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Newsletter Archive
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October 2004 |
Helping YOU preserve your precious family stories on video.
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Steve Pender adjusts Mary Lou Palmer's
microphone before videotaping her life
story, as cameraman Dan Crapsi
readies the shot.
See Helping Hand.
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Welcome to the
October issue!
October is here, autumn is in full swing and
soon the frost will soon be on the pumpkins. Temperatures are even cooling a bit here
in Tucson, Arizona. What isn't cooling, though, is my passion for helping you
capture your precious family stories and history on video. I'm busily preparing
for Family Legacy Video's first workshop, being held in the Old Pueblo (that's
Tucson, by the way) on Saturday, October 16 (customers get in free).
I'm also researching two new products and services and would love
to know if either of them interest you. Please let me know.
Enjoy your October. I hope you're on the receiving end of far more treats than
tricks.
Cheers! - - Steve Pender
PS: Find past newsletters on the Family Legacy Video
newsletter
archive page. |
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Join the Family Legacy Video
workshop
on October 16, 2004 |
 On
Saturday, October 16, FLV president Steve Pender presents
"Lights, camera, action: How to produce your own
family videos." Workshop attendees will be treated
to an
overview of the video
production process and learn
tips for organizing and producing family
videos.
Steve will also demonstrate lighting, interview and
editing techniques, and answer questions.
Workshop details:
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Date: October 16, 2004
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Place: Arizona Small Business Administration office,
4811 E. Grant Road, Suite 261. The office is at the Crossroads Festival shopping
center at the northeast corner of Grant and Swan. Enter the double doors just
east of T-Mobile, under the "Offices" sign.
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Time: 9AM - Noon (registration from 9 to 9:30)
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Cost: $10 or FREE admission with the purchase of the
Family Legacy Video™
Producer's Guide on CD-ROM prior to the event (one admission per guide). The
deadline for ordering reservations and guides is Thursday, October 14. If you're
ordering the guide and you plan to attend the workshop,
just type "workshop" into the Additional
Information/Comments box when you order.
NOTE: If you've already purchased the guide on CD-ROM, you get in free! Simply
call or
e-mail Family Legacy Video to let us know you'd like to attend.
Click here for complete workshop details.Table of
contents
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Feature story - Your life changing event. Share it and record it
for posterity. |
Think your life story isn't worth preserving? Here are
some thoughts that should make you reconsider.
YOUR LIFE CHANGING EVENT
by Tom Gilbert
Something has happened in your life that is shaping everything you are and do.
If that is not true in your life then it just hasn’t happened yet. It’s
inevitable that at some point in this journey we call life there will be a life
changing event. It may be your marriage, or the birth of your first child.
Perhaps it will be overcoming some great trial, like a serious illness or
life-threatening addiction. For many it is the loss of a loved one, through
death or separation. Often it is the experience that brings you to a faith in
God, or that "something bigger" than all of us.
You may be thinking, "Well, that’s
true, but actually I’ve had more than one such life changing event." Great! Not,
"great" in the sense of celebration if any of these events were painful and
traumatic, but "great" in the broader appreciation that such events have for
stretching us and helping us to experience the fullness of life. You see, we
experience that fullness even through loss.
One of the valuable reasons for
preserving your life story is because in the process you will confront these
life changing experiences. You will discover how they affect your beliefs, your
actions and the way you view life. Sometimes returning to these memories helps
you grow. This can be especially beneficial if any of the events in your past
are holding you back from truly living life to the fullest.
Not only do you owe yourself the
benefit of knowing what has most impacted your life. You really have an
obligation to share that with others. We are not meant to live in isolation.
Each of us has something to contribute to others. You may never make world
history, be famous or rich or any of the other things the world often tells us
are important. However, if your children, your parents, your spouse, siblings,
relatives, friends, coworkers and even complete strangers are deprived of any
beneficial lessons from your time on the planet then it is a loss for all of us.
When you decide to record family
history, write your life story or help someone else do the same you should
always attempt to capture the essence of life changing events. Be open and
honest with yourself or your interview subject. Certainly be sensitive. The
greatest drama in life is there. Our best life lessons are learned from hearing,
seeing or reading these stories.
Get Started on telling your story.
Copyright 2003 Tom Gilbert – Tom
Gilbert runs the Your Life is Your Story Web site:
http://www.your-life-your-story.com/. He also publishes an outstanding
online newsletter. To subscribe:
http://www.your-life-your-story.com/free-ezine-newsletter.html
Table of
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Need assistance with your next family video? Family Legacy Video provides a
helping hand. |
 Family Legacy Video is dedicated to providing you with the tools
and information you need to create your own family videos. BUT, if you can't or
don't want to deal with the technical stuff like taping and editing, Family
Legacy Video stands ready to offer those services. Case in point: After deciding
they didn't have the resources to create their own video, Dick and Mary
Lou Palmer recently hired Family Legacy Video to help them preserve their life
stories. Steve Pender and his Family Legacy Video crew spent an enjoyable
September afternoon interviewing the Palmer's at their Tucson home. Next, Steve will creatively
combine the Palmer's interviews with photos, music and graphics to create a
precious Palmer
family video keepsake on DVD.
If you're not in Tucson - don't worry. Family Legacy Video can
come to you. So if you need a hand, contact Family Legacy Video. Steve will be
happy to explain how you can put FLV's production and postproduction services to
work for you to create a living family legacy of your very own.
Table of
contents
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The
show never ends at the Family Legacy Video™
Theatre! |
The Family Legacy Video™ Theatre is the online theatre where
you can watch all the video clips streaming from the Family Legacy Video Web site.
Decide which clip you'd like to view, choose High, Mid or Low quality to
match the speed of your connection (High or Mid for broadband), (Mid or Low for
dial up), then settle back and enjoy the show. The Family Legacy Video™
Theatre is always open and you decide when the show begins. To visit
the theatre, click here.
Table of
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| Family Legacy Video products: Try a trio! |
The Family
Legacy Video Trio: A Value-Packed Threesome
The
Family Legacy Video™ Producer's
Trio puts all three of Family Legacy Video's great products into your
hands for one low price.
The Trio includes -
The Family Legacy Video™
Producer's Guide: This CD-ROM takes the mystery out of video production and puts you
in the producer's chair. Offering easy-to-follow, step-by-step professional
techniques that show you how to organize and produce your own family history
video.
The Family Legacy Video™
Producer's e-Guide: A condensed, downloadable file that provides an overview of
the family video production process. Perfect for passing out to other members of
your family video team.
Family Legacy Video™
Producer's Music: 18 songs you can use as background music in your home video
productions. Listen to samples of all the songs on the Family Legacy Video Web
site.
Buying each product separately adds up to $42.85. The Trio is yours for
$35 - that's a savings of $7.85. Visit Family Legacy Video to
learn more.
Table of
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| New product ideas: What do you think? |
Family
Legacy Video is researching one new product and a new service.
The new product: Graphic elements you can use
as backgrounds in your videos. The graphics, both static and moving, would come
on CD.
The new service: Film to video transfers. FLV is looking to
partner with a Tucson company specializing in transferring family films to
videotape and DVD.
Please let us know if either of these offerings appeals to
you. Simply e-mail Steve Pender at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com and tell him "yea" or "nay."
Thanks!
Table of
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Ask
Steve - This month: Low cost video editing software. |
Q:
I'd like to take a crack at editing my family history video. Is if there any
video editing software available that would be easy for a beginner to learn and doesn't
cost an arm and a leg?
- - Chris M., Fairfield,
New Jersey
A:
Chris, believe it or not, you may already have some video editing software in your computer. Windows XP machines come with a
program called Windows Movie Maker. For you Mac folks, Macs with OS X feature a program called iMovie. Both of these programs
give you basic editing capabilities. They allow you to import video from a digital video camera (as long as your computer is equipped
with a digital video input). You can sequence video clips, add transitions from one clip to the next and include narration, music
and titles. Then you can burn your finished program to a DVD or send it from your computer back out to your digital camera if you
want to record your show on videotape. Both programs are pretty easy to learn and use.
Let me stress, however, that Movie Maker and iMovie are very basic programs. If you want to get fancy and layer video on video (for
instance if you want to dissolve from an interview to another piece of video while still listening to the interview) you'll need a program
that's a little more robust.
Two companies to check out are Ulead and
Roxio. Ulead makes VideoStudio™ 8. I just saw it listed online for $99.95 and you may
be able to snag it on sale somewhere for less. Ulead offers a free download version so you can test drive the software before you buy. Ulead also makes something called CD & DVD PictureShow, which you may want to try if your main interest is in creating slide shows with music
and burning those shows to disc. PictureShow is also available as a free trial download.
Roxio offers stand-alone video software called VideoWave® 7 Professional, which I saw retailing online today for a sale price of
$49.95 (normally $79.95). Roxio also makes a suite of programs called Easy Media Creator™ 7
($79.95 list price) that also includes photo editing software.
If you already have iMovie or Movie Maker you may want to play with them first to see if they meet your needs. Then,
if you find you want to do more, step up to Ulead or Roxio. But please, do your due diligence first.
I'm mentioning these two companies because the prices of their software seem
right and I've read some favorable reviews. I urge you to visit the
company Web sites, read software reviews,
make sure your computer meets the specifications of the software and then
decide for yourself.
Finally, if any of you newsletter readers out there have
experience with Ulead or Roxio or with under $100 software from another
company, please e-mail me with your opinions and reviews. I'd love to share
them in future newsletters.
Got a
question about any aspect of family history video production?
Send it to Steve at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com.
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Copyright 2004, Family Legacy Video, Inc. All rights reserved.
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