After six months work, a series of instructional videos aimed toward universities in Iraq have been completed through a collaboration of the University of Arizona Arizona State Museum, The Drachman Institute, and the U.S. State Department.
The videos illustrate such topics as what constitutes an archaeological collection, how to label and photograph objects, and procedures used in the acquisition of artifacts for museum study and storage. Each video has English language surtitles, while the audio is included in English, Arabic and Kurdish.
Daniel Buckley Productions began work on the project in July, working with Arizona State Museum staff to film every aspect of their work in documenting archaeological collections. The narrative was then recorded, and additional detail shots added until the full story could be told both visually and verbally. Once English version were complete, Arabic and Kurdish translators were brought in to provide new voice overs. The project required DBP to use the English versions as a starting point and expand or contract various visual depictions, depending on how long each section’s translation required.
Numerous stages of review, editing and adjustment resulted in a series of videos that will be the model for other projects helping archaeologists around the world build upon techniques developed at the University of Arizona. The videos have been uploaded to YouTube to maximize their use in the Middle East.
Similar projects are underway to translate the series into Spanish later in 2015, and additional projects for end users in Afghanistan are now in development. Daniel Buckley Productions is proud to be part of this historc and important undertaking.
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