A personal video documentary is an incredibly effective way to not only add great entertainment for your event, but a special way to connect with your guests and pay tribute to your honoree in a unique way.
Whether you hire someone to create a video for you or plan to do it yourself, here are a few quick tips on how to make the most of your video:
- Move People With More
It’s quite common these days to see a photo movie at an event – moving pictures set to music. While it’s always wonderful to see photos at an event, stand out from the crowd by making this just one small part of your video. What really moves people is words – voices that have feeling and emotion. A bride and groom telling the story of how they met or why they fell in love, juxtaposed with old photos, is much more powerful than just seeing photos of them when they were young.
- Ask Great Questions
Interviews can be powerful. Make the best use of them by asking great questions. Video is at its best when people express themselves thoughtfully. Save details such as dates and timelines for the written word. Ask questions that challenge, such as how they felt about a particularly difficult decision. Major turning points in people’s lives are great launching pads for discussion and offer a window into their personality and life.
- Speaking of Words, Make Sure You Can Hear Them
Nothing is worse than watching a movie and not being able to hear what the people are saying. There are so many great cameras on the market today that have incredible high definition video, and yet most of these same cameras have only a built-in omni-directional microphone (picks up sound from everywhere, instead of directly in front of it) and from only a few feet away. If you plan to capture a sit-down interview, make sure the person wears a directional lavaliere microphone that plugs into your camera separately.
- Keep It Short & Sweet
Guests at a special event about to watch a personal video always begin their viewing with excitement and anticipation. Make sure you keep the enthusiasm going by not boring your audience! (They love you but most will not want to sit through an hour of your unedited interviews or home movies). Make use of editing software such as imovie or Adobe Premiere to edit down your interviews and add music and photos to your film. If your movie is just one part of a special event, it ideally should be no longer than about 10 minutes – 15 minutes max. Anything more and your audience will start to get restless, no matter how great you think it is!
For more information and the free report, “Capture Your Family History in 6 Easy Steps,” go to http://www.dmbpictures.com and sign up for our newsletter.
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