While browsing around the Internet the other day looking for things related to medical animation, I found this site. ghOst Productions, Inc. (and no, the capitalization is not a mistake) is “a 3D medical animation studio that specializes in promotional marketing, surgical technique, and surgeon and patient education.” Their clients are mostly medical device companies like CardioKinetix, Alphatec Spine, K2 Medical, or Spine Surgical Innovations. However, they have also done work for the University of Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota, PBS, A&E Networks, and National Geographic, among others.
So, what exactly is cool about ghOst Productions, Inc.? Pretty much everything. But there is one movie in particular that I really like (and have watched over a half-dozen times by now). It’s called Heal, and it is a demo reel that they created to display the various orthopedic procedures that they are capable of animating. In their own words,
“This reel was built from the ground up to showcase the talents of ghOst Productions at the 2009 American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons in Las Vegas. Instead of showing pre-existing client work in our reel, we thought it would be more fun to make a character animation, break nearly every bone in his body and then surgically repair him in under 3 minutes.”
So here’s the link. Now go watch it and then come back and finish reading.
If you are reading this and you still haven’t watched it, well…. go watch it. Seriously. It’s that good.
So, let me elaborate on what exactly it is that I like about this movie.
First, the music. Now I realize that music is neither medical nor animated, but I love music and I think it has incredible power to enhance the emotional experience of any film. In this little short, the music starts off gentle and beautiful, and then pauses on that long, tense violin note as the camera follows his glasses all the way down to the ground and they shatter (foreshadowing, of course, what if going to happen to him.) Then, as he falls, the music turns darker and more frantic, and then slows and becomes mournful as we see the maintenance man’s horrified expression and the surgeons’ masked faces. Then, as the surgical procedure begins, the music becomes more synthesized and techno-influenced. And at the end, as we see that the artist is back to full health, the music once again becomes hopeful and triumphant. It’s a huge range of emotions to cover in so short a time, and the music really helps make the animation more effective.
First, the music. Now I realize that music is neither medical nor animated, but I love music and I think it has incredible power to enhance the emotional experience of any film. In this little short, the music starts off gentle and beautiful, and then pauses on that long, tense violin note as the camera follows his glasses all the way down to the ground and they shatter (foreshadowing, of course, what if going to happen to him.) Then, as he falls, the music turns darker and more frantic, and then slows and becomes mournful as we see the maintenance man’s horrified expression and the surgeons’ masked faces. Then, as the surgical procedure begins, the music becomes more synthesized and techno-influenced. And at the end, as we see that the artist is back to full health, the music once again becomes hopeful and triumphant. It’s a huge range of emotions to cover in so short a time, and the music really helps make the animation more effective.
Secondly, I think they did a really great job with all the materials, textures and lighting. The chapel is breath taking, the artists eyes are super realistic, and his clothing looks like real clothing with real paint stains on it. Also, the x-ray-like views that they use when he is falling and during the surgery part is a great way to show exactly what they want people to see without having to distracting the audience with extraneous information. That, in fact is one of the main reasons why medical animations can be so helpful. Using animations similar to this (though probably with less story involved) doctors are able to give patients a good idea of the type of surgery that they are about to undergo without having to see all the blood and other organs that would be present in an actual video of the procedure. For example, while browsing through Wikipedia, I found this picture of a femur replacement. (WARNING: this image is graphic! If you don’t like the sight of blood, I advise you not to look at it). In contrast to an image like this one, a medical animation can give patients a lot of information about the procedure without terrifying them by showing a lot of blood and organs.
And that is a very cool thing.
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