Video biography - closest thing to immortality. Here's how

Over the last 18 months or so, I have attempted to convey how thrilling it is to preserve a life in a video biography. Through the essays on this blog, I have tried to enthuse, cajole, lecture, and instruct folks on how to go about making life story videos. Why? Because they are the closet thing we have to immortality. A written memoir is a great thing; and an audio recording is always a treasure. But nothing can capture a personality, a person, like a life preserved on video.

And over the last 18 months or so, I have tried to say that none of us should let the goal of perfection be the enemy of the good (as Voltaire said) - or, just do it (Nike). In other words, don't take all year planning. Start first, then plan later. Lives do not last forever - we just sometimes act like they do.

I have also tried to present options for folks who get the idea. There are professionals (like me) who can assist in putting a video biography together. And you can do it yourself using the tools and advice close at hand. In this post, I am going to give you some links to on-line resources for your own immortality project.

Video interviews
First off, you can make your own life story documentary. There is simple, easy to follow advice available about making a video biography on your own, including advice about camera and camera set up and positioning as well as advice on sound and interview questions. The point is that it is not hard to make a life story video, it really isn't:

You'll need a camera. Any old digital video camera lying around is fine. It really is. The problem in most amateur video is not the quality of the camera. It's usually the sound and all the shaking. Luckily, we can fix all that for under $50 (even less if you can borrow the stuff).

So that should take care of the video part and the interview of your subject. Now, it will add significantly to the impact of your life story video if you can cut to relevant photographs from time to time. Those images may be family pictures or they may be archive images that relate to the historical period that the person lived through.

Old photographs
Like capturing interview material, you won't have a problem preparing pictures to include in the video biography with just a small amount of guidance. The main issue here are the best settings for scanning old photographs and documents. I run across a lot of people who struggle with the the interplay of size and scanner resolution settings. My advice? If you are scanning photos use these scanner settings. In short:

The choice you make will depend on whether you intend to use your pictures on computer screens and monitors; or if you will want to print them. Print requires 300 dpi to reproduce the original at the same size (see box illustration for effect of different print resolutions for different size originals). Your average PC has a default resolution of 96 dpi. So use these settings for those uses. If you are going to email or post the images, scan at 96 dpi. If you will want to print, scan at 300 dpi to get an image the same size as the original.


Once you have your life story video images safely scanned, you will want to spruce them up a tad. And there are simple tips for retouching digital images:

Digital images tend to suffer from the same problems time and time again. And most of those problems have been with us from the days of film. The difference now is that with digital photography, and all the free or cheap digital imaging software, you can do something about them.

Video editing
Fast forward: With video and images now captured, you will be well on your way to completing your video biography. The final stage is where you assemble all the elements together. If you have ever used PowerPoint you will have a good instinctive basis for video editing. But you will need to open up an editing program. If, like most people, you use a PC then you will want to know how to edit video on a pc:

One thing about this tech revolution is that we now have more technology than many of us know how to use! And that applies to video and video editing on your PC. I am willing to bet that you have all the gizmos and gadgets you need to turn raw family footage into something snappier.

And you do. On the PC, the program is Movie Maker - it is free - and it is really easy.

Other elements
As you go along, you will want to include other elements in your video biography. It's not hard to think what - we see documentaries on TV all the time and most of what you see - like archive footage, titles and captions, music, is well within your reach. There really is no limit to what you can include in a life story video.

If you are a DIYer, do stick with it. Poke around the web and get other advice. Stay on mission - it is an important one. Probably one of the most important family projects you will ever have. Because video biography is the closest thing we have to immortality.