21.12.2021

New Release of the Cartoon “Baikal Seal and the Mystery of the Lake”

The Laboratory of Popular Science Animation of the School for Young Film-Makers of the Tregubovich Children’s and Youth Film Festival (https://tregubovich-bogotol.vsite.biz/) has completed its final work, the animated film about the Baikal Neutrino Telescope “Baikal Seal and the Mystery of the Lake”. The screenplay of this fascinating cartoon was created by Dmitry Naumov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, DLNP Deputy Director, and Natalia Mazarskaya, translator and editor from our Laboratory. Many thanks to young cartoon makers from the boarding school for gifted children “Cosmonautics School” (Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai), Lesosibirsk Military School (Krasnoyarsk Krai), non-profit Media Studio “Cool Skills” and to their teachers!

The history behind the cartoon

In the middle of September 2021, the team of the Polytechnic Museum initiated in Dubna a two-day workshop for staff members of different museums “Mediation: Interaction with the Visitor, Science Communication”. The meeting was vivid and inspiring.

The organizers invited Dmitry Naumov to give a talk about his science communicator experience.

Concluding his talk, Dmitry revealed that he is keen on the idea to create popular science videos and cartoons for children. After the talk, Andrey Gavrilov, Director of the Museum and Exhibition Centre in Zheleznogorsk and at the same time a tutor of the School for Young Film-Makers (Zheleznogorsk), suggested making an animated cartoon film together.

Photo from the website of the Tregubovich Festival: https://tregubovich-bogotol.vsite.biz/#galley

The idea was the following: to write a screenplay on whose basis children go on dreaming up, follow their imagination and think of story visualization to create a cartoon, while diving into the world of real science. The idea was brilliant! It was decided to start with a story about the Baikal Neutrino Telescope. After a while the screenplay was ready.

And here came the turn of Siberians. Creativity burst into activity in the Krasnoyarsk Krai. Unfortunately, the pandemic impeded the processes because all work had to be done distantly, which added challenges since not all localities across the country have stable internet connections and are equally equipped with computers.

Despite all obstacles, young film-makers have managed the task! We hope that this experience will become the first step on the pathway of cooperation between scientists, children, and their teachers who are making together one great thing!