Who films a device for newborns so that nobody feels uncomfortable?

The neoBLUE nova is a phototherapy device for newborns — blue light against jaundice. What was needed: photography, a brochure and a product film. We shot on location at the hospital in Vöcklabruck.

The first: real babies, not dolls. That is the harder route, logistically and humanly — a baby does not perform on cue. The second: trained performers rather than amateurs. We keep our own pool, and the criterion is qualification: people who do this for a living and know what they are doing. With clinical staff on camera you can see the difference immediately.

• Several babies on site, a fast crew, and a running order settled in advance. Fail to plan, and you plan to fail.
• Photographer and videographer worked side by side — one lighting setup, two sets of results. Rather than building twice and interrupting the ward twice.
• Performers from our own pool, chosen on qualification.
• Retouching in house, with a job of its own: making the blue therapy light read. Blue light on pale skin is the case where a camera and the human eye agree least. What looks striking in the room turns into a colour cast on screen.
• Brochure laid out, product film cut — from the same material.
• German, Spanish and French, each with native speakers. Plus square crops for social channels.

One shoot day that produced photography, a brochure and a film in three languages. Not three appointments, three quotes and three trips — and not three occasions to disturb a ward with newborns on it.

Photography, retouching, typesetting and film sit in the same house here. That is why one lighting setup can serve both, and why the same frame works in the brochure and in the film. Buy those crafts separately and you buy four appointments and four invoices — and end up with images that do not quite match.