About Legacy Videos
"After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world."
Philip Pullman, novelist
A growing niche within Sherman Video Productions are “Legacy” videos (also referred to as “Video-Biography” or “Life-History” Videos). Essentially, these personal videos are about capturing and documenting the stories, memories and lives of loved ones and family members.
For the interviewees or the participants, these personal documentaries are a great way to affirm their life – to verbally acknowledge and record their accomplishments, achievements and history. Documenting one’s life also puts things into a proper perspective, a way of allowing others to see the real person inside, a sort of soul-bearing exercise. It's one thing to have memories of our loves ones, but to have an in depth interview where you get to see and hear them - to see their charm and personality, well, that's something that will be treasured for a lifetime.
For the viewers, the children, grandchildren and families, these memorable videos are informative and historical. Legacy videos serve as an engaging and interactive way to learn about your loved one’s life, to learn about what is what like to grow-up in their shoes. As mentioned before, the viewers also learn first hand the accomplishments and successes as well as the challenges and trials our loved ones encountered.
Legacy or “Life History” videos make unique and cherished gifts. You and your family members will receive an entertaining video to treasure now, and to pass down to future generations for years to come.
We all have a story – stories and histories that deserve to be shared.
The Process of Capturing a Legacy
Initial meeting with family member(s)
Simply a conversation as to the participants - who should be interviewed and who will be asking the questions or prompting the subjects. I’ll submit a comprehensive list of questions that can serve as an outline for your particular questions and subject matter; pick and choose and add to the list as you see fit. We’ll also start to locate and identify photos, old movies, correspondence, awards and various media to be included in the video. This is also an opportunity to discuss a timeline for your project as well as costs.
Home visit
An opportunity for us to look around and decide on a quiet, suitable setting for the interview(s). Ideal if initial meeting is at the same location as the interviews.
Shooting Interviews
A crew of two to three videographers (including myself) will arrive an hour or so prior to shooting and begin setting-up lights and equipment. Interviews can take anywhere from two to four hours to complete (with numerous breaks of course). Length of interviews depends on breadth and depth of subject matter {interviewees can have notes within arm’s length}.
Editing and delivery
Once the interviews are captured then we’ll get back to computers and begin editing. We’ll also incorporate family photos, old-movies, memorabilia or whatever else you want included in the final video. Final videos can be delivered on thumb drives or DVD’s.