In this video, I go behind the scenes with the creation of the “5 Minute Bartholin Cyst,” to explore the production decisions I made, both good and bad.
Since this was among my first 5 minute videos, I still had a lot to learn about shooting video and editing, and I’ll share those deficiencies with you.
Anatomically, the Bartholin’s gland is located within the substance of the lower third of the labia majora. I illustrated this by superimposing a pink dot on top of a normal vulva. I followed up with the important examination, which is the use of a thumb and forefinger to palpate the gland.
Then, I move on to a real Bartholin cyst which I drained a number of years ago.
I slowly zoomed in on a photograph of the Bartholin cyst.
I thought it helped focus the attention on the cyst and I believed at the time that I needed something moving on the screen to maintain the interest of the students. I was wrong about that, and if I were to redo the video today, I wouldn’t zoom at all.
I followed this with images of a number of different Bartholin cysts and abscesses, to show their somewhat different appearances. I finished with examples of other conditions that might be confused with a Bartholin’s.
I used background music to be entertaining, and to fill the audio blanks. This was another mistake that I wouldn’t repeat today.
Early in a video project, you should decide whether your creation is being designed to entertain or to educate. Either is OK, but you can’t effectively do both, because the ground rules are different.
If you try to do both, the result will be something that isn’t really all that entertaining, nor is it as educational as it could be.
My mistakes were in not understanding these differences, and in trying to do both.
This clip showing the surgical drainage of a Bartholin’s cyst was among my very first video shoots. I did some things right and I did some things wrong.
The lighting could be better. I didn’t understand that with video, ambient, soft light is better than intense directed light from a spot or a gooseneck lamp.
I used a tripod to support the camera. That was a good plan. Always use a tripod.
I mechanically zoomed in on the Bartholin, believing that it would add drama. But drama wasn’t necessary and the choppiness of the zoom is distracting. Better to have just made a simple editing cut to a closeup view.
But the biggest problem with this video is that the surgical hands are sometimes blocking the view of the camera lens.
This was my fault. I had one of my partners perform the actual surgery while I did the filming, but didn’t give enough direction in how to do the surgery for the camera’s benefit. Today, I would have explained all this, and stopped her every time she came close to blocking the view.
I think the strongest aspect of the video is the actual incision and drainage of the cyst. You can clearly see the procedure, and get a sense of how much pressure is required based on the surgeon’s efforts to get the scalpel to penetrate into the cavity.
In discussing marsupialization, it would have been better, in some respects, to have a clip of the actual procedure, but I didn’t have it. My judgment was that a simple graphic could convey the necessary information. I still think that’s right, although the graphic could be better. It oversimplifies the procedure.
The Word catheter insertion was OK in the end, but once again, the surgeon’s hands blocked the camera’s view of the insertion.
The last problem with this video clip is the line of extra video signal along the bottom margin of the image.
This appears because the original video was shot in analog format, and in the conversion to digital, this extra line was created.
Today, I would just zoom in slightly during post processing, or cover it up with a black bar and the lines would disappear. At the time, I didn’t know about this.