Award-winning video touts dermatologists’ training

Las Vegas - For one dermatologist, the hands-on approach has helped not only in growing his practice, but also in making a video that’s been honored by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) for promoting the specialty of dermatology.

“Many consumers don’t understand the amount of training that goes into becoming a board-certified dermatologist,” says H.L. Greenberg, M.D., owner of Las Vegas Dermatology. “My video emphasizes that training and helps credential us as The Experts in Skin Treatments,” which was the theme of the 2013 ASDS contest that the video won.

With its colloquial tone and upbeat backing tune, the 60-second video emphasizes that dermatologists spend eight post-college years - including three after medical school - training to treat the skin.

“The video is something that we as ASDS members, dermatologists and dermatologic surgeons can all agree is positive and uplifting,” says Dr. Greenberg, whose 80-plus videos have garnered more than 900,000 total views on his YouTube channel (YouTube.com/lvderm).

The contest gave him a chance to put his long-standing passion for videography and filmmaking to work. In creating the clip, Dr. Greenberg says, “I was inspired to use the tools I had learned working with a filmmaker friend in Las Vegas, Philip Marcus. I wrote the script and created the video using Final Cut Pro X for Mac (Apple), making key frames, moving slides into place and adding word frames and pictures.”

To record his script, “I hired a voiceover professional. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the inflections correct, so I purchased a Yeti USB mic (Blue Microphones) and used the GarageBand application (Apple) to record my voiceover for the video.”

Dr. Greenberg recorded 10 takes, then cut and pasted together the best portions of each. For the background music, “I used a song that I had created in GarageBand called ‘Indian Maracas Funk.’”

The entire process took about 10 hours, earning him a $2,500 prize and a mention in the ASDS Currents newsletter.

Since then, Dr. Greenberg has made a copy of the video, including the name of his practice, for his website, where it has captured more than 400 views. As for the original ASDS video, “It’s downloadable (vimeo.com/76719699) and can be used by anyone on their website.”

Disclosures: Dr. Greenberg reports no relevant financial interests.