An Integral Part of the Team
Spotnitz credits DeBarr with forging an outstanding working relationship with CU’s staff of surgeons. Thanks to her “can-do” attitude — and the consistent quality of her videos — CU’s teaching staff now considers her an important asset, Spotnitz says. Surgeons are even taking the time to write their own voice-over scripts, to ensure the videos contain the most factual information possible.

“The personality of the individual doing this job is critically important,” notes Spotnitz. “The surgical team has to feel confident that the videographer is safe in the operating room, in conducting themselves properly around a sterile field, and in knowing that sometimes there are unforeseen things that may interfere with following a script. Dana is cooperative; she’s easy to work with, and she’s willing to adapt to the busy schedule of the clinicians. If she didn’t have those qualities, this project would go nowhere.”

Scripts First
DeBarr begins each video project by consulting with attending surgeons in the Department of Surgery about potential subject matter. Here, Spotnitz cautions, eager surgeons sometimes need a reality-check.

“The temptation is always to film a complex, spectacular procedure, and there’s certainly a place for that,” says Spotnitz. “But our primary focus is not on exotic procedures; mostly it’s basic procedures as well as techniques like prepping and draping, putting in local anesthesia, handling surgical instruments, and so forth. Our primary mission is to create good, basic, educational videos.”

NOTE: This video contains graphic images of actual surgical procedures.

Once DeBarr has the script fleshed out, she hits the hallways with her iBook. Laptop in hand, she visits the surgeon who will be performing the procedure in the video, showing him or her the script and making any necessary revisions on the spot. She also uses the iBook to capture voice-overs after the taping, connecting CU’s Sony DCR-PC100 Digital Handycam via FireWire to record the surgeon’s narration.

Keynote Reinforces Key Points
After DeBarr has all necessary video and audio in hand, she creates a rough-cut using Final Cut Pro on a Power Mac G4 computer. She also uses Keynote for an important function: Prior to production, DeBarr and the responsible surgeon usually identify anywhere from six to ten key points for each project. For these DeBarr creates slides using Keynote, then exports them as QuickTime movies and inserts them into Final Cut Pro, helping to reinforce the primary messages.

Says DeBarr, “Going over these points with the attending physician before-hand really helps the production process. When the surgeon reaches one of these points during the procedure, he or she can then signal me so I can make sure I zoom in to get it on tape. Then we’ll use Keynote in postproduction to tell viewers what they’re going to see, the procedure and voice-over show them, then Keynote repeats what they’ve just seen.”