Surgical Movie - from Bolivia Mission

MarcS wrote on 3/3/2005, 1:54 PM
I am a longtime surveyor of this forum and have been using Vegas for some time - as my hobby. I am an eye surgeon and recently joined a charity mission to do work with cross-eyed children in rural Bolvia. I brought my Sony DCR VX2000 and between cases and whatnot I was filming and eventually put together a nice DVD for the group, Healing the Children.

Anyway, I am posting a clip from our OR experiences showing the American team (16 of us - 3 surgeons, 4 anesthesiologists, 6 nurses, and some administrators) working with the OR patients. It is interesting medically and I tried to work with Vegas to give it a dreamy quality. There's a touch of surgical footage - nothing gory though.

It's at: www.clayeyecenter.com/boliviaOR.wmv

Hopefully you'll like it. It's the first video I've posted so I'm admittedly a bit nervous about your responses.

- Marc Safran, MD
Syracuse, NY

Comments

mark2929 wrote on 3/3/2005, 2:17 PM
Marc Liked this a Lot ! The opening "Spinning" of the Theatre Lights gave it a Psychadelic Feeling... Very Appropriate... Gave the feeling of drifting into the mood and reality of the Film ! Liked your use of the Video wall at 00.50 then at 00:54 Dreamy look OR Use of the Glow Filter was really Nice :) Around 3:46 was reaching My gore limit..Excellent stuff... Very Professional...
10/10
MarcS wrote on 3/3/2005, 2:43 PM
Thank you for the comments and the 10/10 (or 20/20) rating. Eye surgery is delicate gentleman's work - no blood or gore at all! - Marc
Jimmy_W wrote on 3/3/2005, 2:43 PM
Nice job Marc, looks like a very rewarding Job to Help these children.
Very good job on the video.
rs170a wrote on 3/3/2005, 3:28 PM
...I'm admittedly a bit nervous about your responses.

My response is WOW!!
Marc, you have absolutely nothing to be worried about. The video was extremely welll done. I would rank it up there with videos I've seen done by seasoned professionals.
There's nothing about it I would change. Effects were only used when necessary and you didn't go overboard using them. The pace of the video meshed very nicely with the excellent choice of music.
You should be very proud of the video and even more proud of the way you and your team members are helping to give something back to the less fortunate.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

Mike
PossibilityX wrote on 3/3/2005, 4:29 PM
Marc:

I echo the remarks of the others----very, very well done. No criticisms or suggestions from THIS reviewer! Technically and aesthetically very nice. Your video reminds me how precious sight is---not only because of what you show in the video, but also because of the quality of the video itself.

Just out of curiosity, what special precautions if any are neccesary when filming in an OR? Is there any danger of the equipment contaminating the area? Must you seal the camera in a sterile plastic bag or anything like that?

I ask because I've given some thought to doing a documentary which would contain some footage of hand surgery.

And, by the way: EXCELLENT still photos on your photo site. You've got a great eye.

Check out Marc's photos here: http://www.pbase.com/marcs
Spot|DSE wrote on 3/3/2005, 4:45 PM
No fooling! Very nice work. Thanks for sharing, and kudos for the work you are doing there.
epirb wrote on 3/3/2005, 5:21 PM
Very Nice! My uncle is an opthamologist (ret.)
I forwarded it to him I know he'll enjoy it too.
Great work, both behind the camera and the knife.
It truly is a great thing you are doing.
Lets SEE more.
Eric
SeaJohn wrote on 3/3/2005, 6:43 PM
That was great!

I've had 2 retinal detachments resulting in a scleral buckle in each eye, so I'm very appreciative of the work eye surgeons do!
MarcS wrote on 3/3/2005, 7:12 PM
Thank you so much for the kind comments. I learn so much from this forum that it has become a daily source of inspiration and information to me. Your comments are all too kind and gracious. I still have so much to learn about quality filming and editing.

As far as using the camera in the OR, I can't see it as needing special sterilization as it is essentially clean (biologically speaking) and as long as it doesn't get too close to the open site then it shouldn't need sterilization. Were you to place a camera in the operative field then a sterile clear drape would be indicated.

I will post another project from the DVD I did on the people in the Bolivian villages later tonight. It has some nice portraits and infrared shots of the Andes.

Regards,

Marc