Telling Your Story
Selecting Your Photos
Choosing Your Music
PREPARING YOUR ORDER
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Telling your Story
Creating a MEMORABLEmilestones
video photo album begins with deciding what story you want to tell about yourself, a relative, colleague or perhaps even a pet.  Your story can involve events over a short or long period of time and include many different people, locations and activities. The key is choosing photos that relate to the main subject of the story and the special event being celebrated or documented.  While you may have other personal stories you wish to tell, here are some examples you might want to consider:
 
  • Graduations from preschool, kindergarten, elementary grades, middle school, high school, college or graduate school.
  • Birthday celebrations such as baby's first year, a teenager turning 16, reaching the age of 21, 40, 50 or older.
  • Wedding celebrations including the actual ceremony, reception and honeymoon
  • Engagements, dating and childhood memories for couples about to be married.
  • Multi-generational family histories
  • Wedding anniversaries
  • Career anniversaries, promotions or retirement
  SELECTING YOUR PHOTOS
Once you've decided on the story or subject of your video photo album, it's time to gather your photos.  Most likely you will not be able to include every photo you have of a particular person or group so it's best to select photos that reflect the major theme and include people involved over the time period of your story..  Her are some examples to consider when selecting photos for a particular type of video photo album:
  Graduation - Photos from when the individual was a baby, toddler, each school year, extracurricular activities, hobbies, friends and holiday celebrations
Birthday Celebrations - Photos from birth through the year being celebrated including the friends and family who helped celebrate the special occasion
Family History - Photos of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, children, grandchildren in order by generation and/or families.
Weddings/Engagements - photos of the couple growing up, dating, the wedding ceremony, reception and honeymoon.
Wedding Anniversaries - photos of the couple dating, engagement, wedding, children, marriages and grandchildren, family vacations, holidays, and friends
Career Achievement/Retirement
- Photos that recap personal and professional accomplishments, colleagues, awards and celebrations.
When selecting photos, remember:
 
  • Choose photos, slides and  flat artwork such as newspaper clippings, drawings, diplomas, etc. that relate to the subject matter
  • Choose photos ranging in size from wallet to 8 x 10
  • Remove photos from frames and albums in order for them to be scanned
  • Black and white or sepia photos can reproduce very well but rips and scratches will still be visible
  • Brightness and contrast can be enhanced for most photos, but a poor quality or discolored photo will most likely appear the same on video
  • Photos are typically cropped and enlarged to maximize the appearance of the main subject in the video
  • Photos should follow a chronological sequence or be grouped by topic or group
  • Scenery type photos can be quite beautiful, but video photo albums are usually intended to be personal stories about a person or group
  CHOOSING YOUR MUSIC
A very important part of a video photo album is the background music because it is able to set the desired mood and communicate a specific message.  When choosing your music there are 3 major issues for you to consider: style, lyrics and length.  The style of music should be consistent with the time period and theme of the video.  For example, a big band arrangement may be appropriate for a 50th wedding anniversary or retirement, but would not fit well with a video photo album for a high school graduate.  Likewise, a love song may not be appropriate for a career theme video.  Once you know the style of music you want, choose a particular song after first listening carefully to the lyrics.  You want to  make sure the music will convey your intended message.  Finally, the length of the music needs to coincide with the number of photos.  Most video photo albums require approximately 8 seconds of music for each photo.  If possible, it is best to use only one song for a 3-4 minute video unless the video will contain several distinctly different themes.  To determine if your music choice will be long enough to accommodate your number of photos, divide the song's total length in seconds by the number of photos.  A number in the range of 7-9 is desirable.  If the number is less than 7 you should submit a second music track.  Don't worry that the total length is too long, we will use both music tracks equally and merge them at the best point in each song.
 
  PREPARING YOUR ORDER
In order to be assured we all have the information needed to produce your video, it is highly recommended that you complete these steps:
  1.  Print a copy of the video preparation checklist found at this link.
2.  Number your selected photos in consecutive order with a pen or pencil on the
     back of the photo or attach a sticky note.  Do not use a felt-tip pen or marker
     because the ink can bleed through the photo.
3.  Record the information you would like on the title slide.
4.  Provide the caption or text information you would like included with a particular
     photo.  You should limit the number of characters to 15, including spaces.
5.  Indicate your music title/artist on the video preparation checklist including the
     estimated number of seconds available for each photo.  Include additional music if
     less than 7 seconds per photo.
6.  Print and complete an order from that can be found at this link.
 


CONTACT INFORMATION:
MEMORABLEmilestones
123 South 4th Street
Wishek ND  58495
Phone 701-452-2929
E-mail: 
info@memorablemilestones.com
Florida Office:  407-977-2089

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All rights reserved.