Medical Video Production for Mindray: Telling the Story of Mobile ECPR in Paris
How do you film a life-saving medical procedure that can only take place during a real emergency?
That was one of the central challenges when we worked with Mindray on a three-day production at Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris. The film explores the work of SAMU de Paris and mobile extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR), while showing how Mindray technology supports medical teams working against time.
The project became part of our long-term collaboration with Mindray and helped expand our work together into several other European countries.
The Project
ECPR is a rescue therapy used in severe cases of cardiac arrest, temporarily taking over the function of the heart and lungs.
SAMU de Paris is among the teams that have developed the capability to bring ECPR beyond the hospital and directly to patients in emergency situations.
Mindray wanted the film to communicate the advantages of its technology — including the TE Air handheld ultrasound and AR glasses — accurately and convincingly, while going beyond the visual language of a conventional medical product video.
Our goal was to combine medical accuracy with a more cinematic, human approach to storytelling.
The Production
We spent three days filming at Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris with a three-person production crew.
I directed the production and led the principal photography, including an interview with Dr. Lionel Lamhaut and filming with medical professionals attending an international ECPR workshop.
Working in an active medical environment required a small and flexible crew. It also meant communicating closely with doctors and the client throughout the production, adapting our shooting plan around the realities of the hospital and the availability of medical professionals.
Recreating an Emergency That Cannot Be Filmed
One of the biggest challenges was showing ECPR itself.
A genuine ECPR procedure happens during a life-threatening emergency. Waiting for a real cardiac arrest was neither practical nor appropriate for the production, and filming a real patient undergoing the procedure would raise significant privacy and ethical considerations. The procedure can also be visually graphic.
We therefore developed another approach.
Doctors from different countries were already gathering at the hospital for an ECPR workshop. We used this opportunity to recreate an emergency scenario with experienced medical professionals and a medical mannequin.
This gave us much greater control over camera placement, timing and visual storytelling while allowing the doctors to demonstrate the procedure in a way that remained close to real clinical practice.
The result was a sequence that could communicate the urgency and complexity of ECPR without involving a real patient.
Finding the Human Story in a medical video production
During production, we made another important creative decision.
Explaining how ECPR works and showing medical technology could make the film informative, but we felt that technology alone did not fully communicate what was at stake.
We therefore introduced the story of a real cardiac-arrest patient whose life had been saved through ECPR.
His experience gave the medical procedure a human consequence. The film could move from technology and emergency response to the reason those systems exist in the first place: a person surviving an event that might otherwise have been fatal.
Bringing this story into the film gave the project greater emotional depth while keeping the technology grounded in a real-world outcome.
Making Medical Technology Cinematic
Throughout the production, we wanted to avoid treating Mindray's technology as a collection of isolated product shots.
Instead, the TE Air handheld ultrasound and other technology are shown as part of a wider system involving doctors, information, equipment and rapid decision-making.
Our approach was to make the film cinematic without sacrificing credibility.
That meant using lighting, camera movement, composition and editing to create a strong visual language, while ensuring that the medical professionals and technology remained at the centre of the story.
For a healthcare film, we believe the two need to work together: strong images attract attention, but accuracy and authenticity are what make the story convincing.
A Long-Term Production Partnership
This project was part of an ongoing collaboration between Mindray and our production team.
For an international company producing content across different markets, consistency matters. Mindray works with us not only for the quality of the final films, but also for reliable production and efficient communication throughout the process.
Our experience working across countries and cultures is an important part of that relationship.
Through our international network of filmmakers and production professionals, we can combine a consistent creative and production approach with local knowledge and crew in different markets.
Following the Paris production, our collaboration with Mindray expanded further into several other European countries.
This allows an international client to work with a familiar production partner while adapting each shoot to a different location, culture and production environment.
The Final Film
The completed film combines interviews, a reconstructed ECPR emergency, medical technology and the experience of a real survivor to tell the story of mobile ECPR in Paris.
Video Production Across Europe
We produce corporate films, branded content and healthcare videos for international companies and organizations across Europe.
For projects spanning multiple countries, our production network allows us to provide local production capabilities while maintaining consistent communication, creative direction and production standards from one project to the next.
Planning a production in Amsterdam, Paris or elsewhere in Europe? Get in touch to discuss your project.
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