Interview Questions for a Couple

As our month's theme "Preserve Your Memories" comes to a close, I wanted to talk a little bit about videos this week. And I'll start with the idea of videotaping an interview. 

About 5 years ago, I saw a video online of a young couple being interviewed about how they met, etc and thought it was the best thing ever.  As I had started doing wedding videos, I started to offer a "Love Story" as an extra service.  Here is an example of one of my first ones.  Click on the HD before you watch them!:

Love Story - Jon and Jaclyn from Aub Howell on Vimeo.

And I decided this is an amazing idea, that EVERYONE should have one of these.  No matter how old you are!  My aunt and uncle wanted one for their 25th anniversary.  So here is a little part of it:

Lauri & Scott - Interveiws from Aub Howell on Vimeo.

And then just a year ago, my sister in law asked if I'd do one for their 10th anniversary. 

Kam & Rosi - A Love Story teaser from Aub Howell on Vimeo.

When you do one after being married a while, there is a lot more to talk about and so those videos ended up being about 30 minutes...so those videos above are just a sample of each one.  And granted, you don't need to do anything this fancy, but how fun will it be to look back on this later in life, or for your kids to have.  I think it would have been so fun to have something like this from my parents! 

All you need is a video camera, a tripod and some video editing software.  It can be so simple. And like I said, you do not need to do anything fancy with it...you will just love having the interview.  But you can always hire someone like me to do it for you. ;)  I know you will love having it on video so much more, BUT another option is to just write it all down. ;) That's better than nothing. 

 

Here are some sample questions you might use for your interview:

 

**TIP** It can be REALLY fun to do your interviews separately, without the other spouse listening in.  It's fun to see their viewpoint on everything without being influenced by the other person.

For an engaged or newly married couple:
1.  How did you meet?
2.  What was your first impression of him/her?
3.  Tell about your first date and/or a memorable date.
4.  First kiss?  First time saying 'I love you'?
5.  How did he/she propose?
6.  What do you love about him/her?
7.  Describe him/her as if you were telling someone who didn't know them.
8.  What do you look forward to in the rest of your life together? Hopes, dreams, etc

For a married couple:
1.  All of the above questions
2.  You've been married for ___ years.  How would you summarize those years together?
3.  Describe your spouse in 5 words and why each word
4.  What do you remember about the day you got married? (Schedule, feelings, etc)
4.  What are some of your happiest memories?
5.  Have there been any significant experiences or trials that you'd like to tell about?
6.  When did you decide you were ready for kids to join the family?
7.  Your children...how many, your experience as each of them came into your life, etc....can be very general or very specific. It's up to you.
8.  What would you like to say to him/her?

This can also be a GREAT gift idea...for an anniversary or even Valentines Day.  Good luck to you!!!

Keeping Videos & Photos Organized

Whether you are taking videos with your camcorder, your phone, or even your point and shoot camera...you most likely would like to put these on a dvd someday.  When it comes time for you to burn your dvd, it will make your life SO much easier if you have them organized on your computer! Same thing with photos.  I'm sure you don't mean for them to just sit on your computer.  You are going to want to DO something with them eventually.  Usually when you upload your video or photo files to your computer, it will look something like this:

These files can quickly add up and be all over your computer.  Don't let them pile up.  Keep them organized so you can find what you need easiest.  Here's what you need to do: ( I apologize for those using a Mac...I use a PC, so I'm not sure if the same filing system can work on a Mac)

Step #1 : Start by making sure the videos that you are putting on your computer, go into a file labeled for that YEAR.  Here you see that on my hard drive, I have labeled them Family Movies 2013, etc  I would suggest keeping photos and videos SEPARATE.  So you can make a separate file for Photos 2013, etc.

Step #2 : Create New Folders to hold your files in sections.  The number of folders you create will depend on how much video and photos you take, but I like to start labeling my folders by EVENT.  Like "Landon's Birthday", "4th of July", etc.  To create a new folder, you simply right click in an open space, and choose NEW and then FOLDER and then you can give that folder a name.

 Then you can highlight the group of videos/photos that belong in that folder and drag them in.

Step #3 : Now create more folders by MONTH.  They stay in order better if you label them 01, 02, 03, etc...instead of by month name.  And then drag which folders belong in their certain month.  For example, I dragged "Landon's Birthday" into 05-2013 because that is when it occurred. 

 Now they are organized and ready for you to burn to a dvd, or print a book, make a slideshow, etc. which I will talk about more in another post. 

 

FOR THOSE OF YOU FEELING OVERWHELMED:

 

I suggest starting with the most RECENT and work your way backwards.

START by creating folders for "Family Movies 2014" and "Family Photos 2014".  As it is the first week of January, you will probably not have any videos to put in there yet, but if you get your folders created, then you won't have to do it later.  Then inside "Family Movies 2014" create 12 folders for each month.  THEN throughout this year, when you go to put your videos on your computer...put them in the month they belong in. 

NEXT, work backwards by starting with "Family Movies 2013" and try to get them organized as I've shown you above.  Once you've finished 2013, continue working backwards by year. 

Depending how much you have to organize, it can take some time.  Don't get overwhelmed.  Just take ONE STEP AT A TIME and don't stress if your whole computer isn't organized by the end of the week.  Good luck to you!

Hopefully this gets you ready for the next step of actually DOING something with your photos!

Convert Your VHS & Camcorder tapes

Do you have a bunch of these lying around???

  I have talked to so many people who keep meaning to get them converted to DVD, but just don't get around to it. This should actually be one of your first priorities!!  These tapes will NOT last forever. Image and sound quality degradation becomes noticeable in as little as 5 years and may only be usable up to 20 years! If you have tapes that are older than that, you are really pushing your luck. One day you may put it in and it won't play. So DON'T LOSE THOSE MEMORIES!!! Get them converted right away!

This is an example of our oldest VHS tape.  It's from 1987 and so the quality was never as good as our footage we take today, BUT it did not used to shake like that or have lines through it.  I wish that we would have gotten it converted just a few years earlier!

HOW TO GET STARTED:

*Costco will do 2 tapes, up to 2 hours on each for $17.99, so that is about $9 a tape.  This is probably the easiest and cheapest way to go.  I understand this can end up costing a lot if you have a lot of tapes, but it will be SO worth the money!  You can even spread it out by taking in just a few tapes per month or something. 

*Walmart is another alternative if you don't have a Costco membership.  They charge $19.96 for up to 2 tapes, 2 hours maximum.

*Google people who can do it for you.  You can always see who offers these services locally.  These can be a little pricier because most of them put more time into it, giving you chapters for each section of video and possibly a custom menu.  People can do it from home, like myself and MIGHT charge less.  If you are close to the Salt Lake Valley, you can check out a few of these that I've looked into that offer the service, including myself:

AubMarie Productions
Home Video Studio
The Multi Media Center (this one could probably help try to save any damaged tapes)
Anything to DVD
Sharper Transfer

 

*Do it yourself!  If you have a LOT of tapes, it may be cheapest to convert them yourself.  This may still cost you a couple hundred, if you are needed to purchase the correct equipment and programs, but it would beat paying $500 for someone else to do it also.

What you will need:

1. For VHS tapes you need a VCR and if you have camcorder tapes, you need the camcorder that the tapes work in. 

2.  A way to hook the VCR and Camcorder to your computer.  For that you need something like this:

A USB Video Conversion System.  You can look around, but Amazon has it for anywhere from $50-$68 depending on who you go through. 

Once you have this conversion system, and pull up the software, you simply put a tape in, rewind it to the beginning, push play and then immediately push record on the computer software.  The tape will just play through while recording a file to be stored on your computer.  Because it stores on your computer, I would recommend getting an external hard drive to hold the files.  They can be anywhere from 2-9GB each and will fill up your computer quickly, depending on how much free space you have.

3. Editing Software = A conversion device, like the one above usually comes with an editing software that will capture the video to your computer, but also allow you to edit the video any way you like and then burn to DVD.  But read closely to make sure.  If it does not come with something, you will need to also purchase a video editing software.  The one that I found to be the most simple to use is Corel Videostudio. 

HOPEFULLY THIS HELPS TO GET YOU STARTED!  This is something many people put off year after year and my goal is that you at least get it started this month!  I understand it gets expensive, so if you at least choose someone to go through and then you can do a few tapes every month to spread out the cost.  Let me know if you have any questions or recommendations on what worked for you! Stay tuned for more tasks under January's Theme of Preserving Your Memories.