Family Documentary Chapter Video

This chapter of a video biography required editing around the fact that no photos of this couple together exist until after they've been married for more than a year. Ordinarily, we don't include mentions of prior boyfriends but, as you will see, this unique circumstance warranted an exception.



The interviews don't fill the screen because they were shot in 2004 on standard definition equipment. We are updating this story to high-def, which is widescreen rather than the 4:3 aspect ratio that most standard def used to be.

Photos are scanned at a resolution much higher than even high-definition video so we have no trouble filling the frame with them from that standpoint. Some portraits would include only the eyes and nose of the subject if we had them fill the frame horizontally. That's why you see black bars on the sides of some of the photos.

Family Documentary Video Chapter

Here is a chapter from a video biography with interviews, photographs, historical footage and narration used to fashion a family documentary story. This one features footage from a color motion picture camera owned by the subject's father in the 1940s.

Experiment in Family Documentary Editing

With time to devote to it, I am updating a family documentary I did about my own parents five years ago to high definition. Although the interviews are standard def, the photographs have more than enough resolution to show in high def.

I'm also adding historical context and music to places in the story where it fits. The original had no music and only one audio clip of Franklin Roosevelt's speech December 8, 1941 asking congress to declare war on Japan.

The reason this is experimental is because of how I used music in this chapter. Normally, I use music to help set a mood rather than help establish a time frame. That's partly because including popular music from a given time period involves having to pay license fees to use it.

I am hoping that I'll get a pass this time since I'm using records from my father's personal collection, no money is being made from the project and this is a trial to see how well popular music from a given time period fits the story.

The other reason this is experimental is that a famous song might not fit the mood of the piece. I'm still debating whether Buddy Morrow's brassy, sexy "Night Train" provides a fitting soundtrack to the opening sequence — with its mentions of Eisenhower's inauguration, the looming threat of nuclear Armegeddon, the Korean War and the race to find a vaccine for polio.

Video Biography YouTube Channel

Although people can watch examples of our family history videos and other personal documentaries on our web site, people find videos online through different means. That's why PRP now has created its own YouTube channel. It's another way to get people to see what we do and how well we do it.

Now that YouTube supports HD video, the quality has dramatically improved. I took the time to upload the HD mpeg files to get the most of this higher quality, including their original widescreen formatting. We use standard definition (4x3 aspect ratio) on the web site because it works with the site layout better.

Check out the example below.




The prominent on-screen graphic with our web site on it is there so that people know its source if someone embeds the video in another site or blog. I hope it's not too distracting. Watch more of our work and see how you can preserve your family's life story on high-definition video at www.Personal-Documentary.com

Videos appear with the permission of their subjects. We don't show anyone your project unless you tell us it's OK.

The Wedding Chapter in a Family Documentary

This is usually a highlight of a family documentary story -- when the couple recounts how they became engaged and got married. Most remember the proposal in precise detail, even if it was decades ago, and we edit the story so viewers can see how the subjects' memories match.



Note that we show video clips only with the permission of their subjects. We honor your privacy and we don't show your project to anyone unless you tell us it's OK.

For Whom Is A Video Biography Is Made?

I recently delivered the DVDs of a family documentary story to a very happy and grateful recipient in time for Christmas. I had screened the final version of a story about his parents for him a couple of weeks ago. Then I burned the disks and their labels, designed and printed the DVD case inserts (after sending him a proof for him to approve).

When I handed him the DVDs, he gave me a holiday card, in which he had written:

"We can't begin to thank you enough for what you have given our family. It is a beautiful story of our parents that will now be told for generations to come. Your work is remarkable!"

The "your work is remarkable" is certainly flattering, especially coming from someone who works in television, as he does. For him to say that is truly a compliment. But the part that really sticks out is "will now be told for generations to come."

Although the story is about his parents and he was eager to show them the film, that's not for whom the story was made. It was made for him and his brother and sister and their children. It was made for the day — in the distant future, I hope — that his parents aren't around to tell their story themselves.

When that day comes, they will still have this.



Note that we show video clips only with the permission of their subjects. We honor your privacy and we don't show your project to anyone unless you tell us it's OK.

"When a Parent Dies, It's the End"

Those are the words of Robert De Niro in an interview with Esquire magazine. Here's more:

When a parent dies, it's the end. I always wanted to chronicle the family history with my mother. She was always interested in that. I wanted some researchers I'd worked with to talk to my mother, but my mother was a little antsy about it. I know she would've gotten into it. It would have been okay with my father, too. But I wasn't forceful, and I didn't make it happen. That's one regret I have. I didn't get as much of the family history as I could have for the kids.

My own father was reluctant to sit for an interview when I wanted to do a video biography about my parents several years ago. "This is not for you," I told him. "This is for your grandchildren. When they're old enough to appreciate who they came from, this is how you will be there to tell them."



I should note that in the five years since I did that interview, we have added a high-definition camera and better lighting equipment. The important thing is that I won't ever share Robert De Niro's regret about failing to record his parents' life story on video.

Nothing keeps someone's memory alive like being able to see and hear them tell their stories in their own words. Watch more examples of family history stories and other video biographies at personal-documentary.com.

The First Chapter

We thought it would be fitting that we begin our new blog with the first chapter of a family documentary story that we're in the final stages of editing.



This is the first of 16 chapters in a life story video that runs 45 minutes. In our family documentary stories we look for places to integrate historical video that puts the subjects' story into the perspective of its times.

This chapter also features original photography as well as pictures from the family's archives. See more examples of our work on our website Personal-Documentary.com.

Note that we show video clips only with the permission of their subjects. We honor your privacy and we don't show your project to anyone unless you tell us it's OK.