Choosing Photos and Music for a Slideshow

Choose the best quality photos you can, the better the photo the better it will look on a large screen. Please consider your photos carfully and try to include as many family members and friends as possible to give a complete overview for the event and to prevent dissapointing people when their photo is not included. Kids will love seeing photos of themselves playing sports or doing their favorite activities. For a baby's first birthday it's often good to include some photos of the proud parents before the birth, including the pregnancy.Choose a good variety of photos. Photos where people are doing things are great, there is nothing more boring than a slideshow full of posed photos. Decide on the theme of you show, will it be funny,documentary style, happy or sad? It's up to you we will do the slideshow how you want it.

Please use a Post It Note to add any text you would like. Write it in speech marks:"Nan and the Grandkids". Most slideshows are designed to run for approximately 3-15 Minutes, the time it takes to play one,two or three pieces of music. However, longer slide shows or more than one show is not uncommon. You may want seperate slideshow for different parts of your event, like one at the beginning when everybody is arriving, another when you are having dinner or the event as part of proceedings and maybe another when the event is winding down. If you want your slideshow to run for the whole evening/day you will need as many photos as you can get.

Several pieces of music may be needed for your show. Although sometimes if the show is to run all day it is better not to have the music playing all of the time, that way it will not clash with the music being played at the event and will give your guests time to talk.While taking of music, the music can make or break a slideshow, again consider you audience. Nana may not like Rap but cousin Jason may not like the old time songs. A happy compromise should be found. If using captions choose your words carefully, we don't want to offend anybody. What may be funny to some is offensive to others. To create an emotional slideshow, use photo captions. captions can be personal quotes, famous quotes, short poems, sayings or anything you like as long as it's relavent.

Narration is another option for your slideshow, a short recording can add life to your slideshow. But consider carefully what should be said and who should say it, a good confident voice is preferable.

Photos shot in a sequence can be put together to make a mock video clip. (see our wedding slideshow example to see how we make the bride do a twirl.)Or you may have a video clip you would like to include, but don't make it too long.

So to summerise the following points may assist you.

Captions

When you collect your photos, get some information about them if you can. Find out the time, place, people and occasion the photo was taken, sometimes these details are written on the back. If you want a caption on the photos this information will help.

Handwriting

Back in the day, folks had what we called a "hand" - they often had beautiful handwriting. If you are lucky enough to find the person's handwriting on the back of one your photos we can scan that and use it for the caption.

Stories

A death is almost always the occasion for families to reunite - family fly in and family and friends thoughts turn to all the happy memories. Some people will be composing and presenting eulogies. So you should take advantage of these unscheduled reunions and record memories of the subject from those friends and family. You should find the time to do this informally before the funeral. Some people may not be able to attend the funeral for whatever reason, your slideshow can still feature them or their stories. Where you are unable to record the person directly, tape them via webcam. No webcam? Record their voice over the telephone (Skype can help with this). Once we get to assembling the slideshow, we can play the voice over an image of the person telling that story.

Poems and sayings:

A collection of sayings or homilies that the person lived by or which express their hopes and beliefs may be something to consider. Sometimes a person was known for their habits or mannerisms, its sometimes good to include them either in the slideshow or in the eulogy.

Video footage

You might be lucky enough to have some video footage of the deceased somewhere. Maybe a birthday, wedding or a family barbecue. Nothing brings a person back into our memories better than video - ideally with audio.

Cards and letters

Grandparents often keept cards and artwork from their grandchildren. These items can also be included in the funeral slideshow to show how loved and honoured the person was in life.

Voiceover

One member of the family is often designated to present an overview of the person's life at the funeral service. That same person is usually well placed to supply narration or voice over for the visual elements of the funeral slideshow. Sometimes it's enough for the person to review the images and other visual material then say a few words about some of them.

Prices for a customised sildeshow.