Hello! I have been working on this “operating room” for some time now and its finally to a point where I want to share it and get some more critical feedback. I’m getting the “amazing” treatment from family and friends but I know the scene has problems. So if you have some constructive criticism please feel free to share. Keep in mind this is an environment for a realistic animation. A single frame is not the end goal.
The first thing that strikes me is that the mason who made that door arch needs a new profession. The arch would show some curvature
Look at some references https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Medieval+door+arch&safe=off&es_sm=119&biw=1880&bih=1266&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=HjjBVMALh-VSv7mC8Ac&ved=0CCAQsAQ#imgdii=_
Also the wall thickness seen at the windows looks very thin. If they are blocks of stone they wouldn’t be as thin and delicate as that if they are supporting walls
Thanks Richard! The link had some great stuff. Looking at the windows now I totally agree!
I’m not sure they actually had operating rooms back then. Barber-Surgeons in towns set up shops where patients would come, and generally sat in a chair. If the patient couldn’t travel, the surgeon went to the patient, and operated with the patient laying in his own bed, or on some sturdy table in the house somewhere (probably the same table they used to butcher hogs or large game animals.)
The wash basin and tub should not be so close to the table: the surgeon and his assistants needed to stand around the patient, since the assistants had to hold the patient down, as anesthetics were not in general use at the time. You also might consider changing the venue from a room to an interior courtyard with nothing overhead to block the light. Surgeons needed a lot of light to work; frequently Barber-Surgeons worked in the street in front of their shop, both to advertise their services and because the light was better.
That is very interesting I did not know that. When you say “barber-surgeons” does this mean that they cut hair as well as practiced medicine?
It is actually an improvised delivery room. This is a room in a temple repurposed to deliver a very special child. The scene will be at dawn with the sun just coming up at the end of the short. There is a nearby town that is under seige out of the window. I have included the top down image I made for blocking my cameras and actors if you are interested.
Yes, Barber Surgeons also cut hair. Or it might have been that Barber Surgeons also did surgery. Hard to say which came first. This particular tradesman had razors and scissors at hand. One of the popular procedures back then was ‘bleeding’, where the patient got cut inside his elbow and bled into a bowl until a certain amount of blood had been lost. My guess is they picked inside the elbow since it’s easy to apply pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding by simply bending the arm. They also tried their hand at removing arrow heads and mending slice and puncture wounds from swords and daggers. They also did Ceasarean deliveries, which fits in with your plot.
They knew about heat cauterization, so during an operation, someone would be tending a charcoal brazier with some red hot pokers in case the surgeon needed to close a blood vessel or something.
And they didn’t practice medicine. Doctors prescribed drugs and diets, and considered themselves knowledgable professionals. Surgeons were tradesmen. About the closest Barber Surgeons got to medicine was the mixtures they may have prepared to put their patients to sleep, which they didn’t do often, because it was very risky.