Since this is a creative process, its extremely important for there to be great communication. We have devised a process which should help everyone to feel comfortable through the project. If you want to leave it up to us to be creative with the photomontage, we’ll be happy to “wing” it.
Projects can easily grow larger in size than originally desired as you find images that fill in gaps in time. Preparation and organization can help prevent this project growth. As you are selecting images, a good rule of thumb to use is that each picture MUST contain the person(s) that the video is about. Exceptions would be images to use in the background of scenes, images that will be used as adornments (I.e. Religious icons or ribbons) and images of their children as babies.
What you must do:
You must indicate the order the images are to be on the slides in the show. If the photos are in digital format, simply name them numerically. Remember to name them with the “001.jpg” format (I.e. 001.jpg, 002.jpg, 003a.jpg, 003b.jpg). The addition of alphabet characters after a number would indicate that the images would be on the same slide. We have a form specifically for defining the order of the images as well as other slide details.
If your photos need to be scanned, group them into time periods or categories and place them into folders or envelopes. Attach any additional information such as a caption for the image on a sticky note on the back of the image.
Resolution - We prefer images to be at least in the 1600 pixel size range plus. We can work with smaller but when the images become too small, it limits how we can manipulate them. If your images are bigger than this target size, don’t make them smaller as we can resize as needed.
Good music is an extremely important part of the process so take your time in choosing your songs. You can easily find the lyrics to a song online. Remember, this video is truly about the stars of the video production so it should reflect their musical taste. The longer the production, the more lively on average your music should be. Attempts should also be made to match the approximate time frame of the photos to the music. People tend to enjoy these productions if they are familiar with the music so try to choose popular pieces if you want the music to have a strong an effect as it can have for a wider audience. Each scene or slide (depending on its complexity) will last from 6 - 12 seconds so plan accordingly with your songs. We can fade out and/or clip songs easily but be aware that making songs too short usually doesn’t come across well. You must be able to provide your own songs. I cannot provide them free for you due to copyright restrictions. I can, however, purchase them for you.
The Deadline: Our typical turn around time is 14 days. If this is for a wedding, birthday party, or another type of event, please let us know the event date and the date you need the project by. The larger the project, the longer it will take.
Every show should start with a title slide. As the first slide, it creates the “first impression” for the video. It typically is used on the DVD for the menu as well. The title scene by its very nature will have text on it so you should anticipate that the slide will probably last between 10-15 seconds.
Please specify the title to be used for your DVD. This typically appears as the first slide introducing the slide show. A font and color will be chosen to match the mood of the Slide Show. For example:
Stephanie & John
July 30th, 2009
Additional title Slides are generally used to introduce a set of pictures or as a way to end the slide shows. For example you may have a title slide that has your fiancé’s name and birth date and then following that slide the section with their pictures begin.