HAPPY FOLK
PRODUCT ANALYSIS Inthernship at Happy Folk
Student Name: Sandra Yuen Studentnr: 464474 Email: sandra.y32@live.com Mobile: 06 31956774 Education: HAN University of Applied Sciences Major: Communication & Multimedia Design (CMD-C) Company Name: Happy Folk Address: Nieuwe Oeverstraat 31-33, 6811 JB Arnhem Website: www.happy-folk.com Manager: Mark Tamea Email manager: mark@happy-folk.com Mobile manager: 06 14989990 University Coach: Yvonne Brinkman Email: yvonne.brinkman@han.nl Mobile: 06 28304356 Date: 24 March 2017 Verion: 1.0
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TABLE OF CONTENT Preface...................................................................................................................................................................................3 1. Problem statement..........................................................................................................................................................4 2. Analyzing hip replacement animation.....................................................................................................................6 2.1 PreOp...............................................................................................................................................................6 2.2 Nucleus Medical Media.............................................................................................................................10 2.3 iHealth............................................................................................................................................................14 2.4 eOrthopod.....................................................................................................................................................17 3. Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................................21 4. Appendix.......................................................................................................................................................................22
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PREFACE This document is written in conclusion for the research of the graduation project at Happy Folk conducted by Spine Advice. The graduation assignment is to create a proof of concept which could be a solution for Spine Advice’s communication and understanding problem for the future. This document is about product analysis or marketing analysis. Product analysis is about analyzing other products that are already on the market. Performing a product analysis requires a deep insight of other competitor’s products, which we can learn how they do it and how to improve the proof of concept in order to make a better one. This product analysis is different in comparison to other product analysis. Usually, a product analysis is being used to analyze existing products from competitors on the market by knowing their position and quality that they have to offer to the consumer. This product analysis is about hip replacement medical animation which is not going to be consumed. This proof of concept is an instruction/procedure product to help people and especially patients to understand procedures about hip replacements of Orthopedic surgery. This means this product analysis is focused on the quality and how to help patients understand hip replacement Orthopedic surgery in simple and easy way.
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1. PROBLEM STATEMENT According to Spine Advice, communication and understanding should be better among patients and doctors after solving the current problem. Patients would gain confidence and noticeably improve their knowledge about Orthopedic surgery. Spine Advice’s doctors are confronted with many patients that don’t understand the provided information about Orthopedic surgery. By ignoring this problem, fearfulness and anxiety might be caused to more patients. Therefore, the purpose of the project is to research if animation is the correct way to solve the problem. In order to clearify the problem, the Kipling method or the 5W and 1H model is the best model to structure out the problem. This method was invented by Rudyard Kipling while writting a poem associated with a children’s story about baby elephant from the book “Just So Story” (Sharp, 2002): “ I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who. I sent them over land and sea, I sent them east and west; But after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest.” (Kipling, 1902). What is the problem? According to the surgeons from Spine Advice, their problem is about the current communication and understanding associated with their patients. Where patients don’t clearly understand the provided information during their meeting session with their doctor on the Orthopedic surgery, especially when it’s about the procedure. Surgeons from Spine Advice give out brochures with rich information on Orthopedic surgery to patients, where the patient can further read at home. However, most patients do not read the given information from the brochure. Which later becomes a problem when patients return to undergo the surgery, they feel anxious and are surprised about the procedure. Where is the situation happening? Currently, the situation is happening at the clinic of Spine Advice. There are several researches from the American Medical Association Foundation and National Institutes of Health that have the same communication issues with patients. This means this problem is happening daily in the health care field which are the clinics, hospitals and all other health care related organizations. When is the situation happening? During the meeting with the surgeons of Spine Advice, they mentioned when was the situation occured. The situation was happening during the meeting session with their patients, which the surgeons provide them information about the Orthopedic surgery they are about to undergo. Why is the situation happening? The situation is happening, because the brochure information and verbal communication about health literacy are not sufficient enough for the patient to understand the situation that he/she is going to go through.
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Who does Spine Advice need to get involved? In order to solve the problem from Spine Advice, digital media could be a solution for their problem. In this situation, Spine Advice approaches Happy Folk, a Communication and Multimedia design agency to see if digital media is the best solution for their problem. Patients, surgeons, and doctors are involved in this situation to better understand the problem that there is with patients having difficulty understanding how Orthopedic surgery works. Surgeons and doctors are also involved in order to increase the efficiency of communication. How can Spine Advice overcome this problem? To overcome this problem, there is a high possibility to solve this problem by creating a medical animation. Which can help the patient have a clear picture on how the procedure for an Orthopedic surgery works.
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2. ANALYZING HIP REPLACEMENT ANIMATION This chapter is about analyzing four competitors of medical animations regarding Orthopedic surgery. All competitor animations are hip replacement surgery animations. Spine Advice wants to launch their first proof of concept of Hip Replacement animation and further in the future there will be other Orthopedic surgery animations available. The animations are selected by the subject of hip replacement surgery animation like mentioned before. All these animations have the same purpose of educating people/patient about the procedure of hip replacement surgery. These are the following four animations that are going to be analyzed: - PreOp - Nucleus Medical Media - iHealthspot - eOrthopod To have a full analysis about medical animations, the analysis is going to be sorted into five categories: • Storyline: how the story is being explained and is it easy to follow. • Graphic: • Color use • Motion effect • Audio These five categories are the principles of motion graphic/animation according to Ryan Musselman (Ryanwm, n.d).
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2.1 PreOp
PreOp is a production and publishing patient education company. This company produces and markets patient education materials on digital media, such as interactive website, video and other media platforms. PreOp is one of the competitors that is going to be analyzed because they produce medical animation for patients. It’s not just providing medical information, but the purpose is to educate patients in a better way. The animation is to find in the website of Youtube under the name “Hip Replacement Surgery - PreOp Patient Education Medical HD”. Here below is the url link direct to the animation that is going to be analyzed from PreOp. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsVIn5JaCmc Storyline The storyline of the hip replacement animation of PreOp starts with an introduction what the animation is about. The narrator gives an explanation about how the hip is builded in the body and what might cause a hip replacement surgery. Further, in the introduction the narrator also gives a brief explanation how the hip is going to be replaced with an artificial hip. There is a preoperative session after the introduction, which the narrator explains what the patient will receive or has to be prepared before the surgery. In the pre-operative session there are several things that are being mentioned, but without explaning what they are for. In the procedure session, there The animation is divided into three sessions, introduction, the preoperative and the process of hip replacement surgery. In the preoperative session, some images are shown how the patient is going to be prepared for the surgery. From those images there isn’t any explanation from the narrator about what they are for. The narrator uses many medical terms that are very difficult to understand. According to American Medical Association and AMA Foundation research, many people have limited health literacy. Health literacy means the level of capacity of understanding and process health information in order to make health decisions (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). Many people have trouble reading and understanding health information, especially when it is explained in a technical, unfamiliar terms. Therefore, researchers recommend that health information must be viewed from the context of language and culture (Am J Health Behav, 2007). Surgeons should be mindful to communicate on the level of the patient, which means the surgeon should be speaking on a simple native language so the patient can easily understand. Surgeons should avoid long phrases that have figurative meanings from the literal definition and use particular vocabulary that is common in cultures and countries. For example, “feeling blue”. In some further research, they found out that medical jargon should be avoided and use simple pictures instead of complexed images to explain health information. Surgeons should focus more on given health information about what the patient should do and other unnecessary information should be ignored (Association and AMA Foundation; 2007). In general the content of this animation is the most important part of the animation, especially for medical. Therefore medical terms and jorgon must be avoided regarding the understanding of a patient.
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Graphics Animations are an optical illusion which involves the appearance of motion caused by displaying still images after another (Flatworldsolutions, n.d). Medical animations can be categorized into two types of animation: 2D and 3D animation. PreOp’s animation is a two-dimensional animation, which means it consists of moving images. These images are clear enough to indicate which part of the body is going to be operated, yet still not accurate enough. From the images, it’s very difficult to see and imagine how the surgeons are going to pull out the hip bone and to cut out the top of the femur on the screenshot down in the image A1 below. PreOp company seems to have hard edge shadows that seems very old style of design in their illustrations. The style of the animation makes it inattentive to watch or to follow. The design is not modern vector like, but it is similar to normal drawings. The illustrations are very detailed and have a realistic shape of the real bones. There are also shadows in the drawings to create a bit of depth of field in order to make the illustration more realistic, but they are still drawings. From the edge of the bones, there is like a crispy edge which it doesn’t seem like a vector illustration.
Image A1 In the image A2 down below from the animation, they use another image to enlarge the hip part which is going to be operated. It’s a close up view for the viewer/patient in order to emphasize the hip joint, but it’s distracting to have two images next to each other. Furthermore, they use a graphic element like a rectangle to surround the area that is going to be operated. Graphical elements are used in the animation, but it’s not really attractive or eye catching for the patient/viewer. Down in the image A2 below, you can see the rectangle is barely visible. Another graphic element is being used in the introduction session, they use simple lines to point out the names of the bones in image A3 down below. This is a way to learn or to educate people by pointing out the names of each bone. The graphic elements are good, but they are inconsistent, which these elements are not used in other scenes. These graphic elements are displayed only at the beginning of the animation.
Image A2
Image A3
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In the image A4, they are showing a patient has to take some medicine but there isn’t any explanation or any graphical elements to indicate what it is or what it is for.
Image A4 Color use In the introduction of the animation, the background color is dark blue and purple. It’s a gradient color with blue and purple. Gradient color is specifying a range of position-dependent colors, usually used to fill a region (Eisenberg, J. David, 2002). The gradient color that is used in the background is a linear gradient, which means the angle of the colors that are shown are from top to bottom or vice versa. The gradient is actually the line where the edges of two colors are combined/blend in the exact angle/point (W3C Candidate Recommendation, 2012). The background color that is used is tint blue and tint purple, which means the colors are from slightly whiter to almost white. This tint use is to make it less intense to the viewer. The color use of the background is a bit too much because they use dark gradient color. The gradient background color doesn’t blend with the color of the images, especially with the skin color. Review the screenshot of the background in the image A2. The introduction session and the procedure session has a different background color, which makes it two different part of animation instead of one. From the image A2 and image A4 the backgrounds are different. In the animation, it seems like they are using a neutral color pallet for the illustrations to make it more realistic. It’s logical to use neutral colors when it comes to illustrating body parts. Psychologically everyone knows a body has neutral colors in general, which means it is unnatural when the body is illustrated in a different color. According to the theory from Visual languages, ( Van den Broek J, Koetsenruijter W, De Jong J, 2012) and Coschedule, blue colors are known for trust, security tranquility and dependability. Purple color has the meaning of imagination and spirituality. It possesses the energy and power of red, with the stability and reliability of blue, making it a perfect balance between the physical and spiritual. Purple is often used to show courage and mystery. When using purple, avoid using it too often as it can also cause too much introspection or distraction as thoughts begin to wonder (Coschedule, 2016). Motion Effect During the examination, I found out, that the animation is not just a 2D animation, but that they also use 3D animation in a small part of the entire animation. It’s very hard to notice that it was a 3D, because of the contrast. In the screenshot of image A4, you can see in the background there is a male and a female body rotating meanwhile there is an image appearing in the foreground. The motion effect is very confusing because there are two situations happening simultaneously. The rotation of the body slightly distracts the viewer, meanwhile, the narrator is explaining the small image on the left corner of the screenshot of imageA4. It’s very hard to not be distracted while two type of motion effects are happening at the same moment. The small image on the left corner is not only a still image but it also slightly enlarges and then fades away. In general, the motion effect is too busy for the patient/viewer to follow. 9
Audio The audio of the animation is about the voice-over and the background music. The narrator speaks at a very slow tempo, which the viewer can follow and be able to process the information. The narrator also makes pauses during the animation, but the pauses are too long and the audience can lose the attention of the animation. The background music of this animation is a bit tense, which it’s not a relaxing background music that remains calm. The audio of this animation is a combination of a voiceover and a background music. Animations are mostly accompanied by a background music rather than just a voice-over because it is more of a visual representation. If the animation consists only of a voice over it will be very boring and inattentive to the audience (Siddhu, 2016). The voice of the narrator is very monotonously. According to American Medical Association Foundation and AMA research, surgeons or narrators have to use active voice to maintain patient’s attention and interest. Conclusion PreOp animation is a medical animation with a structured storyline. The story is divided into 3 sessions of information namely, introduction, pre-operative and the procedure of the surgery. The sessions of information are divided in order to structure the information. The storyline starts with an introduction of the hip replacement and then follow by the procedure how it’s done, which the patient/viewer can easily follow the story what it is about. During the animation, the narrator uses many medical terms in order to give a short explanation of an important part of the surgery. Using medical terms makes it difficult for patient/viewer to understand the animation and especially in some specific part of the story. Some parts of the animation require more details so that the patient/viewer can understand. The main purpose of this animation is patient education, but they are using many medical terms instead of using patient level communication for patients to understand. PreOp uses 2D animation in order to educate the patients/viewers. Illustrations are understandable with the voice-over. In some parts of the animation, there are some confusions when images are being shown without any direct correlation to what is happening during the sequence of the animation. From that moment, patient/viewer might have questions or can be inattentive to the narrator because it is distracting them from their attention of the animation by displaying images without explanation. When watching an education animation, it is very important to keep the patient/viewer attentive by having understandable visualizes and including a voice-over. It’s difficult to follow the animation when the patient/viewer is listening to the narrator meanwhile an unrelated image is showing. The image might be related to the topic, but if there is no explanation of the showing image there is no added value to show the image. By showing an image, patient/viewer will expect that it will be explained in order for them to understand, but if not it will confuse the patient/viewer. PreOp animation looks semi-realistic, which means the shape of the objects is very accurate to realism, but the image is more like a drawing/sketch. Drawing/sketch is useful but less attractive to watch, because of the style of the drawing. During the animation, there is a very good effect that is being used. The effect of enlarging or zooming into the related area has to be operated. With this effect, patient/viewer can easily understand that the narrator or the information is about this part of the body. In this animation, they do emphasize the important part of the procedure.
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2.2 Nucleus Medical Media
Nucleus Medical Media is a company which specifies on medical animations and interactive multimedia founded in 1997 by Ronald L. Collins and Keith A. Pavlik. All their staffs have been educated at renowned and prestigious institutions such as the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Medical College of Georgia, the University of Toronto, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the Rochester Institute of Technology (NucleusHealth, n.d). Here below is the url link direct to the animation that is going to be analyzed from Nucleus Medical Media. Url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DolfsqbEy8ecY This animation is a total hip replacement animation made by Nucleus Medical Media. It’s a 3D animation which provides information how the procedure of replacing the hip is going to be operated. Storyline This animation from Nucleus Medical Media starts directly with a description about the hip, how the hip is connected and what might cause a total hip replacement. All these explanations make part of the introduction of the animation. After the introduction, the narrator describes the preoperative, which it’s about what the patient is going to receive before the procedure. The preoperative session gives an explanation about what they are for and how the surgeons are going to apply them to the body. This animation consists of four sessions; introduction, preoperative, procedure and the result of the surgery. During the procedure session, the narrator gives a large detail explanation about how the patient is going to be positioned so the surgeons can easily have access to operate the hip. A medical machine is being used to assure the hip replacement is being placed accurately. According to American Association Foundation and AMA, the narrator has to limit the content to what patients really need to know. The content is very limited to what it’s really important to the patient, by assuring how precise and secure the surgeons are going to handle the operation. Furthermore, there is also an explanation on how the incision is being made and how surgeons are going to push aside the muscles without any damages to operate the hip. In the end of the procedure, the narrator is explaining how the artificial hip is going to be secured in the position of the bone. The surgeons are testing the movement of the hip to make sure it’s in the correct position. These are all the information that is needed which the patient/viewer can be assured about the operation. Furthermore, in this animation, there is a result session, which the surgeons are showing the patient/viewer an x-ray image of how the artificial hip is in place of the bone. The message in this animation is very clear and understandable because according to American Medical Association Foundation and AMA, effective patient education materials must focus on instructions for key behaviors that the patient must put in action. Unnecessary background information must be avoided in order to keep the patient’s/viewer’s attention. Throughout communication with patients has a beneficial effect on medical outcomes. The beneficial of patient’s communication may lead to decreasing of anxiety and psychological distress.
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Graphic This animation is a full 3D animation. With one 3D model, you can render different angles of the model, which gives you the possibility to rotate and have a full view of the hip area. This animation is more likely to the level of realism. The look and feel are more realistic than a 2D animation. Down in the image B01 below is a series of images which shows how the 3D model is more realistic and accurate in comparison to 2D. In the first image of the series is one angle of the hip, which follows by the other images how 3D gives a full perspective view of the entire hip. This gives the patient/viewer a very clear perspective view of how exactly the surgeons are going to do the hip replacement.
Image B01 Furthermore, the 3D model of the skeleton has a very realistic texture, but yet not unpleasant to watch such as with blood and nerves Down in the image B02 below it shows a damaged femoral head which has to be replaced. The texture looks a bit gluey plastic like, but still realistic. On the texture of the image B02 they also use a bump map, which means a technique in computer graphics for simulating bumps and wrinkles on the surface of the object (Simulation of Wrinkled Surface, 1978). With this bump map, it enhances the model to another level of realism. In this animation, they use some graphical elements to point out the names of the bones which are related to the surgery. Using graphical elements are very clever and makes it easier for the patients/ viewer to understand or to follow the story. In the image B03, the graphical element is being used during the animation pointing out the medical names. This graphical element is like a semi-transparent stroke with the text “Acetabulum� over it. According to researchers from AMA, putting text on a picture is easy to remember than just using verbal communication. Medical terms are hardly for non-medical people to remember and especially knowing what it means.
Image B02
Image B03
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Color use The colors used for this animation is quite limited because it’s a 3D model which the texture is the same for the entire model. The largest part of the model are the bones, which means they have the same texture. The color of the texture is neutral similar to the realism of a bone. In the beginning of the animation, there is a skin or body surrounding the skeleton. The skin is semi-transparent, but the outline is light blue. It indicates that’s the body or the skin of the body. In reality, our body is not transparent, but in order to have a better view of the skeleton they make it semi-transparent and remain the outline to stand out. The focus is more on the skeleton than the body itself. Review the image B04 about the semi-transparent blue skin/body. The blue color is most commonly referring to the hospital, which in this occasion is from a surgery that takes place in the hospital. The color blue also gives a cold environment feeling.
Image B04 Image B05
The background of this animation is just black, which it gives a very serious tense feeling. According to some research on the internet, colors have meanings and it can also affect people’s feelings. Black is a serious color, in some cases, it can indicate to death (CoSchedule, n.d). In the next image B06 is a screenshot of the animation which the narrator explains about the artificial hip. The artificial hip has a texture color, which it’s similar to metal. The color use is exactly the right color of a realistic metal.
Image B06
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Motion Effect In this animation, there aren’t many effects occurring in the video. It’s a 3D animation, this means the rotation and each angle of perspective are important. Therefore, 3D animation has a full 360 degree of rotation of the object. This effect is the main effect of this animation and further in combination with some basic effects, such as zoom in and zoom out. The rotation effect is very smooth that it doesn’t give the patient/viewer a strange or dizzy feeling. Audio The audio of the animation is about the voice-over and the background music. In this animation, there isn’t any background music being used, but only voice-over. The voice-over is very robotic, which means it’s less natural compared to a human’s voice. The narrator does speak very clearly, slow and pronounces medical terms in a tempo that patients/viewer can follow or understand. Conclusion The animation of Nucleus Medical Media is very clear and accomplishes informing the patient/viewer about the hip replacement surgery. It has a very simple storyline that patient/viewer can easily follow without hesitation. Furthermore, the provided information is direct to the point on what the message of the animation is about. There isn’t any unnecessary information provided in the animation which can make the patient/viewer confused. The storyline is very structural and direct to the point on what the patient/viewer has to know in order to undergo a hip replacement surgery. During the animation, the narrator uses simple communication level of approach to avoid misunderstanding. In general, the graphic of the animation seems very good, because it’s in 3D which the patient/viewer can really a perspective of the operated area. However, the background color gives a very serious and tense feeling while watching the animation.
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2.3 iHealthSpot
iHealthSpot is leading the industry in medical website design, online marketing, and secure patient communications. They do medical, and their expertise helps people achieve a faster time to market, clearer patient communication, and a competitive edge in the local area. The iHealthSpot animation is about how to do a hip replacement. This animation consists of the procedure of hip replacement and the recovery after the procedure. It’s a three-dimensional (3D) animation in combination with live short clips in between. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpts7ScSTYs&t=23s Storyline The content about this hip replacement animation is about the procedure and the recovery after the surgery. In the beginning of the animation, the narrator starts with a short introduction on what is the cause of having the hip replacement. Furthermore, the narrator explains what are the symptoms that the patient might have when there is a hip problem occurring. The content of this animation is very simple, which means the narrator only explains the important part of the hip surgery instead of giving a full detail story. The main focus of this animation seems to be on the recovery session because in the recovery session the narrator explains in detail on how to recover after the surgery. In this animation, the narrator also mentioned what the precautions are and what the patient needs to be concerned about to get a good recovery. Graphic The graphic of this animation has already been mentioned before in the introduction of this part of analysis. This animation is a 3D animation in combination with short live recordings. The 3D animation is being used to explain the procedure of the surgery and the live recordings are to show how the recovery is going to be after the procedure. Down in the image C1 and image C2 are the screenshots of the animation showing a 3D model body and skeleton to explain the hip replacement procedure. Based on the depth of field of the animation, is recognizing to 3D instead of 2D. With 2D animation, it will be flat without any depth of field.
Image C1
Image C2
In general, this animation has a low-quality animation. Which means that the graphics are not clear to watch. The animation looks a bit blurry and therefore it draws away the attention of the patient/viewer. 15
In this animation, they use graphical elements to point out the names of the bones like the previous competitors which are related to the surgery. Using graphical elements is a very clever method which makes it easy for patients/viewer to understand and follow the story. In the image C3, they use a circle to enhance the focus on a part of the hip joint. To enhance the understanding of which part is being operated they use lines to point out the names of the body parts. Names of our body parts are very hard to remember or to know. In this case, patients/viewer can also understand and follow the narrator. Aside from that, there is another graphical element in the animation which indicates the rubbing of bones against each other. This graphical indication is to show that this is causing the hip replacement. Down in the image C2 below is a screenshot of the graphical element from the animation that indicates the pain of the rubbing in the joint of the hip.
Image C2
Image C3
There is another graphical item in the animation, which is the text displays that the narrator mentions during the animation. In image C4, they use bullet points to list out the symptoms of the hip problem. In this case, it’s very easy to understand and to remember instead of just listening to the narrator. According to the AMA, you have to draw the attention of the patient/viewer in action. With these graphical displays, they are drawing the attention of the patient/viewer to read what the symptoms are. Listening and reading can make a deeper impression of remembering how the procedure will go for the patient/ viewer.
Image C4
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Color use For the model, there is obviously a neutral color palette is being used in order to make the model look more realistic. The color of the background is a pure blue, which is very bright, intense and heavy to watch (CoSchedule, n.d). According to the AMA research, it’s better to have some white space in order to relax the eyes. With some white spaces, in between the animation gives the patient/viewer a break, because of overloading information. The color of the background doesn’t blend with the skin color in this animation and it makes a bit disturbing or distracting to watch. In the image C2, they use red color for the graphical element to indicate pain. Red is a very powerful color that reflects blood and pain in this animation (CoSchedule, n.d). In the image C5 is a screenshot of the artificial hip. The artificial hip joint is not metallic like, but more of a different material which it looks better than metallic. If it’s a real metal component it cannot be part of the body, because after time the metal could be rust inside the body. Therefore, the color use of the artificial hip joint is very close to the realistic artificial hip joint.
Image C5 Motion Effect There is a lot of fading effect in this animation. In the image C5, there is a fading effect of the body which it reveals to the bones. The effect is good, but the hard edge of the fading area makes it a bit distracting to the patient/viewer. In the beginning of the animation in image C2, the timing of the motion effect is very impressed. The timing fits correctly when the hip joint starts moving/rubbing against the other bone and then the graphical elements appear to indicate this is causing the pain in the hip. These graphical elements appear in a fade effect and slightly fade away. This is one of the 12 principles of animation according to Pluralsight. Furthermore, there is also another principle in use in this animation which is the ease in and ease out. Ease in and ease out mean, slow in and slow out, it gives the spacing of the movement. Without the spacing for acceleration and deceleration of actions everything would be abrupt (Pluralsight, 2014). Audio In this animation, there is no background music being used, but only in the beginning and at the end of the animation. The voice-over is very loud and clear to understand what the narrator is saying. Furthermore, the voice-over gives like a very calm feeling, that patient/viewer can really take their time to listen and understand what the narrator is trying to explain. In the voice-over, there are sufficient pauses in between when the narrator is explaining. However, in some parts of the animation, the pausing is too long and it causes inattentive. Conclusion This animation is also a 3D animation about hip replacement surgery. The animation is in general shorter than the other one from other competitors. In this animation, they are trying to focus or to emphasize the important part of the surgery by using extra graphical elements. These graphical elements really point out the message of the animation. The story is provided in a very structural way, which the patient/viewer can understand what the cause is for a hip replacement. 17
2.4 eOrthopod
eOrthopod is a Medical Multimedia Group, started in 1992 by Randale C. Sechrest, MD, an orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Sechrest began experimenting with computer assisted learning in his own practice in 1989. He was one of the early pioneers in applying computer based training (CBT) methodologies to help patients understand complex surgical procedures in orthopedic surgery. Since that time, they have assembled a team of experts who continue to create the most comprehensive collection of patient communication tools for your practice or your organization. eOrthopod has been helping physicians take advantage of the exploding new trend in communication on the Internet – Web Video (eOrthopod, n.d). URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyXf5YbnJKs&t=49s Storyline This animation starts with an introduction about where the hip joint is being damaged and how it has to be replaced. The narrator explains how the hip joint is going to be replaced by an artificial hip joint called “prosthesis”. Furthermore, the narrator also explains that there are two types of artificial hips. Surgeons will decide which type of artificial hip joint is the best for the patient based on the age of the patient. Giving a full explanation on why the artificial hip is very important for the patient/viewer, will help the patient/viewer have a clear image and view from the beginning about the replacement. The storyline of the animation is very detailed, which these details are very important to the patient/viewer. In some case giving too many details is not good, which means some of the details might be less important such as explaining what the artificial hip is made of. The storyline is more focused on explaining details of the artificial hip and how the surgery is going to be held. In this animation, the narrator explains the procedure of the hip surgery step by step, which gives the patient/viewer a better view of how the procedure will going. Furthermore, there is also a recovery session, where the narrator gives an explanation when the patient is allowed to go home base on certain movement and functionality of the hip. In this animation, the narrator also gives the patient/viewer an estimated time of full recovery for the hip replacement surgery. Graphic The graphic of this animation is a full 3D animation, which means the model or the entire animation has a depth of field. For this animation, many graphical elements are being used to clarify the view or understanding of the patient/viewer. Down in the image D1 below, there is a small rectangle down in the left corner of the image. This can increase the understanding of what the narrator is talking about. It also increases the focus point of the patient/viewer on what the narrator is saying at the moment. This also gives a clear view of how the hip joint is damaged to the patient/viewer, based on the 3D model which doesn’t clearly show the hip joint in the background. Furthermore, in the image D1, you can see there is more focus on the left side of the skeleton compare to the right one. To increase the focus on the damaged hip, they use a filter to make the healthy hip joint less contrast and in this case, it’s also less disturbing for the patient/viewer to watch. In general, the graphic of this animation is very simple, which means it’s not crowded in order to watch. Graphically it is very clear, clean and comforting to watch.
Image D1
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Furthermore, there are some other graphical elements in this animation such as red lines or lettering. In the image D2, they display the name of the artificial hip. This can help the patient’s/viewer’s memorize the name of the artificial hip joint. According to the AMA research, visual recognition memory is better than a verbal description. In this animation, they use text as visual recognition to increase the knowledge of hip replacement. In the image D3, they use a graphical element to point out the medical name of the artificial hip. This graphical element is like a red line to point out the name of the body part.
Image D2
Image D3
In the screenshot of image D4, the narrator gives an explanation about two types of the artificial hip. To make a better view for the patient/viewer they display two different types of artificial hips next to each other to compare. To make it even more clear, they use a small rectangle on the surface of the bone and show the cut-out of the bone next to it. The cut-out image is attached with two lines to the small rectangle, which indicates the image belongs to that area of the bone. This graphical element takes into a higher level of understanding for the patient/viewer.
Image D4
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Color use In general, the color use of this animation is limited. Down in the image D5, you can see they use a very light blue color as the background. The color that they use as a background is a tint blue, which means white is added to the pure color of blue to reach this light color. Tint colors are usually lighter than a pure color and not as intense (Coschedule, n.d). Tints range from slightly whiter to almost-white. In the background of the animation, there is also a white graph sheet that makes the background whiter. In this case, the patient/viewer can distinguish the fore- and background of the animation better. The light color does blend with the other colors in the animation such as the skin and the bone color.
Image D5 In the previous image D1, they use a neutral color palette for the skeleton and bones. In order to make it a bit more realistic they use colors that are related to the realistic hip. The cartilage has some red cracks that indicate it is damaged. The color use is very logical and close to a realistic body and skeleton. Furthermore, the color red in use in the animation to point out the names of the bone or related part of the body. Red is a very powerful color, which it draws direct attention from the patient/viewer. Down in the image D6 below that shows a red line is pointed to the hip capsule. This is to patient/viewer to understand where and what is a hip capsule. The color red is very outstanding from the other colors, so it really draws attention of the patient/viewer (CoSchedule, n.d).
Image D6 Motion effect There isn’t that much of motion effect in the animation because the body and the skeleton are in 3D. This means the motion effect will only be applicable to the rotation of the hip bone. There aren’t any other motion effects despite the fade in and out in the animation. There is a port of motion effect where the hip is being rotated in a very natural way to make sure the hip is correctly being placed. Furthermore, the tools that will be used during the surgery are demonstrated in the animation. These tools also have motion effect such as spinning effect to clean up the socket. These effects also have an ease in and out effect that makes the movement much smoother and not abrupt. 20
Audio The audio of this animation is only a voice-over, which is the only audio that the patient/viewer can hear. The voice-over is narrated by a person with a heavy voice. It sounds very seriously and instructive, which it’s not like storytelling. Furthermore, the voice-over is very clear, that every pronunciation is understandable to the patient/viewer. Conclusion This animation is a 3D medical animation about hip replacement. The provided information is very detailed about the artificial hip. In the beginning, the narrator gives an explanation about the cause of a hip replacement. From this animation, the main focus is on the artificial hip, such as what it consists and what kind of material it’s made of. This animation sounds more like a very instructive animation that gives the patient/viewer an overview how the surgery is being held by the surgeons. The duration of the animation is very long, which patient/viewer will have lost their interest half way through the animation of the surgery. The voice-over is also not as active that the patient/viewer can stay attentive to listen and be able to watch the whole animation completely. The graphic from this animation is of high quality which means the body, skeleton, and muscles are very realistic like. In this animation, they use many graphical elements to emphasize and to enlarge the area that is difficult to be seen. In general, this animation is good and understandable for the patient/viewer.
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3. CONCLUSION After doing a research on the competitors of medical animations about hip replacement most medical animations are in 3D animation. From the 4 competitor’s animation, 3 are in 3D and one is 2D animation. All competitor’s animation has a very structural storyline, which most of the storyline is divided into three sessions. In the beginning of all hip replacement animations, they will give a brief introduction about hip replacement, then followed by the procedure and at the end the after procedure or recovery. Medical animation should be direct to the point on what the most important information is for the patient/viewer. By providing too much detailed information it will create confusion for the patient/viewer. However, communication style of the narrator has to be on a common level for the patient/viewer in order to understand the provided information easily instead of using difficult medical terms which can confuse the patient/viewer. This means the provided information of the animation has to be brief but pleasant in order to be understood easily. In order to increase the knowledge and understanding of patient/viewer, graphical elements have a very important role in an animation. These graphical elements give the possibility to the patient/viewer to retain medical terms and/or other health literacy. A medical animation without graphical elements might be inattentive because there is no action that draws patient/viewer’s attention. It is very monotonous to the patient/viewer by just sitting there and listen to the narrator. Throughout the research results, the color use in an animation is also very important. Colors can affect human’s feelings, emotions, and reactions. Therefore, hip replacement or medical animation must be clear and clean that patient/viewer can watch the animation calmly. The animation should give the patient/viewer a relaxing feeling to decrease the tension because they are about to undergo a hip replacement surgery. Furthermore, colors of objects should be realistic to be accurate to the realism. Light colors are better to use as the background color in these medical animations because the focus is on the object which is the body, muscles, and skeleton. Patient/viewer can also easily distinguish foreand background of the animation. It’s better to avoid dark colors in the animation because dark colors can create and increase the tension of patients/viewers. Furthermore, to attain the patient’s/viewer’s attention, an active voice-over is needed. The voice-over should be loud and clear which patient/viewer can understand easily. The narrator should speak in a tempo which is not too fast that patient/viewer cannot follow or too slow that’s inattentive. In an animation, the narrator should give some pauses in between. Otherwise, it will be too monotonous to the patient/viewer. MoSCoW requirement list:
Must have • Introduction of the animation • Structural story • Dividing session in the story • Common level of communication • Short phrases • Non medical jargon • None-blood graphic • Realistic textures (pleasant) • Anatomicly accurate • Light color use • Active voice-over • Clear pronounciation • Displays medical terms (graphical elements) • Timing effect • Clean background
Should have • Non-disturbing background music • Three dimensional (3D) graphic • Perspective view • Emphasize effect on important moment • Diagram style Could have • Surgery tools • Sound effect Won’t or would have in the future • Full anatomiclly education
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4. APPENDIX Barry, D., Weiss, MD. ( 2007, May). Health literacy and patient safety: Help patients understand. Second edition. Consulted on 27 January 2017, from https://www.umcutrecht.nl/getmedia/ baa2a19c-8c84-4956-bf9a-bd1cbac1ac13/Health-literacy-and-patient-safety-help-patients- understand.pdf.aspx Blinn, James F. (1978, August). “Simulation of Wrinkled Surfaces”, Computer Graphics, Vol. 12 (3). Con sulted on 13 January 2017, from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=507101 Coschedule. (2016, 18 April). The Ultimate Guide To Using Color Psychology In Marketing + Free Color Schemes [Image_D33]. Consulted on 08 February 2017, from https://coschedule.com/blog/ color-psychology-marketing/ Eisenberg, J. David (2002). SVG Essentials. O’Reilly Media. p. 107. ISBN 0-596-00223-8. eOrthopod. (n.d). Orthopedic Information. Consulted on 13 January 2017, from http://eorthopod.com/ Pluralsight, (2014, 11 August). Understanding the 12 Principles of Animation. Consulted on 26 February 2017, from https://www.pluralsight.com/blog/film-games/understanding-12-principles- animation Musselman, R. (n.d). Principles of Animation. Consulted on 16 February 2017, from http://ryanwm.com/ thesis/lit_review/animation.php Nucleus Media Medical. (n.d). http://www.nucleusmedicalmedia.com/nmm1_7 Siddhu. (2016, 25 January). 5 types of voice over for a viral video. Consulted on 13 January 2017, from http://blog.animaker.com/5-types-of-voice-over-for-a-viral-video/ Studio Post. (2016). Preparing Graphics for Video. Consultd on 29 December 2016 form http:// studiopost.com/contact/tech-specs/preparing-graphics-for-video Van den Broek, J., Koetsenruijter, W., De Jong, J. (2012). Visual Language. Consulted on 10 January 2017, from https://www.managementboek.nl/boek/9789490947729/visual-language-engels-jos-vanden-broek
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