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Funeral Slideshow DVD / Memorial Video Tutorial |
Memorial Videos, also known as Life Sketch Videos or even just a Funeral Slideshow
DVD, are
one of the most rewarding areas of work that I have in my business. The
process can be tedious and the techniques take time to learn (which is why others
have me do the work for them). However, pictures of
people and places taken from long ago are fascinating and watching another person's
life unfold from youth to old age is truly an incredible adventure.
While it's true that anybody can make a slideshow video, there are several techniques
that you can use to separate your work from the amateurs. The tips and ideas that
I've listed below I use myself and hope they will be of some benefit to you as well.
This tutorial is still being developed, so check back
again for updates!
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Prepare the Pictures
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What I Use and Recommend:
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Scanned Pictures
Most of the time videos made for showing at a funeral or a viewing will come from
regular photographs and will need to be scanned. I use a Canon Canoscan 4200F (
check out the 4400F at Buy.com
 )which
does a great job and has a valuable function called “Multiscan”. This allows you
to put several photos on the scanner at the same time and the scanner automatically
saves each image to it's own file. Even if the pictures aren't exactly straight,
the scanner has the ability to straighten them out if they're not too far off.
Save yourself a little time and put your photographs in order BEFORE you scan them.
My scanner automatically numbers the photos as they are scanned, so it's much easier
to build my slideshow if the numbering of my photos is already in the sequence that
I want them to appear in the video. Usually you can ask the person you are doing
the memorial video for to put them in order for you.
Digital Pictures
Photos taken with a digital camera, in my opinion, usually always look better than
scanned photographs. Keep an eye out here for more tips in the near future
regarding digital pictures in memorial videos.
Touch Up
Whether you are using digital pictures or regular photographs in your memorial video,
many times the image can use a bit of a touch up. Although video created from photos
tends to be very forgiving, I usually check each image one at a time looking for
the following problems:
- Cropping. Clean up white edges or parts of the image that don't
really contribute to your presentation.
- Noise. There are several tools that you can use to make a photo
less noisy. Old grainy photographs are often used in videos prepared for funerals
for obvious reasons.
- Color Balance. Making the colors look the way they should
is generally an easy process using the color balance filters. The most frequent
problem that I see with older photographs when it comes to color balance is a red,
orange or yellow tint the print photographs tend to develop.
- Lines and
gaps. Often older photographs have creases in them, or have been removed
from a photo album that they are stuck to.
I've tried several different photo editing software packages over the years, but
seem to always rely on my Corel products to get the job done. If you have
to choose just one photo editor, you can't go wrong with Paint Shop Pro Photo X2.
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Scanner
Canon Canoscan 4400F Color Scanner Flatbed
I currently use the 4200F which is no longer available. The 4400F (available
at Buy.com
for a great price) is the next step up and will be what I replace my 4200F with,
if it ever dies!
Photo Editing
Paint Shop Pro Photo X2
If you can afford only one photo editor, this one does an outstanding job at a very reasonable
price.
They also allow you to try out a fully functional edition for 30 days to make sure
it's what you need. |
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Build the Video
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What I Use and Recommend:
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Number of Slides and Slide Length
Each picture should be on screen no less than five seconds, and if possible, no
more than 10 seconds. Although there may be exceptions, screen time of less than
five seconds do not give the audience a chance to get a good look at what's going
on in the picture. If the picture is on the screen for more than 10 seconds, the
video can feel drawn out and really start losing everyone's attention.
Music
Unless my client has a preference I generally use what's called “Buyout” music.
This is music that you can purchase and use in any of your projects without paying
any additional royalties other than the original purchase price.
An excellent source for Buyout music is Stock 20. For $7.00 a song, you can't
go wrong. Plus if you click on this link to go to Stock 20 you
can sign up for a free account and get a $7 credit at the same time! That
will give you a chance to check out their music for free.
Transitions
Most video editing programs have more transitions and special effects than you can
count. While it can be great fun using a multitude of these fancy pieces of eye
candy, a memorial video is no time to use them. The only transitions that I use
are basic crossfades; period. Your “audience” at a funeral or viewing are generally
in a fairly somber mood. Now is not the time to distract them from their departed
loved one by showing them how great you are because you have a 100 transitions at
your disposal or you can add smoke, clouds or bubbles to the video!
In fact, most movies and television programs rarely use any transition other than
a crossfade or a straight cut. There is a reason for that. Whenever I see a video
that has a bunch of different transitions or special effects, I immediately think
that it was created by an amateur.
Motion
Adding motion to the images is a great way to give your video life. As each photo
fades in, I immediately begin slowly zooming in or out. Depending on the layout
of the photo, I'll also pan the image in whichever direction will bring the viewers
attention to the focal point of the photo.
If the focal point of the photo is at an angle, I generally like to add a little
rotation to the image as well.
DVD Menu, Introductions, Credits, Etc.
When I put together a DVD for a funeral I do not include a regular DVD menu, credits
before or after the video or any other items that are not part of the actual memorial
video. When you put the disk in the player, a two second clip plays; one second
of black, then a one second fade into the main screen at which point it stops and
holds that image. On this main screen, I have a picture of the deceased on one side
and their name, birth date and death date on the other side. A phrase, such as “In
Loving Memory” is also a good addition.
This main screen serves as a giant “button” for your DVD menu. I simply capture
the last frame of this two second clip as an image and import it into my main DVD
menu as the only button. This makes the video very simple to operate, which is important
in this situation.
The video itself fades out of the main screen into the first picture of the video,
plays completely through the video, then fades back into the main screen again.
Funeral directors like this setup because it's simple and looks great.
I generally try to use one or more of the pictures from the video when composing
the main screen. However, many times none of the photos strike me as being
clear enough or colorful enough for the background image. When that happens
I use a photo from
Dreamstime.com.
Dreamstime
has a great selection of royalty free photos, but more importantly, they
are priced right. Many of their small photos (about 800x600 pixels) are only
$1 and they have a fairly decent selection of FREE images as well!
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Royalty Free Music
Stock20.com is a great place to find just the right music for your Memorial Video,
or any other type of project you're working on. At $7 a tune, each including
5 to 15 variations, it's a hard deal to beat.
Click on this link to sign up for your free account and receive a $7 credit!
Royalty Free Pictures
Dreamstime is an excellent source for royalty free pictures when you can't find
what you need for the case cover or menu background.
Registration is free and having access to the Free Images area is alone worth the
time it takes!
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Professional Packaging
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What I Use and Recommend:
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DVD's
A professional package makes a lasting impression. I use the Taiyo Yuden Watershield DVD's from Meritline.
I can print on these disks with my Epson R200 and R220 printers using the Premium
DVD setting and literally run them under the faucet without the ink smearing or
running. They have a beautiful glossy surface and will play in almost any DVD player
when burned with my NEC 3550A DVD Burner's. The 3550A burners are no longer
being manufactured, so I would probably replace mine with the NEC AD-7170A which is newer. Of all
the DVD and CD burners that I've used, the NEC burners seem to work the best, and
create disks that are able to play in more players.
DVD Case Jackets
I normally use Office Depot Presentation Paper, a Premium 2 Sided
Glossy Brochure Paper
which usually prints very well in my Epson R200 and R220 printers. This paper is
color fast after about a minute, and will not smear, even if you press hard with
your thumb! However, there are some color combinations (muddy greens for example)
that cause the paper to curl hard and run into the printhead. I try to stay away
from these colors as much as possible because other than that, this paper looks
great, doesn't smear, prints reliably on BOTH sides and is very inexpensive.
For situations where I can't avoid these colors, I use regular Epson Glossy Photo Paper
which always prints well in Epson printers. Unfortunately, Epson does not have a
line of two sided glossy brochure paper or I would probably use that for inserts,
etc.
I've used HP brochure paper before with fair results, but it was necessary to use
the DVD setting for my R200 series printers to get the ink to stick halfway decently.
Even at that, the colors were off, and it was difficult (if not impossible) to compensate
for the incorrect color output. The Office Depot Presentation Paper was a thousand
percent improvement and is the only thing that I use for two sided glossy printing
on these Epson printers.
DVD Cases
Currently I use
Premium Black DVD Cases from Shop4Tech.com
because they are the best quality that I have found for the price. I can usually
get a case of 100 for less than $35 shipped. I've tried less expensive cases from
many different sources, but they have consistently been inferior to these DVD cases.
Shop4Tech also has Regular Cases for about $24. They are good, but these premium
cases are well worth the extra cost!
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DVD Burner
NEC AD-7170A DVD Burner
I use NEC burners in all of my machines. Meritline.com has these for about $30 plus
shipping.
DVD's
Taiyo Yuden Watershield DVD's
I use these disks exclusively for my almost all of my video productions. The
best price that I've found on these so far is at Meritline.com with a 100 disks right at $60
plus shipping.
Case Jackets
Office Depot Premium 2 Sided Glossy Brochure Paper
This two sided glossy paper is usually what I use for DVD Case jackets, as well
as brochures. It works exceptionally well in my Epson R200 and R220 printers,
with no smearing.
Epson Glossy Photo Paper
You can literally lick this singled sided Photo Paper after it has been printed
on, and it will not smear!
DVD Cases
Premium DVD Cases
These Premium DVD cases are what I always use and are normally about $35 shipped
for 100.
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Final Thoughts
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By focusing on what's important in your Memorial Video and paying attention to detail,
you can make your own Funeral Slideshow DVD that your friends and family will treasure
for a long time. I've never had a client yet that has regretted having a Memorial
Video made.
I can't count the number of times that I've heard how important it was to
them, and how much it means to them to have something to remind them of all the
great times they had with their loved one.
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