Using your 8mm, Super 8mm, and 16mm film to video transfers.
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Narration:
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By: Bruce Mayfield |
Getting your film transferred to a good digital video media is an important first step. But there are more memories to preserve.
Even with sound film, what you see isn't telling you all that much. That is to say, your grandchildren will know they're seeing a family enjoying Christmas morning, or a trip to a big theme park, or a stay at a beach resort - but left unanswered are questions like: Who are they? How did they come to be there? What was it "like" then?
The images on the film invoke all sorts of precious memories for us. That's what needs preserving - more than the film itself. To do it, we'll take a cue from our ancestors and do something low-tech: We'll tell our children and grandchildren about it by having those who were there narrate the movies, giving us all the nostalgia, unseen details, and "war stories" the film can't provide. Truly something with lasting value and meaning.
Making a "narration bed".
First, this isn't as difficult as it might fist seem. Second, you may not have to do it yourself - chances are good there's someone in the family that would love to do a project like this and is already equipped to do it.
You'll need a few things:
- A TV, DVD player and comfortable seating.
- A MiniDV camcorder.
- A computer with a FireWire port.
- Non-linear video editing software like Ulead, Pinnacle, or Vegas for Windows environments, and iLife for the Macintosh. (That's just a tiny sample of the software available, look around and get to know them so you buy the one that suits you best!)
Step one: Lights, camera, DVD player, action!
Have your narrator or narrators sit in front of the TV in that comfortable chair. It helps to talk about the times and reminisce beforehand, if for no other reason than to set the mood.
Set up the DVD camera near the TV and DVD player, aimed at your narrators. Start the DVD, then the camera and sit with your loved ones. They should describe what's on the screen, in terms of what's not obvious. "That's when we went to Florida" works less well than "That's the year your father got tired of going to Bug Sur for our summer vacation and decided to splurge on a trip to they Keys."
Anecdotes and "war stories" should abound - and don't feel bashful about pausing the DVD if someone remembers a long story. That's why you're recording this on camera, you can edit them into the video this way. (Just be obvious about pausing the DVD so you can tell when you did in the video, this will make timing to interview with the transfer much easier.)
Step two: Trim a little!
Next you'll want to transfer the digital video streams from your MiniDV tapes - both the film transfer and the tape or tapes from the narration session - to your computer. (You'll have to look to your editing software's documentation for specifics on how to do this.)
In your editing software, first bring the video from the transfer to the first video track. Then, bring the video and sound from the interview to the second video track.
If you never had to pause for long stories, you're done! Just "save" or "render" your video as a DV file back to disk, and "print to tape" the result onto a new MiniDV tape.
If you did have to pause, play the track until you see your "pause signal" and "split" the transfer track there, moving the remainder along until you see your "un-pause signal" on the narration track. This open space between the transfers will allow the video of your loved ones to show through.
Once you've got that done, do as above, render or save the video, "print to tape", and you've got a priceless family heirloom.
Step three: DVD.
You can also arrange a DVD with the new video - including chapters, menus, and other bells-and-whistles. Most of the time it's a mere matter of drag-and-drop - but you can make a DVD as simple or as complex as you like. For specifics, refer to the documentation that came with your DVD authoring software.
Other ideas.
Archiving family memories may be one of the main reasons to get your 16mm and 8mm film transferred to video, but that doesn't limit what you can do with it once you have the digital video stream.
- DVDs specially edited to suit certain family members.
- Video scrap-booking - series of related clips from your transfer and other videos representing a period of your family's history.
- "The life of..." - DVDs with clips from one family member's lifetime.