Before
you bring in your pictures or slides to create a slideshow, there are
several things to consider:
- In "video
scrapbook" style editing, still images are typically shown for
approximately 6 seconds each, so a good way of estimating how many pictures
you might need for a given time period (i.e. length of a song) is 10
pictures per minute. This can vary depending on the "mood"
of the video (i.e. faster, higher energy songs usually require faster
editing to beats, etc.; slower songs usually go better with slow dissolves
between pictures).
- Most slide shows
are done best in chronological order (such as for a brithday party -
start with the baby and child pictures and slowly transitionto more
current images). Other methods of organizing your pictures include separating
into categories (life with immediate family, then extended family, then
friends, special vacations, etc.)
- In most cases,
asking anyone to sit through more than 15 - 20 minutes of a slideshow
is rough. If you have a lot of pictures to show, we can insert some
short "dead space" betwen several shorter sections so you
can stop the video and start it up again. Also remember that if you
choose the DVD option with chpaters you will be able to navigate to
specific starting points of the disc.
- Once you have
chosen your music (and noted the length of each song), use the 10 pictures/minute
or 6 seconds/picture formula to determine approximately how many images
you would like to use. These do not have to be exact numbers, we can
stretch or condense the running time of all of the pictures to fit the
song, or in some cases where ther are few pictures we can find parts
of the song where it would be natural to fade out or transition into
another song.
- For 35mm slides,
sort through them and place them into a standard carousel cartridge.
If there are more slides than will fit into a single cartridge, put
a piece of tape across the side of each cartridge to indicate the order
they should be trasnferred in. If you do not have any extra blank carousels,
we can provide ones for you. For small numbers of slides or slides that
are to be mixed in with regular print pictures, they can be included
in a separate smal box or bag - just be sure to mark somewhere on the
edge the number so we can insert it into the proper place in the video.
- When your pictures
are in order, turn them over and number them sequentially on the back.
Although we take great care in the handling of your materials, this
insures that they can be put back into the propoer order should they
get mixed up. Be sure to use a pencil or ball-point pen ; markers used
to write on the backs of pictures will mark the front of the picture
beneath it once you stack them together. Number pictures starting with
1 and going as high as necessary. if you are using mutliple songs/sections
in the video, you can separate these by putting each grouping of pictures
or slides into a large ziplock bag. Bring these to our studio along
with CDs or mp3s of the music you'd like. If you are only using part
of a song, please note the starting and ending points of the song (you
can do this by watching the counter on your CD player or on your computer
as you play the song).
- Included with
your transfer are an opening and closing title. This can be stand-alone
text on a black background or we can incorporate one of your pictures
with it. We can also insert captions over specific stills, such as a
small description of a vacation spot featured in the picture. These
should be printed or cleanly written on a sheet of paper with indications
where they will go into the video (i.e. opening title, caption for picture
#45, etc.)
- We will usually
turn your job around within a week to two weeks. If you have a specific
date you need your video done by, please let us know - in most cases
we can get your project done whenever you'll need it. Your finished
video will be archived digitally at our studios regardless of whether
or not you receive it on VHS or DVD so extra copies can always be made
at any time. We also save all of the transferred images onto the master
DVD so all subsequent copies will include them. You can view these images
by inserting the DVD into any computer with a DVD drive and view the
entire collection of pictures.
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