I learnt a bit of video making thanks to a video initiative I worked on in university. While out attempts at making a talk show still crack me up, I learnt how to edit videos – a skill that has served me well since.
One of the applications of video editing that I’ve used from time to time is to make memory videos. This is a simple idea and I’ve found it to be a great way to remember great occasions – in my case, two of the memory videos that stand out are one dedicated to friends after 4 years of university and another just completed remembering our wedding from the planning to our trip after.
The process has 5 steps –
1. Copy all your best photos and videos from a trip/occasion in a folder.
2. Think of a storyboard or flow of these photos and videos. I typically do them chronologically and name the files accordingly – e.g. 1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg etc. This makes it easier to edit later. When I start out, I leave gaps and name them 1, 3, 5 in case I want to change the story or squeeze another pic or video in.
3. Add them into a video editing tool of your choice. Windows Live Movie Maker is available as a free download. I use the paid version of Camtasia Studio.
4. Edit all videos, length of images displayed. Then add transitions (fade is my favorite) and finally, add music to suit the mood. This is very important. Ideally, you’d have a ‘song of the trip’ which makes your life simple. If you aren’t good at selecting music, ask a friend who is.
5. Produce, upload, and share!
PS: Remember to get creative with captions to describe what’s going on/remind people what went on. If you’ve got a sense of humor, it helps.
The process is typically fraught with issues – e.g. your video formats are not aligned to Windows Movie Maker(use Any Video Converter). In my case, our memory video turned out to be too big for Camtasia to process so I ended up splitting it into parts of 20 minutes each. Eventually, the 40 minute video took about 40 hours of my time (!) in the past 6 weeks but made for an unforgettable memory. It’s also a lovely way of thanking everyone who made it special.
I carry these memory videos on all my devices and occasionally take a sneak peak – happiness!
A Learning a Day 