The Yellowstone Park Slideshow Project
My dad went on vacation to Yellowstone Park and Mount Rushmore during July. He returned with over 1200 photos and a dozen video clips from the trip. While we were watching the seemingly neverending slideshow, he commented, “Wouldn’t this be so much better with music?”
My dad is one of those people who does a lot for others and never really asks for anything in return. Anyway, he’s my dad, and he’s getting old. That’s why I’ve spent all of my spare time for the past two weeks turning his vacation photos into a full video production on 2 DVDs.
For those of you who have never attempted such a project, let me tell you that it is tedious and all-consuming. If you’re the easy-going, let-it-fall-where-it-may type, you might be OK. But for those of us who can actually relate to Adrian Monk on USA’s hit comedy series, it’s a monumental task. Here’s what I learned:
1. Edit your photos and videos first. THEN add the soundtrack and special effects. You’ll have more hair left when you’re done.
2. Don’t be afraid to take out anything that looks only so-so. After you watch it for the 50th time, you’ll appreciate this.
3. Taking a video with your camera turned sideways is BAD. It seems like it should be easy enough to flip the video later, but apparently it’s a big deal. Quicktime Pro is the only program I found that could actually do it.
4. Roxio Easy Media Creator is one of the most unstable programs ever sold to the public. If you have an older version, don’t bother upgrading. It only gets worse. (On a technical note, I found that in version 9, if you edit your video and then try to export it as an image file, you’ll get an error. There are no details in the error message. Just close MyDVD, then open it again and export.)
5. Hold the camera still, for heaven’s sake!
6. Christian music is better now than it was ten years ago. Just like Country.
It was so worth it for the look on my dad’s face when I delivered his DVDs to him yesterday. He made his famous BBQ’s and we sat down to watch it together. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday evening.