Filming a C-Section
 

im filming one tommorow morning with an HD100 at 24fps, 1/48th shutter, in a high fluorescent environment where they may or may not allow us to use lights. There is a good chance I can bring one or two lights. I want to capture the Resident- Doctor/mentor relationship and the actual birth itself as dramatic highlights. If you could only bring two light sources- tungsten- and one was a hard source and a variable softbox, how would you use them in that confined space to get some good looking shots? Ill also be shooting with a Brevis 35.

I know its such a vague question but im interested in everyones ideas. Im thinking already that the only compromise will be to gel the tungsten sources with 1/2 or 1/4 CTB as a guess-timate and white balance to the fluorescent sources. Any ideas or advice would be welcome. Thanks.

Alan

Actually I have 2 questions:
1. Why are you shooting a C Section? If it's your wife, who are you going to show it to?
2. How did you get permission to shoot a procedure that if a medical mistake is made the attorneys have it on tape?
That being said the best type of lighting for medical is a ring light.
Gary

In most operations they have their own theatre light, so a soft light that will give some some key/backlight to the scene would help. You'll have to match this to the room's natural lighting. Although, leaving tungsten lights warm compared to the fluorescents can be very effective. However, I don't think you'll be able to move your light around during the operation. It all depends how dramatic you want your scene to look.

Operations are filmed all the time for documentaries, training videos etc.. However, you do need the patient's, medical staff and hospital's permission.

People also film their own children being born.

Ahh, yes well the filming was shot for a segment of video that will be used in the hospitals new branding website designed to advertise to incoming residents looking to join their family residency program. The goal was to get good shots of the doctor-patient/ doctor-resident in action, and of course to get that amazing footage of the child coming out and being handled by the team there. I was also hoping to continue the "cinematic" feel we've been going for in this project.

What I didnt expect was the room to be so incredibly bright and well lit. They had these overhead lights in the surgery room of course to aid in seeing. It was kind of a "duh" moment this morning. There was so much light for the Brevis that I had to take it down several stops, especially when focusing in on the birth, causing everything around the baby to dim like a vignette and the baby to glow. It was very touching, beautiful, and some of the best footage Ive seen out of this camera in a while. Amazing.

Gary- indeed people film their children being born all the time, in fact on the way home I was considering if there was a way to offer it as a service to the hospital. After today I think there would be a lot of moms and dads who would love to have professional video of their childs birth... I know I would. The mother gave consent and was actually very excited about it. She cant wait to get the DVD, which will be a rough cut and some highlights. (of course there are legal ramifications, and I imagine it could be difficult to get the hospital on board for this reason)

Yeah, having a softbox in there would have been nice but once we set it down it would have been next to impossible to move it around or change it, so I made a quick decision to leave it out altogether. You're right Bryan- a soft warm key light would have been all we needed to give a nice cinematic feel, for some separation at least, but hopefully the material will speak for itself on the website.

Thanks everyone for the responses- I truly appreciate it!

The Big thing to remember while shooting footage of a C-Section is...
Not all footage will make the cut!






Sorry I had to do it!

:) hehe...nice.

Alan,

When my older daugher was born in California almost 6 years ago, I filmed it with a PD150. It was a C-Section and the hospital didn't have a problem with it. In fact one of the nurses filmed while took my daughter for my wife to hold the first time. It was awesome in so many ways.

A few years later we moved to the East coast and my second daughter was born. When I asked if I could film the hospital had a fit. They said in no way was I able to bring a camera into the hospital.

It's too bad, because it would be a great service to provide to new parents. I understand in todays sue happy society that hospitals are afraid to let any cameras in.

By the way I filmed 3 operations in Western Africa last December. In the middle of one procedure, the power went out and it took about 5 minutes for the generator to kick in. Pretty rough conditions. It was pretty cool to shoot though.

Dan Weber

Hey Dan good to hear from you. How did the WA adapter turn out for you?

- yeah hospitals are very tense these days with security and liability issues. i agree- its a loss because i think its a great service to provide and I really enjoyed doing it this morning. in fact, im going to go back to the PR department and see who does their training videos- if anyone. its something im really interested in now and I can see the benefit for the hospital.

as for the patients- well, if only things were different these days. when i first got there the attendee didnt know we were coming and was extremely rude and abrasive. it wasnt until the PR folks assured him it was for the branding website that he chilled out. pretty intense there for a moment, but something ive experienced quite a few times at this particular hospital already- which has surprised me given how very large this hospital is in the region.

West Africa huh? hopefully someday I'll get to go there too...sounds exciting!

Maybe the dads, (because we think the whole thing is "neat") but I don't know any woman who would ever want to have the actual birth forever exist on a tape or DVD somewhere, let alone ever watch it again.
My wife made me promise not to take the video camera to the hospital.

When ever my wife watches the video from the birth of our first daughter, she cries. I will say that since it was a C-section, I didn't film much "gross" stuff.
I focused on my daughter once she was born. I guess I knew better than to focus on my wife to much.

I guess it matters on how much you actually show of the event.

Dan Weber

I will see tomorrow when I use it on a big shoot. I have played with it and it seems to be working fine. I like that fact that I can still use my lens shade.

Dan

you could be right Tim. My girlfriends brother in law was thrilled of this photo he took of his child being born in a C-Section last year and sent it to all of his friends, family, and doctor; but his wife never seemed all that thrilled about it. (and this photo was truly amazing) she was more "meh..." than "yeah!"

still...i know i want video of my child being born if i can get it. that and i never even really considered wanting children of my own till i saw that little girl come into the room. it was amazing and surreal. i could feel new life entering into the room. hard to explain. but very cool.

yeah that was one of the things i liked most about it. i always found it mildly amusing when my friend would take out his DVX and wide angle adapter. it made it look like a submersible with all of that "naked" glass.