How Living Legacy Creates Your Video Biography
The Elements
The video biography has many potential ingredients including old photographs,
slides, artwork, newspaper clippings, videotapes, or home movies shot with
the family camcorder. These archival materials can be assembled with new footage
such as interviews with family and friends. We then record a narration with one or
more family members, or we can provide a profession voice talent. The edited
images and narration are then assembled with appropriate music to create a
professional video.The Process
The production of a video documentary is similar to making a movie: there is
a beginning, a middle, and an end. The first step to creating a video biography
is to set up a meeting with a Living Legacy family biographer to discuss your
objectives, such as a wish to preserve family origins and then sharing the
experience of coming to the United States and starting a new life. Once we know
your goal, we script the story and decide how we are going to tell it. We divide
the story into chapters so that future updates can easily be added. The completed
piece is transferred to archival quality DVD for long-term preservation of the original
work.A Word (or Two) About Costs
Naturally, one of the first questions we are asked when exploring the
creation of a family biography is "How much will it cost?" While this is an easy
question to ask, the reality is that costs to produce a family biography
vary widely.Some examples that can affect the cost of your video are: How many interviews will be needed to fully tell your family's history? (This could vary from three to more than a dozen people.) Can all these people be interviewed at one time in one place? Will the interviews require more than one day's shooting and more than one location? What types of archival images will be used? Will photos and slides in poor condition need photo touch ups? Will old video footage need to be transferred to a new format? How much archival research will be needed to fill in details of the story?
Virtually every aspect of the production can have similar options--and your choices affect the costs. While a 'rule of thumb' estimate varies widely, most projects will fall into the broad guideline of between $500 and $1000 per finished minute. The final length of a full history biography typically runs 40 to 60 minutes. The important thing to know is that you will determine and approve how extensive your family biography project will be and the approximate final cost before we start work.
Why Create a Family Biography?
Here is an example of one reason to create a family biography.A family living in Pawling, NY had a six-year old daughter named Annie. On holidays they would drive an hour to visit with Grandma. Annie felt that Grandma was so old they didn't really have much in common. When Annie's parents showed her a family history video with shots of Grandma as a young girl, she watched enraptured. Next time Grandma called, she ran to the phone to say "Grandma, Grandma, I just saw you on TV." On their next visit, Annie spent hours talking with Grandma about what it was like when she was a young girl. Annie could hardly wait for her next visit to Grandma's to hear more of Grandma's childhood. They are now the best of friends. A family video can bridge generations in your family, too.
© 2004 Living Legacy Media Group