Creative Client Movie Examples

Securing memories is not only limited to birthdays and anniversaries…here are some creative ideas clients have requested in recent months:

• Anniversaries are a fun time to pull the memories together on how you met, dating life, marriage and kids. A recent client went a step further and dreamed of what his grandkids future reality might be like. See clip http://vimeo.com/60035885 (music removed)

• Another client found several slide carousels of when their family took a trip across the nation in 1964. Fun to see the types of cars, outfits worn and what Disneyland looked like back then.

• Recently a client was going to NYC and wanted DVDs of her daughter’s acting/singing/dancing career to hand out to prospective clients. See clip http://vimeo.com/60036103

• The storyline for this particular movie was a Mom, who put a movie together of all the special moments between their Dad and their sons. She had her boys introduce each section. A creative idea instead of just using title slides.

Another client had several Videotapes converted with us and wanted just their son’s football game pulled out and several copies made for family. You don’t have to be extensive and tell a life story, sometimes sharing the weekend moments is a gift in of itself.

What unique story/moment would you put together?

Convert and Create your Memories

Last week we posted our first MovieMe commercial. Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment or a thumbs up!

http://youtu.be/D8F136maYBk

It was an amazing experience to work with http://www.actorboy.biz – Tom Clark. Not only does Tom have a production company but he has acted in several movies:

We’ve also been blessed using his service to narrate our movies. It’s really special to add narration on Celebration of Life movies when sharing the story about a loved one.

In June 2009, my husband and I made a decision for me to retire from my 20 year career. It was a decision I embraced and looked forward to contributing more to our family. Part of the contribution was securing our life events both with video and pictures. Initially, videotaping and photographing sporting events was just fun and my only New Year’s Resolution  was to capture as many memories as I could in a year.  I soon refined what I captured down to highlights, and eventually added music.

As my hobby grew, I asked friends for opportunities to make movies for them. It grew into doing more and more Movie projects until my friends of friends circle became strangers requesting a Movie. I was beyond thrilled because deep down under all the Hazardous Waste knowledge was a passion for putting someone’s story together in a beautiful unique way.

It’s more than a montage…I spend time finding the right song, lining up the words to help tell the story and ordering the pictures and video clips to maximize the emotional impact. In the Hazardous Waste industry, a typical phone call was demanding. Today a typical phone call is appreciation and tears. That part took some getting used to but now I see how putting pictures and video clips to the right kind of music at the right time can make a huge emotional impact.

This service is not for everyone but if you don’t have the time or not the type to create a movie on your own, we’d love to hear your story and make it come alive for you. The beauty of this new found career is I’m still at home and allows me to be committed to our initial family goal. A book that helped me navigate this next stage of life was called Quitter by Jon Acuff…good read.

In addition to making movies, I have formed a partnership with http://www.BigStufVideo.com. This partnership allows us to convert your VHS tapes, videotapes, 8mm film all to DVDs. Now all under one roof is the ability to Convert and Create your memories.

We appreciate the support and love we have seen over these past two years. Let us roll out the red carpet for you and make your memories come alive!

MovieMe Commercial

Yesterday I spent time with Actorboy Video Productions and MovieMe clients putting together a commercial. Not a commercial in the TV sense but more of a Web Video. I have to admit it was quite intimidating and I certainly like my role behind the camera instead of being in front of one. My hat is off to all actors!!

I’m incredibly grateful to my clients. I was definitely more nervous because they nailed it in just a couple takes. I’m not telling you how many it took me! haha

Here are a couple of shots of the Actorboy Video Productions, Tom Clark. You might recognize him from a movie he recently did called October Baby.

Many thanks to Tom and his expertise. He was wonderful at making my clients feel at ease and brought out their story on why they used MovieMe. If you are considering putting a ‘commercial’ together for your business, look into http://www.tomclark.biz. We can’t wait to share the final results with you!

Video ~ Avoid or Embrace?

Do you avoid or embrace video for your business? Does it intimidate you or do you enjoy coming up with ideas? Start small and remember who your audience is. Start with a small select group of friends, who will give you honest feedback, and demo your video with them. Putting your first one out there will challenge you on what to show on your next video. You’ll look at videos differently and I guarantee you will start to emulate what you like.

Check out this demonstration video link below…this is http://www.lyghthousecocktails.com first video. (Shot by http://www.thebigeventteam.com)

Wonderful surroundings help create the atmosphere! Now what may seem simple on the surface, there’s a lot more being communicated here than just a great cocktail. You are getting a feel of the business owner’s personality – she is absolutely charming and she has shared one her prized possessions – a recipe that makes her unique. This video draws me in and makes me want to know her and hire her for our next private party event!

Interested in having your own video? Call MovieMe to help promote your business!

7 Business Suggestions for a Mini-Movie Commercial

Do you feel like you are reaching a wide enough circle of potential clients? It was when I first dived into social media where I found myself resisting Twitter. Why? Because I didn’t understand it, I didn’t have the bandwidth to spend time learning it, and would it really help my business? It was then a very smart social media expert said you can avoid Twitter but in this social media world you have to go meet your audience where they live. And that is exactly what I have found…there are people who will only do Facebook, others who will only do Twitter, some prefer Pinterest. If you do not have a voice in all the social media circles you could miss an opportunity to share your business.

One underutilized source of media is video. You know you should throw something together but the time doesn’t every seem to come around to creating it. We’ve put together a short video for Bakers…you don’t want something longer than 30 seconds. You can check it out on our Facebook page,

Imagine your company name up front and a series of photos representing your business. Even better, take short video clips of your business in action, and we can blend all of it together to make a short ‘movie.’

Once you get the hang of it, you can even start posting weekly specials. Make your videos fun and post them at the same time every week. Provide structure and you will build a following. Not sure how to get started? Give us a call and we can help you!

Here are some ideas:

• Cupcakes – show your favorite cupcakes and announce weekly specials. Include video clips of your customers buying them!
• Wine – are you a distributor? Get the word out showcasing your logo, use video clips testing the wine and end with a dinner shot with friends!
• Cleaning Company – show before and after shots and videotape the cleanup to include in your mini-movie.
• Jewelry – showcase your gorgeous pieces and/or include video of a launch party
• Bartending – have those beautiful cocktail pictures streaming and include video of tending a wedding/convention/parties.
• Personal Trainer – nothing showcases better than you and your body. Also, show folks how you’ve taken others to 30 lbs lighter!
• UGA Book – Showcase your book of campus pictures into a book that turns the pages by itself in a video. More fun to watch than scrolling through still photos.

Let your personality shine through and reach a broader audience with this source of media. We’d love to help you create these mini-movies for your business! First business to comment about this blog on our Facebook page http://www.fb.com/MovieMe will receive a free mini-movie commercial for their business!

(Requirements: photos/video need to be emailed, mini-movie commercial will be no longer than 30 seconds, credits to MovieMe when you post on your website or fb page. Any requests outside of this will need to be discussed and mutually agreed upon.)

How Do I Put Pictures Together for a Video?

Last week we talked about the different type of ‘movie’ requests we receive, like Rehearsal Dinner movies, Celebration of a Life movie, Graduation movies, etc… This week we want to share what happens once the project is in our court.

The first review takes place with the pictures. Are they in order, do they need retouching, rotate into proper position? Once each individual picture is cleaned up, I drag them into a specific file that allows me to pull those pictures up without going through my entire library of 20,000 photos. Once I’ve loaded them into the movie software, I decide how much movement I want on each picture and who I want to stand out. There is a lot of love and attention taken in this step.

After the pictures have been finalized, I add in the video clips according to the timeline. Adding video clips, brings another dimension to the movie. I make sure the clip is trimmed down to the right scene.

Then the music, chosen by the client, is laid out on top of the pictures and video. Does the music flow? Does it tell the story? Does it need to be shorter? or does the picture need to hang for just a few more seconds. As you can see, the creative art in making a movie happens during the project, not before. I can never promise a client what the end result will look like but I can promise they will be happy with the final product.

Before I burn the final product onto DVDs, I send a link to the client for final review. This allows for any minor adjustments. Once I receive the ‘thumbs up,’ the movie is burned! Being able to share a link is ideal because it allows both local and remote clients to use our services.

Making a movie takes patience, passion and love for the story being told. Do you have a story you’d like to make into a movie?

Related articles

• MovieYOU? (moviemecodotcom.wordpress.com)
• Express Your Life with Timeline Movie Maker (techie-buzz.com)

How did we get here?

Yesterday marks MovieMe’s One Year Anniversary. What makes this so much fun is this business was just a hobby. I have two amazing stepkids, who at the time were involved with sports and drama. For most people a football game meant bringing your favorite noise maker, mine was a video camera. Every play my stepson was in, I was zeroed in on his tackles. Every drama play my stepdaughter was in, you could find me videotaping her acts. For people who videotape you know it is difficult to watch from behind the camera but I believed the sacrifice was worth it so that my stepchildren will have video to share with their children. Not only will they have videotape but their mother is an excellent photographer so they have ‘got it’ from both angles. Poor kids, haha.

Over time I started to refine what I captured, started to shorten the footage to just highlights, eventually added music and fell in love with Apple. This was no easy feat in changing to Apple since in my corporate world I had worked on a PC for 20 years. It wasn’t until I went to a PC seminar to learn how to do movies where the teacher mentioned after class that all his photos and videos are done on an Apple and he was the one teaching us how to use a PC?! The next day I went to the Apple store and from there the rest is history. Although it took several One-on-One, Apple training classes, to learn how to navigate, it wasn’t long before I was making movies on my own. I would be remiss in not mentioning Steve Jobs here…as he said in his 2005 Stanford Commencement speech, ” You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the hear, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” Thankfully, for me, this has been true with both my Marriage and MovieMe!

Fast forward to this moment and all I can say is I am incredibly grateful for having found work that is so rewarding. I didn’t get to this place by myself so I would like to thank several people who helped launch MovieMe!

• One of my first introductions to social media was through an Apple employee at the time, Melanie Romanaux. Sure, I was familiar with LinkedIn, the professional networking site, but Twitter and Facebook Fan Pages? Tweet what? Melanie has since left Apple and launched her own successful social media consultative company called Somedia Solutions.  I am grateful for her guidance and counsel. You can see the breakdown of her work on MovieMe at http://www.somediasolutions.com/our-work/movieme/

• Next step was the logo. A friend and my stepdaughter helped with the MovieMe! logo as the final image. It is one thing to edit a movie, it’s completely another to create from scratch an idea into an incredible visual. Thank you Jeremiah and Chandler!

                                                             

• As I learned more about the marketing power of the Facebook Fan Pages, I wanted to have a mini commercial when folks ‘landed’ on my page, thus the MovieMe! landing page was created. Somedia introduced me to John Hamon at Stakkeddesigns, now called Premier Logic. http://www.premierlogic.com John paid close attention to detail and more importantly captured the vision of what I wanted to share. Thank you, John!

• Initially, I was not aware about the copyright infringement use of music. I thought if I had paid for the song, given credits at the end of the movie and provided all necessary credits to the song artists, I was legal. I soon learned there are expensive licenses to obtain for that privilege. Immediately, I took down all my movies and thought this fun business had come to a screeching halt, that is until I learned about royalty-free music. Two people who brought this to my attention and provided some great wisdom on working around this obstacle were Sol Sims, http://www.solarviewphotography.com and Tom Martin, http://www.fb.com/LeveragingLife. Many thanks to you gentlemen for helping me see around the boulder that fell in front of me!

• One day as I dropped off some media to be converted at Nostalgic Media, I started talking to the owner about my business and soon we were trading leads with each other. Fantastic business and even better owner. Thanks for all the business, http://www.nostalgicmedia.com!

• Several months ago, I was approached by an incredible wedding photographer, who wanted to spend more time on photos than making movies. We quickly found that our approach to telling a story through photos and video was very similar. We launched an alliance this past August and I am excited about working with Randall Granier Photography. http://www.randallgranierphotography.com

• And last but certainly not least, my husband. I have to admit I didn’t see a business opportunity because of the widespread availability of video/movie software. But the more and more I made movies for friends and friends of friends, my husband said there is a niche of people who don’t have time to put these together. Hesitantly, I started and to my surprise, it has been steady business ever since. Thank you, Russ, for believing in this business and most of all for believing in me.

And on that note, I will end this reminiscent review of the past year. If you are a new fan to this page or a previous client, thank you for your interest and thank you for your business. I look forward to making your memories come back to life with MovieMe! Click on the photo below for your $25 coupon, expires December 10, 2011.

 

This One’s For You!

Look Who’s Talking!

Barbara B. Bonner

“” I wanted to surprise my husband with a video of our 45 years of married life, but had NO idea where to begin. MovieMe.co guided and encouraged me through all the steps, and made my vision become a beautiful, touching, DVD that is incredibly professionally made, and we are beyond thrilled. The thing that amazes me most, is the care and the heart with which it was all accomplished, and from the beginning to the end, it was a pure pleasure working with you on this priceless family treasure.
Thank you MovieMe.co!!!!!!

Garon Hart

“” I just had to tell Danielle that I wanted to do a video to promote my book. The next thing I know I received a link to a video with the perfect concept. I sent her the photos and music and like that I had a finished product. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iveDC_zedgY

George Dempsey

I recently resigned from an organization that I spent 10 years building from the ground up. It was very tough leaving behind over 100 of my fellow faculty and staff as well as students and parents. Two days before my final day of work, my wife presented me with a video from MovieMe. MovieMe interviewed many of my co-workers, students and families speaking to how I touched their life. The MovieMe video was very professionally done and I was blown away with quality. I’m eternally grateful to my wife for contacting MovieMe. MovieMe did everything right producing a keep-sake that I will cherish forever!

Barbara Colcord

“” Nothing could be more meaningful than to have your most memorable moments so beautifully captured on one DVD. Thank you MovieMe! for helping me remember the birth of my first grandbaby in such a creative way! We will treasure it for years to come(And the parents love it too!) I look forward to working with you again, Danielle on that second one!

Rita Staniforth

“” As I sit here the day after graduation, I just want to thank MovieMe for making a beautiful memory for my family. We have viewed this movie over and over. I cry every time I watch it. Thank you Danielle for a fantastic job. Love it!!!!

Shari Harvey Martin

“” Danielle and Movie Me have put together the most amazing wedding video for Tom and me. She has intertwined video, still photos, and both live and recorded audio in a way that captures every element of that day. We love reliving it–thank you!!! And thank you, also, for the short trailer. You are absolutely amazing.

We love our clients and we would love to put a movie together for you! Contact us either on our Facebook Wall http://www.fb.com/MovieMe or email at movieme@movieme.co.