Creating a Holiday Home Movie

This information is reprinted from an article first published on Helium.com by Rich LaVere of LaVere Media.

One of the primary functions of my business is to transfer old 8mm film movies to modern formats such as DVD. As such, I've viewed hundreds of these movies, many of them holiday films. Some are engaging and exciting while others are nearly unwatchable.

So what separates the good from the bad? Storytelling and technique.

The best movies use the time they have to tell a story. There's the preparation. The anticipation. The event itself. The aftermath. If a stranger such as myself can be engaged by the story you're telling, you've done your job well. It's important that your audience care about your subject. In this case, the audience is your family both now and for generations to come. They'll watch this movie to get insight into your personality and your life for many years. Make it worth their time.

An example would be a Christmas video. You might start with the trimming of the tree. Family members could reminisce about special ornaments, the time the tree collapsed in the living room, or the year the cat climbed to the top! You get the idea.

Some shots of wrapping gifts and placing them under the tree will be a delight to folks who received those gifts, and now see the care that was taken in preparing them.

In the case of a Christmas video, you might want to include shots of special decorations around the house, the "milk and cookies" left for Santa Claus, or any other unique family traditions that give an insight into your unique methods of celebrating the holiday.

During the celebration itself, don't allow the camera to be the focus of attention. If you have small children, for example, a camera in their face while they're experiencing the initial excitement of opening gifts only detracts from the event. Mounting the camera inconspicuously on a tripod in the corner is a good way to start. Then, take it down later and shoot plenty of close-ups of gifts, interviews with your family, etc.

Don't forget the importance of good technique when shooting your home movie. Keep your camera steady by moving in close and shooting at a wide angle. Shooting from a distance while fully zoomed in will make your videos shaky and induce dizziness. Use a tripod whenever practical, particularly outdoors when you're more tempted to use that zoom.

And most importantly: have fun! Your holiday home movie will be its very best when it reflects your unique personality and the joy of the celebration itself. Let it serve as a wonderful reminder of a very special moment.

I never tire of viewing those decades-old family movies that my customers lovingly bring to me to be transferred. I love the stories they tell, and the joy they bring to a generation that experiences its history in a whole new way. Use these tips to tell YOUR story, and help bring that joy to your family for many years to come.

I Recorded a DVD...And Now It Won't Play!

"Why can't I play back what I recorded on my DVD?"

A customer recently came in to our studio with a DVD that he had burned on a home DVD recorder. It played fine at home, but when he took it to his son's house, the DVD refused to play at all. He brought it to us, asking if we could help him solve the mystery of the quirky DVD.

With a few questions, we were able to quickly diagnose the problem. All home DVD recorders save video to the DVD in "stages". The first stage is preparation, where the DVD recorder reads the disc, determines if it's compatible, and prepares it to accept video.

In the second stage, the video is compressed and recorded to the disc. At this point, when you're done recording, you can view the video you've recorded, and even add more video later.

The third step is known as "finalizing". This is the crucial step that our customer missed, and it's really the most important. "Finalizing" prepares your DVD for playback on virtually any commercial DVD player. If you don't perform this step, you will only be able to play back your DVD on the unit you recorded it on. This means that if you skip this step, and your DVD recorder stops working, your collection of DVDs will not play on any other unit.

This "finalizing" step is one that many of our customers miss. We're very concerned about what this means for all those valuable memories stored on DVDs in homes across the country. Eventually, those DVD recorders will fail; it's a mathematical certainty. When-not if-they do, those priceless DVDs will become expensive coasters if the "finalizing" step has not been performed.

It's also important to note that "finalizing" a DVD is only possible using the recorder that captured the video. You can't record on one unit and "finalize" on another (unless you're lucky enough to find the exact same unit somewhere else).

If you have a home DVD recorder, and you're not sure if you're using it properly, contact us. We can often help guide you through this complicated new world of technology.