Building Home Video Collection for Busy Families

Every birthday, recital and special event, I end up with miles of footage but no video." ~ Esther Waworuntu, Parent (Framingham,MA)

The problem with videotaping is that there are just so many memories to capture : birthdays, graduations, recitals, sports event, holidays. By the time you try to video tape every highlight from the first day of Kindergarten to the Little League baseball game, you've got too much raw video footage and too little time to do anything with it.

To maintain a sustainable effort building your family video collection, try following the 1-2-3-Showcase! Plan.

What is the 1-2-3-Showcase! plan?

It's about planning with the end result in mind. Since you can't shoot everything, let alone edit everything you shoot, decide what you want to end up with at the end of the year. The 1-2-3-Showcase! Plan suggests that in one year , you will have created:

• 1 video story (3 minutes, 5 max)
• 2 video vignettes (1 to 2 minutes)
• 3 photoshows (set to music)

What’s in a Video Story?

A video story is a 3-minute video that covers a significant event in your family life, the "major event" of the year. Examples are graduations, family trip to Hawaii, a retirement party and big holiday events. A video story is a well-choreographed story with a beginning, a middle and an end. It has more details, close-up interviews sometimes, and more contemplative scenes, etc. Aim to do one video story a year.

What’s in a Video Vignette?

A video vignette is about 1 to 2 minutes long. Vignettes are not stories with beginning, middle, and end. They capture small snippets of our lives, the little everyday things that make our lives rich and meaningful. A child’s first attempt at riding a bike, house renovation, baby's first haircut, Grandma teaching your daughter how to knit - vignettes will make you laugh and cry when you watch it many years from today as you realize the little things in our lives are more precious than you ever imagined. A busy family's realistic goal? 2 video vignettes a year.

Lastly, a photoshow

A photoshow is a lot of fun and a snap to create. A photoshow is a bunch of still photos strung together into a movie-like video with music, captions, transitions and special effects. They take minutes to do and bring back the memories of our lives just as powerfully. Here is an example of a photoshow:

Let’s summarize our 1-2-3-Showcase plan: 1 video story, 2 video vignettes, 3 photo shows.

Now, doesn’t that look much more manageable already? In fact, some readers may feel that's way too little. The question to ask yourself is, "Is that more than what you did last year?" Set realistic goals and win.

But wait, how about the Showcase part of the 1-2-3-Showcase plan? The showcase is one roof where you, er, showcase, your videos together. Sounds so technical, but this is the EASIEST part. And it's free. I'm talking about blip.tv. Blip.tv allows you to create your own show (some people call it channel) where you can add new videos and slideshows to your growing video collection. You even get a permanent URL so all you need to do is email the URL to your friends and they can enjoy your very own video show. I have many shows. One of them is a show of camping-related videos. Check out my Joy Of Camping Show