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Thursday, September 07, 2023
How do they do the realistic surgeries on Chicago Med?
Reel Chicago News: When it comes to achieving the look of realistic surgeries on screen, the team behind the One Chicago series Chicago Med relies on their incredible special effects skills.
I thought this article was interesting! Sometimes I get so focused on the theatrical world that I forget how fascinating the TV/Film world can be. The video was my favorite part of the article. Seeing the face and the rest of the body really showcased how much work went into the small details to create something that looked real. However, if I was ever an actor I wouldn't be able to touch those fake organs and see all the fake blood. But that really does just show how realistic they are. I think being the person responsible for making the fake bodies and faces would be so incredibly difficult but I would imagine it would also be rewarding. I love that these steps are being taken to ensure actor safety first while also creating something so seamlessly beautiful for film. I wonder how well this concept would transfer to stage and if it would even be necessary.
I am so interested in biology and anatomy. The fact that we can create things with such realistic value is actually insane. My high school had an anatomy course, which I didn't take but wanted to, that had you do a kadaver lab. I think it would've been incredibly fascinating to see how the human body actual functions and what it looks like on the inside. The team who created the dummies on chicago med and many other shows similar to this genuinely blow me away with their attention to detail, and the ability to make it life like. Human beings are one of the most complicated creatures, and the way they can represent that and bring it to life on screen is astounding. I hope to be able to work as impactful and useful as that some day. I cannot begin to imagine how incredibly expensive it could be to constantly produce these dummies for these shows though!
This article was very interesting to me and it made me think about how this would be done differently on stage than in film. In a TV show, people can rewatch a scene as many times as they like and are presented with all of the visual information only a few feet from their eyes. In the theater, people are more likely to gloss over certain parts, and can not observe as much detail due to the large distance between the audience and the performers. This article details the immense amount of work that goes into making surgeries as life-like as possible. While these surgeries may show up on screen for only a few seconds, it is the expectation of the viewer that they look near-perfect. Few people will comment on whether a TV surgery looks realistic, but nearly everyone will notice if it looks clearly staged. The expectation is perfection, so lots of work needs to go into achieving that.
I haven’t seen Chicago Med but I’ve seen similar shows like 911 or 911 Lonestar. Sometimes the effects used in shows like this leave something to be desired, occasionally taking you out of the experience which is a bummer. But according to this article the team behind the show Chicago Med uses special effects to create shockingly authentic surgical scenes. It was interesting to learn about just how in depth the entire process is. I mean learning that they start by making a mold of the actor's face and creating a life-sized replica was enough to sell me on their work. These replicas have so much attention to detail which helps make the scenes appear intense and real making the overall show better. The effect that shows like this are able to have on their audience shows just how significant realism can be. While some viewers may find the realistic nature upsetting I think it adds drama to the show that would otherwise be lost.
I wish this article went into more detail about the different techniques used to make the mold and how they dealt with different effects like internal organs. My mom and I like watching shows similar to Chicago Med like Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and New Amsterdam. I always watch these shows wondering how these crazy effects are made. It is a relief knowing that the actors playing patients aren’t having to be subjected to having to lay on a table while being poked and prodded. While I was in high school, we attended to make a silicone replica of one of our actors. The process was tedious and time consuming, and while it did resemble the actor, it was nowhere near as believable as their model. Even in the video, upon first glance I thought the actor was lying on the table. I wonder how expensive it is to create the mold of an actor when most of these characters are only seen for one episode. It seems like so much work going into an effect that is on screen for a minute or less.
5 comments:
I thought this article was interesting! Sometimes I get so focused on the theatrical world that I forget how fascinating the TV/Film world can be. The video was my favorite part of the article. Seeing the face and the rest of the body really showcased how much work went into the small details to create something that looked real. However, if I was ever an actor I wouldn't be able to touch those fake organs and see all the fake blood. But that really does just show how realistic they are. I think being the person responsible for making the fake bodies and faces would be so incredibly difficult but I would imagine it would also be rewarding. I love that these steps are being taken to ensure actor safety first while also creating something so seamlessly beautiful for film. I wonder how well this concept would transfer to stage and if it would even be necessary.
I am so interested in biology and anatomy. The fact that we can create things with such realistic value is actually insane. My high school had an anatomy course, which I didn't take but wanted to, that had you do a kadaver lab. I think it would've been incredibly fascinating to see how the human body actual functions and what it looks like on the inside. The team who created the dummies on chicago med and many other shows similar to this genuinely blow me away with their attention to detail, and the ability to make it life like. Human beings are one of the most complicated creatures, and the way they can represent that and bring it to life on screen is astounding. I hope to be able to work as impactful and useful as that some day. I cannot begin to imagine how incredibly expensive it could be to constantly produce these dummies for these shows though!
This article was very interesting to me and it made me think about how this would be done differently on stage than in film. In a TV show, people can rewatch a scene as many times as they like and are presented with all of the visual information only a few feet from their eyes. In the theater, people are more likely to gloss over certain parts, and can not observe as much detail due to the large distance between the audience and the performers. This article details the immense amount of work that goes into making surgeries as life-like as possible. While these surgeries may show up on screen for only a few seconds, it is the expectation of the viewer that they look near-perfect. Few people will comment on whether a TV surgery looks realistic, but nearly everyone will notice if it looks clearly staged. The expectation is perfection, so lots of work needs to go into achieving that.
I haven’t seen Chicago Med but I’ve seen similar shows like 911 or 911 Lonestar. Sometimes the effects used in shows like this leave something to be desired, occasionally taking you out of the experience which is a bummer. But according to this article the team behind the show Chicago Med uses special effects to create shockingly authentic surgical scenes. It was interesting to learn about just how in depth the entire process is. I mean learning that they start by making a mold of the actor's face and creating a life-sized replica was enough to sell me on their work. These replicas have so much attention to detail which helps make the scenes appear intense and real making the overall show better. The effect that shows like this are able to have on their audience shows just how significant realism can be. While some viewers may find the realistic nature upsetting I think it adds drama to the show that would otherwise be lost.
I wish this article went into more detail about the different techniques used to make the mold and how they dealt with different effects like internal organs. My mom and I like watching shows similar to Chicago Med like Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and New Amsterdam. I always watch these shows wondering how these crazy effects are made. It is a relief knowing that the actors playing patients aren’t having to be subjected to having to lay on a table while being poked and prodded. While I was in high school, we attended to make a silicone replica of one of our actors. The process was tedious and time consuming, and while it did resemble the actor, it was nowhere near as believable as their model. Even in the video, upon first glance I thought the actor was lying on the table. I wonder how expensive it is to create the mold of an actor when most of these characters are only seen for one episode. It seems like so much work going into an effect that is on screen for a minute or less.
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