Helping YOU preserve your precious family stories on video.
Video biographies provide a great way
to share vintage family photos. See story below.
Welcome
to the April issue!
From Family Legacy Video news, to a fun new memory exercise,
to a great referral reward offer and more - this April issue is jam-packed!
I hope you enjoy this issue of the Family Legacy Video™
Producer's e-Newsletter. Please e-mail me at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com or phone
toll-free (1.888.662.1294) with any
questions or comments you have. Visit Family Legacy Video on the Web at:
www.familylegacyvideo.com.
Family Legacy Video's Steve Pender recently joined the Smart Women’s Café as a
Contributing Expert. The Smart Women's Café is a new and exciting online
networking and coaching site tailored to women. Site founder Katana Abbott
invited Steve to join the Café after following his video biography work for
almost a year via the Family Legacy Video Web site and e-Newsletter. Steve is
part of the Designated Daughter Tea Room, where he will offer advice related to
creating life story legacies on video. He'll also be interviewed for a Smart
Women's Radio podcast this May.
The ancient Pharaohs celebrated their legacies with monuments of stone. Now,
thanks to Family Legacy Video, you can preserve your legacy video in a
custom-crafted case inspired by the pyramids.
We call them Pyramid DVD cases, and they're made to order for us by a gifted
wood artisan here in Tucson. Our Pyramid cases are unique and offer a very
high-end and exclusive storage option for our video biography clients. Visit our
Pyramid page for more photos and information.
He's a young man, neatly dressed in white shirt, vest and
tie. He's the proprietor of a 1920's era grocery store, somewhere in Elizabeth,
New Jersey. He leans confidently against a case containing what looks like bowls
of fresh and dried fruit. The top of the case is piled high with packages of
Williams Bread and boxes of Ward's Cakes. Canned goods line the shelves to his
right and bins for Sunshine Biscuits are stacked on the floor to his left. A tin
ceiling is overhead; a long bunch of bananas hangs in the background.
The young man is my maternal grandfather. The photo is one I
didn't know existed until just moments before I sat down to write the April
e-Newsletter - literally. I'm still bowled over by it.
Y'see, I've always heard that my aunt, who lives half-way
across the country from me, has a small stash of photos featuring my
grandparents and great-grandparents. I've even seen some photocopies of them.
But when I began working on my mom's video biography, I decided to make an
effort to get photo quality scans of everything my aunt has. I contacted her
daughter (my cousin) to ask for her help. She lives in a rural area in Kentucky
and doesn't own a computer or scanner. Luckily, her community does have a
Walmart with a photo kiosk. Not a frequent Walmart shopper, she promised to scan
the photos whenever she got around to visiting the store. I thanked her and put
the photos out of my mind.
Long story short: The Picture CD arrived in today's mail. It
contained seven photos, one of which featured my grandfather in his grocery
store. What makes the shot special for me is that it shows my grandfather at
work; I don't have any other work-related photos of him. I also never knew he
ran a grocery store; I'll have to see if I can find out more about that.
What I'm most grateful for, though, is that now I'll have the
chance to share all of these photos with the rest of my family. And by including
them in my mother's video biography they'll have a life that'll span
generations, and a context that will give them meaning.
My mission in life is to help individuals, families,
businesses and organizations preserve, celebrate and share their memories and
their stories. But once in a while, as a change of pace, it's fun to delve into
my own memories. I do this using a technique I call a "memory stir." It's pretty
simple, actually. I sit down and ask myself a question meant to prompt a
recollection or two. It can be amazing what memories float to the top once I
start "stirring."
So let's have some fun. For the next few months, I'll include
a "memory stir" exercise in the e-Newsletter. I'll describe the memories I stir
up - and invite you to do the same. I'd also love it if you e-mail me the
results of your stirs so I can publish them.
This month's topic: Your most memorable store as a child.
What do you remember about it? What made it special?
The store that comes to mind for me is W.T. Grant, on Main
St. in the town of Rahway, New Jersey. When I was growing up in the 1960s,
Rahway had a thriving downtown and Grant's was part of the mix. Some
impressions: Old, single-story building. A slightly musty smell (not unpleasant)
wafts out as the door opens. Thin-planked wood floors creak underfoot. Vintage
tin ceiling. The main floor is stocked with linens and clothing; house wares,
radios and toys are on the basement level. I feel a sense of excitement
every time I descend the stairs to the basement - probably because that's
where the "neat" stuff (radios and toys) is.
But there's one, specific memory related to Grant's that'll
stay with me forever. I'm with my mom. She's shopping for something, maybe a
tablecloth or some curtains. She doesn't see what she wants on the sales table.
A salesman, neatly dressed in slacks, jacket and tie asks if he can help. She
describes what she's after. He crouches in order to slide open the door to the
storage bin under the table. But - before he crouches, he reaches down and
hikes the legs of his pants up just a bit - to give his slacks some slack,
if you will. Well, I'd never seen a guy do this before. The action seemed so
effortless, practical and "grown up." Needless to say, the next time I wore
slacks I copied the salesman's technique. And I've been doing it ever since.
Get the idea? Let me know what memories you stir up!
The Family Legacy Video Theatre™ is the online theatre where
you can view all the video clips streaming from the Family Legacy Video Web
site. The clips you see there will surely inspire you with ideas for your family
video, plus you'll get to see Steve Pender talk about his passion for family
history video in two television appearances. This month, two clips join the
line-up. The first is an "oldie but a goodie." The title is "Burnt Peas." It's
an excerpt from the very first video biography created by Steve Pender and it
always brings a smile to audiences during Steve's video biography presentations.
The second new addition is "Hometowns," in which a Tucson husband and wife
describe their childhood towns.
Ask Steve - This
month: Some notions about motions.
Q: Dear Steve,
Two questions that you might help with. Using Adobe Premiere Elements, is it
possible to zoom and pan at the same time on a still image? If I have a group
shot of, say, 20 people and want to zoom/pan to a specific person (in the third
row), how do I do it? Also, during our workshop last spring, you showed an
advancing dotted line on a map to indicate where your client traveled (in
Europe, I think). How did you do this?
- - Wil W., Phoenix, AZ
A: Hi, Wil.
Yes, you can zoom and pan. You do this by using the motion menu associated with
the still image and by setting keyframes. You’d start your motion
sequence by positioning the photo where you want it to start and setting a
keyframe or keyframes for its position and size. Then you move along the
timeline, let’s say to where you want the motion to end, and then resize and
reposition your shot and set another keyframe, one keyframe if you’re only
changing position, two if you’re changing position and size. If you then go to
the beginning of the sequence and play, you’ll see the move happen. You will
need to render it. Try searching Adobe Help for more information on motion
effects and/or keyframes.
As for the growing dotted line, I created a series of frames
in Photoshop with the dotted line at various lengths, layered over a map. I then
imported these frames into Premiere and sequenced them to give the impression of
the line growing.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Cheers, Steve
Got a question about any aspect of family
history video production?
Send it to Steve at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com.
