Absolutely not. Before the on-camera interview, we meet with you to learn your story. Then we create a list of questions to ask you while filming. The on-camera interview is basically a casual question and answer conversation – no memorizing needed!

We explore your childhood, parents and grandparents, school days, dating and working life; marriage, your children and grandchildren, interests and experiences, lessons and values learned.  Any categories that induce a strong link to your memories through various stages of your life.

First, you may be surprised to learn that the same mistakes happen in professional television interviews but you are never aware of this because of the editing process. You are the ‘star’ of this video, and we are going to make sure that our editing shows you in the best possible light. We will skillfully remove any mistakes or awkward moments so that you or your audience will not even realize a mistake happened.

Second, we love when someone rambles. That is often when the best stories emerge.

We have found that clients are most comfortable and expressive when filmed inside their own home. During our introductory meeting with you, we will look at potential interview locations, discuss them with you and at the end agree on a suitable location. Although interviews can be filmed outside we try to discourage this due to changeable lighting conditions and unpredictable noise events from wind, traffic, dogs barking, children playing, etc.

If the need arises, we also have the option of using one of our photo/video backgrounds.

Your story is family history to be viewed for years to come! We encourage you to look your best. Following your free initial consultation, choosing to move forward with a No Life Forgotten Video Biography, you will receive a package of time – line questions and instructions including suggestions for “how to dress”.

A makeup artist will accompany the crew the day of filming. Their job is to apply film friendly makeup.

Our Audio Biography is exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re price sensitive, you’ll be happy to learn that audio biographies are less expensive than video biographies.

Gather as many old photographs or albums as you can. We also like to include important documents, like old passports, immigration records, letters or telegrams, and birth records. Recipes, toys, pets also add character to the Video.

Here are some general guidelines to consider:

• Choose pictures that you can tell a story about
• Choose the pictures that show character and personality
• Choose a mix of close-ups as well as photos that have groups and action in them
• Choose photos to reveal the most important stages of life ie: important moments, significant events like first day at school, graduation, wedding etc.
• Choose pictures that represent your historical time line.
• Avoid photos that are too similar
• Avoid out of focus photos

Any article or object in your home that can be photographed can be included as a still image in your video biography.

Yes. Especially slides and home movies that can tell or highlight a specific story. These can be very compelling. But keep in mind, with home movies, we will probably not insert more than 5 to 15 seconds of a specific segment at any one time.

One important note: we must digitize slides and home movies. This means taking this media back to our office for processing. Although we will take the utmost care in handling your media, old film can become fragile and brittle and as such we cannot be held responsible for any accidental damage that may occur. We will certainly not continue with copying the media if we are at all concerned. We will return all original media to you when we deliver your finished video biography.

The complexity of a video biography varies, but generally it takes 4 – 5 weeks to finish once filming of all the interviews has been completed. Once the initial edits are complete, you will receive a copy of the video biography to review and provide us with comments. Once those are received it generally takes another two weeks before you receive the finished biography.