► HOW MANY PHOTOS SHOULD I USE?
We recommend that you use 30 - 40 photos.
A Timeless Tributes™ video should celebrate, not document, a completed life. Focus on the high-points. A few photos of benchmark events is all that is needed to relive those forgotten memories. To make an analogy... great chefs serve portions that leave us hungry for "one more bite". Do the same... leave your audiences "hungry" for one more photo.
Most of our lives can be highlighted with 30-40 photos... three or four photos commemorating each of the following:
- early childhood
- adolescence
- young adulthood
- marriage
- children's births
- vocational accomplishments
- retirement, and
- grandchildren.
To create a flowing tempo, consider keeping each photo on-screen for approximately 8 seconds (consisting of a 3 second fade-in/out and a 5 second effect(hold)). Using this format, a 30-photo Timeless Tributes™ video would last for 4 minutes. This is sufficiently long to celebrate a lifetime yet suitable for guests to comfortably stand and view the tribute.
► WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PHOTOS YOU RECOMMEND?
50 photos creates a 7-minute show... that is a long time.
To test this conclusion ask yourself , "How long would I want to stand in front of a TV or PC watching a tribute video?" Then try standing for 8 or more minutes watching a tribute. No matter how wonderfully crafted, the tribute video starts losing its "charm". Here's why...
The tribute video is secondary to the family. Friends attend visitations and log online to the funeral homes website to share memories and condolences. The Timeless Tributes™ video is the catalyst that revives their shared memories and provides a common framework for their condolences. The Timeless Tributes™ video is not the centerpiece of funeral experience.
► HOW DO I CREATE A LARGE SHOW (50+ PHOTOS)?
If the video the family has requested is very large, here is a quick way to shorten the time of the video:
Change the tempo by reducing transition and hold times. Here how to do this without creating a hectic, rushed feeling. Try using only fade-in and fade-out transitions. Keep transitions to 2 seconds and hold the photo for 1 second (choose no effect).
You do not need to caption each photo... captioning photo-groups is equally effective. Group your photos by theme and write introductory captions that clearly introduce the next part of your visual story. This format creates a relaxed fee while viewing large groups of photos.
Depending on your computers hard drive space, CPU speed, memory and other factors you may be unable to create a video over 50 photos. The solution is to do what the professionals do and split your video into chapters. See Newsletter 12 for a detailed explanation on creating chapters. |
