Making Home Movies
One 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, 2007.
When I started working with this tape, it was just so ugh! Gray skies, no leaves on the trees, and pretty boring. But, you add a little music, some funny pictures and it just flows. What was not very exciting is now a little gem.
However, it’s only a 25 minute video, and I’ve been working for 3 hours straight now. Not really fun. I wonder if it’s even worth it? But, how can I stop? All this video footage, all these photos? It’s quite a quandary I’ve gotten myself into.
Making a home movie with all of the new software really is a lot like making a quilt. There are threads on the screen to match the video and the audio. If you had music, that block will have another thread. They are all labeled on the screen for you, stacked on top of each other. The threads are what you use when you want something to fade (audio or video), by dragging the line downward at an angle. To stop the picture or the sound — you simply cut the thread. Then, you move it and literally pull the thread out to make the video come alive somewhere else. Some things you cut, and discard, and you continue to pull more threads out to bring you the creation you’re looking for. And when you’re done, you do have a collection, all sewn up, much like an heirloom quilt made from patches you found around the house here and there.
I am hooked because I have this… “gift.” I pick the most amazingly perfect songs for the videos. And I don’t realize I’m doing it, until it’s all done, and the words and the rhythm all just comes together perfectly.
Here’s an example. I was making a movie about my husband’s Ironman. There was this part, a few minutes before the race starts, when he and his buddy were pumping their tires, checking their gear, etc. They were so amazingly calm. The sky was hazy, because it was 6 a.m., and the sun wasn’t quite up yet. It really was not exciting — but it was a crucial part of the video, because whenever they watch it, they smile and say, “I was so nervous then — my heart was just beating so fast.” So, the music needed to be something smooth and quiet, with a nice beat. I picked Sting. I ran through the songs, clicking on the songs in Itunes until I found the perfect one. It sounded GREAT. The name? Be Still my Beating Heart. How great is that?There’s even a line in the song that says, “My body isn’t made to run this fast.” Perfect!
However, there is still the matter of the time involved. Apparently, I’m not alone in this problem of the movies taking so long to make. Check out the opening of this article in the November 21, 2007 edition of the WSJ:
If you have put off turning those video tapes or reels of film in the closet into the finished film you’ve long promised your kith and kin, it may be because you suspected you’d be getting into something that was less a simple project and more a full-time hobby. You were right. Editing software makes movie-making easy in the same way that a word-processing program makes it easy to write a novel. But crafting a film is one of the most gratifying things you can do on a computer, so it will be time well spent. Thus, just in time for the holidays, here’s a how-to based on a recent home project of my own.
I just need to keep reminding myself, “This is time well spent. Future generations will enjoy these movies forever.” As long as I preserve them right. I worry a bit about the music I’m adding for today. Will we dread hearing this 10 years from now? It’s a snapshot of our time, so I guess it’s OK.
So, if you want to join me, start with one of these. Many have trial versions you can try for free. Each product has it’s drawbacks — and they all have their pluses. Even if you have a camera that does tape directly to a DVD, it still must be translated to play on a TV. I still have camera that uses tape, and the experts say tape is still the best quality. It’s amazing how far behind this technology really is. But it takes lots of time….
Here’s my You Tube page.
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i used to do this, when MQ was younger, but haven’t in years. I should go back. I hardly video anymore, either, but I want to do some more. What program do you use. I used to use Studio, but may try something else. Even though I know Studio, and liked it, there is probably better stuff out there now.
Right now I’m using Magix. Last year, I used Ulead. When I upgraded my camera, I got a free Magix CD, and I ended up sticking with that one - but I still had to buy the software to get it to “burn.”
They both have drawbacks — really. And both software programs were equally hard to learn. Once you get over the learning curve, which is amazingly difficult, you’re golden.
I used to lay up at night and try to analyze what I did wrong — and the solution would just come to me — once I figured out it was all in the “threads” it was very intuitive.
I’m inspired and quietly stepping away from the computer, for now anyway. Maybe in 2008?
I love to make short little video compilations and have done them for special occasions, like birthdays and stuff. Mostly, mine are just slideshows set to music. This sounds like something I would LOVE, but I’m still scrapbooking photos from Julia’s first year! Ugh! I’m so behind.
Hi Susie
Sometimes it drives me insane! He uses imovie and Final Cut Pro (he tells me). Sometimes I walk over to give him a cuddle at 1am when I am going to bed and he is just hitting his stride and I see over his shoulder all the threads you’re talking about. It does my head in! Just as I dismissed being a geologist because my dad was, I wonder if I would be more inclined to mess about with video if my husband didn’t do it for a living! ?? And of course, HE doesn’t do family videos because he is always doing WORK!!! Oh, I tell a lie. After a very busy time last year he decided to spend a weekend with the kids making a music video. I must put it up on youtube sometime. I’d forgotten about it. Thanks for this post.
I had to laugh reading this because my husband is a graphic and multi media designer and we share a studio so I sit and hear him doing this kind of thing all the time!!
I am IMPRESSED. That said, I will not pick this one up. There are too many hobbies sucking up my time already.
You are ambitious! My goal is to get the old family movies I put onto a video cassette a few years ago transferred to DVDs. I’m actually thinking about having my oldest son do it. He’s more technologically savvy than I am.
Hey, everyone. I was wrong. I’m actually not finished with Fall 2006 — so I actually have a whole YEAR’s worth to get done. Geesh!! Well, it will be fun challenging myself to do it. Because, the challenge will keep me plugging along. Finding the “alone” time is my biggest problem, of course.
Even if I don’t quite make it (I have a feeling I will) at the end of the month — at least I will be farther ahead than I am now.
[...] was going through old photos, while working on the home movies, and I stumbled upon this picture. I realize that these “fuzzy daze” are gradually [...]
[...] you know what? I really could care less. I’m knee deep in finishing these videos. It’s worse than I thought. But the good news, it’s going much faster than I thought [...]
[...] If you still want to invest in a true camcorder, you can’t go wrong with the Canon HV20 or the Sony HDR-HC5. For me, I can get by with the movie feature in the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5. This will greatly simplify my life, because I’m no longer using tape, making editing much less time consuming. [...]