The documentary discussed by the various speakers in the video is titled Life’s Rocky Start. The intended audience for the movie above is a group of scientists who have been trying to comprehend the link between life and rocks as well as others who are craving to learn about this process. The purpose of this whole documentary is to fully explain the link between life and mln years ago mineral rocks in the past 4.5 billion as stated by the mineralogist and astrobiologist named Dr. Robert Hazen (Carnegie Science, 2016). He narrates that it is possible to discover many new planets that can support life or rather act as the origin of life in the next few decades (Carnegie Science, 2016). In his geological studies, he is able to explore the minerals and confidently explain the processes that have taken place on the surface of the rocks and their chemical and physical properties.
The subject is somewhat new to me and the ideas brought forward are just fascinating. As stated in the discussion, sometimes geology is boring but this film explains geology in the simplest way possible which can help us relate and to the ideas Dr. Robert Hazen states (Carnegie Science, 2016). I expected that he would expound more in detail but he got short of time to answer all the questions. But in the shortest presentation stories answers a series of queries. Therefore, the documentary leaves a number of questions crossing my mind such as “is it that all the rocks that give life to other minerals are always identical, or do they contain the same origin?” In summary, the topic of discussion is Dr. Robert Hazen’s research, which was written in a book explaining the necessity of rocks as the catalysts to the development of other minerals.
The documentary explains a theory on the inter-relationship of the evolution of both life and earth that is changing the great story of the planet. The main events highlighted in this documentary include the movement of Hazen’s colleague to other places to collect data from the oldest parts of the earth. The film was recorded in the Carnegie Institution for science where a large number of scientists together in partnership with NOVA (Carnegie Science, 2016). The majority of the audience seems to be scientists who are many interested in understanding Hazen’s idea which helps explain some other complex concepts in science.
The sound effects are good but have some echo of the room. The noise that is originating from the microphones needs to be minimized by maybe reducing the level of volume from the operational machine or mixer. The images are fairly sharp though, from the audience, some changes need to be made to change the saturation of the images. The filming is good with no special effects and the angle of the capture of images is in different directions running from horizontal to vertical and diagonally (Carnegie Science, 2016). The interviews are excellent and I would congratulate the organizers for a job well done since the whole interview has helped recognize the changes on our planet.
I like the part where Hazen says that he tries to bring together all the different minerals. From this, I learn that all the resources that we require to do something great are natural and therefore, one needs to take a keen start from the known to the mysteries. The documentary majorly focuses on science and therefore, is restricted to a special kind of group such as the scientists. It is an appealing video that is worth watching since it works to change a person’s view of things towards life, the earth, and the planets and helps one to think critically.
Reference
Carnegie Science. (2016). Life’s rocky start [Video]. YouTube. Web.