We’ve just pushed live an updated film submission system, which should (we hope!) be clearer for everyone. All existing submissions are fine — there’s no need for you to go back and do it again — but from here on you’ll be using the new system.

We’ve tried to make things like licensing and consent clearer, and the bits of paper you have to print out should make much more sense now. You still have to send your film by the good old-fashioned post, but there are good reasons for this:

• We need signatures from parents or carers, in some cases. Proper signatures. Written with a pen.
• Not having a database of users’ details anywhere on the web removes that risk entirely.
• Sending us a DVD or CD of your film is cheap, relatively easy, and removes all the ‘mucking around uploading films’ stuff.

If you have any questions or comments on the new forms, please drop us a line and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

I know it looks like nothing much is happening around here, but beneath the surface we’re paddling away at full speed. The submission form is working overtime handling the online part of the entry process, and we’re getting increasingly excited by the piles of parcels arriving in the post.

And yes, it is ‘piles’ this year, plural. A couple of weeks ago you had us worried, and it’s not a flood of entries (we’ll leave the hyperbole to the press), but we’ve seen a steady stream of submission in the last few days. It’s hard to know for sure until everything’s physically in our grubby mitts, but we think we’re already ahead of last year’s total… and last year, the majority of entries came right up against the deadline. Is twice last year’s total on the cards? More? Maybe?

Something like 40 films are winging their way into the national competition from last week’s terrific local event in Richmond, and a school in Wimbledon have gone completely crazy and submitted — frankly, I’ve lost count, so don’t hold me to this — ten films all on their own. Good effort, we say.

It’s lovely to see so many entrants from last year come back with more; there are lots of names I recognise from our first Awards. Perhaps even more welcome, however, are all the submitters pointing their lenses in our direction for the first time. There are a gratifying number of schools and other groups we’ve never heard of, which is terrific news. Welcome, all!

Keep the films coming. They’ll start to trickle through onto the website soon, and the trickle will turn into — oh, drat, I’ve backed myself into a corner there — a flood [wince] in January.

Deadline: 9^th January
Entry process: starts here.

At SciCast’s orbiting world headquarters we’re big fans of Canon’s range of video cameras. While we like the Flip range around the £100 mark, we really really like Canon’s flash card, hard drive, and HDV cameras, for three very simple reasons:

1. They’re competitively priced.
2. They’re at least comparable in picture quality to other cameras around the same price.
3. They have microphone input sockets.

That last is key. Really key. Very very key. Built-in microphones are one thing, but being able to plug in a cheap lapel microphone makes a huge difference.

Right now, we’ve a fourth reason to like Canon’s cameras: they’re doing a cashback offer. £50 back on high-definition models like the HF100, and £30 back on the standard-definition FS100.

The offer’s valid until January 12th 2009, and you’ll find honest reviews of these cameras at CamcorderInfo.com. Look, we’ll even point you straight there: HF100, FS100.

Here’s a terrific source of ideas — the American Science Buddies website. They have a huge catalogue of project ideas, categorised by subject area, difficulty, how long they might take, and how much materials might cost you. There are also extensive links lists to source materials, to get you started.

Projects in the vast directory range from mucking about with yeast to making your own seismograph. There are about 700 ideas in there, so you should find something to your liking.

Great stuff.

We never really went away, we were just quiet for a while. But we’re back now… and if you’re wondering why we’re referring to ourselves in the plural, well, stay tuned — we have exciting announcements.

Well, not that exciting, frankly, so to keep you interested: our current favourite ‘cheap’ camera, the Flip Ultra, has recently had a price cut. it’s down to £80 from Amazon and other suppliers.

These really are terrific little things, and they’re now 20% cheaper than they were last week. Bonus.

I’m not sure this quite fits into the category of ‘science demonstration,’ but it sure looks like fun. And it might just spark clever ideas in some of you, so: how to make a bubble tube foam-erator.

(via Make)

Things are moving fast with video cameras, which is one reason I try not to recommend anything too specific. By the time you’ve found one, it’s usually out-of-date.

For a long time my standing advice has been (a.) to use your mobile phone, stills camera, or whatever else you already have, (b.) to buy a miniDV camera with a microphone jack, and (c.) that you get get what you pay for, more-or-less.

However, I think we’re approaching some sort of transition, and I’m not sure I can fully recommend tape any more. My current picks are:

• Flip Video Ultra, ~£100. Small, trivially simple, not great, but surprisingly good for what it is.
• Canon FS100/10/11 range, ~£220-£350. Not unlike the Flip, but has a microphone jack.

Both these cameras record to flash memory, so they’re much quicker to work with than tape cameras. Long-term archiving is an issue, but hard drives are now around the same price as tape.

Neither the Flip nor the FS100/10/11 will be much good in poor light, neither shoots very high-resolution, and neither gives you much if anything in the way of manual controls. But they’re quick, simple, and relatively cheap. I’ll be reviewing the Flip properly, alongside its closest competitor the Busbi Video Plus, shortly. I’m also sorely tempted to buy myself an FS100, but there’s a review here.

For further reference, here’s a handy list of cameras supported by the current version of iMovie. Still worth a look even if you’re a Windows user, since these tend to be the cameras that do things ‘by the book,’ so you may find you have a smoother time with them than others.