Planning a Video Scrapbook that will become a beautiful cherished keepsake is not a difficult task, but a few ideas should be kept
in mind as you start the process
What is the purpose and audience for the video?
Think carefully on
who the audience is and who the video is for.. For instance, if you’re showing your Video Scrapbook at a wedding reception, you may
want to include some pictures of the guests or close relatives who could not attend, and not just pictures of you and your fiancé.
How
do you want the audience to feel?
Will the video be sentimental or funny. Should there be laughter or tears?
How long do you want
the video scrapbook to be?
We’ve found that video scrapbooks that are between 10 – 15 minutes in length are ideal for many events.
This usually works out to about 4-5 songs. If you are creating a family history video, this may run past 30 minutes.
Working
with Photos
Choose your photos carefully.
We will scan your photos and can do simple restoration as needed, but we can’t make
a bad picture good. An out of focus picture will only look worse when enlarged on the video screen.
Choose a variety of pictures.
Active shots, mixed with wide shots, mixed with close shots all come together to make a more interesting video. Remember you telling
a story in you video and keep focused on pictures that add to the story.
Use more horizontal or landscape shots, try to have no more
that 25% vertical photos.
Organize your photos chronologically (Before they Met, The Early Years, Our Family Grows, etc.) or by theme
(Family Time, Friends, Hobbies, etc).
Your photos can be provided as digital files on a DVD or CD or we will scan your pictures
for you at no charge. In either case they must be numbered in the order that you want them to appear. If you are sending original
photos, mark on the back in pencil not pen. Be sure to carefully remove any mounting tape or glue before you send them.
It is
important to note we will use every picture you send. If they are not numbered or you want us to sort and select images for you, this
service is additional at $25.00 per hour. $50.00 would be a typical charge for this service.
Planning your titles and captions.
Adding
captions to your video album is a great way to make it entertaining and help the audience follow the story being told.
Titles for
the opening and closing and major sections can be used to set up the story to be told. Typically they should stay in the range of
ten words and not more than 20. You can also consider using bible verses, quotes or poems.
Captions can be used for individual
picture and can entertain as well as explain a video. We include 1 caption per 2 minutes of video at no charge. These should be kept
simple and short.
You can include up to 2 captions per minute of video (max 20 words per caption)!
Clearly write your titles and
captions and verify spelling of places and names. Note before each title and caption where it is to appear. For example – between
picture or video clip #003 and #004 or at bottom of picture #005
Working with Music
Choose your music carefully.
The
choice of music is critical to the flow and feel of the video. Don’t simple choose a song because you like it. We can help you through
this process, and the choices may change along the way.
If possible use both sentimental and upbeat songs so your video album will
inspire laughter and tears.
Also pay attention to how long the music you’re choosing is. If you’re only showing 30 pictures, you might
not want to choose an 8 minute song.
If you have specific points or pictures where you want a song to start or end, be sure to
indicate that.
In most cases, it is necessary to edit your music selections to fit the number of photographs in a section. If
you wish a song not to be edited, please specify. Our professional music editors blend (cross-fade) all songs together to prevent
any pauses in music within the video (as you would hear songs blend on the radio). This professional "cross-fading" is done to accomplish
a seamless audio presentation throughout the entire video. If you wish there to be audio pauses, or would not like songs to cross-fade
into one another, please specify when ordering.
We Take It From There
After you have reviewed the project panning
process and gathered your ideas, please fill out the order form.
After we receive your order form, we will contact you to discuss your
project and better refine your ideas. Then it is time to send us your media.
After we receive your photos and videos it will
take 2 -3 weeks to complete your video scrapbook.