THE Estúdio, a digital service of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), at FCCN, received the recording of the voices used in the project “Astronomy Shorts", one series of animated short films where topics such as lunar eclipses, distances to galaxies or the variety of stars that exist are covered.
This project arose at the invitation of the Lusófona University for the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) to host internships for students in the Digital Animation degree program. Over the course of several months, dozens of people developed this 11-episode series, from animation film students to participants who voiced the characters and researchers responsible for the scientific review.
FCCN, FCT's digital services unit, spoke with those responsible for the project, who explained in more detail what it consists of and what the expectations are for the series, as well as the Studio's role in its success.
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What does the “Astronomy Shorts” project consist of?
THE Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences already dedicates part of its work to the production of educational content on astronomy, in particular related to the document “Big Ideas in Astronomy”, which aims to influence school curricula around the world in the field of literacy in Astronomy.
The idea behind the "Shorts in Astronomy" project is to host three-month internships where students at Lusófona University are asked to develop a short film (3 to 7 minutes) on one of the topics presented in the aforementioned document. The short films will then be made available under license. Creative Commons and published on the Institute’s and its partners’ channels.
The students chose the idea they wanted to work on, from a total of ten available themes, the IA monitored the communicative and scientific quality of the work, and also ensured the recording of the voices, voice off and character voices, through the FCCN Studio service.
Since 2017, we have welcomed 25 students for internships and have managed to complete a total of 11 short films with aesthetic and scientific quality.
How did the Studio contribute to the completion of the project?
THE FCCN Studio was essential for us to be able to record the voice with quality, in a controlled manner and with time. off and the voices of characters from animations.
For the voice recordings, we relied primarily on students from the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon, who are part of an IA educational program that connects astronomy with society, but we also relied on members of the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences and students from Lusófona University.
FCCN Studio, first with Cláudio Silva and especially João Santos, managed the recording and edited and produced the final file ready to be inserted into the animated films.
What added value and support did you find with this FCT service?
In addition to all the infrastructure and technical means that are made available, giving a professional reality for most students, we also highlight the patience and sensitivity of the Studio technicians, to record with non-professionals.
They optimized all conditions to absorb errors and uncertainties, and even recorded up to four takes, which often required more than one session to finish editing the audio file.
Are these and other FCT digital services, developed by FCCN, useful to the institution? Why?
THE Estúdio, along with the video storage service, Videocast, and the transfer of large files, Filesender, are the most used and very useful work tools for the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in the production of multimedia content.
We would have liked to have also used the FCCN Studio video services and equipment for more ambitious projects, but at the moment the team's size doesn't allow us to embark on larger projects. However, whenever appropriate, we are confident we can count on the essential support of FCT's digital services, developed by FCCN.
