Routes to Roots: Easy Video Family Histories (page 2)

With the live interview finished you're ready to provide the photo close-ups that'll really sell your program. But first you have to edit:

• Start the interview with a two-shot taken from the front, to establish the situation.
• Edit the over-the-shoulder album close-up to clean up the audio track, cutting the goofs, repetitions, and dull stuff, not to mention your audible directions from behind the camera.
• Come back to the two-shot occasionally, or to a front close-up of the tour guide looking at the album. This will prevent boredom imposed by a succession of still photo close-ups.
• Wrap up the interview with more angles shot from the front. Once the basic program is assembled, you're ready to shoot the album photos, as follows:
• Use the edited tape to make a list of every photo discussed.
• In soft, even light (say, outdoors in open shade) shoot a good fifteen seconds of every photo, in the order discussed, Most camcorders can fill the screen with a postcard-size image, but you don't care if the corner of another picture is visible, because you've established that this is an album during the "live" part of the footage.
• Using the video insert function (if you have it) replace the original visual devoted to each photo with the screen-filling close-up of it. If you don't have the video insert function on your camera (which can replace picture without disturbing the already recorded audio), proceed with Plan B instead:
• Frame your over-the-shoulder album close-ups carefully enough to use in the finished program.
• Edit each shot to finished length, covering cuts with front angle close-ups and two shots. And that's really all there is to it.

As you can see there're many different approaches to family history videos, and whichever one you choose, you'll benefit from following two suggestions. First, remember to include historic places and things as well as people. Second, video is most effective when supported by audio, so focus on historic sounds as well as sights--sounds that range from Grandma's narration to the hiss of the steam press in the family dry cleaning business or the creak of the wind-driven water pump filling the barnyard trough.

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