The best place to start using the cd is in the linked quicktime movies. I suggest viewing movies 21, 22, 23, & 24, as they are the same scene done first with no relativistic effects, then each important effect is added serially.

Students may also find movies 3 & 5, the lampost scenes, compelling in their simplicity.


Original concept and supercomputer animation by Antony Searle & Craig Savage, Australian National University.


This set of digitized movies has been made small enough to fit on a single CD. At this size, the movies should run well from most CD drives. A 4 CD set of the same movies, but much larger, is also available.


The movies are in Quicktime format. To obtain the latest Quicktime plug-in for your browser, go to http://www.apple.com


Steve Kliewer, a high school teacher and participant in SCIPP's Spring Seminar for High School Teachers, was the first in our UCSC group to obtain and try to understand the video material from Australia. Included here is an html version of a PowerPoint presentation prepared by Steve. Navigate using the buttons on the far right of the window. Some slides were edited by Eric for use in html.


Narration scripts were prepared to adhere conceptually as closely as possible to Craig Savage's original narrative, but were modified for time (in some cases extensively). Individual narrators each made important script contributions on their respective segments.


Narrators :

Jackie Pizutti : 3, 7, 12, 17&18, 23, 25

Manon Geelen : 4, 9, 10, 14, 21, 24, 27

Leo Florendo : 1, 5, 8, 13, 16, 19

Andrew Stokes Truitt : 2, 6, 11, 15

Daniel Garcia : 22, 26

Eric Muhs : 4


Technical notes: This work was performed on a Macintosh G3 266 MHz all-in-one desktop computer equipped with an Apple AV card, using Adobe Premiere 5.0. Quicktime movies were made large for presentation purposes, but run at 15 frames per second for slower computers, and to conserve space. On some of the videos, flickering is apparent : this is a scanning rate problem which occurs when the video is digitized. The original supercomputer work, and the video available from Craig Savage, while unnarrated is free from this problem.


Digitization from VHS videotape, narration preparation and recording, cover art, background music and packaging by Eric Muhs, Shorewood High School, Shoreline, Wa.

ericmuhs@yahoo.com

(206) 528-0388

837 NE 58th St., Seattle, Wa. 98105


This project was prepared during the summer of 2000, under the auspices of the Research Experience for Teachers program adminstered by the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

early development : Steve Kliewer

Invaluable support: Dr. Hartmut Sadrozinski

Comments & advice : Dr. Terry Shalk, Dr. David Dorfan


Revision History :

January 2001

added frames & side menu to movie viewer for easier navigation between movies

added links from scripts to movies to improve navigation

added graphic to first page.


February 2001

After using the cd with my physics classes, I added extensive comments to many of the movie pages to address questions and issues not covered in the script. I also cleaned up the Powerpoint presentation, removing some graphics which, because they were animations in the original, did not import into html properly. I made other navigation improvements, corrected a misplaced movie (19, I think), rearranged some things on the title page to lead users into the linked movie set a little better, and added a description of the graphic on the title page.


March 2001

Replaced title page picture with street scene with speed limit sign. Added description to each movie for easier navigation & identification.