Helping YOU preserve your precious family stories on video.
Steve Pender stands ready to greet
Family Legacy Video booth visitors. (See the story below.)
Welcome
to the February issue!
It's month number two of 2007 and I hope the
planning for your first or next video biography is well underway. And, since
this IS the month of Cupid, I feel duty bound to remind you to be sure to
include your wonderful family love stories in your family video chronicle!
This month we take a look at Family Legacy Video's latest
promotional outing, offer some tips on using family music in your video and
answer a question from a reader in New Zealand.
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.
Cheers! - - Steve Pender
PS - We have had some problems this past month with Family
Legacy Video's mail server. If you've had e-mails bounce back or go answered -
please try again OR give us a call at our toll-free number. Sorry for the
inconvenience.
Family Legacy Video makes a
splash at Tucson's Lovin' Life Expo.
Boy, did I have a great location at this year's Lovin' Life
Expo, held on January 15 in Tucson, Arizona. As luck would have it, Family
Legacy Video was assigned a booth right next to the coffee dispensers. And, when
the doors opened at 9 AM, most of the hundreds of attendees made a beeline for
the java. In no time at all, the line for liquid caffeine slowed to a crawl,
giving everyone time to look over the Family Legacy Video booth. I couldn't have
planned it better.
Lovin' Life Expos are held at various locations around the
U.S.A. The exhibits are geared to the 50+ market and include everything from
casinos to retirement communities to health care and, of course, video biographies.
Family Legacy Video's booth featured two video biographies that
ran constantly throughout the day, displays of video bio packaging, copies of
Family Legacy Video's DVD sampler and sign-up sheets for free consultations and
for the Family Legacy Video Producer's e-Newsletter.
I had a great time at the show and enjoyed chatting about video
biographies with expo-goers. To those of you who requested a free consultation, I'll be phoning
you soon!
Use old family music recordings to score your video.
Music can lend emotion and a sense of time and place to any
video biography. And if any of the subjects of your video biographies are
musicians, you may be able to use some of the music of their lives to lend a
very personal touch to their video life stories.
Here are two examples:
A Family Legacy Video Workshop veteran recently finished a
video biography that featured her father. Her dad had been a mandolin player and
had belonged to a mandolin club during his college days. Years later, he was
recorded playing and discussing his favorite tunes. This reel to reel audio tape
was eventually copied to CD. His daughter then incorporated the words and music
from this wonderful family
keepsake as a featured element in her family history video.
The father of a current video biography client was an amateur
musician. He wrote a tune that his daughter, an accomplished pianist, later
recorded. The song, and the story behind it, will be included in the daughter's
video biography, preserving it for generations to come.
So while you're considering what to include in a video
biography, don't overlook the opportunity to use some of those vintage family audio
recordings that have been gathering dust for years. You'll give those audio
tapes new life. In turn, they'll bring an added dimension to your production -
and help you "score" with your family.
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.
Ask Steve - This month:
Sharing questions before an interview - an update.
Q: Dear Steve,
I'm in New Zealand. I'd like your advice on what equipment we'd need to do some
life story videotaping of older people in the local rest home/hospital/hospice.
Camcorders, editing machine, etc.
I'd much appreciate any help you can give us.
Thank you !
- - Ayran D, 68-year-old, retired, Auckland, NZ
A: Hi, Ayran.
The basic equipment you’ll need for your video project:
Digital camcorder: You’ll want a camera that records
on miniDV tape. The camera should have a digital connection (called FireWire or
iLink) that will allow you to feed your video into a computer. You’ll also want
an input for a microphone and a headset connection.
Tripod: A steady platform for the camera is a must.
You’ll want a video tripod, with what is called a “fluid head.” This is sturdier
than a tripod designed for a still camera and allows you to smoothly pan and
tilt the camera.
Microphone: A lavaliere mic (also called a lapel mic)
is best. You pin this mic to a shirt, blouse or jacket. You can usually find an
inexpensive lapel mic at a consumer electronics store.
Computer: I highly recommend a computer with a
separate hard drive dedicated to your video material. You should have a minimum
of 250 GB of storage. The faster the processor you can get, the better. Try for
at least 2 GHz. Before purchasing editing software, I’d experiment with the
video editing software that may already be on the computer. If you have a
Windows machine running XP, you may have Windows Movie Maker. If you have a Mac
with OS X, you should have iMovie. These are very basic programs that will give
you a feel for editing. If you want to move on to something more advanced, I’d
recommend Adobe Premiere Elements for Windows. It is an inexpensive program
(under $100) and is very full featured.
Lighting: You should probably get a book on lighting
for video or search the subject online. Some basic lighting will enhance the
picture and flatter your subject. Even if you decide you don’t want to purchase
or rent lights, some basic knowledge of how light affects your picture is
certainly worth having.
Good luck on your projects and thanks for your interest in
Family Legacy Video!
Cheers, Steve
Got a question about any aspect of family history
video production?
Send it to Steve at
steve@familylegacyvideo.com.
Boy, did I have a great location at this year's Lovin' Life
Expo, held on January 15 in Tucson, Arizona. As luck would have it, Family
Legacy Video was assigned a booth right next to the coffee dispensers. And, when
the doors opened at 9 AM, most of the hundreds of attendees made a beeline for
the java. In no time at all, the line for liquid caffeine slowed to a crawl,
giving everyone time to look over the Family Legacy Video booth. I couldn't have
planned it better.
