Families

A Regular Friday Night

One of the things I find most interesting about this sort of work is when you look at something you've seen a million times, and suddenly see it in a different light. It hasn't changed, but perhaps you're reminded of the complexity of it. I've done a number of videos for families to commemorate special events, or just to create a family showcase. When talk with the families about what their video might look like, I always ask if they have any rituals. Like Friday night movie and pizza. Usually, it's from those moments that I find the best emotions. The big things like birthdays have lots of ceremony, and no matter how much fun they are, aren't really representative of normal life. Pizza night you do week after week never has a reason to video a particular night, but I'd wager it's home to a lot of great memories.

These are great because I get to sit down with the family and plan out what we want to capture. We'll set up a handful of moments, I'll get an hour or two of video, and then some voiceover from mom and dad. It's scripted in the sense we're planning what we see on screen, but everyone's doing things they've done a hundred times before.

“Pizza night you do week after week never has a reason to video a particular night, but I'd wager it's home to a lot of great memories.”

One family would get on their bikes every Sunday and ride around the neighborhood. Sometimes they'd go fishing together at the end of the ride. When I think back to my own childhood, the things I hold most dear are the innumerable little moments my family shared.

Family events are a bit more chaotic, but can produce lots of little moments that are easy to miss. One project I worked on was a kids birthday party involving a few dozen family members. In those environments, you can't script or plan out things as well as you'd like, so you have to stay on your toes. Whenever possible, I like to show up an hour early to grab video of the location. Empty chairs, dinner places set, it's a nice way to intro videos like this, plus it gives me a chance to familiarize myself with the location before it gets crazy. Again, I like to grab voiceover from mom and dad when I can, as it goes a long way to tie everything together.

“Family events are a bit more chaotic, but can produce lots of little moments that are easy to miss.”

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A Big Screen Experience

I've loved movies since I was a kid. It's something my dad and I have shared my whole life. I think that everyone has an interesting story to tell, and I love bringing a professional touch to those stories. Bringing a big screen experience to these smaller, family moments is a great thing.