Digital Overload – A Motivating Solution

By: Wendy Reynolds

I switched to a digital camera long before my girls were born. They are only five. So, their entire life is captured with digital photos, half of which are now burned onto compact discs. My old desktop computer was completely bogged down with the million photos I have taken, so I had to do something with them. About a year ago, I got worried that something might happen to the cds, so I started backing those up on an external hard drive. However, I only moved half the cds and then I grew weary of the annoying process. I really need to get motivated to finish this project before I have another million pictures saved on random camera cards. But I am probably already too late.

How in the world do busy, working parents find time to organize any of this stuff? Once I’m home from work and done with dinner, dishes, bath time, reading everything on Facebook, reading to my kids (notice what I read first – ha!), putting the kids to bed, guest blogging, etc…do you think I really want to bust out all the photo cds and completely overwhelm myself by trying to figure out which ones I’ve saved and which ones I haven’t? I think not. That would infringe on my couch potato time, my “me” time, my perfect “DVR with no commercial interruptions” time. This time is waaaaaaaayyy too important to give up. It’s what keeps me sane.

And then there is my video camera which has its own hard drive for storage. I currently have everything from random days as a stay-at-home mom when my twins were two years old to just yesterday when my five-year-olds were reciting the Bible verses they have learned at school this year. Which means that sacred Pre-K Graduation is on there somewhere also. Aaacckk! I need to do something with that stuff as well. What if something happens to the video camera? This is even more overwhelming than I thought. I think it’s couch potato time…and perhaps I may need a glass of wine first!

MovieMe…you are the pros…if you have any suggestions for these dilemmas, feel free to chime in. I’d love to hear it! Cheers!

By: MovieMe

Wendy presents a common problem expressed when people learn about my business. They love the idea of having a movie made and mention upcoming events like birthdays and anniversaries. After I explain needing the photos in order and encourage them to include some video clips, their eyes start to glaze over. The thought of tackling the volume of pictures and videos shuts them down before they even get started. I wish I had an easy answer for this problem.

There is no magical solution to help you overcome this task other than sharing my pain of almost losing 1855 video clips off my video camera just last week. I’ve been pretty disciplined of automatically downloading pictures and videos immediately onto my computer and labeling each event. And then I got lazy and the video clips started to pile up. I wasn’t worried because it was all right there on the camera or so I thought. Last week I finally attempted to download all 1855 clips and to my shock and horror, they wouldn’t download. I kept getting red “Error” message over and over. I panicked and kept trying to reboot the computer and video camera and same errors kept reappearing. Because I am an extremely determined person, I will work on something until it is fixed. I can’t tell you how many hours it took for me to figure out this work around but the picture below is my fix to the problem. This is a manual fix and is taking hours to restore but at least I got the clips back!

So what do I suggest to all you busy parents who look forward to that special downtime in the evening where you can and need to restore your sanity…steal 30 minutes of that time and start attacking your mountain of pictures and video clips and take baby steps of organizing. I thought I was safe with all my pictures and video clips on the latest technology and I almost lost it all. Let that be your motivation to get started today, well perhaps first thing tomorrow. Seriously, don’t lose all those memories. Start now.

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If you’d like to connect with Wendy Reynolds here are some links:

Blog: www.preventivedoublemastectomy.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/wmreynolds

A Different way to say Thank You!

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

We’ve talked about how we take more pictures than ever but do less with them. Here’s an idea that only addresses one or two of them but it is a fun gift giving idea!

A few months back, I wanted to have a picture printed on a canvas to send as a thank you for a family’s hospitality. http://www.hsphoto.com was recommended and they did a wonderful job from customer service, on time delivery to the quality of the final product.

It was when I saw the final product I decided this would be a special way to thank clients for their business by taking one of their photos and making a 10×10 canvas print. Perhaps you were a guest in someone’s home and wanted to say thank you. A note is still special to receive since going to the mailbox usually means bills and magazines. But what if you were to take one of the pictures of the time you spent together and turned it into a canvas print for them along with the note!

What I love about http://www.hsphoto.com is all the ordering can be done online. You do not have to visit their site or even pick it up. You can, also, find them on Facebook at http://www.fb.com/hsphotolab

The next project I plan on doing with them is taking 20 photos from the different movies we have made and building a wall of canvas prints. It will look like the photos below. We’ll share our before and after wall shots with you!

Tell us what you think about this gift giving idea? If you use them, please tell them MovieMe sent you!

 

Making your own Movie?

Whether you are a Mac or PC user, making home movies has certainly launched us behind the scenes instead of just behind the camera. There are both personal and professional reasons to make the most of moviemaking software in today’s world. This week we will explore the personal reasons and next week we will look at the professional reasons.

For instance:

Video Photo Albums – A video photo album can be much more exciting, accessible and engaging than a paper one. Start by filming or scanning your photos. Assemble them into a sequence and add some crossfades, titles and music. The result is a much more interesting display than a book of motionless images, thanks in part to iMovie’s Ken Burns effect. This emerging video form is becoming very popular.

Just for fun projects – Never again can anyone over the age of 8 complain that there’s “nothing to do.” Set them loose with a camcorder and instructions to make a fake rock video, commercial or documentary.

Interviews – You’re lucky enough to live in an age where you can manipulate video clips in a movie just as easily as you do words in a word processor. Capitalize on this fact. Create family histories. Film relatives who still remember the War, the Birth, the Immigration. Or create a time-capsule, time-lapse film: Ask your kids or your parent the same four questions every year on his or her birthday (such as, “What’s your greatest worry right now? or “If you had one wish…?” or “Where do you want to be in five years?”) Then, after 5 or 10 or 20 years, splice together the answers for an enlightening fast-forward through a human life.

credits: iMovie11 & iDVD by David Pogue & Aaron Miller

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Legacy Project starring You!

Many thanks for the feedback on our last blog posting Reflections and Recommendation of MovieMe! —> http://wp.me/p1lhCI-eM

Something that has been on my mind lately is we are only a couple of generations removed from not being known by our grandchildren’s children. There might be the misplaced photos they find or a home movie someone runs across but nothing that really tells a story and/or ties it all together. When I think about my stepchildren’s children’s children, what will they know about us, what will they think about our time here on earth, will they learn about us from random photos, video clips we shot and/or blogs we’ve written?

Since we are using a medium, DVDs, that are here to stay for a while vs. tapes, that deteriorate over time, why not build your own legacy project? If you read last week’s blog, you can see the daunting overwhelming experience it can be putting a movie together of someone else’s life, especially after they are gone. So you’re thinking you are too young to put one together? Or you feel it is awkward to start on something like that right now? Think of it in a different way….on your next birthday put a Year in Review together. You can choose to share or not share. But how special would it be when someone wants to showcase your life either for a decade birthday, anniversary, retirement party, etc… to edit from years of ‘movies’ you have put together. It certainly will keep you focused on the story you want to tell, the story you want your life to reflect.

Andy Stanley, a sought-after leadership communicator, author, pastor, and the founder of North Point Ministries, Inc. (NPM) says, What story do I want to tell?  – After a week, a month, a year, or longer, what story do you want to tell  about a decision or a choice you have made.  Andy says, “Do not make a choice that will make you a liar for life.  Make decisions that allow you to tell a story that you are proud to tell….  Your story is with you forever.”  Andy’s books include The Next Generation Leader, Visioneering and The Principle of the Path.

Put a movie together of your Year in Review or your children’s Year that reflects all your hopes and dreams and share that gift with friends and family! Your loved ones might learn something new about you.

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Our Favorite Feature on iMovie

Have you experimented around with iMovie? There are some fun features to take video and make into something brand new. If you are heavily immersed into Final Cut or in this line of work, this will look like child’s play to you. For the folks who like to tinker with their Mac and want to experiment with iMovie, try out instant replays. We just finished a Graduation Movie for Triplets. What a fun project! We have pulled a couple of examples to give you and idea of how you can showcase your video in a different format. These instant replays also look great to replay your kid’s touchdown, home run, spike, basketball goal, etc…

*** See our Instant Replays example on http://www.fb.com/MovieMe ***

Have you applied any iMovie features with your video clips? Share some ideas with us!

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Not Enough Photos?

Do you want to put a movie together but you don’t have enough pictures, can’t find them or the pictures were lost during a move…well, we have an alternative ‘movie’ offering for you!

A couple of months ago we shared with you that we were working on a ‘movie’ of triplets graduating high school. In a couple other projects, we had videotaped family members making a surprise cameo and suggested to do the same for this ‘movie.’

The parents of these triplets agreed and we set a time and date to video their stories walking down memory lane. A friend joined me to help by videotaping the parents at the same time but at a different angle. I love including non-posed shots to make the taping look more natural. These parents were prepared! They had a script so they wouldn’t forget any of their highlights. Instead of just providing a 30 second story, they walked through the triplets’ birth – graduation. As they walked through each scenario, I recalled pictures from their original ‘movie’ we had already completed that I could blend into their story. iMovie was the perfect user-friendly software to use. During each of their stories, I would cutaway with a picture or insert picture in picture and for one particular story, I inserted video of a funny story inside the parent’s memory video. Instead of trying to tell a story with over 300 photos, we used approximately 30 photos. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for a short commercial showcasing this ‘movie’ offering. http://www.fb.com/MovieMe

Consider this alternative if you want to make a ‘movie’ to preserve your memories but don’t have enough pictures. Tell us what you think about this idea? Is this something you would do?

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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?

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MovieYOU?

As we ramp up for the New Year, we have already been blessed with several different opportunities. Some of the first questions are, “How do I get started?” Each project is different so let me provide some generalities.

Case A – Rehearsal Dinner

A ‘movie’ shown at the Rehearsal Dinner is a fun way to showcase the soon-to-be-married couple. Both sides of the family have probably not seen the fiance(e) as a baby or the growing up years, so I encourage any type of video to incorporate along with the photos. Ideally, the music reflects the time period of photos/video clips shown. One previous Rehearsal Dinner ‘movie,’ the couple had video clips when they were growing up dancing in their living room. We blended the two together…a match made in heaven! If you don’t have video, try to find similar themes to pictures. For example, beach photos, amusement park photos, graduation photos…show walking through life with similar backgrounds or show just how different the two of you are.

Case B – Celebration of Life

Lately there has been a different approach to remembering someone after they have passed. Yes, there is still mourning the loss of a significant friend/family member but there is also a celebration of the life that they lived. A particular project we are currently reviewing is a gentleman and his two sons, who lost their wife/mother to cancer within a relatively short time. Her wish was to memorialize her life with a celebration party. The beauty of this project is the husband and sons have put together a beautiful story, using her reflections written down over the years. The goal is to have the story narrated while showcasing photos, quotes, video and even some YouTube footage.

Case C – Graduation

A mother of triplets called today wanting a ‘movie’ made of her 3 boys, who are graduating this May. This is by far the most popular ‘movie’ we make for families. I am grateful they are starting this process early because this is what is required of them before it even makes it to my computer. Photos from years of albums need to be identified. Using post it tape (50, 100 or 200 count) is an easy way to identify your photos without worrying about the count. 200 photos makes a 13 minute ‘movie’…use this as a baseline. Send all the photos to be scanned to http://www.nostalgicmedia.com along with the video clips that need to be converted onto DVDs. Last but not least, I recommend 10 songs, preferably from the particular time period of growing up while moving into songs later in the teenage years that the boys would like. Once complete, it is ready to be sent to us!

Next week we will talk about the process once it is in our court.

Hopefully, this has given you some ideas, as well as a starting point for your own ‘movie.’ Let us roll out the red carpet for your story and we will MovieYOU!

Let’s – Get – a Little Bit Rowdy!

I’ll jump on the thankful bandwagon of what I was thankful for this past Thanksgiving. I’ve been really blessed. Over two years ago, I was fortunate enough to resign from my 20 year corporate sales position. Because of our shift in how we managed money, over 5 years ago, we have increased our quality of life. This quality of life is not seen in material possessions but in our time together. Our sacrifices have allowed me to continue staying at home and investing my time, that would have been spent at work, with our family. It has also allowed me to build a small business that not only provides income but is incredibly fun to do.

Just recently, I was asked to put a Cheer Video together for an end of the year banquet. It was quite a challenge to put it together in one week but nothing like working under pressure, right?!  Initially, it was only the JV, which my stepdaughter is a part of, and then it very quickly became the whole high school squad, Freshmen up through Varsity. What an incredible opportunity to build a movie for so many families and be a part of my stepdaughter’s banquet in a special way. Obviously, my hope is she will be proud of the final product. I received almost 800 pictures from various sources and thankfully I had taken several video clips throughout the year. Blending both still photos and video clips makes this more than just a slideshow, to me it makes it more movie-like. There’s a fun clip in the movie where my husband stands up when the JV team is doing “Let’s – Get – a Little Bit Rowdy,” by himself and waves his arm up in the air. I videotaped this both from behind Dad and in front of Dad, giving the audience both views. The best part is when Dad thinks the cheer is over and starts clapping and watching his daughter laugh from embarrassment. Did he really just do that?! haha

To date, I haven’t put a movie together for such a large audience. Saturday afternoon I finalized the packaging of the DVDs into clear plastic bags with red and white ribbons along with a postcard about MovieMe. Ironically, my husband and I will be out of town and cannot attend the banquet. I can’t believe I will miss a showing of my own movie! If there is a chance to catch an earlier flight, my plan will be to make the banquet. It would be fun to watch the audience’s reaction!

I am grateful for my family, I am grateful to stay home (thank you husband!), I am grateful to have a small business and with this recent project, I am grateful to contribute towards my stepdaughter’s cheerleading banquet event! Go Eagles!!

Sentimental Overload!

There it is again….another sentimental item in your hands, too precious to throw away. Maybe it’s a thank you card, a love note, a ticket from a fun event, an airplane ticket stub from vacation, etc…and you don’t know what to do with it. For some, these are ideal mementos for scrapbooking but that is not a skill set I acquired.

So this weekend, the idea occurred to me to scrapbook without all the work. My husband and I attended the PGA last week. We had an incredible day but we weren’t allowed to take pictures. So I made sure to hold on to the PGA bracelet and ticket as keepsakes but they just sat on the kitchen counter. Should I throw them in the box with the rest of our mementos? That ‘box’ is getting fuller by the day and becoming less organized as items get added to it.

That’s when I decided to buy a very large binder with plastic sleeves to hold items. This binder will be labeled 2011. Every day, I will pick one thing that was special about the day and put it into a sleeve. No work, no filing. At the end of the year, we will have a binder to walk us through all the days of the Year 2011. And if I’m disciplined enough, I’ll have 2012, 2013, 2014…you get the idea.

What items would you put into a folder each day? Leave us a comment or post your ideas on our wall. We would love to hear from you!