Lights, camera, action: UVic videography talent goes on display

Biodegradable light wands, citizen science scuba divers, the Holocaust, and killer whales—these were the winning topics among 17 juried videos featured at the second annual Research Reels competition on March 6.

The Ideafest event showcases short videos produced by students, faculty and staff that demonstrate how UVic research and creative activity is making a difference in our lives and in the world.

Videos are screened and judged in two categories: 60-second social media and three-minute features. The judges were UVic chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen, Hakai Magazine editor-in-chief Jude Isabella, and Victoria filmmaker Bryan Skinner.

The big winners of the evening were undergraduate students Colton Hash (visual arts/environmental studies/computer science) who won $1,250 for a feature video on his multimedia orca installation and Paige Whitehead (microbiology/environmental studies) who collected $750 for a social media video on her biodegradable light wand.

Hash and Whitehead also won the People’s Choice Awards in the feature and social media categories, receiving $500 and $250 respectively.

Second place in the social media category ($500) went to master’s student Stefania Gorgopa (environmental studies) for a video on how research using citizen science divers is helping to monitor local rockfish populations.

The feature category secondplace prize ($750) went to PhD student Chorong Kim (Germanic and Slavic studies) for a video on how the European Studies Field School is helping students deepen their understanding of global issues.

“There were many excellent submissions and the judging was quite lively when they were deciding on a final winner; it wasn’t an easy decision,” says event organizer Beth Doman, video production coordinator in University Communications + Marketing. “We had a great evening with excellent speeches by the judges and the winners, all of them emphasizing the vital impact of the highlighted work.

“We also got many positive responses from the audience who said they were inspired by the variety of research taking place on campus.”

• See the depth of our video and research talent for yourself on our YouTube playlist.
• Read more about Hash's orca installation and Whitehead's light wand.