During a celebration, a video montage is one of the valuable experiences
you can share with your family and friends.

You, as the clients provide the valuable information (pictures, video, thoughts, music) for this special montage. It's our job to take the photos and information you provide along with the selected music and bring it all together into a pleasing video production.

We use digital video technology and high quality scanning when possible to capture your photos, and then organize them into a final production.

There are many occasions where you may want one of these productions,
but here are a few examples of occasions and topics that we have produced in the past:

All about producing a multi media montage video

1. Decide on a theme. What do you want this video to communicate? What feeling do you want to leave the audience with?
   
    
2. Decide on a structure. Most family montages are done chronologically but some may be organized by subject such as a "Life Story" video that may have chapters that cover Family, Marriage, Travel, hobbies, Military Service etc. as separate chapters. Wedding montages often cover the bride's past, then groom's past, then their life together.
    
3. Gather and Review all your Materials. This may involve contacting other friends and family members and having them send you materials. Pack the pictures/tapes/media carefully to avoid wrinkling or damage. Place in a sturdy box and use a carrier (if mailing) that provides a tracking number such as Airborne, FedEx, or UPS, or Express Mail. Organize all your materials on a big table and sort for play order. Using small post it notes stuck to the back of each photo, number each photo for play order. If helpful, use the numbering system A1 through A9 then B1 through B9, C1 through C9, etc. Also count and write down the total number of pictures on a cover sheet. We will call you to confirm this number and condition upon receiving the pictures and other media.
    
   
4. Video Clips - If you have video clips from tapes, label each tape with the number and time to use from when the tape begins to play. You may also describe the appearance of the starting scene and ending scene.
   
   
5. Music - think about which music you want to use for the production. Copyright laws dictate that you own the CD/tape/record containing the music that we use. If you don't have a song you want, we can purchase music on your behalf. Contact us for some suggestions of music that will work well with your type of production. Our productions average 4-8 seconds per picture.
   
   
6. Pictures in Albums - If your pictures are in albums you can put the album name and page number on the Post-it note to help you replace the picture in its place when we return it to you.
   
7. Narration and Thoughts - One of the most popular options is to add your own narration and / or thoughts to your montage production. We can handle this several ways but the best is to complete the production then we record your narration during applicable sections while you watch it (with the music turned down). This is particularly special with the wedding and wedding anniversary montages as we might record the husband and wife separately. We can then add the narrations to the montage together or separately. Narrations and comments can also be added in the form of banners below pictures or intermingled passages between pictured and video. We can lengthen the time a single picture plays to match the narration or written thought if needed.
   
   
8. WORK - This will be a joint effort between you and us. It is time consuming for you to go through and pick out the best pictures from a lifetime of accumulation. We understand this and will help you as much as we can. The one thing we can say from experience is, in the end you will always feel it was so worth the effort!
   
   
9. Feel free to contact us - As our service boasts a personal approach, will are glad to answer all your questions to bring comfort and enjoyment to the preparation period.
   
   
10. Why Choose Us? - At Spotlight, we strive to make each production memorable. Pictures are retouched, animated if appropriate, and color corrected when scanning. Creative editing is applied to enhance and make your production all the more special.

The montages are only limited by your imagination
- this will be a video/DVD that has the potential to be appreciated for generations.

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