TimeTrackers - for British and Australian Family History research, teaching, publication and film making

Take a look at a sample video

Here's a small segment from a demonstration tape we've made. It's a low quality, Quicktime movie of about 90 seconds (get Quicktime here if you haven't already got a copy). It shows how a straight interview can be transformed from a 'talking head' to a more compelling documentary-style story. Note the use of still photos as well as additional video. That's what we can do throughout your story.

Video equipment we use:

• Two 3CCD Panasonic Mini-DV camera (plus tripods)
• Sennheiser shotgun microphone and boom for excellent sound (the most neglected side of video)
• Final Cut Express - an industry-standard powerful editing programme for MacIntosh computers (we're Mac fans!)

We prefer to film in natural light, but do have lights and stands and we can hire any additional equipment we need through the Fremantle Film and Television Institute.

Your story on DVD

"I'd feel embarrassed... my story is not very interesting"

We all have a story to tell. OK, maybe not everyone's famous, but your family, your children and their children will love you for doing this. Imagine if we could watch and listen to our ancestors telling their story in their own words.

We make the process of getting your story onto a DVD easy for you. It's a lot easier than writing a book!

We usually make our DVD documentaries from an extended interview, or interviews, with Lesley acting as the 'off-camera' interviewer. We place the camera slightly to one side so that you're not looking at it directly. After a couple of minutes you won't even notice that it's there. Alternately, we can use two cameras to film two people having a conversation about their lives, perhaps a son asking his mother about the past.

Then, during the edit phase we delete most of the questions and prompts from single interview shots. We take out any bloopers, or anything you're not happy with. We like to present the subject in the best possible light! For two camera interviews, we cut between the two subjects, including reaction shots.

We often need to break up the interview into sequences, like book chapters. That way, we can gather everything together that was said about, say, school-days, even if the subject came up different times during the sessions.Then we add in all the other bits, like photos, maps, documents or other images which come on to the screen as you're talking about them. We can add voice-overs and extracts from other video or film footage that you have. That way, you'll be telling a story that flows, with illustrations that come on screen at just the right time.

So what's involved?

If you're interested in the details, have a look at the process of making a DVD here.

How much will it cost?

As you can imagine, video making is time-consuming and therefore is not cheap. For example, a decent wedding video from an outside company can cost between $1200 and $4000. We're talking about the same sort of money. After all, what's a life story worth to the future generations?

We'll work out a programme with you to fit your budget. Once we agree on an overall outline we'll give you a firm estimate, and we'll stick to it. We believe in doing quality work and giving value for money. We know you'll be happy with the results!