On April 10, an international team of scientists unveiled the first captured image of a black hole, the result of a global collaboration to create a virtual earth-sized telescope.
For one Conestoga student, the unveiling event hosted at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo not only announced a major scientific breakthrough, but also served as a launch pad to what he hopes will be a future career in science communications.
Edwin Huras is a second-year student in Conestoga’s Broadcasting - Television and Independent Production program whose lifelong interest in physics and science originally led him to consider pursuing an engineering career. Now he hopes to use his skills to help others see and understand the beauty and wonder of the scientific world.
Huras worked with the Perimeter Institute and other partners in the Event Horizon Telescope initiative to create an announcement video for the unveiling that has been viewed more than 600,000 times since its April 10 release and used by major media outlets in their coverage of the scientific breakthrough.
“I didn’t know what to expect when the video was released,” Huras said. “Within the first hour it got to 20,000 views. I didn’t think it would go up that quickly.”
“It was really cool to read through the comments,” Huras continued. “I want to get into science communications to try to inspire people, and it was great to see that people seemed to really enjoy the video.”
The video, “Black hole breakthrough - Event Horizon Telescope’s Landmark image,” is one of a series of four videos created by Huras as his capstone project for his Broadcasting - Television and Independent Production studies. With a running time of 4:31, the video includes clips of interviews with leading scientists from Canada, the U.S., the Netherlands and Germany as well as photos, video footage and animations drawn from multiple sources and partners.
To create the final product, Huras was required to edit multiple hours of footage, develop a narrative for each video and edit materials to make them fit together and flow smoothly.
All four videos are available online.
The inspiration for the project began when Huras completed a co-op placement with the Perimeter Institute early in 2019. He is now working on another project for the Institute and as well as applying his editing, production and camera operation skills in a position at CTV Kitchener.
Conestoga’s Broadcasting - Television and Independent Production program prepares students for careers in visual storytelling through film and video. Through the two-year program, students work individually and in groups as they learn to write, shoot, edit and perform on camera.