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Creating a captivating video
montage or slide show that you can enjoy for years to come is not
difficult, but by taking a few steps prior to creating a slide show or
having one created for you can go along way. Here are some hints to use while creating
your slide shows.
1. Know who your audience is - Knowing who your intended audience is an
obvious, but sometimes overlooked step in the process of developing your
slide show. For instance, if you're showing your slide show at your
wedding reception, perhaps you'll want to include some pictures of the
guests, and not just pictures of you and your fiancee.
2. Shorter is sometimes better - After you've determined who your intended
audience is you can start to get an idea as to how many pictures you'll
want to include in your slide show. We've found that video montages that
are between 8 - 12 minutes in length are ideal for wedding receptions.
This usually works out to about 3 songs and 75-100 pictures. While you can
certainly display more photos during your slide show, you want to be
careful not to subject your guests to an extremely long slide show. Some
people have elected to develop two slide shows. One that is their personal
slide show that will be given to their parents or kept for themselves and
the other is their reception slide show that will be shown
during the big event. Your videographer can help you determine the
correct length, and pacing of the slide show to keep your audiences
attention.
3. Choose Quality Photographs - While recent advances in digital photo
restoration have allowed torn and poorly developed photographs to be
brought back to life, there is only so much that the software can do.
Pictures that look great printed (correct lighting, framing, developed
properly) will also look great while scanned. Pictures that are extremely
dark or grainy, while perhaps improved somewhat, will still not appear the
best. Your videographer automatically reviews each photograph that is
scanned and optimizes it to be viewed on a television or projector.
4. Choose a Variety of Photographs - Even though you may love all the
pictures of your dog Rusty, you're audience may not want to sit through
all the pictures of him. Instead of showing 10 pictures of ole' Rusty,
perhaps choose the best 2 or 3. Using a variety of photographs can keep
your audience interest.
5. Landscape pictures show better than Portrait pictures - Given the
standard 4:3 dimensions of television monitors, photographs that are in
landscape mode (vertical) as opposed to portrait mode (horizontal) show
better on a TV. While portrait photographs certainly can and SHOULD be
used, you should be aware that there will typically be a black border that
appears around the photograph. It's best to use these sparingly throughout
the slide show and not clump them all together.
6. Give some thought to music - Choose music that has meaning to you,
music whose lyrics go well with the pictures. Also pay attention to how
long the music you're choosing is. If you're only showing 30 pictures, you
might not want to choose a 8 minute song. Your videographer can help you with
your music selection to make sure your music length matches the number of
pictures you have to create a smooth flowing slide show.
7. Add short video clips - Do you have any home videos sitting around
gathering dust? Think about adding perhaps a 10-15 second video clip in
the middle of the slide show. The video clip can help break up the video
montage and is a great way to keep your audiences interest. Your
videographer is able to incorporate video clips into our slide shows.
8. Add motion to your slide shows - Slide shows developed on PowerPoint
and other consumer level software will typically be just static photos
that go from one picture to the next. Consider having your slide shows
created with the Ken Burns effects that Pan and Zoom on each
photograph. This can help bring your pictures to life. Your
videographer automatically will add the panning and zooming to your photos free of
charge.
9. Add transitions to your slide shows - Transitions such as fade in/fade
out, dissolve, and image peel are also an effective way to move from one
photograph to the next. Your
videographer automatically will add transitions
to your slide show or video montage free of charge.
10. Test! Test! Test! - If you're planning on showing your video montage
or slide show at an event like a wedding reception, try and test ALL the
equipment prior to the big day. Make sure the projector or television, DVD
Player or Laptop, and sound is all working. Your
videographer has years of
Audio/Visual equipment setup and testing experience. They'd be glad to
consult with you regarding the best possible setup for your
slide show.
Creating a captivating slide show or video montage can be done
successfully with keeping a few of these tips in mind. Pictures that are
preserved to DVD can be enjoyed for years to come. Partnering with an
experienced slide show company can help create a slide show you'll be
proud of. |
