I have finished watching all these 8mm recordings my grandfather left to me, which have been converted into 8 20-30 minute mp4s. At some point I have to edit these down to make them presentable, because a) they’re in random order, b) the clips within each mp4 are in random order, and c) we are not a family of cinematographers or directors. Here are a few challenges for me:
- What I’ve got is the story of the whole Myers family from 1958-1985. Except there is no story, it’s a hodge-podge of brief moments.
- A lot of it is told from the perspective of doting parents and grandparents who are thrilled about their kids. It’s going to have limited appeal.
- The filmographers are terrible. They don’t believe in dwelling on a single person or group, but jitter all over the place.
- The actors all suck. The camera gets pointed at them, and what do they do? They stop, stand, and stare. The action freezes.
- There are long stretches where the camera pans over scenery. The actors may suck, but at least they’re alive. Do I really need to see that hill? I can tell when my dad is wielding the camera, because he really likes lingering over the landscape.
- There are a limited and repeated set of circumstances that trigger the family to haul out the camera: mainly, Christmases and summer vacation. There are too many Christmases, and sadly, not enough Christmases. Also, every summer we all immediately crowd into a tiny wading pool.
- The biases are obvious — they used the camera a lot more when it was new. That means I have a lot of video of me at age 1 toddling stupidly about, but not as much of my baby sister Lisa. If I edit this to match the representation in the shots, it’s going to look like a vanity project.
- Way too much sweetness. Seeing my great-grandparents laughing and hugging and kissing in their 90s was a bit overwhelming. We really had a happy family, but it’s exaggerated because the sadness and loss was never filmed.
I have a 3-day weekend coming up. Maybe I’ll be able to put together a short video from a small slice of this mess over the weekend — something that my surviving brothers and sisters will appreciate, at least. I have a project!
Write a script, or at least an outline.
You may have stumbled onto the next Avant Garde film style.
I was asked to put together a slideshow for my Mom’s memorial service. Somehow that was the most emotionally draining part of the past month.
It is true reality TV.
I ended up with the extended family collection of photos because almost everyone is dead and no one else wanted them. They start in the late 19th century.
.1. Almost nothing is labeled on the back.
I have no idea who the earlier people are except probably some relatives.
.2 My parents didn’t take very many pictures of our pets. We always had pets, both dogs and cats.
When I was going through the photos, the ones I noticed the most were the few photos of our old pets.
.3. OTOH, I have many hundreds of photos of my cats.
Someone in the future is going to wonder why there are all those photos of cats. They will also wonder who they are.
Nothing is labeled on the back…because I know who they are.
Right. And this is a whole lot of videos and a whole lot of dead relatives viewed in a relatively short time.
These videos aren’t labeled either. It turns out that the clock measuring how old the video is…ME. I can narrow the date of any particular clip to a 1-2 year window if it includes me in it, or more usefully, me and one or more of my siblings.
I have a week without my partner around to fill and I am planning to set up a screen and try to get through the film I have assuming the adapters arrive and work and I will probably try to get through the slides and maybe try to digitize them. Not sure the effort is worth it but it is a project.
Ugh. I went through this with my wife’s 8mm collection from her first marriage in the 1970s. It didn’t occur to the yahoos at the shop to digitize them in order, even though they were MARKED. Fortunately for me – but not for her – she made three boys in four years, and I was able to work out the timeline based on (a) number of offspring bouncing around, and (b) size of pregnancy bump.
I think the goal of the project is to make the viewer cry initially and then feel elated at the end.
There must be 60,000 photos of me either drinking or opening Christmas presents or both.
That’s how I’ll be remembered: a guy who drank and opened Christmas presents.