Congestive heart failure is a common illness affecting 1-2% of the population in developed countries. Due to the recent attempts to replace animal models, as well as the poor predictive value of animal models in heart failure. The development of a new in vivo heart model is critical for the development and testing of new drugs. The HeartCHIP project aims to develop such a model. As part of the development process different analyses need to be developed for characterisation of heart muscle cells. For this purpose, more traditional methods such measuring the action potential can be used. But newer methods such as measuring the contraction by means of optical imaging are being developed and tested. In this paper, image analysis characterisation of cardiomyocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells are explored. Using images recorded from transmission light as well as fluorescent beads the movements of a monolayer of cells is tracked and analysed. Next to this, the potential for live cell imaging of actin structures during contraction is explored, allowing the study of sarcomere compaction during contraction.