Section 3.6. Photos and Old Movies

3.6. Photos and Old Movies

Most people associate video with moving images, but video "slideshows" can be extremely satisfying to watch, especially if you add commentary or music in iMovie, as described in Chapter 8. With a tripod, a music stand, and good lighting, your camcorder is all set to preserve your family photos forever.

If the photos were taken with a digital camera, there's nothing to it: Just import them as described in Chapter 9.

The challenge is what to do about photos that aren't digitalthe old kind, the paper kind, the kind you'll confront if you put together a biographical video about anyone who's more than six years old.

3.6.1. Old Photos

Tactic one: Get the old pictures into the Mac using a scanner. As described in Chapter 9, you can then drop them into your iMovie storyboard electronically , without having to mess with lights, focus, tripod, and so on.

Tactic two: Film the photos with the camcorder. Take each photo out of its frame, prop it on a music stand or tape it to the wall, and slip a big black piece of cardboard behind it. Set up the camcorder so that it's directly aimed at the photo ( otherwise , the photo may look skewed or distorted when filmed). Use the manual focus on your camcorder, zoom in an appropriate amount, position the tripod and lights so that there's no glare, and begin shooting. If you're getting glare from the photo, use two lights, one on each side of the photo, each at a 45-degree angle to it.

Scanning produces a more professional effect. Still, filming the photos gives you some interesting creative possibilities, like surrounding each photo with meaningful memorabilia, capitalizing on late-afternoon sun slanting in through a window, and so on.

3.6.2. Shooting Slides

You can transfer slides to your movie in either of two ways:

• Project the slides onto a slide screen or white wall, and then film them with your camcorder. To make the slide's image sharper, put the projector as close as possible to the screen. Position the camera right next to the projector, so that it doesn't wind up filming the projected slide at an angle.

• Have a Kodak shop or a local service bureau scan your slides, transferring them to a CD-ROM. (If your scanner has a slide attachment, you may even be able to do this yourself, although it can be a finicky procedure.) Then you can import the slides electronically into iMovie, as described in Chapter 9. This method ensures the highest possible quality and saves you a lot of setup hassle.

3.6.3. Transferring Old Movies to DV

Transferring old movies to the camcorder is another good idea. If these older movies are on videotape, such as VHS cassettes or 8mm videotapes from an older camcorder, you're in good shape. Transferring them onto your DV camcorder is fairly easy, if you have the right equipment (see Chapter 4).

Transferring old film to your camcorder is a more difficult proposition. Photographic catalogs sell mirror-based gadgets just for this purpose. In essence, this apparatus lets you run the film projector, which projects the old movie onto a tiny movie screen. Your camcorder simply films the film. Unfortunately, the camcorder can pick up quite a bit of grain and picture deterioration in the process.

You can also send your old reels out to a commercial transfer shop. Most local photo-developing outfits and camera shops will handle this transaction for you.