Chapter 9. Project 5: Making Family Memory Movies

In this chapter, you'll learn how to make family memory movies that preserve and protect your family's history.

A family memory movie can be anything from a simple photo slideshow of old family photos edited over music and saved as a digital movie to a deluxe family tree DVD with photos, audio, and/or video from each family member. It can be a birthday presentfor a 75th birthday party, for instanceor a memorial to honor someone who has passed away.

Of all the projects in this book, creating a family memory movie may be one of the most satisfying. With this kind of movie, you have a built-in audienceyour familyand a lot of great material to draw from, including family photos, audio recordings, old movies, VHS videos, and digital video clips.

This chapter covers making different kinds of family memory movies, including photo slideshow movies (using family photos) and tips on shooting new footage, including oral history interviews of a relative and family reunions.

In addition, in this chapter you'll find valuable information about gathering additional resources you can add to your treasure trovesuggestions on great music to edit into your movies, information on finding historical photos online to edit into your movie, and instructions on how to transfer VHS tapes to digital video files on miniDV tape (which you can then edit on a computer). Options for saving VHS tapes directly onto DVDs are also included.