Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue!
“Don’t you know what that is? It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”
Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Detective
Ah, spring fever! You know the feeling, I bet. Staring out of your classroom or office window at budding trees and flowers, your mind drifting off to thoughts of warm and sunny spring and summer days, ripe with possibilities, soon to come!
I’ll have more to say about possibilities, this time related to using archival stills and footage in legacy videos, in this issue. In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful spring season.
I hope you enjoy this issue of the Family Legacy Video® e-Newsletter. Please e-mail me at steve@familylegacyvideo.com or phone toll-free (888.662.1294) with any questions or comments you have.
Cheers! – – Steve Pender
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Get started on your legacy video with help from our FREE planner.
Taking a cue from the quote by our friend Mark Twain, I often get calls from folks who know they want a legacy video of some kind, but who don’t know exactly what they DO want. So, determining those wants and needs is the first step I usually need to take. Conversations and email exchanges with potential clients help me draft an inital “project description.” Once I have that, I can offer suggestions about possibilities and budget ranges.
What helps this initial process move along a little more quickly and smoothly is when a budding client has some concrete ideas in mind before first contacting Family Legacy Video®.
That’s where Family Legacy Video’s new “Your Family Legacy Video Planner” comes in.
Available as a free download, the planner provides questions designed to help you organize your thoughts and begin to visualize your potential legacy video – in short, to help you decide what you DO want. Once you’ve finished the planner, you can email your notes to Family Legacy Video®, or just give us a call. With your answers and thoughts as a guide, we can then have a productive conversation about the legacy video production process and costs.
I hope you find the planner helpful, and I look forward to working with you and your family.
– Steve Pender
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Archival research: Mining for family history gold.
Hopping freight trains during the Great Depression; seeing combat on the water, in the air, and on the ground during WWII; making maple syrup on the family farm – family storytellers have shared stories about these, and many other experiences, during Family Legacy Video® life story interviews over the years.
For family members, watching and listening to relatives relate first-hand accounts about their life experiences is special. And, when the stories are illustrated and enhanced with appropriate visuals, they can become truly impactful and compelling.
Many times, a family’s photo or film collection can supply vintage family stills and home movies to help visually flesh out a storyteller’s remembrances. But there are other instances when a family doesn’t have these resources, or needs to supplement them.
That’s where Family Legacy Video’s passion for archival research comes into play.
If a family desires, and the budget allows, Family Legacy Video® will scour a wide variety of sources in an effort to turn up photos and films that depict the places, times, and events figuring in family histories. Including images like these truly helps bring stories to life, and lends a “big-budget” look and feel to personal legacy videos.
Most often, the visuals discovered during archival research depict events in a general way. For example, the newsreel footage of folks hopping freight trains that plays when Grandpa talks about his experiences during the Great Depression don’t actually show HIM riding in a boxcar.
But, sometimes, research turns up nuggets that do just that. Here are three examples.
AN OLYMPIC MOMENT
Mary-Lou’s father was a junior in college when he crossed the Atlantic to compete in the 1,500-meter run in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He had already set collegiate records in the mile run. He broke the record for the 1,500-meter Olympic run, too. Unfortunately, so did his competitors. He finished fourth, supposedly due to a lingering case of seasickness.
Mary-Lou, who had never seen her dad run, wondered if any footage of the race existed. After searching a variety of stock footage libraries, Family Legacy Video’s Steve Pender contacted an archivist for the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland. Amazingly, a short film clip showing the race was squirreled away in the IOC’s vaults. For a small fee, the IOC provided a copy of the clip.
In a heartfelt note, Mary-Lou expressed her thanks: “Steve, 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 & again.”
HOME ON THE RANGE
Isabelle and her husband George were busy business people from the state of Washington. In 1949, they were driving home from a job in Mississippi when they passed through Tucson, Arizona. Needing to take a break, they stopped at a guest ranch. They fell in love with the place and returned twice a year for the next forty years.
At one point during the 1950s, a magazine photographer shot scenes at the ranch. Luckily, these photos found a home at the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson. Combing through the collection, Steve Pender was pleasantly surprised to find these stills. He was even more surprised to find Isabelle prominently featured in one of them! It was a wonderful bit of serendipity that made the sequence about the ranch even more special.
A SMOKIN’ DEAL
During the 1960s, Sam and Peggy were young actors in California. At one point, they landed roles in a series of cigarette commercials to be shot in Hawaii. Even though they were in different commercials, they met on the set and their romance began. Thinking these commercials would be a great addition to their legacy video, Steve Pender began a search, eventually finding the spots in an online advertising archive. Sam, Peggy, and their family can now enjoy the commercials that played a crucial role in their family history.
Archival research does take time, and fees for reproduction and usage often apply. Family Legacy Video® includes archival research with its Deluxe Legacy Video offering. Archival research can also be added to the Q&A and Premium levels on an a la carte basis.
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Countdown to the last newsletter.
2004. That’s the year Family Legacy Video® published its first e-newsletter. For those first dozen years, the newsletter was issued monthly, and sent via email. In 2016, the newsletter migrated to Family Legacy Video’s website. It went from a monthly to a quarterly in 2019.
Now, after twenty years, it’s time for the newsletter to ride off into the sunset. The Autumn 2024 issue will be the last – so, there’s two more to go!
If you have a question or issue you’d like to have addressed in either of the next two installments, feel free to email Steve Pender. And don’t worry: the back issues, starting with 2016, will remain on the website.
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On the Legacy Video Lounge Podcast: Talkin’ Legacy Videos.
If you ever wanted to hear a legacy video pro dish about all aspects of personal history videos, from the benefits to the production process and everything in-between, you’re in luck! You’ll find just what you’re looking for in Episodes 22-25 of the Legacy Video Lounge Podcast’s Talkin’ Legacy Videos series. Each episode features a spirited discussion, during which Family Legacy Video’s president, Steve Pender, responds to legacy video-related questions from Tucson-based writer Elena Acoba. They’ll help you to better understand what legacy videos are all about – and help you get to know the guy who is the driving force behind Family Legacy Video®. You’ll want to listen to these podcasts!