5 Things To Put in Home Videos So Your Friends Say, “Play that Again”
You’ve been there. A friend begs you to watch his latest vacation video — and, as you yawn through it, you vow never to inflict such torture on your friends. But you have those tapes too. Right now, your video camera is loaded with tapes of family events you thought, at the time, were worth capturing on film. And they were. So it’s time to turn them into an amazing, show-stopping movie your family and friends will beg you to play again.
There are great, inexpensive Video Editing Software Programs out there that make it fairly easy to add music, chapter menus and special effects. But the real magic lies in what you add to the video that captures a place and time. Here’s 5 of my essential home video additions:
- Photos: This one is obvious — buy many people forget about relevant photos that were taken at the same time as the video. Here is an example: Saying Goodbye to our Dog. Ask friends who were there for copies of their photos, too. Still photos in a video create a rhythm that is very pleasing to watch. When I made a surprise video for my nephew’s Wedding, I asked several other relatives for their pictures. I ended up with 4 photographs of the bride and groom coming out of the Church. When I put them into the slide show, it actually looked as if I had captured video of them walking out of the church. It was beautiful.
- Documents. Always remember this rule: Your video is telling a story. Let’s say you’re making a video about your trip to Europe. Gather ticket stubs, the receipt from your favorite restaurant, stationery from the Hotel — things that you might normally find in a scrapbook documenting your trip. Scan these and convert them to .jpg files. And, just like photos, you can drop these into your video to use as background images to set the tone of your trip.
- Artwork. This one is great for kids. School art projects, certificates, special crafts can also be scanned as .jpg files — or photographed — and dropped into the video bin as slides. Often, when making a family movie that covers our children’s school programs, we miss out on the work they’ve accomplished.
- Dates and Facts: Use the type editing section of the editing software to actually type on the video the date and the event. Yes — it’s on the label — but what good is that? Let everyone know, as they’re watching, what year and month it is — and who this is. How many times have you watched old movies with your releatives, and said, “Who is that?” Also, be sure to include any facts relevant to the trip. For example, our mountain bike trip video on Idaho’s Route of the Hiawatha, scrolled some facts I will forget — but will want to remember later. Like, the fact that over 46 miles, we biked through 11 tunnels and over 9 high trestles, to an elevation shift from 4160 ft. to 3175 ft.
- Music that matches the time. Get creative with this one. My son’s orchestra concert was audio-taped and put onto a CD. I used that as the track for the home movie I made to document his school year. You can find the Top 40 Hits by year here, going back as far as 1930. For a Christmas video — use Christmas Music that means the most to your family and friends. And don’t forget the Monster Mash
for the Halloween Party.
Scrapbooks are nice. Photos are great. But if you really want to capture and preserve the moment, make a home video that has them begging for more.The Tuxedo
and The Tuxedo, I want it Like This
For more, 5 great things, check out Problogger’s Contest.
This gave me the chance to look at some new sites I found very interesting: Here they are: Check out Benjamin Solah’s 5 Element’s of His Writer’s Sanctuary.
The 5 things you need to survive a toddler — is there such a list?!
Online shopping for the hip Mom, list. (Just in time for Mother’s Day, Dad.)
And, 5 Ways to Let Adultitis Spoil Your Summer
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Videos are a great way to preserve memories.
I’ve been taking daily snapshots from my balcony of the transition from winter to spring, can’t wait to put it together.
Good read, have a look at my group writing project as well if you get the time.
I’ve got a camera and a laptop, so I’m thinking a video camera could be next. Some fairly simple but often forgotten tips. I used to do video at school as a drama student and loved it.
Thanks for plugging me by the way.
Problogger is a great resource.
With everything going digital and the ease of taking a bunch of everything fairly inexpensively, it will be interesting to see how we keep our archives.
[...] Susie J: 5 Things to Put in Home Videos to Make Your Friends Say “Play That Again!” [...]
[...] of my goals is to finish editing our home movies by Christmas. I add pictures, edit the video and put music with them. Where am I? I just started working on January - March, [...]