Producing a life story
The Life Story Video Process
An invoice for 50% of the total production will be sent and this will be payable via BACS transfer prior to any bookings made. Once this is received, a date and time is agreed upon and confirmed. Information about the people to be interviewed is required to ensure all topics for discussion are covered on the day.
The Filming
The interview for the life story video takes place in a quiet indoor location of your choice, usually the family home. There is no crew, only myself. This creates an intimate and relaxed one-to-one environment. Yes, there are a few lights taking up some space, but gone are the days when a whole team of people would arrive and take over the house.
There are no prepared questions; instead, I listen and learn. And I steer my questions to prompt and direct the person on camera. I do not interrupt. I have no agenda. The interviewing process is simply a chat. The secret is to be yourself. I am there merely to support, encourage and engage with the person I am with.
The Editing
For the Raw Footage and Caption Edit, no input from you is required. Once the balance has been paid, the full movie will be available as a digital file.
The Documentary Edit is a little more complex. It should be, a lot of work is involved. After we have viewed all the footage, I will send you a ‘wish list’ of photographs I would like from you to help tell the story. You may only have some of these, that’s fine, but it’s best we ask for everything just in case they exist. These must be clearly labelled and sent to us in a digital format.
If you don’t have photographs in a digital format, you don’t necessarily need a scanner to create good quality digital images. Simply use your smartphone and make sure there is plenty of light and the subject is in focus. Many old photographs have a sheen so be careful of any light reflecting off them (do not use the flash). Get as close as you can and do not use the digital zoom because this will degrade the image. Don’t worry about the edges of the photographs, these can be cropped later in the editing. Simply take the pictures and email them over.
Mom’s photo taken with a smartphone (left). Same image cropped and cleaned up (right).
If you are using a scanner, please scan at a minimum of 300dpi (resolution) and make sure the scan is the same size (100%). Make sure it is scanned as a JPEG file with the setting set to HIGH QUALITY.
If in doubt, try a few tests first and send me the results. A scanning and restoration service of damaged photographs is also available.
A director’s cut will then be produced and a watermarked copy of the film will be made available for checking. It’s important that the final film is checked for any inaccuracies (maybe a photograph was used showing the wrong baby picture - it can happen).
Once the video is checked and the balance is paid, the final video file will be made available.
PLEASE NOTE: the prices on this website do not include a collaboration process. I’ve been editing for over forty years, and rarely do I get asked to make any changes - even in my corporate videos. To offer creative collaboration in the editing process will only make the process more time-consuming and therefore more expensive.
