Chocolate, flowers, a heart-shaped card and a candlelit meal are all the standard trappings of a Valentine’s Day celebration. But it’s about time another item was added to the list. I’m talking about video.

Why video? Because the love story you share with your wife, partner or significant other is special and unique. It deserves to be told and preserved and shared. And video provides the perfect medium to do just that.

Here are some ideas:

Surprise your partner. Record your remembrances of your first meeting, your courtship and, if applicable, your wedding or civil union. Talk about what makes him or her special and how he/she has enriched your life. Don’t be afraid to let your emotions show. Then, add some music and photos to your on-camera appearance, put the finished video on a DVD and wrap it in a beautiful gift box. Then, play the DVD as soon as the box is opened. A romantic present like this will knock your loved one’s socks off – and his/her appreciation for the video will last long after the chocolates are gone.

Make it a team effort. Using one or two cameras, expand on the idea above by videotaping your reminiscences together. You and your sweetheart are sure to have a lot of fun during the taping – and you may even uncover a few surprises as you compare stories and memories.

Say it in pictures. If you’re a person of few words, create a photo and music montage for your partner. You might start with photos of your lives before you met, and then progress to courtship, marriage, civil union, etc. The right photos, accompanied by the perfect melody, will touch your true love’s heart and remain a valued keepsake for years to come.

Finally, don’t forget your parents! If your parents or grandparents or favorite aunts and uncles are still alive, why not preserve their love stories? They’ll thank you for it, and you’ll be creating more inspiring videos to add your family history video collection.

If you have a desire to learn hands-on video biography tips and techniques from the pros, you’ll want to join one or both of Family Legacy Video’s video biography events this April:

Create Your Own Video Biography (April 17-19): A comprehensive introduction to the video biography production process. Steve is joined by video veterans Dan Crapsi and Ginny Temple. You’ll leave this three-day event with the inspiration and information you need to start your own video biography project.

The Business of Video Biographies (April 20): Steve shares his experience in the video bio business, answers your questions and helps you brainstorm ideas for your personal history video business. Graphic designer Dan Blumenthal shows how to create two keys to marketing success: a logo and a graphic identity for your company.

Why attend a Family Legacy Video workshop?

Our workshops are unique – the only ones we know of that focus entirely on the video biography process.

The workshops are comprehensive – leaving you with knowledge and hands-on experience that will jumpstart your video biography hobby or business.

The workshops are great fun – you’ll have a blast learning professional video biography tips and techniques AND you’ll meet some terrific people.

Family Legacy Video workshops don’t happen every day – our April workshops are the only ones we’ll hold this year.

The Early Bird registration deadline is March 6. We need a minimum of 12 registrations by this date in order for the workshops to go forward. The earlier we reach the minimum, the earlier we can give the “all clear” to buy those non-refundable advance purchase tickets to Tucson. Plus, you’ll save when you sign up at the discounted Early Bird rate. If we don’t reach the minimum, don’t worry. You’ll receive a prompt refund.

You’ll find complete details on Family Legacy Video’s workshop page.

“The work that personal historians do is sacred. It’s the work of the soul. It’s blissful and heartfelt work.”

So said James Walsh as he began his presentation at an annual conference of the Association of Personal Historians. Walsh teaches history at the University of Colorado in Denver. He focuses on the oral tradition. This tradition – passing along history through the stories of the participants – is near and dear to the hearts of all of us creating video biographies, whether we do it as a profession or as a hobby.

Walsh continued by recounting an African proverb that says there are two stages of death. The first stage is sasha. Sasha are people who have passed away physically – but the living still remember them and tell their stories. So the sasha are not yet dead. The second stage is zamani. Zamani are people who have also passed away physically. However, the living no longer remember them, nor do they tell their stories. Zamani are truly dead.

What a powerful proverb – and it connects perfectly with the quote at the beginning of this article. Speaking for myself, the work I do as a personal historian, as a video biographer working through Family Legacy Video, does make me feel blissful and is certainly heartfelt. It is indeed sacred and the work of the soul. And it is dedicated to making sure my clients and my family remain sasha, not zamani, after they depart this physical world.

And yet there are many who feel they have nothing to say, that their life stories don’t merit telling and preserving. To this I offer another story related by James Walsh. He was a young man from a Pennyslvania steel town, blue collar through and through, plopped down in the middle of Duke University thanks to a wrestling scholarship. He had little in common with his classmates and felt quite insecure in class. As a result he sat in the back, saying little.

One day, his professor pulled him out of class. “Walsh,” asked the professor. “Why aren’t you talking in class?”

“Well professor,” the young man answered, “I guess I don’t think my ideas are very good.”

With that, the professor slammed down his fist. “Let me ask you this,” he exclaimed. “How many people in the history of the planet will ever see the world from your perspective?”

Walsh thought for a moment and then answered, “No one.”

“So,” said the professor. “If you won’t tell us what the view is like, who will?”

Exactly – who will describe the unique views and perspectives of your life, or those of your parents, grandparents or other relatives if you or they do not?

The answer is obvious. By capturing and preserving our stories through video biographies we celebrate our unique views of the world and of our places in it. We share and relish our video bios while we’re alive. And then, after we depart this earthly coil, our stories, as told by us, remain to be enjoyed by future generations of our families, keeping our memories alive, connecting our family past with its present and future – and keeping us sasha.

If this isn’t sacred, the work of the soul, I don’t know what is.

If you’ve already started preserving your family storytellers on video, bravo! If you haven’t begun yet – start. Now.

And remember that Family Legacy Video is here to help.

You’ve just completed combining all the visual elements of your first video biography. Everything is in place – the interviews, narration, photos, text, etc. But don’t breathe a sigh of relief yet – the audio mix is next! Maybe you have only two tracks of audio (interview and music) or perhaps you have three, four or more tracks holding various interviews, music cuts and sound effects. No matter how few or how many tracks you need to combine, the prospect can be a bit daunting. Here are some tips that may help.

Take it one layer at a time.
Think of the audio portion of your project as a layer cake. Instead of trying to mix together everything at once, concentrate on adding to the mix one layer at a time.

Voice first.
The voice track is the most important audio element of your piece. So start by turning off or disabling all the audio tracks except for the track that has the interview. You’re not deleting these other tracks, mind you, just temporarily turning them off so you hear only your interview. After you’ve done this, play your video from beginning to end, adjusting the voice levels along the way. Your editing software should have a visible VU meter that shows the audio levels as you go. Your aim is to keep your voice levels sounding natural, consistent and, most important, out of the red! If they peak into the red area of your VU meter, go back and adjust the levels so they stay in the green. Red levels will result in unpleasant snaps, crackles and pops when you convert your video to a DVD.

Music next.
Once you have the level of your voice track where you want it, turn on the track containing your music. Remember, the music’s purpose is to set a tone (historic and/or emotional) that supports the interview. So don’t blast your levels or make them too faint. Aim for a balance that enhances the interview and doesn’t drown it out. And continue to keep an eye on your levels. The combined level of the voice and sound will be higher than the level of the voice alone. You may have a mix that sounds great but peaks into the red. If that happens, go back and lower the voice and music until they’re in the green.

Sound effects last.
The time to mix in your sound effects is after you’ve mixed your music and voice. By now you should have the hang of this audio mixing routine and are keeping an eagle eye on your audio levels.

One final note: A successful mix actually begins when you start editing your video. Be logical about how you lay out your audio tracks as you edit. For example, if you have one interview put the audio for that interview on one track only. Assign one track (or two or more as needed) as your music track and put your sound effects on another track. If your editing software allows you to name your tracks, do so. Having your tracks clearly labeled and organized will make it easier for you to layer them when mixing time comes.

Video biographies are certainly wonderful ways to capture and preserve your precious personal stories and family history. They also tend to generate surprise benefits as well. Here are a few examples from Family Legacy Video’s files:

Uncovering an Olympic moment.
Mary-Lou and Dick are a wonderful couple here in Tucson, Arizona. Mary-Lou’s dad was a track star for Cornell around 1910. He also ran in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. During the course of producing their video biography, the couple asked me if I thought there might be film of the 1912 race. I checked with the International Olympic Committee – and sure enough, they uncovered a film clip from that long-ago event. Long story short: A copy of that race, on DVD, now occupies a place of honor in Mary-Lou and Dick’s family archives. By the way, when Mary-Lou, who is in her eighties, watched the clip of the race, it was the first time she saw her dad run. Her reaction: “You can’t imagine what a thrill it was to see Dad running. That was an amazing thing you did for us but it meant the most to me. Thank you again and again.”

Reconnecting with family.
Doug hired Family Legacy Video to create a video bio featuring his mom, Marion. She detailed events that her kid sister never knew occurred. After watching the video, her sister and other relatives rekindled their relationships with Marion. Here’s how Doug described what happened: “Mother’s only surviving sister, who is seventeen years younger, was not aware of the Washington adventures and many other items that the three older children had experienced. Mother and her sister are now much closer because of the video. Many nieces and nephews with whom she’d had little contact are now in touch with her again. Thank you for providing us with a Family Legacy Video that will be passed down and enjoyed by our family throughout the coming generations.”

Inspiring a new interest in family history.
Family Legacy Video recently taped a conversation between two brothers, Will and Pren. They had a great time recounting their family history and adventures. The project inspired Pren to do even more to preserve his family history. According to his daughter: “One of the hidden benefits of this project was the search for family photos to include in the video. I really enjoyed looking through them all with my parents, and labeling them for future generations. What a treasure! I am so glad we did this now. My father has been so inspired that he has taken on a new project – he found boxes and boxes of slides in the basement of his Illinois home and has been scanning them. He’s really enjoying it and it’s been great to see those old photos too.”

Finally telling the full story.
Len made his fortune in Peru, arriving there early in 1940. He had many fascinating adventures, both business and personal, to relate. He was most interested in detailing his business success. At the end of his interview (which stretched over three days) he had this to say: “I am very appreciative. I look forward to giving my children my background. I’ve always told them a little bit here and a little bit there, but never the complete story.”

Every video biography project Family Legacy Video undertakes results in benefits like those above. So don’t wait – get started on your family video biography project today. The benefits, both apparent and unexpected, will thrill you.

Occasionally customers ask me to edit interviews they’ve shot themselves. I’m only too happy to help them turn their raw interviews into more polished videos. Unfortunately, I can’t do much about the picture quality, which usually suffers from insufficient lighting and hollow, low-level sound. Most of the time, there’s also a third problem: shot composition. Now, even if you don’t want to bother with lights and you’re happy with the sound off your camera’s onboard microphone, the one thing you can do to flatter your subject is to properly compose your shot.

Very simply, shot composition is the way you frame a picture. For some reason, many amateur videographers frame their subjects very widely. A wide shot showing the interview subject from head to toe can certainly serve to introduce your subject and his/her location, but it doesn’t bring a quality that’s desirable for a conversation, either in person or on video. That quality is intimacy.

Think about it. During most of your conversations, you’re only a few feet away, at most, from the person to whom you’re speaking. While you’re conversing, you’re looking in each other’s eyes and reading facial expressions. These visual cues, in addition to the content of the conversation, draw you in and help maintain your interest. You should strive to provide viewers of your video interviews with this same “up close and personal” experience.

Here are some tips for composing a more intimate interview:

• No wide shots, please. The widest you should frame your subject is from the waist up.
• Change your shots. At the beginning of the interview, pick three focal lengths – medium (from the waist up); medium close up (from the chest up); and close up (from the neck up). Switch between these shots while you ask your questions to give your interview some much needed visual variety.
• Place your camera lens at your subject’s eye level. Unless you’re going for some kind of special effect, don’t place your camera too high or too low in relation to your subject. Remember, when we’re seated we’re all at about the same eye level. It’s more natural when you frame your shot this way.
• Don’t try to do it all. If you’re the interviewer, get someone else to run the camera. This way, you can focus on the content of the interview while someone else pays attention to the composition. It’s very tough to do both things at once.

Tucson’s Family Legacy Video, Inc., a pioneer in the personal video biography field, is holding two unique video biography workshops in Tucson in October, 2008.

From October 17 to 19, a three-day workshop entitled “Create Your Own Video Biography” ushers attendees through the process of creating their own family history video projects. Participants will learn how to draft questions, light, shoot and conduct interviews and prepare for editing.

On October 20, Family Legacy Video presents “The Business of Video Biographies.” This one-day workshop is aimed at budding video biographers interested in starting their own businesses. Topics ranging from the kinds (and costs) of video gear required, to marketing and pricing services will be discussed.

Family Legacy Video president Steve Pender hosts the two workshops, which will also feature presentations by the Phoenix production team of Dan Crapsi and Ginny Temple and Tucson-based marketing expert Dan Blumenthal. Pender is an award-winning scriptwriter, video editor, director and producer with over 29 years of experience. He is the author of the Family Legacy Video Producer’s Guide.

Discounted “early bird” workshop registration is being offered until July 28, 2008. The final registration deadline is October 4, 2008. Complete workshop details are available on the workshop page of the Family Legacy Video Web site or by calling 520.743.4090.

I’d like to put my parents’ stories on a DVD, but what happens when DVDs become obsolete? How will future generations of my family play the video?

I hear variations of this question all the time. My short answer is always, “Don’t worry, preserve your family history using the technology available to you now. Don’t let fear of future technologies keep you from capturing your family stories today.”

I say this for a couple of reasons. First, history shows that, as audio and video recording technologies evolve, so do ways of transferring older technologies to the new. Second, “elderly” technologies tend to exist side-by-side with the new kids on the block for years.

My opinions on this subject were recently reinforced in a very delightful way when Arlo Guthrie brought his “Guthrie Family Legacy Tour” to Tucson. He took to the stage with his son, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter to celebrate a musical legacy begun by Arlo’s dad, Woody Guthrie.

Woody Guthrie left behind a huge body of work. But, as Arlo told the audience, one thing his father’s legacy lacked was a concert recording. Nowhere was there an audio record of Woody’s interaction with an audience – or so the family thought, until a gentleman walked into the Guthrie Archives office with an old wire recording of a Woody Guthrie concert performance in New York City, circa the 1940s. Wire recorders predate magnetic audiotape – and yet this vintage performance now exists on a CD which will shortly be released for sale.

After telling this story, Arlo treated the audience to a couple of minutes of his dad’s on-stage banter. The moment was magical. As Woody’s voice filled the theatre, there were, in fact, four generations of this musical family represented on stage. And why was this possible? Because someone, nearly 70 years ago, had the foresight to record Woody’s performance using the technology on hand.

So don’t be inhibited by thoughts of what “might be” when it comes to technology. Preserve your stories on video now. The future will take care of itself.

“I want to get started in the video biography business, but I need experience. Where do I get it?” It’s a common refrain and one I hear often from Family Legacy Video readers and customers. I usually suggest starting out by practicing on family and friends. But here’s another option, one that will help preserve the stories of U.S. veterans and give you valuable interviewing experience.

It’s the Veterans History Project. Its mission is to locate and interview veterans to record their stories. Whether you plan to create video biographies as a hobby or as a business, one of the most important things you need to do is to learn your craft. And volunteer opportunities like the Veterans History Project are a great way to learn by doing. The Veterans History Project is sponsored by the U.S. Congress and the interviews are housed in the Library of Congress. The main goal of the project is to collect first-hand accounts from U.S. veterans of the following wars: World War I (1914-1920); World War II (1939-1946); Korean War (1950-1955); Vietnam War (1961-1975); Persian Gulf War (1990-1995); and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (2001-present).

You’ll find complete information at this Web site: http://www.loc.gov/vets/.

Taking part in the project is a great way to “learn on the job” and add to the historical archives of the United States.

Tucson’s Family Legacy Video, Inc., a pioneer in the personal video biography field, is holding two unique video biography workshops in Tucson in April, 2008.

From April 25 to 27, a three-day workshop entitled “Create Your Own Video Biography” ushers attendees through the process of creating their own family history video projects. Participants will learn how to draft questions, light, shoot and conduct interviews and prepare for editing.

On April 28, Family Legacy Video presents “The Business of Video Biographies.” This one-day workshop is aimed at budding video biographers interested in starting or growing their own businesses. Topics ranging from the kinds (and costs) of video gear required, to marketing and pricing services will be discussed.

Family Legacy Video president Steve Pender hosts the two workshops, which will also feature presentations by the Phoenix production team of Dan Crapsi and Ginny Temple and Tucson-based marketing expert Dan Blumenthal. Pender is an award-winning scriptwriter, video editor, director and producer with over 29 years of experience. He is the author of the Family Legacy Video Producer’s Guide. Pender and Family Legacy Video have been featured in both print and broadcast. Print: The Explorer News, the Arizona Daily Star, EventDV, a leading video industry trade magazine, and Miami Monthly Magazine. Broadcast: “Arizona Spotlight” on KUAZ AM/FM and Fox News in Arizona.

Discounted “early bird” workshop registration is being offered until February 29, 2008. The final registration deadline is April 1, 2008. Complete workshop details are available on the workshop page of the Family Legacy Video Web site, or by calling 520.743.4090.