Video Podcast & Content Studio for the North Okanagan & Shuswap
You've heard them a hundred times. How they met. What this town looked like back then. The one that comes out at every Christmas dinner. This is a room in Armstrong where you can sit down with them and finally get it recorded.
People kept asking me about this. I'd be sitting with someone talking about video for their business, and partway through they'd mention their dad, or their grandmother, and the stories that always come out at family dinners. They'd meant to record them for years. They never had.
It came up enough times that I built a room for it.
Most families have plenty of photos. Almost none of them have a recording of the person actually talking.
Before you come in, we'll talk for a few minutes on the phone so you're not walking in cold. I'll usually suggest putting together a rough timeline of their life and writing down the handful of stories you'd hate to lose, so we make sure those get covered. If you'd like a hand thinking of what to ask, I'll send you a list of questions to look over beforehand.
On the day, the two of you sit down across from each other and talk. You ask the questions, because the stories come out differently for family than they do for a stranger. If the conversation stalls, I'll step in with something to get it going again.
I'll be off to the side running the cameras and the sound, so neither of you has to think about any of that.
A 45-minute conversation, voices only, no cameras in the room. If you're not sure how it'll go, or if they'd be more comfortable without a lens pointed at them, this is the easiest place to start.
A 45-minute conversation with two cameras, cutting between the two of you as you talk, with the sound recorded properly. This is the one if you want to see them and not just hear them. The way they use their hands when they tell it. The face they make right before the punchline.
This one starts with the same session, and then I build a film around it. Old photos, home movies, letters, slides, whatever's in the box in the closet gets worked in around the conversation, with music underneath. Most people have no idea what they've got until they start looking. Bring me what you find and I'll give you a price from there.
Tell me a bit about who you'd like to record and I'll get back to you. There's no obligation to book anything, and you're welcome to come and see the room before you decide. A lot of people do.
I'll reach out shortly to answer your questions and find a time that works.
That happens, and it usually isn't really a no. Most people of that generation don't think their own life is interesting enough to record, which is exactly why it should be. It helps to frame it as something for the grandkids rather than something about them. If they're still unsure, start with the audio session. Forty-five minutes and a conversation is a lot less daunting than walking into a room with cameras in it.
Almost nobody does, and that's normal. We'll go over it on the phone before you come in, and I'll send you a list of questions to look at. You don't have to use any of them. Usually the first one gets them going and the rest looks after itself.
The first few minutes usually are, for everybody, and none of that has to be used. Once they get going they forget the cameras are there. What's left is the two of you talking, which is the part that matters.
It happens more often than not, and it's usually the best part of the recording. We stop for as long as you need and pick it up when you're ready.
Sessions run 45 minutes. If there's more ground to cover than that, we can book a second block, and some people run two back to back. Forty-five minutes at a time is usually about right though. It's longer than it sounds when you're the one doing the talking.
It's yours. Keep it, copy it, send it around to family, whatever you'd like. Some people play it at a birthday or an anniversary. Some people put it away and don't watch it for years. Both are fine.
Send me a note first and we'll set a time. It's in Armstrong, right across from Askew's, with plenty of parking, and you're welcome to come and see it. It's just that odds are good I'm mid-session with the door shut, and I'd hate for you to make the drive for nothing.
Sooner than feels necessary. That's the honest answer.