The Whole Shabang

It's done! The video, posted below, is finally done.
It was a haul, indeed, but I'm really proud of it and I'm super glad that I decided to go through with it.
As for process: once I was done with my research and visiting the Zen Center, I started work on the video. First, I synthesized the information that I learned while researching into a shorter script. I tried my best to include a combination of buddhist meditation basics and neuroscience concepts without becoming too complex or technical. Once I had finished writing the script, I sketched out an animation story board that would fit with it. I did some preliminary drawings in my notebooks to minimize work during animation (I drew the base drawings that were going to be added to later in the video). Then, I started animation. With the help of the tech/library staff, I did animation using a document camera and the program 'I can animate'. I took pictures at a rate of 15 frames per second for the animation. My general process for the drawing animation was to make a mark (generally half a letter per frame for the writing), take a picture, make another mark, take a picture, etc. Once I had finished this process (it took about 6 hours of straight animation), I started the voiceover. The library lent me a high quality mic and I recorded my script in 30 second segments. Once I finished the voiceover, I edited the animation in iMovie so that the images would line up with the voiceover (to give you an idea, the animation was about a half minute long by itself whereas the voiceover was about four minutes long). The whole process of editing took about 4 hours.
I'm really glad that I went through the process of doing the video! I think it's really important that science concepts are explained in a way that can be understood by the general public, and it was interesting to find the best way to do that in a short video without getting too technical. Even though it was a lot of work, I'd definitely recommend trying to do a claymation to anyone doing this project in the future. Finally, many thanks to the library staff for all the help with animation and editing. I would have literally been at a loss for what to do without them.