What Makes Us Different?

There is nothing more powerful than a good story.  A family legacy video is a video that tells the personal story of someone’s life in their own words.

There are many ways to create a legacy video. It can be based on old photographs and a person’s voice. It could be based on video interviews with the person as well as video interviews with other family members. At Heirloom we have created our own way that not only is more affordable, it is easier, and clients prefer it. Watch this video to learn more. 

As much as there are many ways of creating a family legacy video, one thing is common among them all… stories. We all love a good story and many of us have amazing stories inside to share, if someone just asked.

Our mission at Heirloom Family Documentaries is to make family legacy videos accessible to more families. As leaders in remote video production, we have already developed a solution that costs 80% less and doesn’t sacrifice quality. Watch the video to learn what makes our service and process not only unique but ideal for all families that want a legacy video.

A family legacy video is our opportunity to freeze time and allow us to get to know someone on a much deeper level where they can create something to share with family members and future generations.  A legacy video is our opportunity to reflect on our life and share our wisdom, life lessons and celebrate the things that we are grateful for.

How It Started

It was a cold Tuesday afternoon in March of 2019. I had taken the day off from work to be with my 82-year old dad in his apartment in Scarsdale, just a half hour drive from New York City. I was about to film my dad’s legacy video. For the next 3 hours I interviewed my dad on video, asking him questions about his childhood, his friends, his parents, growing up in NYC, going to college, meeting my mother and so much more. I was in tears when he finished. I had never seen this side of my father before. For the very first time in my life, he opened up and shared feelings and thoughts about his life that I never knew.
Family Legacy Video | Behind The Scenes
I wanted to create a legacy video of my dad to document his life and to have a history of our family that I could share with my kids and future generations of my family. I couldn’t have imagined what happened next!  I edited the video footage into 26 separate 5-10 minute videos and began sharing them with my brothers. As they watched the videos, they discovered things about our dad and themselves that they never knew. The blessing in all of this was that the legacy video allowed us to build a deeper, richer, more meaningful relationship with our father. We began having conversations that would have never happened if it wasn’t for the videos.

Click here to watch the legacy video I created.  

The experience had such a profound impact on my life that I wondered why aren’t more families doing this. For me, it was easy. I am a professional videographer, so I had the equipment and skills to do this. It only cost me my time. But I realized had I had to pay for this, it would have cost between $7,000 and $15,000. If I had to spend that kind of money, I wouldn’t have done it. So I made it my life’s work to make this more accessible, and more affordable so more people could do this.

That is when I came up with the idea of leveraging smartphones and a mobile app to do the entire process remotely. That way, I could cut 80% of the cost and be able to help more families across the country. Hence, Heirloom Family Documentaries was born. To learn more, go to our How Does It Work page.

My goal for you is that you have your family’s stories on video, so if you can’t afford our solution, try to do it on your own. Go ahead and download my free eBook, How to Make Your Own Legacy Videos. Time is not on your side. Don’t wait until it is too late. Get started today! 

About The Founder

David Vogel, owner of Heirloom Family Documentaries

David Vogel

Founder

I am fortunate that I found something I love doing. At the age of 12, I saw Star Wars in the movie theater, and my life changed forever. In my 20’s, I moved to Hollywood to pursue my dreams of working in visual effects. I was fortunate enough to land a job at Apogee, a visual effects company based in Hollywood that is located where the original Star Wars was filmed. Several of the people there worked on the original film, and I got to work side by side with them on TV commercials, movies, and music videos. It was a dream come true.

I returned back to New York and spent several years in film production, working as a camera assistant on feature films, TV commercials, music videos, and documentaries. When things went digital I returned to my love of visual effects working for visual effects post-production company, Charlex. I spent the next 15 years editing national TV commercials. Some of the brands I worked on include American Express, Kodak, Verizon, Lucent, Charmin, Purdue, and many others.

As much as I loved working on big-budget TV commercials, nothing brings me greater joy than spending a few hours getting to know your parents and grandparents and having a front-row seat to the story of their life. I am so grateful that I can capture these stories so that their life, wisdom, and lessons can now be shared with future generations of your family.