Helping YOU preserve your precious family stories on video.
Workshop participants listen to an explanation by
Family Legacy Video president Steve Pender. To learn more about the workshop, click here.
Welcome
to the
May issue!
May is Personal History Month, a time to rededicate ourselves to preserving
our family stories and family histories. There are many ways to do this, of
course, but my preferred method (this will come as no surprise) is through
video.
Video can bring your personal and family stories to life in a way no other
methods can. And with prices for gear and software falling daily, families just
like yours can create your own family history videos - or hire someone to do it for
you. As always, Family Legacy Video stands ready to help. Check out all our
products and services at
www.familylegacyvideo.com.
I hope you enjoy this issue of the Family Legacy Video™ Producer's e-Newsletter.
As always, please
e-mail me at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com or phone me toll-free (1.888.662.1294) with
any questions or comments you have.
Family Legacy Video is becoming a well-known name to
listeners of KGVY radio (1080 AM), thanks to weekly appearances by Family Legacy
Video's Steve Pender. At approximately 8:20 AM each Monday, Steve takes to the
Southern Arizona airwaves to tell listeners how Family Legacy Video can help
them preserve their precious family stories on video.
If you haven't been able to hear Steve's broadcasts, don't
fret. You can listen to them 24/7 by visiting the
radio page of the Family
Legacy Video Web site.
Steve was also recently interviewed, this time over the
phone, by a reporter for EventDV, a magazine serving event videographers.
Steve's comments will be featured in an article about video biographies. The
article should be published this summer.
Video, lighting and sound equipment came out of
the storage closet in April as the focus of the Family Legacy Video workshop
shifted from preproduction to production.
During the April 16 session, workshop
participants learned the basics about lights and reflectors, cameras, tripods
and microphones. The session on April 30 led off with instruction on interview
techniques. Students then set up and conducted brief interviews and practiced
videotaping family photos.
Postproduction takes center stage in May, when
attendees will learn the basics of video editing. Spots for the postproduction
sessions are still open.
Preliminary plans are underway for a weekend
workshop in Tucson sometime this autumn. This workshop will have sessions aimed
at consumers, as well as those who are new to, or would like to start, their own
businesses creating family legacy videos. If you'd like to attend, e-mail Steve
Pender.
Genealogies. Family trees. Family pedigrees. Journals. Memoirs. These are all
valid and valuable ways of passing on information about our personal and family
histories. What they don't do, however, is allow us to experience our ancestors
in the flesh - to see and hear them tell their stories. As a visual storyteller,
I consider the facts and figures uncovered by genealogy researchers and
illustrated in family trees to be the bones that make up the skeletons of our
family histories. The sound of a voice, the physical
mannerisms, the personality that shines through a video recording - these add flesh to those skeletons and connect us, in a truly emotional way,
to the person we're watching on screen.
I am truly grateful that I have memories of my grandparents and
great-grandparents. In the theatre of my mind I can hear them speak and laugh
and see them gesture and move in their own unique ways. I am saddened, however,
by the fact that there's no way I can make someone else hear and see these
memories of mine. Now, however, for the first time in history, we consumers have
access to technology that allows us to create living, breathing video legacies
of ourselves and our loved ones, both to enjoy now and to pass on to our
children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and generations yet unborn.
Video is a wonderful and powerful tool for preserving our precious family
stories and storytellers. If you haven't started planning your first family
history video, I urge you to start. When you're finished, I guarantee that you,
and your family, will be mighty glad you put some flesh on those bones.
Free
sound effects: A sound idea for your next family history video
Have you ever thought about what an important role sound plays
in our lives? For those of us fortunate enough to be able to hear, sound is a
vital part of our existence, one we often take for granted. As I type these
words, I hear a myriad of sounds around me: the tappity-tap of my keyboard keys;
the whir of the fan in my computer; the distant cry of a quail; the chirps and
twitters of a variety of other birds; the far-off rumble of a passenger jet.
Sound truly adds richness and depth to our daily sensory experience, and, when
used creatively, sound can also enhance your family history video.
You can use sound effects in a variety of ways. Thunderous
explosions accompanying photos of the attack on Pearl Harbor can introduce a
segment on World War II in a very dramatic fashion. The throaty bellow of an
ocean liner can add some life to a shot of the ship your grandparents took on
their honeymoon cruise. The sputter and backfire of an antique auto can lend
humor to that picture of your great-grandfather posing with his prized Model T.
Companies specializing in creating sound effects have been
around for years. And while you can buy sound effects collections, there are
some perfectly good low- and no-cost options available. If you have access to the
Internet, open your browser and search for "free sound effects." You'll find a
number of sites offering sound effects you can download for free. If you don't
find what you're looking for online, see what your local library has to offer.
It may have sound effects included in its audio collection.
As you plan your family legacy video, don't forget to consider
sound effects. They can bring an added dimension to your family history video
viewing experience.
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.
You'll see a window containing a video screen with controls and a list of clips.
Decide which clip you'd like to view and click on the correct speed (High, Mid,
Low) to match your Internet connection. In the bottom right of the theatre
window is a list showing the appropriate speed for your kind of
connection.
Enjoy the clip!
Select another clip or close the theatre window.
The Family Legacy Video
Theatre is always open, and YOU decide when the show begins.
Q:
Dear Steve,
I'd like to include a lit lamp in the background of a family interview - I just
think it would look really nice. But every time I experiment with a lamp, it's
way too bright. How can I make this work?
- - Mike P.,
Rahway, New Jersey
A:
Hi, Mike.
First of all, you're right. Lamps, whether set on a table or standing somewhere
in the background, can add a very pleasing visual element to your interview. The
key is to dim the light enough so that it blends into the shot. You can do this
two ways. First, you can buy a selection of low wattage bulbs and see which
looks best on camera. Second, and what I really recommend you do, is to buy
yourself a dimmer. You can get one at your local hardware store for around
thirty dollars. You'll want a dimmer that plugs into an outlet, not the kind
that you need to wire into your light. Using a dimmer is easy. Just unplug the
lamp, plug the dimmer into the outlet, and then plug the lamp into the dimmer.
Turn on the lamp, then adjust the brightness using the dimmer switch. Do this
while watching a monitor and you can "dial in" just the right level of
illumination.
Got a
question about any aspect of family history video production?
Send it to Steve at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com.
