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Billy Burke filming a delicate brain operation, Dr. Rupert Rainey operating. Note telerhoto lens on Cine-Special, special mounts for camera and floodlights, and use of spotlight. Photo by "Dick" Whittington.
doctors, and a common mistake of beginners is to over-shoot and under-cut. That makes the finished film distressingly tedious. An operation may last two 'or three hours, yet can be adequately filmed, with titles included, in 15 minutes' projection.
The Photofloods snap on, dim at first. Check the field and focus, and adjust the aperture to, say, f :4. The lights leap to full intensity, dazzling on the white drapes. As the camera buzzes on the fade-in, the scalpel makes a clean incision, away from the camera. A thin line oozes red. A second swift, sure cut. Underlying tissues appear. Fade out as absorbent sponges are applied. The lights dim. The camera clicks as the film is reversed for a dissolve. The drive spring is wound tight again. An electric motor on the camera is not desirable — to heavy to suspend over the patient.
Focus is checked. The incision is getting deeper, and the tissues darker. Open to f :3.5 and stand by. The surgeon ;says, "Now!" Again the floods go on,
the camera fades in on the significant action and film flows by the lens. Again and again, off and on, for perhaps three hours. As required, fresh film-magazines are quickly placed. There can be no delays, and there are no re-takes. Occasionally the unconscious patient groans, or even speaks, but he feels nothing. Modern anesthesia is a marvelous mercy. The pulse is reported as strong, breathing deep as in sleep, color good. In that tension-packed room the patient alone, about whom all centers, is at peace.
Toward the middle of the operation, the villain of the drama, an inexplicable, little-understood tumor is uncovered. Now the camera runs longer, recording the story of the victory of science. Carefully the dissection proceeds. The offending growth is delicately separated from the surrounding healthy tissue. From time to time the electric cautery hisses — a wisp of vapor appears. With a sure hand the surgeon cuts the last few connecting tissues, and removes the object
of his search — the camera fades on this dramatic shot.
But it is necessary to show the cleansing and closing of the incision. Usually this is a routine procedure, and three or four dissolves quickly show the technique employed. Curved needles and sutures bring the severed tissues together. A final shot shows the dressing applied. The lights go dark on the little stage where a human life has been at stake.
A medieval physician piously remarked — "I cleansed the wound, and God healed it."
To this we can now add — "And the camera has recorded the action, that those who follow may be more skilled, to the end that human suffering be reduced, and a happier world result."
Surgical cinematography is not to be i-ashly undertaken by the untrained. It has none of the quick financial success of the theatrical field. But it pays large dividends in fascination, and a sense of contribution to the advance of medical science. END.
American Cinematographer
March, 1941
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