Tell us a bit about your organization and what your specialty is in the film and video space.

Ocean Today is an award-winning multimedia collaboration between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Smithsonian Institution. Since 2008, we have produced hundreds of short, scientifically-vetted videos for teachers, students, and family audiences. Our videos cover all aspects of the ocean, including rip current science and safety, marine life, deep ocean exploration, and much more.

What is your organization’s ethos and how does it set you apart from industry competitors?

Our core mission at NOAA Ocean Today is to ignite a passion for the ocean in young people and the public. Through captivating, high-quality videos, we reveal the profound influence of the ocean on all life and our interconnected impact on its delicate ecosystems. We blend creative storytelling with science to inspire a new generation to explore and protect our invaluable ocean, fostering a deeper connection through our videos online, in classrooms, and via the interactive Ocean Today kiosk network found in museums and aquariums nationwide.

How can people join or learn more about what you do?

Visit our website and subscribe to our newsletter!

Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?

Educators routinely ask the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for content on the ocean-weather-climate connection, so we created “Teek and Tom Explore Planet Earth” in response. This five-part animated educational series and accompanying lesson plans take young viewers on an exploration of the ocean’s influence on Earth’s weather and climate and demonstrates how NOAA uses high tech tools to gather information about our changing planet. Through the actions and inquisitiveness of main characters Teek, a student from the planet Queloz, and Tom, a NOAA climate scientist, this series provides a hopeful climate narrative.

Scientific literacy among children is critical for building a society equipped to address environmental challenges, including climate change. However, communicating the intricacies of weather and climate in a way that resonates with children has been a hurdle. Traditional educational tools often lack the humor, creativity, and relatability needed to capture young viewers’ attention. NOAA needed a fresh approach to explain these topics and inspire action.

Additionally, raising awareness about NOAA’s work is critical for maintaining public support for federal science initiatives. Therefore, we created a product that showcases NOAA’s high-tech tools and groundbreaking research to foster public appreciation for the agency’s role in safeguarding lives and property.

What are you most proud of about this piece? What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?

We could have made a standard video series with voiceover and b-roll, but our Executive Producer and series co-producer Kurt Mann had the vision that we needed to do something different to capture young viewers’ imagination! “Teek and Tom” represents a groundbreaking approach to science communication. The integration of live-action performance with animation, combined with humor and storytelling, sets a new standard for engaging educational content from NOAA. Teek—an extraterrestrial with a fresh perspective on Earth—adds a unique narrative device. And Tom’s ability to bridge the gap between expert and entertainer ensures the series resonates with its audience.

Our biggest challenge was probably the fact that we never made an animated series before! While kids’ TV and digital series typically have high budgets with dozens of illustrators and animators working on them, we created our entire video series with three in-house animators at NOAA, only one of whom does animation as their full-time job. NOAA animation/design specialist Michael Pai illustrated the 2D characters and created 3D animation of Teek’s spaceship BARY using Maya software. The other two animators— Tiffany Small and I—brought the 2D characters to life using Adobe Character Animator and After Effects. Tiffany and I learned our animation skills on the job. I had the guidance of David Dodds, a fantastic animation instructor and Character Animator guru, who gave me the confidence to pull it off.

Additionally, to keep costs down, all of our voiceover—with the exception of the main character Teek, who was brilliantly voiced by Natalie Rarick—was done entirely by NOAA staff. We also filmed on location at NOAA facilities for our live action sequences, bringing scenes to life with a combination of practical and digital effects.

Do you have any advice to other filmmakers based on your career or your team’s approach to work?

If you have an idea, don’t be afraid to pursue it! The majority of our team had no previous animation experience and we managed to produce an entire award-winning series on our own. If we can do it, so can you!

Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?

NOAA climate scientist Tom Di Liberto, co-star of the series, was willing to do just about anything to make the series fun for young viewers! And that included being slimed! It’s not every day that you get to slime a NOAA scientist, but he let us pour cold, goopy slime on him multiple times!

Tell us about the most memorable response you got from this work.

Former NOAA Administrator Dr. Rick Spinrad lauded the series as one of the agency’s most effective communication tools to date. And of course, we won our first ever Gold Telly—two of them to be exact!

Complete this sentence: ‘Great video storytelling is…’

… storytelling that captures the audience’s attention and makes them care.