If you’re a regular visitor to the IFAS Video YouTube channel, you’ve seen more than a few of our recipe videos. These videos are recorded from a “bird’s eye view” that utilizes an overhead camera rig seen here:

This setup has provided our video producers the ability to record video from above straight down on hands, bowls and utensils as recipes are prepared. The producers have made great in-roads with this apparatus and are now offering it’s capabilities to UF/IFAS faculty and staff. One faculty member who has taken advantage of the setup is Dr. Keith Schneider with UF/IFAS Food Science and Human Nutrition. His wife, Dr. Renee Goodrich-Schneider, had worked with the video team preparing the Confetti Zucchini recipe (above.) When seeing the setup, he quickly latched onto it’s potential which coincided with his unique way of teaching chlorine chemistry.

For his coursework, Schneider uses small labeled blocks representing different components of the chemistry makeup. During this instruction, he moves those blocks around by hand and demonstrates to his students how, when mixed, would provide chemical results. His goal? To transition that method to online course work. As his hands moved and mixed the blocks together, he would verbally explain those chemical reactions. For Schneider, the setup worked great. Here is an early sample of his video recording:

As mentioned, this setup is available to schedule for video or photographic recording. Note the setup can only record a surface area of 30″ wide by 22″ tall by 12″ high. Anything larger than those parameters would risk not being seen or out of focus. If interested, please contact Al Williamson for further information.

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