Contribute

Story contributions can come from NOAA or from the greater ocean community. If you are a NOAA employee, contact the Ocean Today executive producer (see contact information below), who can put you in touch with your line office representative.

Ocean Today Editorial Guidelines

The Ocean Today kiosk is a highly visual, educational, and interactive exhibit. Content should be geared toward a general family audience at a 6th grade reading level. Any scientific terms should be defined or placed in context in the script. Videos should be no longer than 02:30 minutes. They are organized into four theme areas:

  • Ocean News
  • Ocean Life
  • Ocean Science and Technology
  • Discoveries

The guiding principles and objectives are:

  • Enhance ocean literacy among museum-goers through multimedia offerings
  • Create an enticing multimedia experience that attracts visitors
  • Provide timely content on current and foundational ocean topics
  • Provide a diversity of highly visual content

* Please note that all content on Ocean Today will be reviewed and selected by an independent panel - The Editorial Review Board (ERB). The Smithsonian Institution has final editorial control over all content appearing on the Ocean Today kiosk in the Sant Ocean Hall.

How to Submit a Story Proposal

Story Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis. E-mail your completed proposal to Katie Snider at Katie.snider@noaa.gov. You will receive notification within one month of the deadline.

Download Story Proposal Form (PDF, 66 Kbs) (DOC, 54 Kbs)

Ocean Today Materials Release Form (PDF, 52Kbs) (DOC, 27 Kbs)

If your Story Proposal is selected, the next steps are to:

  1. Submit your Script, Rough Cut, and Materials Release Form.
  2. The Editorial Review Board will review and provide feedback.
  3. You will incorporate feedback and submit final deliverables.

If you have a completed video that you would like to submit, here are the next steps:

  1. Submit your Story Proposal, Script, Materials Release Form, and a QuickTime™ of your completed video.
  2. The Editorial Review Board will vote up or down, and you will be notified within one month of the deadline.

Video Rotation Guidelines

The videos will be displayed on Ocean Today for a minimum of three months. The videos will be archived and rotated on and off as needed to align with real-time or seasonal events. The videos will concurrently be archived on the Ocean Today website (this site).

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Deliverables Requirements

Copyright

Do NOT submit any materials that you do not own the copyright or have express permission to use. This includes photographs, video footage, illustrations, and music. You must sign and submit the Ocean Today Materials Release Form indicating that you have the right to grant all rights and that doing so will not infringe on the rights of any third party.

Ocean Today Materials Release Form (PDF, 52Kbs) (DOC, 27 Kbs)

Lower-Thirds

To accommodate the captioning, you must remove any titles or on-screen text from the bottom 88px of the screen.

Bugs

You must remove all bugs / logos from the video.

Script

Use the standard split page with narration on the right side and picture description on the left.

Credits

You can include two logos, along with the name of your organization (or your Web site), in text in the credit bumper.

Final Cut Studio Credit Bumper Template (ZIP archive, 1.5 Mbs)

Captions

The final deliverable video must have captions added. To maintain consistency please use the following Final Cut Studio method:

  1. Create a slug, and set the opacity to 26. Position it at the bottom of the screen by setting the center at 0, 632. This creates the background bar for the caption text to sit on.
  2. Text: In the viewer, under the video tab, select text--text from the drop down menu in the lower right corner. Once you see "Sample Text" appear in the viewer, go under the Controls tab to change the text to the following specs:
    1. Font: Lucida Grande,
      color: white,
      size: 18,
      style: plain,
      alignment: center,
      origin: 0, -300,
      tracking 1, leading 0, aspect 1,
      make sure auto kerning and use subpixel are checked.
  3. Under the Motion tab in the viewer: set center at .6, 632.73.
    Add drop shadow with offset at 1, angle 135, softness 10, opacity 100
    (Note: Your captions can go beyond Final Cut Studio's "title-safe" zone BUT make sure they DO NOT extend beyond the left and right action/picture-safe lines or they will be covered by other elements on the Kioks touch-screen.

File Format

Output your final file at 29.97 fps, H.264, 720p. Audio should be exported as AAC, 2 channels, 44100 Hz, mixed out to -12dBFS leaving room for peaks in the audio.

Executive Producer

Contact Katie Snider for FTP information or FedEx or mail to:

Katie Snider
National Ocean Service
Communications and Education Division
1305 East-West Highway, N/MB6 SSMC4
Suite 9614
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-713-3010 x 152
oceankiosk@noaa.gov

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