Eyes, JAPAN is actively involved in health/medical-related projects the past few years. For example, we are in-charge of the Health2.0 API website, and are also in the process of making an iPhone applications about hay fever, and also creating medical animations as introduced in my previous post. Today I would like to introduce another example of our involvement with the medical industry – shooting and editing of educational medical videos.

Eyes, JAPAN has been asked by Fukushima Medical University to create videos for instructional purposes. Contents of these videos range from usage of medical device simulators to filming the actual interaction between doctor/nurse and patient. The videos can be shot in both 2D and stereo 3D (although most are in 2D due to constraints in shooting space), narration can be recorded separately or actual dialogue can be recorded during filming, and subtitles are added in post-production where necessary.

I have been allowed to join in on three of the shoots so far – the first where I took notes and understood the overall flow of things, the second where I waited outside the hospital ward due to space constraints, and the third where I helped with misc chores and did the all-important role of pressing the START/STOP button when recording (because it is impossible for one person to do so for two cameras set 1.5m away from each other). My understanding is increasing with each experience, but something else that I learned from those shoots is that in a small company like Eyes, JAPAN, there is no one to show you the ropes the whole way; you have to read up on things beforehand yourself, ask questions during (or after) and observe and learn, or if there is no one available to answer your questions, you have to do some research yourself. No one cares if this is your first or second time; if you’re useless, you get the brutal truth: 戦力にならない. There is nothing you can do when you are told not to do anything (for fear of making trouble), except bite the insides of your cheeks while your self-esteem is stamped to pieces, and get over it.

Another thing which I learned – which may or may not be politically-correct – was that maintaining good human relations is as important as making business. There are people who are happy as long as they work on something that they like, but there are also people who place their working environment above actual contents of their work. I belong more to the latter group, and judge human relationships to be of utmost importance. Relationships are built on trust, and that trust is in turn built on the basis of respect. It is therefore important to keep yourself level-headed, be fair and listen to all opinions justly, and give everyone their due respect as fellow human beings. And even if you do not receive your due respect (See above 戦力にならない), the one who acts works hard in making good relations will win the race, because there will always be others around watching. And judging.