How to Make a Bacterial Spreader

It was another late night in lab and we were looking to film a protocol that would demonstrate a common technique while using a minimal number of words.  We quickly came up with a pretty large list of candidates, but decided on the spreader because it’s just plain fun…

We set the camera up about 15 feet away and then zoomed tight on the action to reduce the depth of field and make the demonstration stand out from the background.  Originally, we planned on adding subtitles to give the protocol a voice, but once we took a look at the footage it seemed to speak for itself.

The music selection ended up being the hardest part of the video.  We had a few songs in mind that just didn’t seem to fit- either for mood or copyright reasons… When we heard this song, it fit perfectly with the common thoughts that arise when trying a new protocol – “Making me nervous” (song title) and “one step at a time” (song lyric).  Glass, fire and a beat.  What else does a lab need?

How to make a bacterial spreader

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  1. Creating the soundtrack of your science | BenchFly Blog

    wrote on August 10, 2009 at 2:26 am

    […] plays an essential role in movies, theater and yes- even protocols! (See this week’s Technique of the Week)  However, unless you’ve got a rich uncle with connections in the music industry you may want to […]

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