VIDEO PRODUCTIONS
Video and Video Slide Show Productions

Did you ever wish you could do something with all of those photos, digital images and video clips that you have accumulated over the years? How many times have you thought that it would be great if you had a DVD video or slide show of those special occasions? Images of some of the most memorable moments of your life end up in a shoebox or hidden away in the corner of a closet, or worse yet they are lost. Moments such as your child’s first birthday, First Communion, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, Graduations, Anniversary parties or any of those special family occasions. There is a way for you to retain these memories and share them with family members across the country or even the world.

Fred Henstridge Photography offers a complete range of video and video slide show productions. We can create video shows from you photos, digital images or video clips. These videos can be delivered in several formats. We can create DVDs for viewing on your TV set, video slide shows on CDs that can be on you computer and digital movies files such as Windows Media Player, Apple Quick Time or Real Player that can be posted on YouTube. We can even create digital video files that we will host on our Web site. This will allow you to e-mail the URL to family of friends anywhere in the world and they can share in the special occasion.

How much do these videos cost? Sample pricing for a basic 10-minnute video, including print scanning, photo editing, music and DVD burning is just $150.00. Videos of longer length are priced on a sliding scale. Please contact us for more pricing options.  You supply the media. It can be video clips, digital images or hard copy photos. We will scan and color correct you photos for inclusion into the video. For a sample of a 3-minute video slide show of a child’s first birthday, Click Here. This video was created from still images obtained at an outdoor birthday party and saved as a Windows Media File.  We can definitely deliver videos longer than 10-minutes. These are priced on a proportional basis to the 10-miunte video. One point to remember is that YouTube will only accept videos of less than 10-minutes and length and smaller than 1024 megabytes.

 

Click on picture to see sample video

The VIdeo Production Process

In general, a video slide show runs at 5 seconds per image. This may vary with pans and zooms. This means that the average running time is computed at 12 images per minute. A ten-minute video would therefore require 120 images. Musical selections run at 2½ to 3½ minutes. You can figure that a 10-minute video would require five musical selections. In most cases, you do use the entire selection, as it is preferable to change the music to fit a change in the visual theme. This is done with dissolve transitions in the music. The most preferable images to use in a video slide show are medium resolution (4-6 megapixels) digital images. We will resize these images to fit the desired aspect ratio.

There are two aspect ratios to consider when creating a video slide show. They are 4:3 and 16:9. An aspect ratio of 4:3 will fit all TV screens, while a 16:9 will play best on a widescreen TV. It is preferred to use an aspect ratio of 4:3 unless you intend to play the DVD only on a widescreen TV. Most photos are taken with cameras that create an image at the 4:3 ratio cropping to 16:9 can cause the loss of important details.

A note on Standard and High Definitions. Standard Definition for US televisions (NTSC) can be considered 640x480 pixels per inch or 480ppi. This definition meets the 4:3 aspect ratio criteria. For a widescreen (16x9 aspect) you are still maintaining the 480ppi resolution and are merely cropping the image to fit. Computers and some TVs will accommodate a resolution of 720ppi. This results in an image that is 720 x 540 pixels per inch. We produce our Standard (4:3 aspect) in this resolution. It produces a better viewing image. The resolution for High Definition (HD) is 1080ppi. For a 4:3 aspect the image size will be 1440x1080ppi. Resolution should not be confused with widescreen. Resolution is the fineness of the image displayed, while widescreen represents the aspect ration and image cropping. When shooting video you have the option to shoot in standard or widescreen format. This does not increase the quality of the image it only affects the crop. If all of this resolution mumbo-jumbo is confusing, don’t worry about it. We can recommend the best format and resolution to fit your needs.

Usually it is necessary to scan slides, negative or prints for a video slide show. This requires care and time. The hierarchy for scanning is 35mm slides (best), 35mm or APS negatives (good) and prints. We can scan all three types.

The scanning of photos takes the most time. Older photos will have many flaws such as cracks, spots, and faded colors. Photographic prints reprsent a second-generation image (the negative is considered first generation), prints are not as sharp as the slide or negative that was used to create it. Prints are created on different types of paper. Glossy prints yield the best scan as they have a tight surface. Semi-gloss prints have a grainy surface pattern that will degrade the sharpness of the scan. See our Scanning Service Page.

Every image used in a video slide show must be edited in Photoshop. The editing includes color correction, sharpening, spot removal, straightening, and cropping. It requires about 4-minutes to scan and edit a photo slide or negative. For 120 images, you can figure on 8 hours.

To edit a digital image requires about 3 minutes. Once all of the images are in a digital format, edited and cropped to the desired aspect ratio they are organized, usually by timeline, and inserted into the V ideo DVD production software. Here is where titles and menus are created, music is added and the pans and zooms are added to selected images for effect. This process takes about 4 hours for a 10-minute production.

After the video slide show is created, it is reviewed on a TV screen. If you are satisfied with the video production a DVD is burned, labeled and a case cover is created. If you desire the video file converted and exported to YouTube, our Web site or a Web site of your choosing we will do that for an additional $20.00. Extra DVDs with cases are $10.00 each.

If you desire we can provide you with a labeled CD or DVD containing all the scanned and Photoshop corrected images for an additional $25.00. This is fantastic way to preserve those treasured prints and family memories that have been fading away under acid producing plastic in albums or in shoeboxes.

Your Invlovement

All images and video clips must be provided by the client. We are not offering any site photography or videography with this service. If site photography or videography is required, we can provide this service for an additional charge. See our Assignment Photography Service page.

The client will provide Fred Henstridge Photography with all the digital images, photos or video clips they wish used in their video production. This can be done in several ways. Digital images can be sent via CD, DVD, Memory Card or via a compressed uploading application such as You Send It. This is a free service for sending files via the Intranet offered by WinZip. Photos should be sent via the US Postal service. If you have video clips, you wish to incorporate, please contact us at fhenstridge@henstridgephotography.com

To establish the timeline for your video you should number your photos (on the back) in the order you wish them to appear in the show. If you are using digital images, you can e-mail us a list with the digital file numbers in the order you want them to appear. If you have music you want to use you can send the music files (MP3) via e-mail or You Send It uploading method. If you do not have any music files, you can send us a list of the musical selections you would like and we can provide the files. I would suggest that we discuss this over the telephone as music sets the mood for the video and is very personal. We use MP3 files for our video productions. If you do not have MP3 files you can send us the CD with the music you wish to use and we will rip the files from the CD to the MP3 format. All music will be played back in Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

Once I have a draft version of the video production I will post it on my Web site for you to review. After you review the video, we can discuss any changes you would like to see. We will make the suggested changes and post the edited version to our Web site again. Upon your review and approval, we will finalize the show and deliver it in the format(s) you desire.

For more information, please contact me via e-mail or call me at 951-679-3530.

 

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