Video Descriptions for The Insanely Important World of Phytoplankton

Narration:

Transcript:

0:00 Microscopic footage of phytoplankton, appearing as translucent browns, greens and yellows in various shapes, slowly moving across the frame.

0:09 VHS distortion transition to large green lettering reading “Phyto Phyters” appears over a teal view of the ocean. Video montage of three children playing with phytoplankton-themed action figures. The figures’ heads are all modeled after the shapes of different phytoplankton types.

0:43 The words “Phyto Phyters” appear again over video of all the action figures and in smaller print “each sold separately” appears at the bottom.

0:46 Another VHS distortion transition to scientist Ivona Cetinic in a studio interview.

0:52 Fullscreen title graphic in sepia tones and several hand-drawn sketches of phytoplankton in the frame. In the middle reads “The Insanely Important World of Phytoplankton.”

0:54 Cetinic in the studio. Graphic reads “Ivona Cetinic, PACE Science Lead for Ocean Biogeochemistry.”

1:01 Fullscreen graphic over blue background with three rectangles showing sketches of a bear, an elephant and a deer. Each rectangle is labeled “Mammal” at the bottom.

1:02 Fullscreen graphic over green background with three rectangles showing sketches of a tree, a cactus and a pineapple Each rectangle is labeled “Plant” at the bottom.

1:04 Fullscreen graphic over muted yellow background with translucent images of mixed plankton types. A block of text in the middle appears and reads “plankton” with the written phonetic spelling and the definition “the passively floating or weakly swimming usually minute organisms (such as dinoflagellates, diatoms, copepods, radiolarians and larval crustaceans and fish) of a body of water.)”

1:10 Several shots of microscopic views of diatoms and phytoplankton moving slowly in liquid

1:22 Cetinic in the studio.

1:26 Fullscreen graphic over blue-green and purple backgrounds. A white circle with three images of translucent zooplankton appear followed by a circle with three microscopic views of phytoplankton.

1:32 Cetinic in the studio.

1:33 Fullscreen graphic of the process of photosynthesis by a group of phytoplankton. The elements are hand-drawn with limited motion over an old textbook page background. In the frame the Sun appears over the surface of the ocean with a group of phytoplankton below, which are shown in a circular inset. Arrows go from the Sun and from a carbon dioxide molecule toward the ocean and the phytoplankton. An arrow goes from the phytoplankton outward to a pair of sugar cubes. Finally a hand drawn mackerel fish swims through the phytoplankton and off screen.

1:57 Cetinic in the studio.

2:04 Fullscreen graphic of a large circular array of images of phytoplankton, mostly diatoms, that move toward camera.

2:09 A montage of images of phytoplankton taken by scanning electron microscope. The images are grayscale and very detailed, showing a variety of shapes and configurations of phytoplankton.

2:19 Microscopic video of two phytoplankton swimming and interacting.

2:22 Microscopic video of a single three-horned phytoplankton swimming in circles.

2:26 Cetinic in the studio.

2:28 Fullscreen graphic over a blue background of several phytoplankton in scanning electron microscope resolution with the label “coccolithophores.” The camera pushes in to one of the phytoplankton and a label appears “Emiliania huxleyi.”

2:34 Scanning electron microscope views of Emiliania huxleyi, which is round and covered in oval hubcap-shaped plates.

2:39 Aerial footage descending in front of the White Cliffs of Dover in England with a label at the bottom reading “Coccolithophores made this.”

2:43 Cetinic in the studio.

2:46 Scanning electron microscope view of Emiliania huxleyi, which is round and covered in oval hubcap-shaped plates.

2:49 Cetinic in the studio holding a small strand of her hair.

2:53 Satellite view of a phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea near Norway. The ocean is swirled with milky blue color indicating the bloom.

2:58 Fullscreen graphic over a stylized sepia-toned textbook view of the ocean. Under the water surface is a cluster of Emiliania huxleyi and a hand-drawn zooplankton drifts toward the phytoplankton. An arrow from a carbon dioxide molecule points toward the Emiliania cluster. The zooplankton releases waste, which then joins a clump labeled “marine snow” that drifts downward in the ocean column. Then a cluster of calcium carbonate plates from Emiliania drifts downward to the ocean floor, resulting in a small pile with the label “sequestered.” The camera moves back upward in frame to show the carbon dioxide molecule again.

3:20 Cetinic in the studio.

3:23 Two round brownish-yellow phytoplankton with long tails swim in microscopic video with the label “Alexandrium.”

3:29 Microscopic video of a short chain of Alexandrium phytoplankton moving quickly through the frame.

3:34 Microscopic video of a large number of Alexandrium moving about in frame.

3:39 Split screen image showing a sign posted reading “This area closed to all digging of clams, mussels, quahogs, oysters, carnivorous whelks or snails because of pollution or paralytic shellfish poisoining.” On the right side is aerial footage of the Owls Head lighthouse in Portland, Maine.

3:42 Microscopic video of Alexandrium shown at 40 times the magnification.

3:50 Footage of shellfish and fish being handled and placed on a long table.

3:56 Satellite image of a phytoplankton bloom off a coast. The ocean has swirls of blues, greens, yellows and teals.

4:04 Cetinic in the studio.

4:06 Animation of the PACE satellite as it orbits over Earth. The camera pushes in to show the instruments.

4:09 Visualization of the PACE satellite with a wide angled green translucent swath labeled “Ocean Color Instrument.”

4:15 Cetinic in the studio.

4:17 Fullscreen graphic showing an inset of a satellite image of Bermuda. A vertical scale on the right shows red, green and blue wavelengths, going from 300 nanometers to 1100 nanometers. The scale also shows ranges from the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared. As the scale moves upward on the scale, the colors on the satellite image shift from teals to dark blues to dark reds.

4:25 Several graphs appear showing lines that correspond to the wavelength of light absorbed by different phytoplankton types, including Emiliania, Phaeocystis, Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus. Insets of microscopic imagery of each type appear superimposed over the graphs.

4:34 Cetinic in the studio.

4:39 Microscopic video of a very long thin needlelike phytoplankton moving upward in frame followed by video of smaller oblong diatoms moving about in frame.

4:46 Cetinic in the studio.

4:49 Close up of a yellow-green diatom phytoplankton moving slowly toward a greenish blob.

4:51 Montage of video footage showing a cloudy, phytoplankton-filled shallow ocean section, then a man moving a net full of crabs into a container on a boat, then a close up of two oysters in a shallow tidal pool, then an aerial view over rocky coast of Maine.

4:59 The NASA logo, a blue circle with a red stylized arrow and a white orbit path around white letters reading “NASA."