A smiling family, their glasses raised in a holiday toast. It's a typical family scene, in this case captured with the technology available in 1950: a black & white still camera. Today we have the benefit of video technology that can capture far more than just silent, frozen moments in time. Here are some tips on how to get those holiday shots that will help you create a holiday video your family will treasure:

• Start wide. A standard video technique is to start every scene out with a "master" shot. Simply put, this means first recording the entire scene as a wide shot. If you're taping a party or a dinner, for example, set up your camera so you have a view of the entire room and everyone in it. Then start recording. If the camera is in a secure enough place you can even walk away from it for a couple of minutes so you don't call attention to the fact that you're taping. Set the camera on a bookcase, or on top of a TV, anything that gives you a panoramic view of the room or area. Even a tripod in the corner of the room can work; while people may notice it at first, they'll get used to it and ignore it after a while.

• Let people be themselves. Walking up to people, sticking a camera in their faces and telling them to act naturally is a sure-fire way to suck the spontaneity out of any shot. If you know your subjects are a bit skittish around cameras, hang back a little bit and use your camera's zoom control to get that closer view instead of thrusting the camera into the middle of things. On the other hand, if your subjects are comfortable around you and your camera, don't be afraid to move in close. You can even engage them in conversation if it suits you.

• Don't be afraid to direct. While you want to intrude as little as possible on a family scene, there may be times when a little direction is called for. Maybe you have an idea for an opening for your video - let's say you want to show a long line of relatives, arms filled with presents, filing in through the front door. Don't be afraid to tell everyone what you want them to do and enlist their cooperation. Set up your camera, place everyone where you want them to be, tell them what they need to do and where they should go after they do it. Then cross your fingers, press the record button and yell "action!" Remember to have fun and also accept the fact that you're not working with professional actors. Be happy with what you get on one or, at the most, two tries.

• Look for special moments. In every family gathering there are countless small, precious moments that help tell the story of your family. Maybe it's a grandmother reading to her first grandchild, or a group chatting and cooking in the kitchen, or your cousins hanging holiday lights on the porch. Keep your camera close by. When you see moments like these, don't hesitate to capture them on tape. An added plus is that when people are having fun and are truly engrossed in what they're doing, they're less likely to notice you and your camera (and if they do notice they'll be less likely to care that you're taping). Case in point: Years ago I was hired to shoot a profile of an insurance salesman. He was a wonderful, elderly gentleman. We spent a day with him and his family and, as my crew was packing up, I saw the salesman's granddaughter sit down at the family piano and begin to practice. I quickly asked the salesman to join his granddaughter at the keyboard and hustled my cameraman over to the scene. The result was a lovely moment with grandpa and granddaughter enjoying some private time - totally oblivious to the camera.

• Vary your shots. Shoot your subjects and action from below, above, straight on, from behind and in profile. Change your focal lengths from shot to shot, moving from close to wide. The more variety you have in the way you frame your shots, the more visually interesting your finished video will be. You can use the flip out monitor on your camera as a view finder to help you get those ultra high or ultra low shots you wouldn't be able to get if you just relied on your camera's eyepiece.

• Have fun. Enjoy yourself. Relax. Laugh. If your family sees you, the cameraperson/director, having a good time, the more likely they are to relax and join in the video fun with you.

PS - Don't forget to stock up on tape and to keep those batteries charged!

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Family Legacy Video's raison d'être is video biography - so it's not often the Producer's e-Newsletter features book reviews. This month, however, I'd like to pass along the good word about two personal history-related books I feel will make great gifts this holiday season. The books are American Nightingale and Pebble in the Water, both by author Bob Welch.

First, some background: On October 5, 2006, during the opening session of the annual conference for the Association of Personal Historians, I experienced a keynote address that was the most inspiring I've ever heard. The speaker was Bob Welch, a columnist for The Register-Guard newspaper in Eugene, Oregon. His talk chronicled his experiences researching and writing his book, American Nightingale - The Story of Frances Slanger, Forgotten Heroine of Normandy.

Who was Frances Slanger? She was the first American nurse to die after the D-Day landings. She was killed during an artillery barrage, just one night after writing a letter to Stars and Stripes, a letter that praised American GIs. The ripples that resulted from that letter were profound. It inspired many grateful soldiers to write letters to Stars and Stripes thanking and praising Slanger and led, in short order, to a hospital ship named in her honor. It's a fascinating, inspiring and heartwarming story about a woman who refused to let adversity (growing up during WWI in Poland) and prejudice (Slanger was Jewish) deter her from her following her calling - service as a nurse, first in a Boston hospital and then on the WWII battlefields of Europe.

In American Nightingale, Bob Welch offers up a personal history book that reads like a novel. I highly recommend it.

Pebble in the Water is a companion piece to American Nightingale. In Pebble, Bob describes his three-year effort to research, write and promote American Nightingale, the story I first heard in "nutshell" form during Bob's 2006 keynote address. The title is taken from a poem by James W. Foley, a copy of which was found in Frances Slanger's scrapbook:

Drop a pebble in the water; just a splash and it is gone;
But there's a half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on,
Spreading, spreading, from the center, flowing on out to the sea
And there's no way of telling where the end is going to be.

For budding authors, the book will be an eye-opener to the process of researching, writing and promoting a book on a budget that was "shoestring" at best. For the rest of us, the book serves to reflect the truth contained in the poem, a truth we see reinforced each time a serendipitous meeting, phone call or event occurs that helps support Bob's efforts to take American Nightingale from dream to reality.

I've experienced ripples like this in my own life. Although I didn't realize it at the time, my "pebble drop" came in 1998, when I created a video to celebrate my grandmother's life. I never would have dreamt the video biography I produced about my grandmother would impact my family as greatly as it did. The video continues to comfort a family that misses Gram dearly. It serves as a living legacy, keeping her images and stories vivid for generations to come. The video also helped spawn Family Legacy Video, Inc., the company that allows me to pursue my passion: helping others preserve their precious personal histories on video. So the ripples continue to this day.

Pebble in the Water is a great read. And chances are you'll find yourself putting down the book now and again in order to reflect on the splashes and ripples that have influenced your life.

To find out how to order American Nightingale and Pebble in the Water, e-mail Bob Welch at: info@bobwelch.net or visit his Web site: http://www.bobwelch.net/.

- - Steve Pender

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