“Is this thing on?“

Check out the interview clips from our family stories.

Our Family Video Process

Whether by word of mouth or the will of some internet deity, you’ve arrived at our site and have a sense of what we’re up to here at Hindsight Media. Now, you want to see if we have what it takes to bring your creative vision to life – or to help you shape a vision to begin with. Rest assured. We’ve got you covered. Crafting cinematic narratives out of lives well lived is what we do.

Consult

We start with a consult: we’ll talk scope, story, specs and general timelines, answering any and all of your questions while asking a few of our own. Snippets of ideas will start to coalesce into something larger – something which will last you and your family a lifetime.

Contract

Next up, the legal niceties. Contracts ensure that everyone maintains their good humor during a project. They’re also a great way to keep everyone on track – ourselves included. We set the timeline, take solemn oaths, exchange a few sweaty handshakes, and that’s that. We’re yours.

The Great Gathering of Source Material

Did you think you would be off the hook at this point? No such luck. To get the production process started, we need source material – in this case, all the relevant volumes of photo albums, random pictures, family trees and the like that you and your family can muster. Adept as we may be in the art of filmmaking, we are woefully underqualified to pick your Aunt Minnie’s cheerful visage out of a fuzzy class photograph. If you need it, we’re happy to recommend a few ways to organize and digitize your prints and family mementos but the work here is in your capable hands. And trust us; you will glad we made you do this. All of a sudden, keeping pictures will now be every bit as satisfying as taking them.

Preproduction

A fancy word for a simple concept. Preproduction means any conversation or meeting we have prior to the shooting of the interviews themselves. Think logistics – timing and location of the shoot, travel arrangements, and so on. We’ll also use the preproduction phase to choose some “must-have” topics for interviews as well as any themes you want to include. We’ll talk about who to interview, where, and in what configuration. From there, we make a game plan for the interviews – at least a loose one. We draft talking points to guide us but do keep in mind, it’s often the unexpected that makes the best material.

Filming

To the surprise of just about everyone, shooting the interviews is the easiest part of the process. We stick to our agreed upon game plan as best we can, adapting as needed for logistical constraints not to mention the vagaries that come with even the most organized of families. For those with premonitions of stage fright – fret not. We pride ourselves on our ability to make any interviewee feel comfortable and at ease in front of the camera. In all our years in the business, many subjects have dreaded the interview; none have regretted it.

Edit

This penultimate phase takes a turn for the arcane. From the mound of photographs and hours of raw interview footage, we work our magic, cutting and assembling pieces into a working, shifting mosaic of sound and color. We then get back to you, working together over the course of several conversations, to ensure the creation of a final product in which your family’s history is realized in full.
Easy, right? Yes. Bu do take note: the editing phase flows most smoothly when we have all the ingredients we need long before we get here. In other words, when we ask you to gather source material earlier in the process, we mean doing it then. Not now!

Present

In film lingo, your family film project is now a wrap. So celebrate. Throw a party. Rent a projector. Pop the popcorn. We’re happy to give you some ideas for rentals and other logistics if you need them. But to be clear, we don’t “do” popcorn. Eat it, yes. Make it? Not in our repertoire.
We are also happy to supply DVD copies of the final family video to anyone who would like one, as well as a full resolution master and files, to upload and share via the web or simply pass along to friends and family.

Cost

“That much? For my parents?”
So that’s how it is, huh? After all those decades of unconditional love and support? The thick and the thin? The good times and the bad? All that therapy? We get it – if Mom and Dad taught us anything, it’s the value of a dollar. With that in mind, we’re prepared to offer packages for any price range – from a flat rate of $1,000 for a bare bones oral history to the $12k big kahuna, the whole nine yards, complete with multiple interview subjects, animation, narration and more. Give us a call for a proposal and a quote, and remember – in art, as in life, you get what you pay for.