MEDICAL ILLUSTRATOR BEST PRACTICES
Recently I narrated four medical animation videos about cleft lip and palate surgeries while working closely with four female graduate students in the Biomedical Visualization Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC): Sam Bond, Melanie Conrad, Samantha Olson, and Eva Mae Natividad.
Also known as medical animators, these bright young students are the future of this highly specialized field—calling for skills as both scientists and artists.
Their thesis projects were to write, animate and produce animations, to be tested at UIC’s Craniofacial Clinic, for establishing best practices for the medical illustrator in creating multicultural pediatric patient and parent education videos.
ADDING NARRATIONS
The professor who hired me, Christine Young, a fellow member of the AMI, insisted on hiring a professional voiceover talent. This was the first time a professional voice actor was used, and to great success:
“I can’t tell you how wonderful the voiceovers to the Craniofacial project are …. FABULOUS! and beyond my hope (and wildest dreams) for the grad students to have professional animations that they can be really proud of!
The experience of working with you is also fabulous, and I look forward to touching base later this month.” — Christine Young, UIC Professor, and AMI member
VO VOCABULARY
Not only did I narrate their videos, but I spent time educating them about the process as we went along, showing them how best to work with voice talent, what questions to ask, and what information to provide. Ultimately they were able to understand the fine art of describing sound and voice, and they developed the vocabulary needed in order to get their desired results: calming fears and creating confidence in the parents and patients undergoing cleft palate surgery.