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Video biography Webinars continue. |
They came from the east coast, the west coast and points in-between - even as
far away as British Columbia. The event that attracted this international group?
The first session of Family Legacy Video's summer video biography Webinars, an
online class that these geographically dispersed folks attended without leaving
the comfort of their homes and offices. Family Legacy Video's president, Steve
Pender, hosted the class. Steve provided an overview of the legacy video
production process and set the stage for future sessions in the series.
Reactions to the class were overwhelmingly positive. According to one attendee:
Thank you for doing this. I've done personal interviews and audio taped
interviews for years, but wanted to do video interviews and appreciate this
opportunity. I would like to do this as a business, because I love learning
about people and helping others learn more about them, also. There are so many
ways this type of skill can be used. I'm all excited about the next class, now!
Thanks again for continuing to evolve to include your followers. BTW, you did a
beautiful job of blending answers to questions into your lesson.
All the classes are being recorded.
So if you'd like to join the series, you can register for future classes and
receive links to the recording of the sessions you've missed (contact Steve if
you'd like to do this). Or, you can sign up for individual classes.
You'll find complete information on Family Legacy Video's
Workshops &
Webinars page.
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Did
you ever play Wiffle Ball? Growing up, it was the summer pastime of choice in my
suburban New Jersey neighborhood. Every day, kids would congregate on the side
street by my house, choose sides and have at it. Games were noisy affairs,
punctuated by lots of arguments over close calls, and could last for hours. It
wasn't unusual for us to suspend a game for dinner and then reconvene
afterwards. In fact, I remember finishing one game under the glare of a
neighbor's headlights.
It was a pretty safe game, too, thanks to the hollow plastic
Wiffle Ball. It would glance harmlessly off just about anything it hit.
The exception was Mr. Daly's tulips.
Mr. and Mrs. Daly lived on the other side of the street. They
were a very pleasant, elderly couple and they tolerated us kids pretty well.
Unfortunately, Mr. Daly insisted on planting tulips outside the chain link fence
bordering his backyard. He was quite proud of those tulips and the bright red
and yellow blooms they provided each spring - and he became quite upset whenever
a sharply hit foul ball lopped the top off one of them. Or two. Or three. Not
that we wanted to damage the flowers; they were just innocent bystanders that
occasionally got caught in our Wiffle Ball crossfire.
The 1960s, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Daly, are long gone. But a
recent experience brought all those memories back to me. In early July, my wife
Halina and I traveled back to New Jersey to visit family. One day, we drove
through my old neighborhood. I couldn't resist stopping to look at my old house,
now vastly enlarged from the little bungalow in which I grew up. I walked around
the house and took a few pictures - and it wasn't long before I caught the
attention of one of the neighbors, who probably figured I was casing the place
for a robbery.
He strolled over, a glass of beer in hand, and asked if I
needed some help. I introduced myself and told him I grew up in the
neighborhood. We started chatting, and soon I found myself in the middle of a
small crowd of neighbors, answering questions about what things were like in the
old days, and who used to live where. During the course of our chat, I mentioned
our Wiffle Ball games and the many tulips we beheaded.
Finally, the time came to say goodbye. As I was about to
leave, the neighbor currently living in the Daly's old house said, "You know,
I'm glad you mentioned about the tulips. They keep sprouting up and I had no
idea where they came from."
As Halina and I drove away, the thought of those tulips - Mr.
Daly's legacy to the neighborhood - filled me with a warm glow. The experience
reminded me that legacies can take many forms, be they video biographies or
tulips - and that they enrich and inform the lives of the generations that
follow.
Nice job, Mr. Daly.
- - Steve Pender
Family Legacy Video is proud of the premium video biographies
we create for our clients. In order to highlight the quality of our work and to
demonstrate the possibilities for you, we've posted samples from a variety of
our custom legacy videos online in the Family Legacy Video Theatre™.
How do you visit the Family Legacy Video Theatre™?
Simply go directly to the Sample Clips page
of our Web site. There you'll find a video player,
consisting of a monitor with playback controls and a list of available clips.
Here's how it works:
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Click the large red arrow in the monitor. Clips will play in order from
the top of the list.
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OR - click on the individual titles below the monitor to play the clips in any
order you like.
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Raise and lower the sound using the slider control (short red bar) below the
monitor on the right.
-
To the right of the audio bar is what looks like a little square surrounded by
arrows. Click on this to expand the video to full screen.
You'll need the free Flash Player to play the videos.
Enjoy the show and please let us know what you think of the new video player!
Remember, the Family Legacy Video
Theatre™
is always open, and YOU decide when the show begins.
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Ask Steve - This
month: Music copyrights. |
Q: Dear Steve,
I'm a big fan of your work and I enjoy your newsletters! I want to thank you for
the great and meaningful work that you do. I've got a question that I'm hoping
you can answer. I noticed that some video biographers use popular mainstream
music (copyrighted) and some do not. I read the "Fair Use" act and I don't
understand what the determining factor is for each biographer. In examining the
four factors of "Fair Use," it would seem to me that music clips and background
music for family videos would be considered fair use. Can you shed any light on
this issue for me? Thanks a lot!
- - Katheryn W.
A: Hi, Katheryn.
Thanks for your compliments – much appreciated. First, I’m not a lawyer – so
please don't take what I say as legal advice. I have heard some copyright
lawyers speak on this subject and I’ve done some reading as well. Based on what
I've learned, my bottom line when it comes to music use is this: I don’t use
anything to which I don’t have the rights. When it comes to video and film,
there’s something called “synchronization rights.” Essentially that’s the right
to synch music to a moving image. This is different from the right to just
listen to a piece of music, which is the right you purchase when you buy a CD or
pay for a download. Synchronization rights, especially for popular music, can be
very expensive. That’s why you’re better off using cuts from stock music
libraries that you either purchase royalty-free or license. There are also
software packages that help you build your own musical scores by layering rhythm
tracks and music samples. Or you can commission original music.
That being said, many video biographers and event
videographers use popular music routinely because (1) their clients want to use
popular tracks and (2) there is no easy and economical way for small companies
like ours to buy annual blanket licenses from the major music publishers. I
don’t use popular music in my video biographies. I license a music library and
find that it meets my creative needs nicely. If a client were to insist on using
popular music, I’d be willing to research the cost (for a fee). If the cost was
agreeable, then we’d add it to the budget. Exceptions would be songs and
performances of those songs that are in the public domain.
If you’re creating video biographies for a fee, then you are
profiting by using an artist’s music. That artist deserves a piece of the pie,
too. If you’re producing a video for free that nobody except a few family
members will see, then music rights really aren’t so much of an issue – just
don’t go posting that video on the Web – that can open a whole other can of
worms.
Good luck!
Cheers, Steve
Got a question about any aspect of family
history video production?
Send it to Steve at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com.
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