After recently reading a scientific based article about how childhood memory fades (link on my Facebook page) I started thinking about all of the wonderful things that my son does right now that he will have absolutely no recollection of, fading even as soon as the next four years or so. It made me realize that we owe it to our children to not only track all of their milestones, but also their personality and the things that they do so that, in the future, they'll have an even better understanding of what made them who they are. Toddlers, despite having a bad rap (terrible two's, threenager) they do some pretty awesome things during these extremely developmentally dense years.
So this blog post is dedicated to my little guy and the top 10 adorable awesome things that he does that I don't want to forget, but more importantly, I want him to know about. Of course am working on getting video footage of all of them, and you should too! Photos could never do these things justice. (Of course there are more than 10 adorable things, but these are my absolute favorites)
1. I want to always remember how my son shows excitement through his entire body. When he is happy about something, he screams with such joy and echoes that feeling stomping both his feet very quickly. There is no second guessing that he is thrilled about what just happened or is about to occur.
2. When my son gives hugs he started saying "baby baby," so now that is the term we use for requesting them, ie "Can I have a baby baby?" He will then wrap his arms around our neck and say "baby baby" in the most adorable voice. I will be very sad when he no longer does this.
3. When my son doesn't like what someone else is doing, whether he knows them or not, he will tell them "no no" while shaking his forefinger. He will do this to our dog, our cat, and other animals out in the world, as well as other children and adults. I am not quite sure why he doesn't like what they are doing sometimes, as it isn't always affecting him, but perhaps he just likes to maintain some sense of control of the situation.
4. When my little guy says a new word for the first time he will out of the blue repeat something that we've said, and it's absolutely no big deal to him. However, when we ask him to repeat the word after that, he usually won't. Similarly, I love the way my son says certain words. Anyone outside our immediate family would have no idea what he is saying, but we understand his dialect and its ever changing nature certainly keeps us on our toes.
5. My son loves to run around holding up his diaper on either side. I have absolutely no idea how this started, but he gets a kick out of it, as so do we, quite possibly why he keeps doing it. He'll also sometimes squat a little and make it more of a "duck walk." He loves to do this while chasing me playing "Hide & Seek." For some reason he loves having me hide and startle him when he comes around looking for me.
6. I love how my son loves to sing while playing any musical instrument. He yells "la la la" loudly while he plays his xylophone, tub piano, or anything else he can get his hands on.
7. The way my son will "cheese" for the camera is so adorable. If I ever want to get a photo of him smiling, the last thing I can say is "smile" because he will lift his head up, squint his eyes, and throw on the biggest, silliest grin you could ever imagine.
8. I think the way my son eats, both with his hands and with utensils, is so cute, especially when it's a food he loves. It's difficult to get this one on camera because as soon as I bring it out to film, he notices and poses.
9. The way my son absolutely loves our cat, even though she would prefer to have nothing to do with him, is so charming. He started signing "cat" not all that long ago, but more recently says "meow" as he does the sign. Sometimes he pinches a little part of his cheek and says meow quietly, while other times he'll pinch a big piece of his cheek and say "meow" very loudly. He'll walk up to the sleeping cat and make kissing sounds throughout the day.
10. Sometimes my son just wants to snuggle up in our bed. He will lay down on the pillows and pull the blankets up over himself. He may not even be tired or want to rest, it's just comfortable for him.
What are some of the adorable things your little one does or did that you don't ever want to forget? Do your best to capture it on film. You owe it to your little one. As much joy as these things bring you, it will bring them even more being able to watch it years from now. A number 11 for me could be watching my son enjoy watching himself in the videos we've already taken of him. We ask him who is in the video and he points to himself and says "me." We even have videos of him watching videos of himself. Equally as adorable.
Showing posts with label home videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home videos. Show all posts
Monday, July 14, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Editing Tips for Home Movies
Happy New Year! I hope you captured some wonderful footage of your little one(s) over the holidays with family and friends. If you've been keeping up with my posts thus far, you should have an abundance of videos of photos of your little one. Unless your little one has yet to arrive, then you probably have a very long list of photos and videos you will want to create. Nevertheless, at a certain point you're going to have to do something with those videos, because you're phone can only hold so much data. As much as it kills me to delete photos and videos of my little guy off of my phone, I know that I have to from time to time in order to make room for MORE photos and videos of my little guy. Make sure you back everything up before deleting anything. I would recommend on-site and off-site back-up. Considering our house caught on fire when I was in the hospital giving birth (thankfully there was mainly just smoke damage), you would think I would take my own advice on that, but I digress.
Editing is actually when the storytelling happens in unscripted material. Just watch the credits at the end of your favorite reality show, there are actually "writers." They don't necessarily tell the "actors" what to say, but they go through all of the footage and create a story out of the hours and hours of chatter. This may seem like a daunting task for your home videos, and that's when you can hire someone else to step in and create the story for you and your family, but it actually can be pretty fun once you get started.
The first thing you will probably need to do will be to find a program to edit your footage in. There are a number of online editing programs that are rather user-friendly as well as simple editing software options for Macs and PCs. There are tons of online tutorials that can make you a sufficient editor without too much time and hassle. Make sure that you know at least how to pick in and out points of the clips you want to use, how to add in simple transitions and titles, and how to export a final file that you can either display online or use to create a DVD.
Once you have chosen the program, you may have to convert your footage into a recognizable file format for your editing software. If you don't know what format your footage is already in, do a quick Google search of the camera (or phone) you're filming with and the word "codec" and you'll be able to find out. Then you can put that codec into Google and the name of the software you'll be editing with to see if they are compatible. If not, again you can search for online tutorials on how to convert the footage into a useable format. In my case, I had to run all of my iPhone videos and my husband's Galaxy videos through Compressor before I could bring them into Final Cut Pro.
Okay, so now you've got footage ready to edit and a program to edit it in, congratulations, now the real fun begins. Watch all of the footage...a few times. You'll start to see that some clips are more useful than others when it comes to telling the story. Really ask yourself if that clip shows a new milestone, is just too cute not to include, or shows the same thing in a different outfit. Or perhaps the video may include your little one interacting someone else that isn't around very often or may not be around for very long, then you'll want to include it to show to your child in the future.
Now that you've figured out which clips are the most important to include to tell your story, now it's time to really pick out those important moments in each clip. Each clip should be at least ten seconds, but really not longer than twenty when creating a montage for others to enjoy. If you find a clip that you definitely want to use more than twenty seconds of, see if you can divide it into two or more different clips and cut out some footage in between and then connect them with transitions. This way you'll really keep the story moving and your viewers interested.
Depending upon the software you're using to edit, you may be able to add in titles and drop in photos to fill in the gaps in the story when you weren't able to capture video footage, as well as add in a music track. Definitely put in dates and age in months when the footage or photo depict a milestone, especially if you are not keeping a traditional baby book as well. Transitions, such as cross dissolves and fade out/fade in are a nice touch to move from clip to clip. Try to stay away from some of the "cheesier" transitions that will cheapen your story. Remember, the video you are making is about the subjects in the video, not your editing. A rule of thumb to remember, if the editing calls attention to itself, then you're doing something wrong. Cuts should feel motivated and have a nice flow to them.
If you want more specific tips on cutting clips, I will include those in a future blog post. In the meantime, feel free to see some of my storytelling in the video baby book samples on my website.
Editing is actually when the storytelling happens in unscripted material. Just watch the credits at the end of your favorite reality show, there are actually "writers." They don't necessarily tell the "actors" what to say, but they go through all of the footage and create a story out of the hours and hours of chatter. This may seem like a daunting task for your home videos, and that's when you can hire someone else to step in and create the story for you and your family, but it actually can be pretty fun once you get started.
The first thing you will probably need to do will be to find a program to edit your footage in. There are a number of online editing programs that are rather user-friendly as well as simple editing software options for Macs and PCs. There are tons of online tutorials that can make you a sufficient editor without too much time and hassle. Make sure that you know at least how to pick in and out points of the clips you want to use, how to add in simple transitions and titles, and how to export a final file that you can either display online or use to create a DVD.
Once you have chosen the program, you may have to convert your footage into a recognizable file format for your editing software. If you don't know what format your footage is already in, do a quick Google search of the camera (or phone) you're filming with and the word "codec" and you'll be able to find out. Then you can put that codec into Google and the name of the software you'll be editing with to see if they are compatible. If not, again you can search for online tutorials on how to convert the footage into a useable format. In my case, I had to run all of my iPhone videos and my husband's Galaxy videos through Compressor before I could bring them into Final Cut Pro.
Okay, so now you've got footage ready to edit and a program to edit it in, congratulations, now the real fun begins. Watch all of the footage...a few times. You'll start to see that some clips are more useful than others when it comes to telling the story. Really ask yourself if that clip shows a new milestone, is just too cute not to include, or shows the same thing in a different outfit. Or perhaps the video may include your little one interacting someone else that isn't around very often or may not be around for very long, then you'll want to include it to show to your child in the future.
Now that you've figured out which clips are the most important to include to tell your story, now it's time to really pick out those important moments in each clip. Each clip should be at least ten seconds, but really not longer than twenty when creating a montage for others to enjoy. If you find a clip that you definitely want to use more than twenty seconds of, see if you can divide it into two or more different clips and cut out some footage in between and then connect them with transitions. This way you'll really keep the story moving and your viewers interested.
Depending upon the software you're using to edit, you may be able to add in titles and drop in photos to fill in the gaps in the story when you weren't able to capture video footage, as well as add in a music track. Definitely put in dates and age in months when the footage or photo depict a milestone, especially if you are not keeping a traditional baby book as well. Transitions, such as cross dissolves and fade out/fade in are a nice touch to move from clip to clip. Try to stay away from some of the "cheesier" transitions that will cheapen your story. Remember, the video you are making is about the subjects in the video, not your editing. A rule of thumb to remember, if the editing calls attention to itself, then you're doing something wrong. Cuts should feel motivated and have a nice flow to them.
If you want more specific tips on cutting clips, I will include those in a future blog post. In the meantime, feel free to see some of my storytelling in the video baby book samples on my website.
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