 00:50:15,459 with that, some of the best practices in that realm. 1101 00:50:15,459 --> 00:50:17,000 But that is something to think about, 1102 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:19,458 and I think that's a struggle that everyone has with video, 1103 00:50:19,458 --> 00:50:20,630 for sure. 1104 00:50:20,630 --> 00:50:21,660 I have one more video. 1105 00:50:21,660 --> 00:50:23,160 Did anyone else want to say anything 1106 00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:29,281 about what would happen if you didn't sleep? 1107 00:50:29,281 --> 00:50:29,781 Yes. 1108 00:50:29,781 --> 00:50:31,489 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: You know, I was watching 1109 00:50:31,489 --> 00:50:32,919 and I was thinking because so much 1110 00:50:32,919 --> 00:50:37,560 of it is being shown just sort of from Gary 1111 00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:39,595 of these pictures and these words, 1112 00:50:39,595 --> 00:50:43,460 the thing that Crazy Russian Hacker had and the cat guy had 1113 00:50:43,460 --> 00:50:47,695 that this guy doesn't is that you know they're not making 1114 00:50:47,695 --> 00:50:49,380 anything up because you can see the cat 1115 00:50:49,380 --> 00:50:51,852 and you can see the bubbles, whereas there 1116 00:50:51,852 --> 00:50:53,425 are no references, so how do I know 1117 00:50:53,425 --> 00:50:55,320 that everything that is being said 1118 00:50:55,320 --> 00:50:57,192 is based on fact upon fact upon fact. 1119 00:50:57,192 --> 00:50:59,590 He could be making all of this up, for all I know. 1120 00:50:59,590 --> 00:51:01,996 And as I was watching it, I was thinking, 1121 00:51:01,996 --> 00:51:04,930 how do I know he's not-- like where's the truth in here? 1122 00:51:04,930 --> 00:51:05,472 I don't know. 1123 00:51:05,472 --> 00:51:07,388 JOSH GUNN: Yeah, there is some of that element 1124 00:51:07,388 --> 00:51:09,770 of like the web has a lot of information but what of it 1125 00:51:09,770 --> 00:51:12,520 is validated, or where does it come from. 1126 00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:13,580 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: If there were a little subtext somewhere even 1127 00:51:13,580 --> 00:51:15,170 just referencing any of the ideas, 1128 00:51:15,170 --> 00:51:18,942 I'd feel more like, all right, I can believe this guy. 1129 00:51:18,942 --> 00:51:20,650 But as it is, it's hard, because you just 1130 00:51:20,650 --> 00:51:22,565 have a whiteboard and a marker, and you think, well, 1131 00:51:22,565 --> 00:51:23,960 how do I know they've done their research. 1132 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:24,450 ELIZABETH CHOE: Right. 1133 00:51:24,450 --> 00:51:25,400 And I mean, with YouTube channels, 1134 00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:27,691 a lot of them put in the sources in their descriptions. 1135 00:51:27,691 --> 00:51:31,940 But I think the thing that maybe I enjoy less about AsapSCIENCE 1136 00:51:31,940 --> 00:51:35,650 is you could switch the creator out for any other person 1137 00:51:35,650 --> 00:51:39,770 and have any-- you could have Siri from your phone narrate 1138 00:51:39,770 --> 00:51:42,240 the video for you and it wouldn't be a completely 1139 00:51:42,240 --> 00:51:43,279 different experience. 1140 00:51:43,279 --> 00:51:45,320 I mean, it has its branding because it was really 1141 00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,370 one of the first channels to do that style 1142 00:51:47,370 --> 00:51:50,290 of hand-drawn animation, so that's its thing. 1143 00:51:50,290 --> 00:51:53,770 But it doesn't have the compelling sort of authenticity 1144 00:51:53,770 --> 00:51:55,930 that Crazy Russian Hacker does, or Smarter 1145 00:51:55,930 --> 00:51:56,897 Every Day, or SciShow. 1146 00:51:56,897 --> 00:51:59,230 And I think a lot of it is because you don't see someone 1147 00:51:59,230 --> 00:52:01,063 on screen, you don't see a person on screen. 1148 00:52:01,063 --> 00:52:02,760 And maybe that's just my personal taste, 1149 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:05,560 but I do think that makes a really big difference. 1150 00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:06,830 This video is from Vsauce. 1151 00:52:06,830 --> 00:52:09,350 Has anyone ever seen that channel before? 1152 00:52:09,350 --> 00:52:09,850 Yeah. 1153 00:52:09,850 --> 00:52:12,990 So I actually haven't watched all of this video 1154 00:52:12,990 --> 00:52:14,740 by myself because I was scared to, 1155 00:52:14,740 --> 00:52:19,250 but this is why I think it's creepy. 1156 00:52:19,250 --> 00:52:23,550 MICHAEL STEVENS: Hey, Vsauce, Michael here. 1157 00:52:23,550 --> 00:52:27,340 Fear gives us life. 1158 00:52:27,340 --> 00:52:33,460 Being afraid of the right things kept our ancestors alive. 1159 00:52:33,460 --> 00:52:37,110 It makes sense to be afraid of poisonous insects 1160 00:52:37,110 --> 00:52:39,550 or hungry tigers. 1161 00:52:39,550 --> 00:52:46,360 But what about fear when there is no clear and obvious danger? 1162 00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:52,458 For instance, a teddy bear with a full set of human teeth. 1163 00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:56,400 ELIZABETH CHOE: I can't. 1164 00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:57,608 MICHAEL STEVENS: A smile.jpg. 1165 00:53:00,610 --> 00:53:03,750 There's something a little off about these images. 1166 00:53:03,750 --> 00:53:06,970 Too much mystery and strangeness. 1167 00:53:06,970 --> 00:53:09,060 But no obvious threat the way there 1168 00:53:09,060 --> 00:53:10,824 is with a gun or a falling rock. 1169 00:53:10,824 --> 00:53:16,230 But yet they still incite fear because they are creepy. 1170 00:53:16,230 --> 00:53:17,440 But why? 1171 00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:19,350 What gives us the creeps? 1172 00:53:19,350 --> 00:53:22,760 What causes something to be creepy? 1173 00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:28,530 We are now in my bedroom, the bedroom 1174 00:53:28,530 --> 00:53:30,893 I grew up in, in Kansas. 1175 00:53:30,893 --> 00:53:34,680 Like a lot of children my age, I was terrified of scary stories 1176 00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:36,860 to tell in the dark. 1177 00:53:36,860 --> 00:53:39,480 But the very first book that ever scared me 1178 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:42,010 was the Curse of the Squirrel. 1179 00:53:42,010 --> 00:53:45,310 To this day I still haven't finished the book, 1180 00:53:45,310 --> 00:53:46,960 but that's just me. 1181 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:49,870 Psychologist James Geer developed the Fear 1182 00:53:49,870 --> 00:53:53,540 Survey Schedule-II, which he used to find out 1183 00:53:53,540 --> 00:53:55,700 what scared us the most. 1184 00:53:55,700 --> 00:53:58,880 Combined with the results of a more recent Gallup poll, 1185 00:53:58,880 --> 00:54:04,420 these are the things that scare most of us the most. 1186 00:54:04,420 --> 00:54:09,420 All of these things are scary, but are they creepy? 1187 00:54:09,420 --> 00:54:10,960 Let's get more specific. 1188 00:54:10,960 --> 00:54:13,030 I love the way Stephen King delineates 1189 00:54:13,030 --> 00:54:15,730 three types of scary stuff. 1190 00:54:15,730 --> 00:54:17,970 The first is the gross-out. 1191 00:54:17,970 --> 00:54:21,810 This is something disgusting, morbid, diseased. 1192 00:54:21,810 --> 00:54:24,290 The second is horror. 1193 00:54:24,290 --> 00:54:27,080 Horror, to King, is the unnatural; 1194 00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:30,990 a giant spider or being grabbed in the dark when 1195 00:54:30,990 --> 00:54:33,300 you thought you were alone. 1196 00:54:33,300 --> 00:54:39,450 The third, terror, is different, creepier. 1197 00:54:39,450 --> 00:54:42,550 He says terror is coming home to find 1198 00:54:42,550 --> 00:54:46,200 that everything that you own has been 1199 00:54:46,200 --> 00:54:50,290 replaced with an exact copy. 1200 00:54:50,290 --> 00:54:53,560 Terror is feeling something behind you, 1201 00:54:53,560 --> 00:54:56,940 its breath on your neck, knowing that you will be grabbed, 1202 00:54:56,940 --> 00:55:00,880 but then turning around to find that there was never anything 1203 00:55:00,880 --> 00:55:04,950 there in the first place. 1204 00:55:04,950 --> 00:55:06,790 Not a lot of research has been done 1205 00:55:06,790 --> 00:55:10,120 on that feeling, the creeps. 1206 00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:15,810 But many theories and ideas involve vagueness, ambiguity. 1207 00:55:15,810 --> 00:55:21,340 For instance, masks, and why clowns are creepy. 1208 00:55:21,340 --> 00:55:25,770 Claude Levi-Strauss wrote that the facial disguise temporarily 1209 00:55:25,770 --> 00:55:27,880 eliminates from social intercourse 1210 00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:31,500 the part of the body which reveals personal feelings 1211 00:55:31,500 --> 00:55:33,320 and attitudes. 1212 00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:37,670 Part of the reason even a neutral or happy mask 1213 00:55:37,670 --> 00:55:40,300 can be creepy may have to do with ambiguity. 1214 00:55:40,300 --> 00:55:43,460 A mask hides the true emotions and intentions 1215 00:55:43,460 --> 00:55:45,280 of the person underneath. 1216 00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:50,090 I don't know if the person wearing that mask is a threat 1217 00:55:50,090 --> 00:55:52,450 or not. 1218 00:55:52,450 --> 00:55:56,340 Vagueness is creep when it comes to the human form. 1219 00:55:56,340 --> 00:56:00,280 This is the famous uncanny valley. 1220 00:56:00,280 --> 00:56:03,200 On a chart of humanness, there's a zone 1221 00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:05,340 where something can be almost entirely 1222 00:56:05,340 --> 00:56:07,910 human but off by just a little. 1223 00:56:07,910 --> 00:56:12,820 Not so wrong that it's clear fake or funny, or so good 1224 00:56:12,820 --> 00:56:14,580 that it's indistinguishable. 1225 00:56:14,580 --> 00:56:18,280 Instead, it's just troubling. 1226 00:56:18,280 --> 00:56:20,090 The creepiness of the uncanny valley 1227 00:56:20,090 --> 00:56:24,560 is wonderfully demonstrated by John Bergeron's singing 1228 00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:25,980 androids. 1229 00:56:25,980 --> 00:56:28,280 Watch these videos when you're alone. 1230 00:56:31,890 --> 00:56:36,230 A similar uneasy feeling comes from Shaye Saint John, 1231 00:56:36,230 --> 00:56:38,730 a character created by Eric Fournier. 1232 00:56:38,730 --> 00:56:43,580 Funny to some, nightmare fuel to others. 1233 00:56:43,580 --> 00:56:47,060 Uncanny humanoids, like all creepy things, 1234 00:56:47,060 --> 00:56:50,000 straddle a line between two regions 1235 00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:53,850 that we can understand and explain with language. 1236 00:56:53,850 --> 00:56:56,020 Francis T. McAndrew and Sara Koehnke 1237 00:56:56,020 --> 00:57:00,240 describe being creeped out as an adaptive human response 1238 00:57:00,240 --> 00:57:03,960 to the ambiguity of threats from others. 1239 00:57:03,960 --> 00:57:07,540 Creepy things are kind of a threat maybe, 1240 00:57:07,540 --> 00:57:10,570 but they're also kind of not, so our brains 1241 00:57:10,570 --> 00:57:11,950 don't know what to do. 1242 00:57:11,950 --> 00:57:16,030 Some parts respond with fear while other parts don't, and 1243 00:57:16,030 --> 00:57:17,320 they don't know why. 1244 00:57:17,320 --> 00:57:21,830 So instead of achieving a typical fear response, horror, 1245 00:57:21,830 --> 00:57:24,850 we simply feel uneasy. 1246 00:57:24,850 --> 00:57:26,410 Terror. 1247 00:57:26,410 --> 00:57:28,270 Creeped out. 1248 00:57:28,270 --> 00:57:32,110 Between the mountains of safety and danger, 1249 00:57:32,110 --> 00:57:35,420 there is a valley of creepiness, where 1250 00:57:35,420 --> 00:57:38,850 the limits of our knowledge and trust and security 1251 00:57:38,850 --> 00:57:40,950 aren't very clear. 1252 00:57:40,950 --> 00:57:46,324 Will looking at this cause you to die one week later? 1253 00:57:46,324 --> 00:57:47,710 Impossible, right? 1254 00:57:50,490 --> 00:57:52,390 Maybe. 1255 00:57:52,390 --> 00:57:56,160 That's the terror of ambiguity. 1256 00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:59,300 We don't do well with ambiguity. 1257 00:57:59,300 --> 00:58:03,490 When it involves our own intentions, it can make us lie. 1258 00:58:03,490 --> 00:58:04,760 And when it involves danger-- 1259 00:58:04,760 --> 00:58:06,390 ELIZABETH CHOE: Can I stop or you guys want to keep watching? 1260 00:58:06,390 --> 00:58:08,431 MICHAEL STEVENS: [INAUDIBLE] recognizable threat, 1261 00:58:08,431 --> 00:58:10,473 it can make us think and feel some pretty weird-- 1262 00:58:10,473 --> 00:58:12,555 ELIZABETH CHOE: So he goes on and talks more about 1263 00:58:12,555 --> 00:58:14,650 like the actual psychology behind this. 1264 00:58:14,650 --> 00:58:17,670 The whole pop-up thing is his trademark move. 1265 00:58:17,670 --> 00:58:20,885 He does that between all of his transitions. 1266 00:58:20,885 --> 00:58:22,260 It's like a little kitschy but it 1267 00:58:22,260 --> 00:58:24,910 works since he was the first to do it. 1268 00:58:24,910 --> 00:58:27,260 But what did you guys think about this one, 1269 00:58:27,260 --> 00:58:29,160 especially in comparison to AsapSCIENCE? 1270 00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:33,380 Very similar format, it's the why-what-how, 1271 00:58:33,380 --> 00:58:34,900 but executed very differently. 1272 00:58:37,600 --> 00:58:39,680 Or maybe was there something about this video 1273 00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:41,600 that you liked better than AsapSCIENCE 1274 00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:44,074 or that you disliked compared to AsapSCIENCE. 1275 00:58:44,074 --> 00:58:44,574 Yep. 1276 00:58:44,574 --> 00:58:47,962 PAUL FOLINO: I think I got the point maybe couple minutes in, 1277 00:58:47,962 --> 00:58:50,382 but it seemed like the next three or four minutes, 1278 00:58:50,382 --> 00:58:53,300 he was just expounding on that point that I already got. 1279 00:58:53,300 --> 00:58:54,787 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah, so it dragged a little bit more. 1280 00:58:54,787 --> 00:58:57,172 PAUL FOLINO: Right, it never really answered-- I mean, 1281 00:58:57,172 --> 00:58:58,880 you didn't finish the video, but it never 1282 00:58:58,880 --> 00:59:00,770 seemed to answer the question [INAUDIBLE]. 1283 00:59:00,770 --> 00:59:01,350 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah. 1284 00:59:01,350 --> 00:59:02,810 I mean, he does sort of eventually, 1285 00:59:02,810 --> 00:59:07,350 but it does take him a little bit longer to get there. 1286 00:59:07,350 --> 00:59:07,850 Yes. 1287 00:59:07,850 --> 00:59:09,600 YULIYA KLOCHAN: It still kept my attention 1288 00:59:09,600 --> 00:59:11,770 because he was very close to the audience 1289 00:59:11,770 --> 00:59:14,220 and he was an interesting character, 1290 00:59:14,220 --> 00:59:18,310 so I was interested in knowing what 1291 00:59:18,310 --> 00:59:20,141 he would say next, [INAUDIBLE]. 1292 00:59:20,141 --> 00:59:22,140 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah, Michael Stevens definitely 1293 00:59:22,140 --> 00:59:24,930 is a very memorable persona on screen. 1294 00:59:24,930 --> 00:59:26,820 And this is something that we'll emphasize 1295 00:59:26,820 --> 00:59:27,770 throughout the course. 1296 00:59:27,770 --> 00:59:30,370 We don't want you to feel like you 1297 00:59:30,370 --> 00:59:32,630 have to exaggerate yourself or sort 1298 00:59:32,630 --> 00:59:35,417 of because this persona on screen 1299 00:59:35,417 --> 00:59:36,500 that you're not naturally. 1300 00:59:36,500 --> 00:59:39,060 It's not about you trying to adapt 1301 00:59:39,060 --> 00:59:41,460 into a Bill Nye personality or into a Michael Stevens 1302 00:59:41,460 --> 00:59:42,394 personality. 1303 00:59:42,394 --> 00:59:44,060 A lot of people find him super annoying, 1304 00:59:44,060 --> 00:59:45,740 and I don't blame them. 1305 00:59:45,740 --> 00:59:49,500 It's really about how to best capture 1306 00:59:49,500 --> 00:59:51,510 who you are in real life and just maintain 1307 00:59:51,510 --> 00:59:54,920 that as much as possible in front of a camera, 1308 00:59:54,920 --> 00:59:57,550 because maybe he is a little bit different in real life, 1309 00:59:57,550 --> 01:00:00,330 but it doesn't seem super unnatural when you watch, 1310 01:00:00,330 --> 01:00:00,830 right? 1311 01:00:00,830 --> 01:00:02,770 You're not like, this guy is acting just 1312 01:00:02,770 --> 01:00:04,660 like totally over the top. 1313 01:00:04,660 --> 01:00:07,990 It's just part of his brand, part of his persona 1314 01:00:07,990 --> 01:00:10,750 to get his message across. 1315 01:00:10,750 --> 01:00:14,320 I do think that something that was effective about that 1316 01:00:14,320 --> 01:00:16,960 video is it took all these concepts that you learn 1317 01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:18,940 in cognitive psychology, but again, 1318 01:00:18,940 --> 01:00:21,300 instead of doing a video on here's 1319 01:00:21,300 --> 01:00:24,300 the definition of uncanny valley or things like that, 1320 01:00:24,300 --> 01:00:26,060 he tapped into something that resonates-- 1321 01:00:26,060 --> 01:00:27,560 at least it resonates a lot with me, 1322 01:00:27,560 --> 01:00:29,570 because I was super creeped out by this video. 1323 01:00:29,570 --> 01:00:32,400 But it taps into something that we experience every day, 1324 01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:36,580 that it's a very relatable video, that it's contextual, 1325 01:00:36,580 --> 01:00:39,080 that I don't feel like I'm watching 1326 01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:40,660 a lecture, necessarily, on it. 1327 01:00:40,660 --> 01:00:44,280 I don't feel like I'm even watching a Khan Academy video. 1328 01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:46,580 That I just want to sit there and learn more. 1329 01:00:46,580 --> 01:00:49,660 I wanted to learn more for the first two minutes, at least. 1330 01:00:49,660 --> 01:00:52,770 I don't know if you guys felt that way. 1331 01:00:52,770 --> 01:00:54,050 Yes, no? 1332 01:00:54,050 --> 01:00:54,688 Yeah. 1333 01:00:54,688 --> 01:00:59,560 JOSH CHEONG: I felt like I got pretty much what-- 1334 01:00:59,560 --> 01:01:01,646 after he showed me the graph of the thing, 1335 01:01:01,646 --> 01:01:03,574 I didn't really understand the graph, 1336 01:01:03,574 --> 01:01:06,466 but he kind of explained it with like, oh, 1337 01:01:06,466 --> 01:01:10,322 you need to be in between two points to be creepy. 1338 01:01:10,322 --> 01:01:14,696 Then after that, it's all about trying to figure it myself. 1339 01:01:14,696 --> 01:01:16,632 He does this connect-the-dots thing. 1340 01:01:16,632 --> 01:01:19,052 He doesn't really give you the right answers. 1341 01:01:19,052 --> 01:01:21,535 He seems to be seeding you. 1342 01:01:21,535 --> 01:01:22,410 ELIZABETH CHOE: Yeah. 1343 01:01:22,410 --> 01:01:25,370 The payoff happened, but it takes a long time to get there. 1344 01:01:25,370 --> 01:01:27,422 And maybe he loses interest along the way. 1345 01:01:27,422 --> 01:01:28,880 Again, that's something that you're 1346 01:01:28,880 --> 01:01:31,450 going to have to figure out how to balance, 1347 01:01:31,450 --> 01:01:34,327 how much tension do you want to build up for the audience. 1348 01:01:34,327 --> 01:01:36,910 Maybe you'll do it too much, to the point where you lose them. 1349 01:01:36,910 --> 01:01:41,300 Maybe you do it to just create the buildup to the final reveal 1350 01:01:41,300 --> 01:01:42,450 of your video. 1351 01:01:45,730 --> 01:01:49,250 In addition to being these digestible, listicle type 1352 01:01:49,250 --> 01:01:51,470 chunks that are shareable and contextual, 1353 01:01:51,470 --> 01:01:54,070 YouTube videos are also super searchable, right? 1354 01:01:54,070 --> 01:01:56,710 So you can just go on YouTube and search 1355 01:01:56,710 --> 01:02:00,570 for literally anything you want, and you'll have suggested 1356 01:02:00,570 --> 01:02:02,340 videos that pop up at the end, so there's 1357 01:02:02,340 --> 01:02:06,990 this sort of inherent-- what was the thing I put? 1358 01:02:06,990 --> 01:02:08,880 There's an inherent vetting process 1359 01:02:08,880 --> 01:02:11,370 that happens on YouTube, that you 1360 01:02:11,370 --> 01:02:15,070 have a compendium of knowledge and compendium 1361 01:02:15,070 --> 01:02:17,130 of resources available to you, and you 1362 01:02:17,130 --> 01:02:19,450 have things like comments and suggested 1363 01:02:19,450 --> 01:02:23,420 views and subscriptions to help you decide what to watch. 1364 01:02:23,420 --> 01:02:24,920 And everything's at your fingertips. 1365 01:02:24,920 --> 01:02:28,335 You can get whatever you want, whenever you want it. 1366 01:02:28,335 --> 01:02:30,210 Then there's this whole trusted guide element 1367 01:02:30,210 --> 01:02:32,650 that is really-- it's just as present on YouTube 1368 01:02:32,650 --> 01:02:33,690 as it is on TV. 1369 01:02:33,690 --> 01:02:36,770 You have people like Vsauce and Michael Stevens. 1370 01:02:36,770 --> 01:02:38,850 Even with AsapSCIENCE, you don't see the guy, 1371 01:02:38,850 --> 01:02:41,360 but it has a really strong brand. 1372 01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:44,860 And it's one of those things where 1373 01:02:44,860 --> 01:02:46,810 if you replaced a successful YouTube 1374 01:02:46,810 --> 01:02:50,469 video with another person or another narrator-- a litmus 1375 01:02:50,469 --> 01:02:52,510 test that I like to think of is if you replace it 1376 01:02:52,510 --> 01:02:54,867 and it's just not really a noticeable change, 1377 01:02:54,867 --> 01:02:56,700 then maybe there's something with your video 1378 01:02:56,700 --> 01:02:58,460 that isn't very engaging. 1379 01:02:58,460 --> 01:03:01,580 That if you swapped out any of your classmates for it 1380 01:03:01,580 --> 01:03:05,632 and it still sort of felt like the same video, maybe 1381 01:03:05,632 --> 01:03:07,340 there's more of your inherent personality 1382 01:03:07,340 --> 01:03:10,440 that you can highlight more in the video. 1383 01:03:10,440 --> 01:03:14,050 And then, with YouTube, there's no invisible college, right? 1384 01:03:14,050 --> 01:03:15,870 There's no gatekeeper of knowledge. 1385 01:03:15,870 --> 01:03:21,010 You don't have to pay $100 to access a lecture course, right? 1386 01:03:21,010 --> 01:03:22,510 Anybody can access OpenCourseWare. 1387 01:03:22,510 --> 01:03:25,550 Anybody can go watch a Vsauce video. 1388 01:03:25,550 --> 01:03:28,250 Anyone can comment, so theoretically, anyone 1389 01:03:28,250 --> 01:03:32,110 can contribute to that community and landscape, and its products 1390 01:03:32,110 --> 01:03:33,530 as well. 1391 01:03:33,530 --> 01:03:35,510 I think we're starting to see more of it. 1392 01:03:35,510 --> 01:03:36,910 You see more female creators, you 1393 01:03:36,910 --> 01:03:41,610 see a little bit more diversity in the YouTube environment 1394 01:03:41,610 --> 01:03:43,110 than you do on TV, certainly. 1395 01:03:43,110 --> 01:03:48,870 But again, there's a lot of room to grow in that regard. 1396 01:03:48,870 --> 01:03:51,060 And then finally, for TV, TV is very 1397 01:03:51,060 --> 01:03:53,720 different from online video, which is something 1398 01:03:53,720 --> 01:03:57,410 that I didn't actually realize myself until fairly recently. 1399 01:03:57,410 --> 01:03:59,060 I always kind of thought if I want 1400 01:03:59,060 --> 01:04:02,170 to make a good video online then I should just sort of apply 1401 01:04:02,170 --> 01:04:04,860 the best practices of making a good video on TV 1402 01:04:04,860 --> 01:04:07,180 and just shorten it to a five-minute online video. 1403 01:04:07,180 --> 01:04:09,130 But that's not necessarily the case, 1404 01:04:09,130 --> 01:04:11,350 because the priority of TV, first of all, 1405 01:04:11,350 --> 01:04:13,320 is to hold your attention. 1406 01:04:13,320 --> 01:04:15,790 When you're watching TV, there are going to be commercials, 1407 01:04:15,790 --> 01:04:17,370 you can flip the channel. 1408 01:04:17,370 --> 01:04:20,350 I guess you can do that with online stuff as well, 1409 01:04:20,350 --> 01:04:26,840 but the distractions aren't necessarily as huge. 1410 01:04:26,840 --> 01:04:28,560 When you go to a commercial, you're 1411 01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:30,610 going to want to change the channel. 1412 01:04:30,610 --> 01:04:33,720 So they really have to hook your attention, 1413 01:04:33,720 --> 01:04:36,490 and they do that a lot with some of the production styles. 1414 01:04:36,490 --> 01:04:40,990 On TV you'll tend to see a lot more multi-camera type videos. 1415 01:04:40,990 --> 01:04:44,310 You'll see a lot of quick cuts, a lot of effects 1416 01:04:44,310 --> 01:04:45,881 to sort of keep you engaged. 1417 01:04:45,881 --> 01:04:48,380 I noticed that about the Hobbit, there was like an explosion 1418 01:04:48,380 --> 01:04:50,610 every other second. 1419 01:04:50,610 --> 01:04:53,640 And they do that because they have 1420 01:04:53,640 --> 01:04:55,610 to have this really big hold on you 1421 01:04:55,610 --> 01:04:58,600 for a much longer period of time. 1422 01:04:58,600 --> 01:05:01,600 Whereas on online videos, stuff like Smarter Every Day, 1423 01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:03,310 it's just kind of the same camera set up 1424 01:05:03,310 --> 01:05:06,580 on a tripod that's shooting you the whole time. 1425 01:05:06,580 --> 01:05:09,580 And TV is very much about narrative, 1426 01:05:09,580 --> 01:05:10,920 about telling a story. 1427 01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:12,510 And I think that that is something 1428 01:05:12,510 --> 01:05:15,570 that you should do in an online video too, but it's not as much 1429 01:05:15,570 --> 01:05:16,780 of a necessity. 1430 01:05:16,780 --> 01:05:20,096 Things like-- I don't know, any viral video that's 1431 01:05:20,096 --> 01:05:21,970 not necessarily science-related, most of them 1432 01:05:21,970 --> 01:05:23,510 don't really have a story. 1433 01:05:23,510 --> 01:05:26,779 It's more just like, here's a naked celebrity. 1434 01:05:26,779 --> 01:05:28,570 I guess you could create a story out of it, 1435 01:05:28,570 --> 01:05:30,361 but it's not narrative-driven, necessarily, 1436 01:05:30,361 --> 01:05:34,680 whereas TV very much is, and movies are as well. 1437 01:05:34,680 --> 01:05:37,010 I wanted to show you another video, 1438 01:05:37,010 --> 01:05:39,990 and this is from Connections, which I never 1439 01:05:39,990 --> 01:05:43,472 heard of until Chris showed us this show in his class. 1440 01:05:43,472 --> 01:05:44,180 But it's awesome. 1441 01:05:44,180 --> 01:05:48,740 It's like one of the first science TV shows in the UK. 1442 01:05:48,740 --> 01:05:51,847 And this is from Connections 2, and it's a whodunnit episode. 1443 01:07:02,540 --> 01:07:06,130 JAMES BURKE: I suppose a detective catches a crook 1444 01:07:06,130 --> 01:07:09,980 because he follows a trail from one uniquely relevant event 1445 01:07:09,980 --> 01:07:12,390 or person to another, until he finds 1446 01:07:12,390 --> 01:07:14,320 a unique piece of evidence that points 1447 01:07:14,320 --> 01:07:18,190 to the only person in the world who could've done the deed. 1448 01:07:18,190 --> 01:07:21,672 And strangely enough, the story I'm 1449 01:07:21,672 --> 01:07:24,724 about to tell you about why modern detectives are 1450 01:07:24,724 --> 01:07:28,092 able to do that at all follows exactly the same kind of tail, 1451 01:07:28,092 --> 01:07:32,174 from one unique character to another through history. 1452 01:07:32,174 --> 01:07:35,570 Here's my first unique character, 1453 01:07:35,570 --> 01:07:38,915 Steve Davis, one of the best snooker players in the world. 1454 01:07:42,100 --> 01:07:44,750 ELIZABETH CHOE: Ah, don't look at this. 1455 01:07:44,750 --> 01:07:47,550 So that is a show that aired-- I don't know, 1456 01:07:47,550 --> 01:07:48,740 was that like the '70s? 1457 01:07:48,740 --> 01:07:50,260 CHRIS BOEBEL: It's the late '70s [INAUDIBLE]. 1458 01:07:50,260 --> 01:07:51,343 ELIZABETH CHOE: Late '70s? 1459 01:07:51,343 --> 01:07:53,670 And this is Connections 2, so maybe it's early '80s. 1460 01:07:53,670 --> 01:07:56,970 I don't know about you, I felt like that was so endless. 1461 01:07:56,970 --> 01:08:01,710 It took him two whole minutes to even just introduce 1462 01:08:01,710 --> 01:08:04,110 the first character of what he was talking about, 1463 01:08:04,110 --> 01:08:05,070 and it felt-- 1464 01:08:05,070 --> 01:08:06,350 CHRIS BOEBEL: Isn't it amazing how the pacing has 1465 01:08:06,350 --> 01:08:07,420 changed, and our expectations? 1466 01:08:07,420 --> 01:08:09,590 ELIZABETH CHOE: Right, it felt agonizing, almost. 1467 01:08:09,590 --> 01:08:12,780 And I'm sure if I watched it on TV and I saw the rest of it, 1468 01:08:12,780 --> 01:08:13,560 it would be fine. 1469 01:08:13,560 --> 01:08:17,779 But I mean, compare that to AsapSCIENCE, for instance. 1470 01:08:17,779 --> 01:08:21,390 The priority of what Connections producers were 1471 01:08:21,390 --> 01:08:24,080 doing with that video is very different than AsapSCIENCE, 1472 01:08:24,080 --> 01:08:26,305 and you have a very different effect. 1473 01:08:26,305 --> 01:08:28,390 I actually really enjoyed Connections, 1474 01:08:28,390 --> 01:08:30,010 I really liked the show too. 1475 01:08:30,010 --> 01:08:32,649 So I'm not saying it's a bad thing, necessarily. 1476 01:08:32,649 --> 01:08:35,979 But that's sort of what happens when you're applying this best 1477 01:08:35,979 --> 01:08:37,870 practices in TV or movies and you 1478 01:08:37,870 --> 01:08:41,300 think you can just move it over to video on the web 1479 01:08:41,300 --> 01:08:42,359 and just shorten it down. 1480 01:08:42,359 --> 01:08:46,170 That's not necessarily going to be the best approach, 1481 01:08:46,170 --> 01:08:47,790 because some of the best practices 1482 01:08:47,790 --> 01:08:50,620 aren't going to work, necessarily. 1483 01:08:50,620 --> 01:08:52,390 So what I would like you guys to do 1484 01:08:52,390 --> 01:08:55,710 right now, if you can access-- does everyone 1485 01:08:55,710 --> 01:08:59,779 have a laptop with them or can share a laptop with someone? 1486 01:08:59,779 --> 01:09:05,590 If you go onto our class site, it's mit219.tumblr.com. 1487 01:09:05,590 --> 01:09:08,560 You'll see a post that I just put up earlier today, 1488 01:09:08,560 --> 01:09:13,072 and it has a link to a Google doc that should look like this. 1489 01:09:24,640 --> 01:09:26,899 Should look like this. 1490 01:09:26,899 --> 01:09:31,670 And what I'd like you guys to do for maybe the next like 20-25 1491 01:09:31,670 --> 01:09:35,271 minutes-- and feel free to get up and stretch during this time 1492 01:09:35,271 --> 01:09:35,770 if you want. 1493 01:09:35,770 --> 01:09:37,979 If you need to use the restroom, feel free to head out. 1494 01:09:37,979 --> 01:09:38,830 JAIME GOLDSTEIN: Can you write the URL on the board? 1495 01:09:38,830 --> 01:09:39,871 ELIZABETH CHOE: Oh, yeah. 1496 01:09:43,060 --> 01:09:44,539 Can everyone see on this board? 1497 01:09:57,290 --> 01:09:59,850 There should only be one post, and it'll 1498 01:09:59,850 --> 01:10:02,290 have a link to the class syllabus 1499 01:10:02,290 --> 01:10:06,150 that, again, has all the videos that we've watched today 1500 01:10:06,150 --> 01:10:09,617 and the assignments for all the days. 1501 01:10:09,617 --> 01:10:11,700 And then it should have a link to this Google doc. 1502 01:10:11,700 --> 01:10:13,210 And what I'd like for you guys to do 1503 01:10:13,210 --> 01:10:16,700 is to watch the videos that I've listed here, 1504 01:10:16,700 --> 01:10:19,930 and then record the exact time code in which you 1505 01:10:19,930 --> 01:10:23,110 want to stop watching the video, and just be completely honest. 1506 01:10:23,110 --> 01:10:26,580 And then afterwards we'll talk about maybe some of the reasons 1507 01:10:26,580 --> 01:10:29,360 why you thought certain videos were more engaging. 1508 01:10:29,360 --> 01:10:35,610 Think about why you might still think that a video is good even 1509 01:10:35,610 --> 01:10:38,040 if you wanted to turn it off. 1510 01:10:38,040 --> 01:10:39,249 And we'll convene at the end. 1511 01:10:39,249 --> 01:10:40,873 But again, feel free-- if you guys need 1512 01:10:40,873 --> 01:10:43,610 to get up and stretch or go to the bathroom during this time, 1513 01:10:43,610 --> 01:10:44,690 feel free to do that too. 1514 01:10:44,690 --> 01:10:46,523 And you guys can talk to each other as well. 1515 01:11:09,440 --> 01:11:11,750 All right, let's go ahead and talk. 1516 01:11:11,750 --> 01:11:14,840 I know you guys are finishing up. 1517 01:11:14,840 --> 01:11:18,310 Just so you know, every day you'll do blog reflections, 1518 01:11:18,310 --> 01:11:21,200 and if you want to talk a little bit more about your thoughts 1519 01:11:21,200 --> 01:11:23,780 on these videos in your blog today, that's totally fine. 1520 01:11:23,780 --> 01:11:25,690 I know we're not going to get everything. 1521 01:11:25,690 --> 01:11:27,950 But did anyone have a favorite video? 1522 01:11:33,357 --> 01:11:35,526 Yes. 1523 01:11:35,526 --> 01:11:37,109 ANDREA DESROSIERS: The Veritasium one. 1524 01:11:37,109 --> 01:11:38,640 ELIZABETH CHOE: Oh, Veritasium, you like that one the best? 1525 01:11:38,640 --> 01:11:40,804 Yeah, actually, that one's my favorite too. 1526 01:11:40,804 --> 01:11:41,970 ANDREA DESROSIERS: And Asap. 1527 01:11:41,970 --> 01:11:43,400 ELIZABETH CHOE: And Asap. 1528 01:11:43,400 --> 01:11:46,070 What about those two videos did you like, or maybe 1529 01:11:46,070 --> 01:11:49,280 can you hit upon one thing that you found particularly-- 1530 01:11:49,280 --> 01:11:53,462 ANDREA DESROSIERS: Veritasium, very charismatic host, 1531 01:11:53,462 --> 01:11:57,454 and kept the pace not going so quickly, 1532 01:11:57,454 --> 01:12:00,448 but not going too slowly. 1533 01:12:00,448 --> 01:12:03,000 Then for AsapSCIENCE, it was very crisp 1534 01:12:03,000 --> 01:12:07,572 and conveyed the point very succinctly and clearly. 1535 01:12:07,572 --> 01:12:09,780 ELIZABETH CHOE: That's interesting because I actually 1536 01:12:09,780 --> 01:12:12,680 thought that those were the two videos that I personally 1537 01:12:12,680 --> 01:12:14,410 watched most of myself. 1538 01:12:14,410 --> 01:12:17,490 And I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of AsapSCIENCE, 1539 01:12:17,490 --> 01:12:19,941 but I did want to watch the whole thing. 1540 01:12:19,941 --> 01:12:21,690 The thing about Veritasium is interesting, 1541 01:12:21,690 --> 01:12:26,310 because he's not using super fancy equipment, per se. 1542 01:12:26,310 --> 01:12:28,360 His stuff looks a lot better than a lot of what's 1543 01:12:28,360 --> 01:12:33,460 on YouTube, but he's using just basic DSLR cameras, I think. 1544 01:12:33,460 --> 01:12:37,290 But his background, he's a physicist, that's his PhD. 1545 01:12:37,290 --> 01:12:39,730 But he does physics education as well, 1546 01:12:39,730 --> 01:12:43,670 so he's very cognizant of the role of video in education, 1547 01:12:43,670 --> 01:12:45,920 and that's going to be one of your reading assignments 1548 01:12:45,920 --> 01:12:48,110 tonight, is watching one of his videos. 1549 01:12:48,110 --> 01:12:51,180 But I do think that he does a very interesting job and a very 1550 01:12:51,180 --> 01:12:54,490 good job of being very natural on screen, charismatic, 1551 01:12:54,490 --> 01:12:55,430 like you were saying. 1552 01:12:55,430 --> 01:12:56,930 There's something about his delivery 1553 01:12:56,930 --> 01:13:00,410 that is-- he talks the way that you would think he would just 1554 01:13:00,410 --> 01:13:03,120 talk in real life, which is actually 1555 01:13:03,120 --> 01:13:05,490 really hard to do on video. 1556 01:13:05,490 --> 01:13:08,070 Did anyone else-- let's see what you guys thought 1557 01:13:08,070 --> 01:13:11,310 about the Veritasium video. 1558 01:13:11,310 --> 01:13:15,627 It looks like a lot of people actually finished that one. 1559 01:13:15,627 --> 01:13:17,960 And I didn't mention this before, but maybe you noticed. 1560 01:13:17,960 --> 01:13:20,050 All these videos are talking about evolution 1561 01:13:20,050 --> 01:13:22,460 or natural selection in some way or another, 1562 01:13:22,460 --> 01:13:25,810 but they're doing it very different ways. 1563 01:13:25,810 --> 01:13:27,830 What about anyone else, let's see. 1564 01:13:31,090 --> 01:13:33,480 Nathan, you finished SciShow. 1565 01:13:33,480 --> 01:13:37,100 What was it about SciShow that you liked? 1566 01:13:39,325 --> 01:13:40,700 NATHAN HERNANDEZ: I'd say I liked 1567 01:13:40,700 --> 01:13:43,820 that there's a little bit of humor in his video. 1568 01:13:43,820 --> 01:13:45,420 I think that's something that tends 1569 01:13:45,420 --> 01:13:47,689 to keep my attention better. 1570 01:13:47,689 --> 01:13:49,230 ELIZABETH CHOE: Sorry, that you what? 1571 01:13:49,230 --> 01:13:50,730 NATHAN HERNANDEZ: Just when you have 1572 01:13:50,730 --> 01:13:53,617 a little bit of humor inserted, that keeps my attention better. 1573 01:13:53,617 --> 01:13:56,200 ELIZABETH CHOE: And Hank Green is a very neurotic host, right? 1574 01:13:56,200 --> 01:13:58,650 He talks like this and he has quick cuts 1575 01:13:58,650 --> 01:14:01,110 and he's very hyper all the time, 1576 01:14:01,110 --> 01:14:03,110 and it works for him because that's just 1577 01:14:03,110 --> 01:14:04,400 who he is in real life. 1578 01:14:04,400 --> 01:14:08,970 So again, being Hank Green doesn't make you successful, 1579 01:14:08,970 --> 01:14:11,510 it's that he's able to just be himself on camera that works. 1580 01:14:15,610 --> 01:14:20,540 Did anyone have a least favorite video or one-- let's see, 1581 01:14:20,540 --> 01:14:24,610 a lot of people ended the TED-Ed one, 1582 01:14:24,610 --> 01:14:26,820 or maybe a couple people ended that one early, 1583 01:14:26,820 --> 01:14:30,800 and the Khan Academy one early. 1584 01:14:30,800 --> 01:14:33,090 Any thoughts about those? 1585 01:14:33,090 --> 01:14:36,400 What is it that made you-- I keep doing that. 1586 01:14:36,400 --> 01:14:38,140 What is it about those videos that 1587 01:14:38,140 --> 01:14:39,415 made you turn them off early? 1588 01:14:52,300 --> 01:14:56,750 Paul, you turned that one off at 17 seconds. 1589 01:14:56,750 --> 01:14:58,374 That's pretty early. 1590 01:14:58,374 --> 01:14:59,290 PAUL FOLINO: What one? 1591 01:14:59,290 --> 01:15:00,712 ELIZABETH CHOE: The Khan Academy one. 1592 01:15:00,712 --> 01:15:01,696 PAUL FOLINO: Oh, yeah. 1593 01:15:01,696 --> 01:15:07,600 I just thought that was a bad way of portraying evolution. 1594 01:15:07,600 --> 01:15:11,044 I usually use Khan Academy for math or something 1595 01:15:11,044 --> 01:15:14,000 like that, because he is going through all the hand motions 1596 01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:15,470 and how to do an equation. 1597 01:15:15,470 --> 01:15:15,765 ELIZABETH CHOE: Right. 1598 01:15:15,765 --> 01:15:17,806 PAUL FOLINO: But I think something like evolution 1599 01:15:17,806 --> 01:15:21,160 that's kind of nebulous to begin with, I'd like to see pictures, 1600 01:15:21,160 --> 01:15:24,173 not really-- I don't know. 1601 01:15:24,173 --> 01:15:25,985 That's just my personal opinion. 1602 01:15:25,985 --> 01:15:27,750 ELIZABETH CHOE: Well, yeah, I personally 1603 01:15:27,750 --> 01:15:28,750 agree with that as well. 1604 01:15:28,750 --> 01:15:31,440 I mean, I also feel like Khan Academy works 1605 01:15:31,440 --> 01:15:32,890 for a very certain type of video, 1606 01:15:32,890 --> 01:15:35,872 and that tends to be a numbers and graph-driven one. 1607 01:15:35,872 --> 01:15:37,830 And we'll talk about this more in a little bit, 1608 01:15:37,830 --> 01:15:41,030 but when you think about why you want to make a video, 1609 01:15:41,030 --> 01:15:44,460 you have to consider quite a bit about the visuals 1610 01:15:44,460 --> 01:15:46,380 that you're going to use and how that's 1611 01:15:46,380 --> 01:15:48,740 going to motivate the story that you're going to tell, 1612 01:15:48,740 --> 01:15:52,095 or trying to convey the message that you're trying to convey. 1613 01:15:52,095 --> 01:15:54,220 And I know-- I wish we could talk a little bit more 1614 01:15:54,220 --> 01:15:57,440 about this, but we are running a little bit short on time 1615 01:15:57,440 --> 01:15:59,320 and I want to leave enough room for Chris. 1616 01:15:59,320 --> 01:16:02,400 So if you can respond a little bit more 1617 01:16:02,400 --> 01:16:04,909 in your blog reflection tonight about some of these videos, 1618 01:16:04,909 --> 01:16:05,825 that would be awesome. 1619 01:16:09,900 --> 01:16:14,570 So we've hit upon some qualities of what 1620 01:16:14,570 --> 01:16:16,990 makes a good video, a good educational video, 1621 01:16:16,990 --> 01:16:21,100 a good YouTube video, a good TV video. 1622 01:16:21,100 --> 01:16:23,620 But the question of what is good, right? 1623 01:16:23,620 --> 01:16:25,560 Because ultimately we have to figure out 1624 01:16:25,560 --> 01:16:28,700 what we're going to define as success in this class, 1625 01:16:28,700 --> 01:16:33,370 because otherwise there's going to be no impetus to improve. 1626 01:16:33,370 --> 01:16:37,130 It's a really hard question, because what is good 1627 01:16:37,130 --> 01:16:38,940 is really intangible. 1628 01:16:38,940 --> 01:16:42,280 It's really inaccessible, at least in the field of video, 1629 01:16:42,280 --> 01:16:45,870 or whatever we're going to try to do, because what is good 1630 01:16:45,870 --> 01:16:49,060 is very much a matter of personal taste, right? 1631 01:16:49,060 --> 01:16:53,380 Like I personally don't really like the AsapSCIENCE videos, 1632 01:16:53,380 --> 01:16:56,197 but I recognize them as being successful in what 1633 01:16:56,197 --> 01:16:56,780 they're doing. 1634 01:16:56,780 --> 01:17:00,790 They're engaging people, they're spreading STEM literacy, 1635 01:17:00,790 --> 01:17:02,544 they're getting people to be curious. 1636 01:17:02,544 --> 01:17:04,960 I'm not sure how much they're opening the door to science, 1637 01:17:04,960 --> 01:17:06,890 but I mean they're doing good things even if I 1638 01:17:06,890 --> 01:17:09,800 don't personally enjoy them. 1639 01:17:09,800 --> 01:17:13,290 And a lot of people love Hank Green from SciShow 1640 01:17:13,290 --> 01:17:15,420 and a lot of people think he's super annoying. 1641 01:17:15,420 --> 01:17:19,100 So again, it's really hard to define what is good. 1642 01:17:19,100 --> 01:17:22,580 We often try to approximate what is good by other measures, 1643 01:17:22,580 --> 01:17:25,200 so a lot of times we'll look at virality, 1644 01:17:25,200 --> 01:17:27,635 how many views it has, how many subscribers they have. 1645 01:17:27,635 --> 01:17:32,840 But again, virality is something that you can sort of assess 1646 01:17:32,840 --> 01:17:35,390 in retrospect but it's not necessarily 1647 01:17:35,390 --> 01:17:38,240 the most predictive measure, because so much of it 1648 01:17:38,240 --> 01:17:40,252 rests on confounding variables like what 1649 01:17:40,252 --> 01:17:42,460 are the current events that are happening at the time 1650 01:17:42,460 --> 01:17:46,960 that the video comes out, what's the personality like. 1651 01:17:46,960 --> 01:17:50,940 Have you guys ever seen the OK Go music videos? 1652 01:17:50,940 --> 01:17:54,260 So they're this popular alternative band, 1653 01:17:54,260 --> 01:17:57,420 and their big breakout video was them 1654 01:17:57,420 --> 01:18:00,460 doing this huge choreographed dance on four treadmills. 1655 01:18:00,460 --> 01:18:02,160 And ever since then they've sort of 1656 01:18:02,160 --> 01:18:04,832 tried to do this similar thing of a single take shot. 1657 01:18:04,832 --> 01:18:06,540 I didn't actually show any of the videos, 1658 01:18:06,540 --> 01:18:09,060 but I can send you guys the links later. 1659 01:18:09,060 --> 01:18:12,600 They do these single cam, continuous shots of just 1660 01:18:12,600 --> 01:18:15,777 like outrageous dances, and I don't even 1661 01:18:15,777 --> 01:18:16,860 know how to describe them. 1662 01:18:16,860 --> 01:18:19,530 But the first one was the one where they struck gold. 1663 01:18:19,530 --> 01:18:22,230 And they repeated the same thing, it was the same people, 1664 01:18:22,230 --> 01:18:24,300 but their later ones, which are successful, 1665 01:18:24,300 --> 01:18:26,650 aren't nearly as successful as that treadmill one. 1666 01:18:26,650 --> 01:18:29,610 So there are qualities about viral video 1667 01:18:29,610 --> 01:18:32,430 that are universal, things like authenticity. 1668 01:18:32,430 --> 01:18:34,570 A naked celebrity is always going to go viral. 1669 01:18:34,570 --> 01:18:37,660 But it's very hard to build a predictive model based off 1670 01:18:37,660 --> 01:18:41,549 of a regression that you're looking at in the past. 1671 01:18:41,549 --> 01:18:43,590 And then you have things like learning objectives 1672 01:18:43,590 --> 01:18:47,440 that you can use to qualify something as good. 1673 01:18:47,440 --> 01:18:51,350 You can say, oh, this video hit upon all to the standards 1674 01:18:51,350 --> 01:18:54,060 that seventh graders in the US need to know about biology 1675 01:18:54,060 --> 01:18:55,930 so it's a good video, and maybe that's 1676 01:18:55,930 --> 01:18:57,850 why Bozeman Science-- maybe that's 1677 01:18:57,850 --> 01:18:59,040 why he makes good videos. 1678 01:18:59,040 --> 01:19:01,300 But it only tells so much of the picture. 1679 01:19:01,300 --> 01:19:05,160 So what is going to be our definition of good? 1680 01:19:05,160 --> 01:19:08,390 And this is a question that I still am struggling with 1681 01:19:08,390 --> 01:19:11,300 and I am totally open to us discussing 1682 01:19:11,300 --> 01:19:13,230 as the class progresses. 1683 01:19:13,230 --> 01:19:16,360 But I do think that there are going 1684 01:19:16,360 --> 01:19:19,380 to be certain qualities that we should strive for, regardless 1685 01:19:19,380 --> 01:19:22,690 of if your taste is in really rapid delivery 1686 01:19:22,690 --> 01:19:29,640 or if it's in very sort of philosophical, grandiose type 1687 01:19:29,640 --> 01:19:32,180 videos. 1688 01:19:32,180 --> 01:19:34,280 This is a quote from a reading that you guys 1689 01:19:34,280 --> 01:19:37,259 are going to annotate on tonight for your homework, 1690 01:19:37,259 --> 01:19:39,050 from Hank Green, who's the host of SciShow. 1691 01:19:39,050 --> 01:19:42,030 But he says, "People who are new to the medium are starting 1692 01:19:42,030 --> 01:19:44,980 to think that online video is not 'Just a little bit better 1693 01:19:44,980 --> 01:19:48,050 than everything else on YouTube' but 'Just a little bit worse 1694 01:19:48,050 --> 01:19:50,140 than everything that's on TV.'" And, 1695 01:19:50,140 --> 01:19:53,000 "That perspective is a super dangerous road to go down on." 1696 01:19:53,000 --> 01:19:56,090 That's sort of hitting upon what I was saying earlier about 1697 01:19:56,090 --> 01:20:00,140 you can't take necessarily the best practices in the realms 1698 01:20:00,140 --> 01:20:04,380 that we're trying to combine and transfer them over and expect 1699 01:20:04,380 --> 01:20:05,920 great results, right? 1700 01:20:05,920 --> 01:20:07,810 You can't try to make a video like you 1701 01:20:07,810 --> 01:20:10,260 would TV show, necessarily. 1702 01:20:10,260 --> 01:20:11,310 So what is good? 1703 01:20:11,310 --> 01:20:16,140 If good isn't the combined practices of TV, education, 1704 01:20:16,140 --> 01:20:19,950 YouTube, what is good going to be? 1705 01:20:19,950 --> 01:20:22,370 So this is a viral video manifesto that's, 1706 01:20:22,370 --> 01:20:24,117 again, optional reading. 1707 01:20:24,117 --> 01:20:25,200 It's actually pretty good. 1708 01:20:25,200 --> 01:20:28,590 It's from the guys who made the Diet Coke and Mentos video? 1709 01:20:28,590 --> 01:20:30,600 Have you ever seen it, where they combine 1710 01:20:30,600 --> 01:20:33,190 Mentos and Diet Coke and there's this huge, choreographed 1711 01:20:33,190 --> 01:20:34,550 explosion? 1712 01:20:34,550 --> 01:20:35,980 They talk about four points. 1713 01:20:35,980 --> 01:20:39,270 Be true, be authentic. 1714 01:20:39,270 --> 01:20:40,740 Don't waste our time. 1715 01:20:40,740 --> 01:20:42,460 On an online video, you can't afford 1716 01:20:42,460 --> 01:20:45,260 to do what Connections did and take two whole minutes 1717 01:20:45,260 --> 01:20:47,910 to set up the premise, because that's sometimes 1718 01:20:47,910 --> 01:20:49,140 the entirety of a video. 1719 01:20:51,670 --> 01:20:53,890 Be unforgettable, show us something 1720 01:20:53,890 --> 01:20:55,420 that we've never seen before. 1721 01:20:55,420 --> 01:20:58,360 And that honestly might be the hardest thing for us 1722 01:20:58,360 --> 01:21:00,380 here, at least it was the hardest thing 1723 01:21:00,380 --> 01:21:03,290 for a lot of the students that we worked with on the first two 1724 01:21:03,290 --> 01:21:06,370 seasons of Science Out Loud, that it's very hard to take 1725 01:21:06,370 --> 01:21:09,220 yourself out of the perspective of being an MIT student, 1726 01:21:09,220 --> 01:21:12,016 or being a student involved in science and engineering. 1727 01:21:12,016 --> 01:21:13,890 And remember that some of the things that you 1728 01:21:13,890 --> 01:21:16,240 take for granted and are part of your everyday life 1729 01:21:16,240 --> 01:21:20,060 are actually really awesome and really cool, and things 1730 01:21:20,060 --> 01:21:22,320 that most people don't see every day. 1731 01:21:22,320 --> 01:21:24,400 You may work at the nuclear reactor 1732 01:21:24,400 --> 01:21:27,240 here and think that it's just another everyday thing, 1733 01:21:27,240 --> 01:21:29,960 but that's a window that you can create 1734 01:21:29,960 --> 01:21:35,750 for people who would have never, ever had access to it. 1735 01:21:35,750 --> 01:21:38,019 And then ultimately, it's about humanity, 1736 01:21:38,019 --> 01:21:39,310 about the emotional connection. 1737 01:21:39,310 --> 01:21:42,840 A lot of that comes from the authenticity, 1738 01:21:42,840 --> 01:21:49,500 that if we can swap you out with just the computer voice 1739 01:21:49,500 --> 01:21:51,890 and there's not that much of a difference, then 1740 01:21:51,890 --> 01:21:54,350 really rethink how you're structuring and writing 1741 01:21:54,350 --> 01:21:55,710 and producing your video. 1742 01:21:58,530 --> 01:22:01,930 So there are going to be four course values that'll 1743 01:22:01,930 --> 01:22:05,390 guide all of the assignments and all the things that we do. 1744 01:22:05,390 --> 01:22:10,980 And the rubric is listed in the syllabus that's on the website. 1745 01:22:10,980 --> 01:22:13,760 We don't really assign point values 1746 01:22:13,760 --> 01:22:17,290 to did you do correct lighting, did you do this, 1747 01:22:17,290 --> 01:22:20,187 did you set up your camera the right way, 1748 01:22:20,187 --> 01:22:22,020 because we don't want you guys to get bogged 1749 01:22:22,020 --> 01:22:23,430 down in the minutia of it. 1750 01:22:23,430 --> 01:22:27,550 Instead, there are going to be these four overarching values 1751 01:22:27,550 --> 01:22:31,471 that'll dictate what is good, I guess, 1752 01:22:31,471 --> 01:22:32,720 as we move along in the class. 1753 01:22:32,720 --> 01:22:36,060 The first one is Spark. 1754 01:22:36,060 --> 01:22:38,060 There's this quote, and I think it's by Fellini, 1755 01:22:38,060 --> 01:22:40,610 but something along the lines of it's 1756 01:22:40,610 --> 01:22:42,360 not what's inside the camera that matters, 1757 01:22:42,360 --> 01:22:45,020 so much as what's in front of and behind it. 1758 01:22:45,020 --> 01:22:47,610 So are you promoting curiosity? 1759 01:22:47,610 --> 01:22:50,820 Is there a perceived love of learning in your product? 1760 01:22:56,060 --> 01:22:59,100 Right, is there a perceived love of learning in your product? 1761 01:22:59,100 --> 01:23:02,870 Is your passion and joy evident in your delivery? 1762 01:23:02,870 --> 01:23:06,516 This can be seen in your script, in your final video. 1763 01:23:06,516 --> 01:23:08,640 This doesn't mean that you need to go over the top. 1764 01:23:08,640 --> 01:23:11,120 It doesn't mean that you have to pretend to be someone 1765 01:23:11,120 --> 01:23:14,150 that you're naturally not or you don't feel comfortable being. 1766 01:23:14,150 --> 01:23:16,260 But I'm sure all of us in this room 1767 01:23:16,260 --> 01:23:18,010 have something that they're excited about, 1768 01:23:18,010 --> 01:23:22,790 so can we perceive that excitement in your product? 1769 01:23:22,790 --> 01:23:23,290 Clarity. 1770 01:23:23,290 --> 01:23:26,270 So "Kill all of your darlings" is one of my favorite sayings 1771 01:23:26,270 --> 01:23:29,770 and something that dictates a lot of the work that I do. 1772 01:23:29,770 --> 01:23:34,950 But this will be learning how to navigate the material you have 1773 01:23:34,950 --> 01:23:37,440 and getting rid of stuff, maybe getting rid of explanations 1774 01:23:37,440 --> 01:23:39,920 that don't need to be there. 1775 01:23:39,920 --> 01:23:41,940 Editing is going to be a lot about this, 1776 01:23:41,940 --> 01:23:45,390 and the last lecture is a lot about this quote. 1777 01:23:45,390 --> 01:23:49,340 But it's also about can you convey your message 1778 01:23:49,340 --> 01:23:50,640 in the most clear manner? 1779 01:23:50,640 --> 01:23:52,890 Is your script tightly written? 1780 01:23:52,890 --> 01:23:55,570 Is your delivery engaging? 1781 01:23:55,570 --> 01:23:58,710 Have you realized your vision as effectively as possible? 1782 01:24:02,750 --> 01:24:04,500 Then we have thoughtfulness, which 1783 01:24:04,500 --> 01:24:06,330 is that every decision matters. 1784 01:24:06,330 --> 01:24:08,250 Whether it's deciding what background you're 1785 01:24:08,250 --> 01:24:11,520 going to stand in front of to deliver one of your scenes, 1786 01:24:11,520 --> 01:24:15,600 or deciding what facts to include in your final script, 1787 01:24:15,600 --> 01:24:16,980 every single decision matters. 1788 01:24:16,980 --> 01:24:18,830 And it's thoughtfulness about what 1789 01:24:18,830 --> 01:24:20,710 you decide to put in front of the camera, 1790 01:24:20,710 --> 01:24:24,630 but also how you decide to talk to your audience. 1791 01:24:24,630 --> 01:24:26,760 And again, it's outlined more in the rubric. 1792 01:24:31,710 --> 01:24:34,340 And then go big or go home. 1793 01:24:34,340 --> 01:24:37,630 This is a hard one for people, understandably. 1794 01:24:37,630 --> 01:24:39,380 This is probably the hardest one for me. 1795 01:24:39,380 --> 01:24:42,170 But learning how to step outside your comfort zone 1796 01:24:42,170 --> 01:24:43,840 and getting creative. 1797 01:24:43,840 --> 01:24:46,910 We do you want to reward creative risks, 1798 01:24:46,910 --> 01:24:52,460 so don't feel like you can't try something new. 1799 01:24:52,460 --> 01:24:55,910 Again, hopefully it's an educated risk. 1800 01:24:55,910 --> 01:24:57,990 But these are all qualities that we're 1801 01:24:57,990 --> 01:25:00,510 going to assess, not only through your final products 1802 01:25:00,510 --> 01:25:02,590 but through your daily reflections, 1803 01:25:02,590 --> 01:25:05,620 through a lot of the iterative processes that 1804 01:25:05,620 --> 01:25:09,589 will be happening on the way to your final products. 1805 01:25:09,589 --> 01:25:11,630 And this is where we're going to integrate things 1806 01:25:11,630 --> 01:25:16,060 like are things clearly lit, but in the context of was 1807 01:25:16,060 --> 01:25:17,180 this a clear message. 1808 01:25:17,180 --> 01:25:18,596 Does that makes sense to everyone? 1809 01:25:22,000 --> 01:25:26,550 So if you want to make a video, where do you start? 1810 01:25:26,550 --> 01:25:29,140 The first thing is deciding if you should make a video. 1811 01:25:29,140 --> 01:25:31,231 And I think this list of questions 1812 01:25:31,231 --> 01:25:32,980 is one that everyone should ask themselves 1813 01:25:32,980 --> 01:25:34,120 before they make a video. 1814 01:25:34,120 --> 01:25:36,400 Why am I making a video in the first place, 1815 01:25:36,400 --> 01:25:41,310 versus a BuzzFeed article or versus a radio piece? 1816 01:25:41,310 --> 01:25:42,980 Who is going to watch this video? 1817 01:25:42,980 --> 01:25:44,600 This will make a very big difference 1818 01:25:44,600 --> 01:25:47,120 in how you decide to write your script, 1819 01:25:47,120 --> 01:25:49,310 how you decide to deliver. 1820 01:25:49,310 --> 01:25:51,740 For the most part, our assignments 1821 01:25:51,740 --> 01:25:55,600 will be assuming sort of a middle school type science 1822 01:25:55,600 --> 01:25:57,910 background. 1823 01:25:57,910 --> 01:25:59,970 What visuals will I show? 1824 01:25:59,970 --> 01:26:01,860 Again, this makes a really big difference. 1825 01:26:01,860 --> 01:26:06,460 As Paul was saying, the Khan Academy video didn't really 1826 01:26:06,460 --> 01:26:09,640 have the visuals that motivated the lesson that he was wanting 1827 01:26:09,640 --> 01:26:12,320 to learn, so thinking about what visuals you're going to show 1828 01:26:12,320 --> 01:26:14,230 are super important. 1829 01:26:14,230 --> 01:26:17,010 What is the fact or piece of information 1830 01:26:17,010 --> 01:26:19,260 that the audience is really going to remember the most 1831 01:26:19,260 --> 01:26:20,750 or surprise them? 1832 01:26:20,750 --> 01:26:23,740 In the Smarter Every Day video about the cat flipping, 1833 01:26:23,740 --> 01:26:26,480 it's just that whole concept of a cat 1834 01:26:26,480 --> 01:26:29,600 can seemingly defy the laws of gravity, 1835 01:26:29,600 --> 01:26:35,570 but it's really just a modification of their torque 1836 01:26:35,570 --> 01:26:37,760 or something that actually makes them 1837 01:26:37,760 --> 01:26:39,590 able to flip the way to do. 1838 01:26:39,590 --> 01:26:43,020 And the biggest one is what is the point of this video? 1839 01:26:43,020 --> 01:26:45,410 Now, the guys who wrote the viral video manifesto, 1840 01:26:45,410 --> 01:26:48,040 they used to be circus performers, so in their book 1841 01:26:48,040 --> 01:26:52,220 they talk about how there's a slideshow circus pitch, which 1842 01:26:52,220 --> 01:26:54,610 is when you have the ringleader around the side 1843 01:26:54,610 --> 01:26:56,900 and he's like step right up, step right up, come 1844 01:26:56,900 --> 01:27:03,200 see the world's smallest person next to the world's giant man 1845 01:27:03,200 --> 01:27:04,450 or something like that, right? 1846 01:27:04,450 --> 01:27:06,490 There should be some sort of circus sideshow 1847 01:27:06,490 --> 01:27:08,350 pitch to your video idea. 1848 01:27:08,350 --> 01:27:11,070 So one of the episodes we made was 1849 01:27:11,070 --> 01:27:13,910 on farts, which maybe our motivation 1850 01:27:13,910 --> 01:27:16,610 was just that we wanted to make a video about farts. 1851 01:27:16,610 --> 01:27:20,320 But on the other hand, there's this amazing biochemical 1852 01:27:20,320 --> 01:27:22,630 process that's associated with all of that, 1853 01:27:22,630 --> 01:27:26,300 and it really reflects just this incredible diversity 1854 01:27:26,300 --> 01:27:30,450 of microbiomes that exist in your body. 1855 01:27:30,450 --> 01:27:33,359 And so it's not just step right up, step right up, 1856 01:27:33,359 --> 01:27:34,650 come watch a video about farts. 1857 01:27:34,650 --> 01:27:36,030 It's like step right up, step right up-- 1858 01:27:36,030 --> 01:27:37,071 what's the thing I wrote? 1859 01:27:41,130 --> 01:27:43,850 Witness your body's countless armies of lowly bacteria 1860 01:27:43,850 --> 01:27:45,660 squeeze every drop of energy from your gut 1861 01:27:45,660 --> 01:27:48,480 and create horrendous sounds and smells. 1862 01:27:48,480 --> 01:27:52,150 So there should be some sort of circus sideshow 1863 01:27:52,150 --> 01:27:54,740 pitch to your video, and Chris is 1864 01:27:54,740 --> 01:27:59,620 going to help us realize that in the actual way of how 1865 01:27:59,620 --> 01:28:02,570 do I actually make that video, how do I actually 1866 01:28:02,570 --> 01:28:04,370 create that vision. 1867 01:28:04,370 --> 01:28:07,180 So that's what we're going to do for the last part of class. 1868 01:28:07,180 --> 01:28:10,600 But be thinking about maybe what your circus sideshow 1869 01:28:10,600 --> 01:28:11,690 pitch is going to be. 1870 01:28:11,690 --> 01:28:14,580 And eventually tonight everyone is 1871 01:28:14,580 --> 01:28:17,900 going to need to create a very short, maybe 1872 01:28:17,900 --> 01:28:20,070 two-minute video, one to two-minute video, 1873 01:28:20,070 --> 01:28:22,540 a science, technology, engineering, 1874 01:28:22,540 --> 01:28:26,190 math topic that you're basically going 1875 01:28:26,190 --> 01:28:27,560 to pitch through this video. 1876 01:28:27,560 --> 01:28:31,145 It's going to be sort of a trailer for your final project. 1877 01:28:31,145 --> 01:28:35,070 All right, Chris, I will let you take over.