Gavin's 3 now, thanks for everyone who came to his party! I started getting worried when I kept getting sick kid reports that we wouldn't get anyone, but everything turned out OK. Note, 2 boys playing together is a chaotic, 3 boys is a natural disaster. Yet no one gets hurt, funny how that works out. Managed to finish his year 3 DVD in time for it as well, so I was able to show it off to the in-laws, Pam, and M&K(w/C). I know I'm getting decent at this when I can point to a time point and say "Pam will cry here" (and she did, that's 3 years in a row, woot!). I had help this year though, Vanessa Carlton's song "Home" is perfect for this sort of thing and I was easily able to setup the pacing to that moment. This was probably the easiest year I've had doing this thing, simply because I'm now used to the tools I'm employing, and I know how to use my source material.
If you decide you wish to do your own DVD of your kid's moments, here are some tips:
1) 25 minutes is your target length, 20 feels just too short, and 30 is when people have had enough. Cap it at 25 and you'll be good.
2) The pictures you posted to your website might not be the ones you use in the video, I have one in the video of C & Gavin's back to me, not good for a published picture, but with the context, fit in perfectly in the video.
3) Get a rough idea of your soundtrack first. Know what song you're starting with, and which one you're ending with. The rest will usually fall into place. Eliminate all voices from your shot video, trust me you won't need it. The soundtrack will be the glue that drives the pacing.
4) During the year shoot a lot of pictures, and a lot of video. I usually have 2 hours of video shot and about 1000 pictures. Of that I'll get about 10 minutes of good video which works in the DVD (of which I'll use 6 minutes worth), and 300 pictures. If you are using all your pictures & video in the movie, you haven't shot enough.
5) Mix your pictures & video together. My first DVD did a picture slideshow, then I dumped all the movies in the extras section. The feedback from year 1 was mixed, once I decided to weave them together all I got was good feedback.
6) Buy a good tool. I got Sony's Vegas Movie software (that comes with a nice DVD architect). It runs about $100 but will make your life a WHOLE lot easier.
7) No one will usually obviously notice things you sync up with points in the music, but over time it will make an effect on the viewer. This is how I make Pam cry every year.
That said, you can always use option 8 and ask me to do one for you, I'm easily bribed. Now that I'm comfortable with it, this is quite a bit of fun.
All you need to do is give me some oreos.
But you shouldn't because they're bad for me.
Even though I love them.
But I shouldn't eat them.
Even if I beg you.
And trust me, I am begging....
3 years ago
