Making a holiday home movie is loads of fun! It is an opportunity to gather some really memorable moments and put them on a DVD. Probably the first thing you want to do is decide what holiday you want to shoot, so you can get a nice theme. It’s best and easiest if you stick with the theme throughout shooting and editing
Since this is a home movie you don’t need to be too technical but there are a few things you should note.nnFor starters the absolute first thing you need to do is charge your batteries. This is super important as no footage is lost footage. Filming the kids opening up presents and having the camera die on you will create an awkward moment as you tell the kids to hold on a second while you change the battery or plug in the camera. If possible ensure you have two fully charged batteries available. Always plug in the camera when an outlet is available. Good power management can go a long way.
After the batteries are all taken care of I would make sure you have enough media to record all the events. Whether it be DVDs, Hi8s, or MiniDVs, you should ensure you have plenty to record all those important moments. If you have a tripod I would break that out ahead of time so you prevent the on screen shakes that famously appear in all movies. No one wants a motion sickness moment watching the Fido run around with a ribbon on his head.
OK now your ready to shoot. This is the easy part. Have fun. Get all those moments you need to make a quick ten minute home movie. If its Halloween then get the kids dressing up and walking around. Get shots of the scary displays and other weirdos walking the streets. If its a Christmas video then aim for some snow play or perhaps the big Christmas dinner. Basically it comes down to this, all media is cheap so shoot as much as possible, you can edit later.
So the big film is now in the can so to speak. You need to create a cool DVD to ship to the family and save for later so you can show the kids when they’re all grown up. Most new computers come with basic editing programs installed, if not then borrow a friends. Following directions you need to upload the footage and get to work. I find the best approach to making a home movie is through the soundtrack. Pick some fun songs (don’t worry about copyright since it’s for your own personal use) and edit the footage around the songs. Get creative with the titles and transitions. A little bit of hard work in the editing room will pay dividends on the final product.
Next use a program to create a DVD, I recommend iDVD if you have a mac. Get a little creative with menu, you can take a still frame from the footage you shoot for your main menu picture. Make sure you have some protective sleeves for the DVDs. Now press about 10-20 copies and distribute, don’t forget to put your name in the credits as written/directed/produced by:
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