There are three steps to the process.
| Get on top of those old family films
you found in the attic.
The film your folks took of you and your sister as kids is brittle now, and breaks when it goes through the projector. The splices your Dad took so much time to make have dried out with age, and the film falls apart in your hands. Your projector doesn't work, and you can't find new bulbs for it. It's to be expected. Most film that we see today is 30 to 50 years old! It's old, it's fragile and it precious. So the first step is to get the films transferred to digital tape so they can be put onto a DVD. Once on tape we can help you edit out any bad bits before transfer to DVD. You can read all about this process here on our web site. |
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Go through them all and lightly number them (on the back, in pencil) for identification. You'll probably want to arrange them chronologically, although you might group them by trips, family activities, birthdays and anniversaries, etc. Bring your phoographs and slides to VideOccasions and we'll put them onto digital tape, in preparation for putting them to DVD. Once the films, photos and slides have been transfered to digital tape, we're ready to work with you to assemble your project. We'll transfer the information on the digital tapes of your film, photos and slides to a computer and work with you to arrange all this material into the sequences you've chosen. Along the way, we can edit out any "bloopers" that you'd like to get rid of. |
Add titles, captions, even narration.
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The final step before putting the project onto a DVD is to add a title, some captions if they're necessary and perhaps a narration.
Almost from the start, movies added titles so audiences could better understand what was going on in the film. As soon as it became possible, voices and music were added as well. Al Jolson became a household word! Imagine what it will mean to your family, years from now, to hear the voice of Mom or Dad, Grandmother and Grand dad, commenting on family history as it flashes by on the screen. |
And the Bottom Line: How Much Does it Cost?
Digital editing at VideOccasions is billed at $80 an hour.
Many who use our services do much of the preparatory work themselves, however, before actually sitting down with a VideOccasions editor.
You can capture your pictures at home using a scanner and Microsoft's PowerPoint® software, then bring in the picture files on a CD for us to capture to our video editing program. Read about this process here on our web site.
If we do the capturing for you, about 35-40 pictures and/or slides can be captured to tape in a hour. 12 pictures makes about a finished minute of tape: a presentation 10 minutes long will require about 120 pictures and/or slides, about three and a half hours of capture time.
Once the pictures have been captured, adding music, a title and captions to a 10 minute project will take about another hour to an hour and a half. Adding narration will typically take an additional hour to an hour and a half.
A realistic estimate for the cost of a 10 minute project with a mix of film (film transfer not included), photos and slides, with titles and music, is between $350 and $500.
But keep in mind The Golden Rule of Editing: No matter how well prepared your are, editing almost always takes longer than you thought it would!
Call VideOccasions today (425-641-4811) to discuss your project and to reserve editing time. Become a family whose memories will last forever.
Last updated: 10/12/07