Your Story

The secret to a proper autobiography is in the work that happens before the interview. Here are things you must know:

1. Have a good idea about what you’ll talk about. Are you covering your entire life up until this point, are you just covering or putting more emphasis on specific points in your life? Think about what you would like to share. We also have a list of basic starting questions to kick start the process, but they’re only suggestions. You can see those questions below the FAQ.

2. Now that you have an idea of what you want to talk about, gather any physical objects related to them. Photos, collectibles, any sort of mementos. Anything that is too large or fragile to be collected that you still want to show in your autobiography, make a note of it. Notes: 1) Please try to keep the amount of mementos to about 30 items. 2) Any footage - film or video - that you have are the only items that would have to be sent out to be converted into a video format we’ll use for editing. Anything you can get on DVD/Data DVD/Blu-ray/Data Blu-ray would be much faster to use.

3. It’s recommended you have a family member conduct the interview, this is for several reasons. A family member will know more than we do when it comes to which specific questions they can ask, which topics they can bring up. It also generally makes the interview subject more comfortable!

4. Decide what time of day and where you think is best to conduct the interview for the autobiography; somewhere comfortable for the interview subject and large enough to accommodate equipment and a few people. We strongly recommend allowing us to visit the location ahead of time to help us better prepare how we will set up the film equipment.

In Summary:

• Think about what you want to say.

• Collect mementos that help illustrate your story.

• Consider a family member who can help steer the conversation.

• Decide when and where is best for you to share your legacy!

This is everything on the day, before we actually begin the interview.

The day is broken into two main parts: Your interview and filming of mementos.

Before the interview is conducted however, we set up our equipment. If we haven’t had a chance to visit your home before hand (strongly recommended) we will take some time to find a location that is best for both our interview set up and the subjects comfortability.

We prefer to have the subject sitting away from walls. If all furniture is against walls we like to set up a chair in the middle of the room. We also take note of windows and other sources of existing light and wall outlets. We treat every home with the utmost care and while we move as little as possible, we return everything to the way it was before we got there.

You don’t have to do anything yet. Relax while we get our lights camera and sound equipment ready.

In Summary:

• We’ll check out or find the room to shoot in.

• Set up our equipment.

It’s time for all the planning to pay off and get to the best part - the interview!

The interview is conducted for up to 2 hours. The interview can go in any order but we strongly recommend chronologically. We may pause the interview between questions to verify the spelling of names and locations that have been mentioned.

For single subject interviews, either we or a family member can conduct the interview but we strongly recommend a family member. This is for several critical reasons:

• 1) It makes the person being interviewed more comfortable and thus more able to open up and think about their story when speaking to a loved one.

• 2) A family member can ask about moments in the subjects life that we would not know and thus might not otherwise hear about in the interview. Moments like these are often missed even when planning questions ahead of time.

At the end of the interview if there are photos in albums or frames that can’t be removed, or other small mementos you can hold, we invite you to show them on camera.

For interviews with two subjects, they can face each other to have more of a dialogue together - although we still strongly recommend having another family member there to direct both subjects when needed and bring up moments that might otherwise be missed.

After the interview is conducted, we scan or film photographs and other mementos. None of the valuables ever leave your home. We use a portable scanner that accepts up to 8.5–11” documents and film other items on a flat surface.

Many photos are either too fragile or in frames or photo albums that can’t be opened without damage. These are not scanned but filmed. Photo albums can also be shown in the subjects hands. Filming can also be done for collectibles and other physical objects such as dolls, tea sets, statues, paintings, quilts, etc).

We can also use this time for a walking tour of any special places in the home, if there are rooms you want to showcase or artwork or other items that can’t be moved.

We can also take tours of remote locations (past schools, parks, main streets, neighborhoods) for an additional fee.

And that’s everything for the interview, we have all that we need! Now sit back and relax as we craft all of this great material into a timeless autobiography!

Note: We may be in contact once in a while during this time to confirm additional spellings and other clarifications. This will be updated on a private webpage, just for you to review so you can keep track of our progress.

In Summary:

• Up to 2 hours for the interview.

• Photos and other handheld mementos are shared after the main interview.

• Other photos are scanned or filmed.

• We can do a walking tour of the house or other locations.

Sit back as we weave all the materials together for an informative and enjoyable autobiography.

You can keep track of our progress with a private page on this site just for your autobiography.

When editing is complete, we will make the file available to you in several formats:

1. A USB flash (or thumb) drive with the film to easily play on your computer. Most modern smart TV’s and Roku devices can accept flash drives, but each TV has different format requirements so please check your TV manual as you may have to change the USB drives format. The USB includes both embedded and external closed captions which can certainly be viewed on a computer and may be available on your TV, but again, please check your manufactures documentation for your specific model. Note: Our USB flash drives are formatted as NTFS which is universally compatible with both Windows and Mac (read only) computers. Not all TV’s support this format, please consult your manual.

2. Downloadable files (movie and captions), which are exactly like the files on the USB flash drive. It’s a nice backup, but they must be downloaded to play and most TV’s do not have the ability to download files.

In addition to the main video, on both the UBS and availble to download, we will have a “trailer” file; a shortened summarization of the full interview. For an example, please see: this sample trailer, it too has captions included.

Note: There is no exact timeline for when your autobiography will be completed. Each individual and their story uniquely define the process of assembling an autobiography. Individuals have different stories, told in their own ways, and have different numbers of mementos to showcase. Please allow a window of 6-8 weeks for completion, though the time may vary.

In Summary:

• This is when we edit all the footage.

• The final film will be delivered in two formats: USB flash drive and digital download.

• Allow around 6-8 weeks for completion, but all projects differ.

We have two single starting costs based on the amount of people interviewed with easy to understand additional fees for certain scenarios, all listed below.

____________________________

Consultation | $200

We are happy to answer any general questions you have at no charge.

When you’re ready to discuss your project specifically - including what photos you may want to gather, what topics you want to cover, where your autobiography should be filmed at - we have this consultation fee which comes out of the prices below (thus this is not an additional cost if you chose either of the below services).

____________________________

Single Subject Interview | $1000
Travel To A Second Location + $200

The most common autobiography we do is that of a single subject. One person telling their story. This is a full interview along with the sharing of photographs, other mementos, locations in the house and other things that can be shared on the day.

This price also includes everything involved before and after the interview: coming by before hand to plan out the shoot all the way to editing and delivering your cinematic autobiography.

You’ll receive your film on both a USB thumb drive and as a digital download link. Both copies will be in 4K (3840x2160, a standard aspect ratio for television) and have subtitles available.

____________________________

Two Subject Interview | $1500
Travel To A Second Location + $200
Travel To A Third Location: + $200

This is the same as above, the only difference being you have a second subject. The additional cost is due to the use of a second camera that requires its own power, lighting and media storage which doubles the amount of footage and time to edit.

Additionally, with two subjects there is the possibility each will have a different location they want to share, outside of where we film the interview.

____________________________

H.264 | Included
H.265/HEVC | $100
ProRes | $200

By default, we deliver your cinematic autobiography on both USB flash drive and as a digital download. Both formats are in the widely supported H.264 codec which offers beautiful quality imagery at a manageable file size.

If you would like, we also offer a H.265/HEVC option. This file will not only look even better, but will come at a smaller file size. This means faster downloading for you and your family.

Finally, for the true originalist in the family we offer an uncompressed version in ProRes. This is the same format that was used to edit. It doesn’t look better than this but is an extremely large file size.