1. Understand the significance
So you want to make a video…..nobody cares. To use a meme-based notion: “You mad bro?” Before you travel down this scroll ask yourself the question: Who am I doing this for? If your answer is ANYTHING OTHER THAN “Myself” then you need to take a long and fearlessly introspective look in the mirror. ….are you sure?...... is that really what you want to say?
See the thing is, you are correct in your assumption that there are just as many videos out there as there are snowflakes in the winter or leaves in the fall. No matter how spectacular you believe in your heart that your video will be….chances are that it will fall FAR short of that goal and only really be significant to you and your loved ones. If you can BEGIN this journey by saying to yourself “I am going to do this for my family and I…so that we have a device with which to utilize in the hard times…that will bring us great joy and fellowship”….then you are ready to proceed.
A world-class communicator whom I admire greatly, Terry Crist once spoke of “Poignant Memorials” and the fact that the first and foremost memorial we need to consider is The Last Supper and the fact that Christians like myself partake in memorials all the time….and that they be done to please The Lord. Whereas, we need to understand as Christians that memorials are Biblically encouraged and bring great joy and honor to The Lord who has blessed you with the ability to humbly (but methodically) account for your blessings.
Weather you are doing it as part of your faith or you are doing it as a means to give back to the people and institutions that surround you; you will always be successful if you put OTHERS in front of yourself in your memorializing. Because if you have to call attention to YOURSELF as a badass, weather it be in pictures or in video…..mmmmmmm chances are you aren’t.
2. Employ the right platforms.
In the technologically advanced world we live in, we are often inundated with the latest digital trends and when it comes to movie-making on the web…there are so many applications and platforms that it often causes euphoria. The critical detail to remember is not that spending your money on the most advance gadget will allow you to make your video “far and above’ the next guy’s….that’s not what this is about. Rather, you want to spend your money on something that will be easy for you to LEARN.
Becoming well versed in the platform that you choose will allow you to really show off your novice editing skills and produce something you can take great pride in.
I suggest you purchase a platform that offers a wide range of important features such as: Transitions, stock sound and video, tutorials and an easy to follow user menu. All of these things, while seemingly unremarkable, will show their value when it comes time for you to sit down with it after collecting all the pictures you want to put into it.
When it comes to Windows-based platforms, there is a fine program that comes standard with most of the current and advance operating systems that are fielded today called “Windows Movie Maker” and I cannot say enough about how this platform allows for real-time ease-of-use that is critical for the burgeoning novice. The “Drag-And-Drop” type of film-strip layout makes it clear where your pictures go AND it accepts most musical formats for your music INCLUDING iTunes formats which many proprietary systems leave out and mandate that you pay a small translating price in order to use each song on your project.
While there are a wide range of stand-alone (non OS) systems out there, my favorite by far is Pinnacle Studio’s platforms and services. Pinnacle has got it all from the transitions right down to the templates for intro’s and out-tro’s . It has tips and secrets for the beginner, right along with suggestions for the advanced video editor who is hell bent on putting out something before the holidays (or whatever occasion you find yourself facing).
3. Choose the right pictures
Ahhh pictures…those wonderful portals in time that take us back to a place we have been before while ushering all of the souls we share with, right to its point of origin along with us.
Depending on the source you are using, it is important to remember who your audience is. If you are telling a story about yourself, then remember to chose those shots that primarily reflect you and those influences (weather they be people or things) that have influenced you in the past. This could be a pastor or a bartender, a horse or a motorcycle, a store or the manager etc. The unifying point in this is that each of the pics should have a theme and be connected somehow. For example, a pic of something random like a baby picture could be connected in the same batch with a picture of graduation…thus showing change or progression.
Similarly, a picture of a sibling or a ancestor might be connected to an inanimate object like a chain with a lock on it…suggesting that family is the tie that binds… While these are easy things that any aspiring video maker can come up with at the drop of a hat, what causes the video-maker to NOT begin is the lack of imagination leading to a lack of commitment.
When it comes to social media…the pics are already at your fingertips and are often sorted into fantastic and often chronologically specific groupings. When it comes to Facebook, I suggest looking in your “Timeline” collection. The unique thing about timeline is that it is not an “album specific”….Rather. it is a form of a sentry for your life as it passes by on your timeline. It collects many of the pictures you upload from your laptop/computer which do not qualify as belonging to one of your albums but are interesting enough to make it on your timeline.
Try to do your best to include as many family and friends circles as you can when balancing your family within the filmstrip as forgetting a group or a person, while not your intention originally, may cause that person to become incensed or feel left out….”Touch ‘Em All” is an idea that I try to embrace with each video…and I have made quite a few successful video ventures by embracing this idea.
If you are making a Thanksgiving video as I am this year….or some sort of family-specific “yearbook” type of compilation, I suggest timeline photographs as well as pics pulled from compilations of family outings and family-specific events that showcase all of the OTHER people in your life. I think that often, a mistake that people make is getting too heavily caught up in pictures of themselves. Often, one of the primary reasons people flock to your videos is to be able to participate in all of the fun and interesting things you were able to do…take them those places and show them those wonderful people. I think that if you stick to that ethos, you will find a considerable amount of more hits than if you had not.
4. Choose the right music
Music has been around since the dawn of man…when cavemen used to pound on things to create circadian rhythms that worked them into the frothy, violent states needed to go out and slay beasts that were so massive, there was often little chance they would prevail at all without help.
The Renaissance ushered in the dawn of the discovery that human emotion could be influenced based in no small part to what the brain detected within the melodic and rhythmic combinations some of the first composers were churning out.
What this boils down to for you is that it is ALL ABOUT the music….it has ALWAYS …been all about it and selection of your own “combination of melodic and rhythmic” setting will be crucial.
An established and metered rhythm will allow you to mathematically determine HOW MANY pictures and video’s you will be able to utilize, while the correct timbre of the music will allow you to keep your audience adequately entertained and hold their attention.
Rhythm and timbre come first….after you have adequately addressed these two crucial items…then (and only then) you should address any lyrics that are attached to the music. It is possible to have a piece that is as wonderfully rhythmic as it is melodic….but land it on the “no-go” list because of the song’s lyrics.
Here is/are an example of the lyrics in one of the songs I am using this year:
"Before there was time
There were visions in Your mind
There was death in the fall of mankind
But there was life in salvation's design
And before there were days
And there were nights I could not see Your face
But the night could not keep me from grace
When You came and took my place
~
So I cry holy only begotten Son of God
Ancient of days
I cry holy only begotten Son of God
And sing the praises
Of the One who saved me
And the promises He made
Before there was time"
See, nobody wants to hear about hard times...or even look at pics of your babies with some lame-ass thrash-metal blaring in the background…remember they are watching your video for a reason…giving up the world’s most precious resource (time) to invest in your ability to take them away from their every-day and tell them a story….lyrics are key…they don’t have to tell the story of the pics that are passing by…but they better tell a good story…or your secret reader, who is portraying his or herself as a viewer, will repay you with quickly becoming incensed….and let’s face it, that’s worse than if they had never watched your vid at all.
5. Be methodical and steadfast.
One of the most familiar and prevalent human conditions in the world to day is procrastination. It can bring even the mightiest of men right down to their knees.
Once you have all of the ingredients outlined in the first four steps, stay faithful to yourself and to your faith by endeavoring to work a little on it every day.
Sticking to these five steps will guarantee you put out a product you can be proud of and that will be lauded amongst your family members for years to come.
Here is one that I made years back in which I tried to embrace all of these steps…
..it’s a difficult thing to step back after time has gone by and ask yourself if you adheared to the basic and fundamental guidelines…with any luck…you will nail it….a the very least..you will put out a decent product that you can store in your archives for when it is time to tell your grandkids the story.
Good luck and all the best,
Mark
