SSFX Space Sound Effects
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
1. To expose the diverse audience of independent film-goers to current research into ultralow frequency sounds in space and, more generally, the issue of space weather.
2. To impress upon this community the potential risks on everyday life that space weather poses and thus the social and economic benefits of researching into this area.
3. To encourage further interest in the space sciences to non-science audiences.
2. To impress upon this community the potential risks on everyday life that space weather poses and thus the social and economic benefits of researching into this area.
3. To encourage further interest in the space sciences to non-science audiences.
Planned Impact
The final produced anthology film will serve as a useful resource which we will make available to STFC and the entire space weather community community (e.g. through the MIST and UKSA mailing lists, and via ESA who have helped us disseminate the competition to their members and followers) for use in the future as part of their wider public engagement activities. Resources surrounding space sounds research and space weather will continue to be distributed through the SSFX blog and articles through the Conversation (which have reached over 100,000 people so far via republishing at e.g. Daily Mail, Space.com, IFL Science etc.).
The project's learnings will be disseminated through UK public engagement networks including QMUL's Centre for Public Engagement, IOP's OPEN, BIG, SEPnet, The Ogden Trust, and PSCI-COM in a similar way to how QMUL's Research in Schools programme evaluation was disseminated. We will aim to present the project at conferences with public engagement and outreach sessions such as the National Astronomy Meeting, European Geosciences Union General Assembly, NCCPE's ENGAGE and The BIG Event.
The project's learnings will be disseminated through UK public engagement networks including QMUL's Centre for Public Engagement, IOP's OPEN, BIG, SEPnet, The Ogden Trust, and PSCI-COM in a similar way to how QMUL's Research in Schools programme evaluation was disseminated. We will aim to present the project at conferences with public engagement and outreach sessions such as the National Astronomy Meeting, European Geosciences Union General Assembly, NCCPE's ENGAGE and The BIG Event.
Publications
Archer M
(2020)
Space Sound Effects Short Film Festival: using the film festival model to inspire creative art-science and reach new audiences
in Geoscience Communication
Archer M
(2021)
Demonstrating change from a drop-in space soundscape exhibit by using graffiti walls both before and after
in Geoscience Communication
Archer M. O.
(2018)
Inspiring creative art-science works through the use of challenges
in AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
Archer Martin
(2018)
SSFX (Space Sound Effects) Short Film Festival: Collaborating with independent filmmakers through data to reach new audiences
in EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts
| Title | SSFX (Space Sound Effects) The Anthology Film |
| Description | Feature length anthology film of creative short films using sonified satellite data, bridged by fictional science story based on space weather. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | Several screenings Online release |
| URL | https://youtu.be/P5_OljSnA1k |
| Title | SSFX short films |
| Description | 7 short films created by independent filmmakers all creatively incorporating sonified magnetospheric ULF wave data for cinematic screenings. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | As of the end of 2017 these films have reached around 600 people at film events in the UK as well as Egypt, France, Norway, Romania, USA. |
| URL | http://ssfx.qmul.ac.uk/shorts |
| Description | The ultra-low frequency analogues of sound waves in Earth's magnetosphere play a crucial role in space weather; however, the public is largely unaware of this risk to our everyday lives and technology. As a way of potentially reaching new audiences, SSFX (Space Sound Effects) made 8 years of satellite wave recordings audible to the human ear with the aim of using it to create art. Partnering with film industry professionals, the standard processes of international film festivals were adopted by the project in order to challenge independent filmmakers to incorporate these sounds into short films in creative ways. Seven films covering a wide array of topics and genres (despite coming from the same sounds) were selected for screening at a special film festival out of 22 submissions. The works have subsequently been shown at numerous established film festivals and screenings internationally. These events have attracted diverse non-science audiences resulting in several unanticipated impacts on them, thereby demonstrating how working with the art world can open up dialogues with both artists and audiences who would not ordinarily engage with science. |
| Exploitation Route | The evaluation paper details recommendations on how scientists can effectively engage with arts sectors to reach non-traditional audiences and have impact upon artists, exhibitors, and arts audiences. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-3-147-2020 |
| Description | The collaborative relationships with filmmakers led to impacts on their knowledge of and attitudes towards science, helped them advance in their filmmaking careers, and even changed their subsequent filmmaking practice. Impacts were also felt on film-going audiences. Directly following screenings they expressed intentions to learn more and several weeks later it was found the films had provided them with memorable experiences of the science. Several unanticipated outcomes arose from the short- and medium-term evaluation, such as audiences gaining appreciation of curiosity-driven research and causing them to reflect on themes other than the just the underlying science. Given the non-traditional arts audiences engaged by this project, these are significantly positive outcomes. Finally, young families engaged through a soundscape exhibited an increased diversity in language used to describe space and altered conceptions of what space is like after listening to space sounds, thereby having impacts in their "enjoyment, inspiration, creativity", "attitudes and values" and "knowledge and understanding" using a generic learning outcomes framework. |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |