The Legacy Video Process: How it Works
A two camera Legacy Interview in progress.
So, you want to make a Legacy Video. Here’s what to expect.
Congratulations. You’ve recognized the importance of leaving your legacy and have hired us to help you or your loved one tell their story. Now what?
The Intro Call: What kind of family Legacy Video do you want?
After reaching out to us, we like to have an introductory call to learn more about the person being interviewed. Yes, we have some standard questions we like to use for any legacy interviews, but this call allows us to get to know our subjects and create questions custom to their life. After the call, you also have time to email us additional information. We especially like hearing suggestions on anything specific you think needs to be asked. We appreciate hearing about topics you think we should avoid too.
Legacy Videos are shot on site, so we come to you. During the call, we like to find out about where we will be shooting the video. Typically, it is the subject’s home or a relative’s house. Because our Legacy Interviews look so good, our standard equipment package includes professional lighting and gear you might find on a Hollywood set. If we are shooting in a smaller space, we like to know in advance so we can pair down the amount of equipment we bring.
The last thing we discuss on the call is the interviewer. By default, we come prepared to conduct an emotive interview with our subjects. We’ve interviewed hundreds of people over the years and are trained to have meaningful conversations with our subjects. However, we encourage immediate family members to conduct the interviews themselves if they are willing. No matter how much background information and training we have, we find that family members have a greater connection, and everyone will benefit from a meaningful experience done together.
The Shoot Day: What to expect during your Legacy Interview
The day of the interview is exciting. We like to arrive an hour and half before the interview time in order to set up our video equipment. Our equipment usually consists of several LED lights (in three different locations of the room), a camera on a tripod, a monitor on a stand to make sure the picture looks great, and a microphone on a stand just out of camera frame. If the room is smaller than we’d like, we pair the equipment down enough to accommodate without sacrificing quality of the image or sound.
Once we are set up, we roll the camera and start the interview. We allocate 60 to 90 minutes for the interview and may stop at times to give the subject a break. We like to start the interview with simple questions and get into deeper conversations about life and legacy later. The interview usually starts with family history and childhood memories. Towards the end, we get into more emotional and impactful questions. Example questions can be seen here.
After the interview, we break down our equipment and reset the room.
Post-Production: How is your family Legacy Video edited?
After the interview we back up the footage and bring it into our editing software to clean it up. In this post-production stage, we string all the clips together, so we have one long interview. Then we sweeten the audio track to make the dialogue crystal clear and color correct the footage as needed. If we used a second camera, we cut between camera angles to make the interview more visually interesting and to edit out pauses or other awkward moments in the interview. At that point the Legacy Interview is ready to be exported and delivered to the client.
If the client ordered a Legacy Video with pictures or a full scale Legacy Documentary, the interview is then further edited to include pictures, music and/or other footage.
The Big Reveal: Your final video
Once the project is completed, the final Legacy Interview is uploaded to our Vimeo page where it is hosted for at least a year. The client is then given a private link to watch the video online. The video is only viewable by those who have the exact link, so the client can share it as they see fit with friends and family.
Legacy Video Stories respects the privacy of all our customers and does not make the video viewable to the public on our website, Vimeo, or YouTube page. Clients can also download the video from Vimeo (and are encouraged to do so) in order to archive it forever and make it available for future generations to enjoy.
