DIY Family History Video Pt 3: Post Production Choices

OK, this is the third part of our series on DIY life story, tribute video and family history video. Today, we are going to tell you how to handle some of the bigger questions that will arise in the post-production phase of your family history video project.

Part 1 of this series covered a slew of choices that you will face in the pre-production phase of your personal documentary. And Part 2 of this blog series took you, dear reader, through key choices that are likely to present themselves in the production phase of a tribute video.

POST-PRODUCTION PHASE CHOICES

“Post production” really just means the editing phase of your family history video project. So the first question is which is the best editing suite?

Which editing suite is better: A. Adobe Premier or B. Apple Final Cut?

Well, the best answer here is: it’s the devil you know. Starting out, we used all kinds of programs, including iMovie, Sony Vegas, Windows Movie Maker and some others too (mentioned below). And by and large, they are all pretty good. But if you are starting out from scratch:

B. Final Cut Pro. It’s well supported by Apple, they teach it in most of the technical colleges I am aware of, it is used in a lot of pro documentaries and has even been used on feature films (Cold Mountain is one). We use it every day, even for slideshows and some audio projects. Not perfect, but perfectly serviceable.

A. That said, Adobe is a great company, “Adobe Premier” runs well on PC and it has a ton of fans. It is from Adobe which also make Photoshop and After Effects – so there will be good integration there. (Also, a lot of pros have recently been turned off Apple editing because of the big changes in Final Cut Pro X. Those changes make the program easier to use for newbies (the new interface reminds a lot of editors of the relatively simple iMovie) but the changes frustrate long term users who have gotten used to the old look and functionality. Many ofthem fear that Apple’s runaway success in consumer devices is sapping Apple’s interest in the “pro” market.)

(Another Final Cut competitor – which still does handles most feature films – is Avid, which company – up until recently – was not very interested in the smaller film makers. Definitely worth a look though.)

What about other editing software?

There are a lot of other programs out there that the profession video editor will have, that definitely help your editing or solve certain problems, and that you may want to explore as you improve on your main editing software.

Those programs include: Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Color, Compressor, and many others. If you are going to bring in other video elements then “MPEG Streamclip” is the Swiss Army Knife for video that you will be glad to have packed. Then, you will need a decent DVD authoring program… (the list is pretty much endless).

Music: Can’t I just use A. iTunes or must I buy B. Royalty free?

B. No surprise here: it’s got to be royalty free. There are a ton of providers – and various blogs and industry group websites have the names and recommendations for a goodly bunch.

A. Small video professionals dream of the day when the music publishers provide a workable service for the cottage video maker – like an iTunes for production music. But it hasn’t happened yet.

Voice over and narration: Is it A. Just a distraction or B. Does it add to the project?

B. The conventional advice about documentary film making is that as far as possible you should let your subject tell his/her/its own story; and better than telling is showing. The best stories unfold, and are not presented in a “news package” style.

And we agree with that, mostly. Where the text books suggest you should consider narration is:

Where you make a real gain in production value (i.e. the voice gives the audience a break from the main – or only – interview and is itself a nice asset – think Peter Coyote or James Earl Jones);

Where the subject is unable to tell their own story (animals come to mind here or family stories reaching back to ancestry); and

Where it is important to cut to the chase or summarize a long event.

We often use narration for the opening of a project, and then use it sparingly later on.

A. I have no quarrel with those who use no voice-over. Ultimately, it’s a personal choice and one often dictated by convenience or cost. Your Story Here does not charge extra to use our own voice as narration, but we have paid between $150 and $650 for voice over talent.

If I turn pro, should I: A. Allow the client to make copies of the project as delivered or B. Should I try to restrict them?

A. We don’t try to restrict clients from burning their own disks from copies we provide. By and large, clients who want extra disks call up and we provide them at a cost that is fair.

If you make a nice product, with a printed disk and an artistic DVD cover, chances are the client will want to buy copies from you. Seeking to place restrictions on copying, to protect what in most cases will be a very small incremental profit, seems mean spirited to me. But we accept that opinions will differ here.

What’s Next?

If you have come this far, and read each of the three articles in this series on DIY life story, tribute video and family history video, then you will be well on your way to gaining the knowledge and confidence to start you own project.

And when it comes to recording and preserving family history, don’t let a pursuit of perfection be the enemy of the good (and good enough). A good family history is much better, and more valuable to the family now and succeeding generations later, than that perfect project that somehow never got done.

Filed under: DIY Tips & Advice, family history video, DIY, family history video

How to Make a Tribute Video Pt 2: Production Phase

This is the second part of our series on making your own life story or “tribute” video. The first part – DIY Life Story Video: Preproduction – looked at some of the major choices as you plan your tribute video.

Now, we move on to the main course: location, make up, sound and lighting, and video recording! Also known as the “production” phase in the film making process.

PRODUCTION PHASE CHOICES

Location, location, location: A. Stay in the living room or B. Get out and about?

B. I like to get the video camera outside in my life story videos. It allows you to not just have the subject tell their story but it allows them to show it also; and it ultimately makes the whole project more interesting for the family audience.

A couple of points about shooting for a tribute video outdoors: schedule the outside day before the inside day – that way if it rains you have some flexibility. I seldom worry about city approvals (which normally require you to show proof of insurance) – although would not discourage people from obtaining them. Street and traffic noise is often a big issue – so I make sure that I always re-ask important questions once we are inside – just in case the audio is unuseable. And if you are driving the subject anywhere, you should obtain a liability release.

A. And I film in the living room too.

---

What about Looky-loos: Is it A. Better to have a member of the family present or B. Is it better to interview the subject on their own?

B. On their own, generally. Family members are often curious, but can be a major distraction if the subject calls out to check an answer. Also, you are less likely to get especially revealing answers if the subject is in front of an audience. When filming a couple, I usually do them separately first and then together. And, where possible, you will want to preserve some element of surprise in the finished tribute video.

A. There can be times when, because of frailty or excessive anxiety, you will want another person present. For example, if you are filming in an assisted living care facility, you don’t want to order out the nurse (or the son or daughter) because you certainly do not want to assume responsibility in case of a medical emergency.

---

Do I need to A. Worry about hair and makeup or B. All that is the responsibility of the client.

A. Early on, I thought the answer was B. I thought I had enough to worry about without having to obsess about clothes, hair, weight and wrinkles. But experience taught me otherwise. If the client is unhappy with how the subject looks, you will get some of the blame whether you like it or not.

So, I usually advise my female subjects to have their hair done and I advise about the kinds and colors of clothes that will look the best (no plaid, no stripes, solid colors but no pink, avoid lace and ruffles; for men and women dark jackets are always good and if a man wants to wear a blazer and a tie I encourage that).

On the day, if I am filming the tribute video at the subject’s house, we may go to the closet and I will pick something out. Weight? Distorting the video about 5-7% in the vertical direction can have a remarkable slimming effect! Wrinkles? Applying a soft focus filter (a la Doris Day) can help, as can avoiding strong and direct lighting during the interview.

B. Most of my clients aren’t that fussy. But B is still the wrong answer! So I always carry a makeup bag which I most often put into effect for bald headed men, or men with that red (drinker’s) scalding!

---

Equipment: A. Rely on the inbuilt camera mic or B. bring your own lavalier microphone?

B. They say that the modern audience is more sensitive to (and less tolerant of) bad audio than bad video. So you gotta get some lapel mics (called “Lavalier” mics in the biz). Really, you must not rely on the in-built microphone.

---

Equipment: A. Natural light or B. Stage lighting for your tribute video?

A. Life story videos aka “tribute videos” are really documentaries. And there is no reason that you cannot rely on natural or even artificial room lighting providing you 1. Don’t have a strong source of light coming towards the camera; and 2. you “white balance” your camera. At the most basic level, you should have a menu option for “outdoor” and “indoor” lighting. Make sure that is set to the proper setting. For the more advanced life story video documentarian, you can point the camera to a white card and manual balance the whites (see your video camera manual for details).

B. If you do have access to video lights, then using them will take out any anxiety you may have that your subject is not properly lit. If you are using artificial lights, you will need to color balance your camera and it never hurts to follow the rules of 3 point lighting: First, a strong light at around 45° and elevated slightly above the level of your subject; a second, weaker, fill light on the other side of your subject; and a strong, third light coming from behind (but not directly into the camera) to provide a subtle rim of light that separates your subject from their background.

And position your camera such that you are shooting towards the shaded side of your subject and make sure they have nose-room in the frame.

Good luck! And if you need any help just click on over to us here at Your Story Here Tribute Videos and we’d be glad to lend a hand!

Postscript: One more thing. I sometimes get asked about sources for archive photographic images on the web that can be used in tribute videos and other multimedia projects. I recently wrote an article summarizing my favorite sites to find free web images called something like “Web Images – Best Sites to Source Free Images”. Enjoy!

Next time: Part : Post-Production Phase for your DIY Life Story Video

Filed under: DIY Tips & Advice, tribute videos, DIY, video tribute

DIY Life Story Video: Pre-Production

You will find a number of great tips and pieces of advice on this blog for making your own life story video – just browse “Recent Posts” or search the archive using “DIY”. Today we are going to go a little deeper and give you part 1 of a 3 part series on making your own life story video.

In our experience, most things in life boil down to choices. So, we are going to give you some of the more obvious choices in relation to interviews, photo gathering and video transfer and tell you what side of the equation we come down on.

Think of your life story video project in 3 sections
First, a quick bit of industry terminology. Video (and film) production is divided into 3 stages:
1. Pre-Production: planning, writing, resourcing, timing, location selection, research etc
2. Production: lighting, filming, recording sound, etc
3. Post-Production: editing, animations, music, titles, packaging etc

OK, so you are going to make a personal documentary or a family history video for someone you know. Here are some of the basic questions that the newbie may have…

PRE-PRODUCTION PHASE CHOICES

Do I need to A. start with a script or can I B. start with a concept?
B. Most life story documentaries start out as a concept. You never really know what your interview subjects are going to say, so it’s hard – even in pro documentaries – to accurately predict the direction the film will take. One of the most important attitudes to develop as a documentary film maker is to be prepared to be led.

But you will need a plan: who you plan to talk to, what you want to ask them, where you would like to film them, what the over-arching story or concept is, and so on.

A. Scripts are de rigueur in narrative films, not documentaries. Occasionally we will write a kind of “treatment” for the subject – which may include some narrative which helps communicate the angle we plan on taking (and which may come in handy as voice over later on). We may also map out chapters and their likely content, and locations – if we plan to get the camera outside. Sometimes the end product resembles the treatment, and sometimes not so much.

Do I need to A. Meet the interview subjects beforehand or B. Just show up?

B. There are arguments both ways here. In our professional work, we always try to meet the client beforehand – and you will mostly likely know your “client”. We also try to meet the subject too (not always the same person as the client). But overall, we think you can just “show up” – particularly if you have a long list of interview subjects. You do need to work especially hard though to warm the interview subject(s) up for your life story interview – and don’t be in too much of a rush to turn on your lights and camera before you have fully explained what they can expect.

A. Meeting the subject beforehand can be useful for getting the outlines of the story. But oftentimes, the first telling of the story is the best. And your subject may feel (on a second telling) that they are going over old ground – watch out for the “as I told you before…” qualifiers that can creep in.

When getting the stories of older folks, it is more important in our opinion to talk to family members to get from them the stories that they would like told by your subject.

---

Some other considerations in the pre-production phase
Keep in mind that it is in the pre-production phase of your life story video that you are going to be gathering photos and documents and other “artifacts” of the life – as well as the names of people to interview but other assets that will help you tell the story.

In addition, you will probably want to do some ancestry research to get the genealogy right. You can easily find immigration, census and other records that can be incorporated into the video either as graphics or as props for your interview subject to look at and discuss.

And you may have old home movies – 16mm, 8mm films; or old video cassette formats like video8, Hi8 and Digital8; or you may have already had your old video transferred to VHS, S-VHS or VHS-C and then onto DVD. Old movies are a great add and if you haven’t done so already then you need to consider a video transfer or film conversion – and there are plenty of service providers out there that can help out.

---

Provide the questions before the interview: A. Yes or B. No.

B. Consistent with the answer above, we generally do not provide the questions up front. We feel you get a better answer when the person has not had a chance to rehearse (some subjects who have had the questions ahead of time keep reaching for their notes so as not to leave out an important fact).

A. There are exceptions: an especially nervous subject or one who simply demands to see the questions! Some of our subjects have failing memories (like we all do) and like to make notes ahead of time. The other exception we make is in relation to our “ethical will” type questions – we think you get better, more considered answers if the subject has had a chance to ponder.

What about photos: should I: A. Borrow and scan them or B. Film them (or photograph them) on the day?

A. In life story videos, photographs are a big part of the story. We think you need to borrow them and scan them and as far as you are able, restore them for later use in editing. Use nice, high scan resolutions.

B. You can film photos on the day – for example by having the subject looking at them and reminiscing – with you and filming them over their shoulder. And you can take digital images, either laid flat or in their frames. But all that should be supplemental. Nothing really beats a high quality scan, with dust removal and blemish correction then in editing nice, gentle Ken Burns type camera movement toward the important part of the image.

Good luck! And if you need any help just click on over to us here at Your Story Here Life Story Video and we’d be glad to lend a hand!

Next time: Part 2: Production Phase for your DIY Life Story Video

Filed under: DIY Tips & Advice, video transfers, DIY, documentary film maker, personal documentary

Family History in the Digital Age: Fine China and Lace Doilies Begone!

Let’s be honest. Family history used to be the preserve of the maiden aunts. To hear the stories we had to suffer through best china and arm chair doilies and endless digressions on medical procedures suffered by even older and more distant relatives (or worse, totally unheard of acquaintances).

The stories would come – between polite sips of tea and in a miasma of perfume and powder. As a means of enlisting the interest of the younger generations, it didn’t have a lot going for it.

Today’s younger generations are more interested in family history than ever before. The whole country is. But they are demanding that those maiden aunts (and all the rest of us who fulfill the function of family historian) get with the times. They want their family history accessible and they want it compelling.

Filed under: DIY Tips & Advice, family history video, DIY

Talking about Life Story Video “Genres”

Life story video is the kind of thing that you can write about, and talk about, but you really have to see it to know what it’s all about. Because each project is going to be different – different in terms of subject, treatment – and even genre.

“Genre”? Life story video has genres?

Filed under: DIY Tips & Advice, genres, genealogy, genres, veterans video, WWII

Personal Documentaries Explained & Simplified

Lights, Camera, Personal Documentary!

What is a Personal Documentary?
Personal documentaries are life stories told on film or video. They typically present a life from beginning to end, and often cover ancestors as well as progeny. Personal documentaries combine interview footage with photographs, historical images, documents, music, archive footage, voice-over, objects and artifacts, captions and titles, personal or home movies, maps and animations, and other media as available. Normally, they are divided into chapters and most usually they are output, or delivered, to DVD.

There are 5 rules for the would-be DIY personal documentarian.

Filed under: Biographies, DIY Tips & Advice, Personal Documentaries, DIY, personal documentary