Our Process
Because there is no film crew to hire and we can film anywhere in the entire USA, the process is fairly straightforward. Once you select a package, we will contact your loved one, go over the process with them.
Select A Day and Time
Once your loved one has agreed to participating in a legacy video, they need to select a day and time for their interview. Currently all interviews are done over the weekend. Depending on which package you purchase this will be either 90-minutes or 3-hours in duration. For the longer shoot, we usually take a 30-minute break halfway through.
Ship Our Video Kit
Your loved one will provide us with their mailing address and we will ship our video kit to your loved one so that it arrives 2 days before their scheduled interview. This will give them time to become familiar with the equipment and have everything setup in time for the shoot.
Select Topics For Video
We only have a finite amount of time for the interview and there is much we can talk about. That is why we provide a complete list of topics. We usually can over one topic every 15 minutes but it really depends on the individual and what they have to say. Our goal with a 90-minute interview is 4-6 topics and 8-12 for a 3-hour interview. It varies based on the individual.
Together with you and your loved one we will decide on which ones are “must haves” and which ones would be “nice to haves”.
Please note that if the equipment isn’t set up prior to the scheduled interview, we will have less time to ask questions.
Prepare For Interview
- Find out the name and password to their WiFi network. This is required to connect our Apple smartphone to the internet.
- They will need to find a location in their home that is an appropriate environment for filming. This includes being quiet, well lit and clear of anything distracting. We will be seeing the environment around them on camera so we want to make sure it attractive and clear of clutter.
Interview
There is nothing that your loved one needs to prepare before our interview. We will supply the questions in advance if you and they prefer so they know what we are going to ask but this isn’t necessary. The interview is a conversation. There just happens to be a video camera recording it.
Once we are on the call, we will make sure the phone is working properly, that we have good video and audio, that the framing looks good. Once we have done a quick test shoot, we will begin the interview process.
Since my questions will not be in the final video, they will be asked to include my question in their answer. If they don’t like what they have said or how they said it we will redo that question.
Editing
During the editing process, we will clean up the footage, removing any of the mistakes and do-overs. Each topic will be exported as its own video clip. The clips can vary in duration between a couple of minutes and 15 minutes in length. A title card will be added to the beginning of each video.
Sharing Videos
Once all the videos have been exported, the videos will be delivered to you digitally as MP4 video files. Once you have downloaded the videos, you can decide where you would like to host them for distribution with your family. The simplest is to host the videos on YouTube. For those wanted additional privacy you can have the videos be unlisted. This means they won’t show up in a YouTube or Google search. Only people with the URL will be able to access the videos.