I was thinking what sort of a unique and fun project would be for this Saturday, and I realized that the greatest things we see and hear are those everyday, simple things. Let me explain.
One of the greatest scenes in my life happens every day. I get to see my family. Everything each member of my family does on a daily basis is a cherished memory. I cannot capture it all on film, and even if I did, I would miss the beauty of the details.
When a child takes their first step, throws their first ball, says the first word, or when a sibling calls to tell you about a new job, or when your spouse has a wonderful experience serving a friend in need, these are all moments that create our personal history. The daily activities that we are engaged in make up our living journal!
Please remember to take time as often as you can to record those life experiences in your journal, on home video, tape recorder, or with a still camera. The significance of those memories will prove priceless in years to come. The simple things in life are the best. Quit looking for the rest…
Who says that family history has to be boring? Last weekend, my wife had put a small Superman cape on our boy, and it fit him perfectly. I told my wife to play a theme song for “Super Smurf” (Smurf is our little boy’s nick-name.)
Upon composing a fabulous song, we thought it fun to create a small home video, and we began the process. We used HD film, great music, and some fun effects to turn our little boy into a movie star! Our home video was fun to do for all involved, used our creativity, and produced a fun movie that family and friends can enjoy.
That video will me memorable for years and generations to come. Have fun with home videos, and be creative. There is a large scrap booking movement, but the videos will capture sounds, themes, motions, emotions, etc. in a way that cannot be expressed on paper. May your home videos yield some fun and inspire more to come!
My wife asked me the other day about the possibility of getting family pictures taken. I told her to set it all up and let me know what I needed to do. We all dressed up, went to the place, and proceeded to have our family pictures taken. Typically, I do not like pictures of myself, and do not enjoy the whole photo-shoot thing. The neat thing is that our little boy was completely happy, and took some great shots!
When we were finished, then was the time to decide which photos and how many we were going to buy. You can spend a lot of money for a few pictures. You don’t get the rights to use them. I can’t scan, copy, etc. However, we found out that we could purchase the disk with all of them and have all the rights, AND get prints! We did it.
There is such value to preserving your personal history. We spent a little more money, and will now have unlimited access to those priceless pictures of my family. I created slide show, set it to music, and sent it to mom, dad, mother-in-law, etc. They loved it!
Make sure that you take advantage of opportunities to create your personal legacy. Preserve the important times in your life, and in the lives of your family. Pictures, videos, sound recordings, journals, etc. will help you to remember and share moments that you might otherwise forget some of the details.
There are many aspects of creating memorable home videos. First off you need some equipment to get you started. A simple video camera will at least give you the option of recording and the accompanying software should allow for basic editing. One of the simplest ways to get some footage is to purchase one of those new handheld cameras. A Flip is a good example of a simple video camera and it gets a decent picture.
If you have a Mac then you can use iMovie or if you have a PC you can use Windows Movie Maker, but I would suggest an after market software like Adobe Premiere Elements to get a more professional look. Don’t be afraid to continue filming when something goes wrong. That is why we edit our personal history if we have an excess of footage that is not usable, like when you forget to turn your camera off so it is filming the back of your lens cap! As far as editing, always keep a backup of the source file on tape, DVD or on a hard drive. Then you can edit out all the stuff you want and create shorter clips that are more enjoyable to watch.
Have fun with your creation of DVDs and don’t be afraid to share them with your entire family regardless how well or not you think your editing and filming job is.
October 24th, 2009
home video . memories . personal history . video
June 18th, 2009