| After several years
of production we have come up with 8 key points that will help you
through the photo to dvd production process. If you still have questions
please contact us.
1. Know who your audience is.
Try not to show just pictures of the happy couple
but also pictures of their families, extended families and friends.
Also, if you intend to use humor in your slide show, make sure that
you get a second or third opinion to verify that it is both tasteful
and appropriate. We recommend that you get permission from the intended
target too, just to make sure.
2. Shorter is sometimes better.
Most people have a limited attention span and,
as with most weddings, there will be parents in the audience with
children in tow. It has been our experience that video slide shows
that are between 8 - 12 minutes in length are ideal for most occasions,
including wedding receptions. This usually works out to about 3
songs and 75-100 pictures. While you can certainly display more
photos during your slide show, you want to be careful not to overdo
it.
3. Choose quality photographs.
Although we are good at what we do, there are practical
limitations. Though you may have an old damaged photo that you wish
to have edited/restored and used in your DVD Slide Show, this could
add both significant production time and cost to your DVD Slide
Show. Pictures that have the proper color, lighting and exposure,
will look great when displayed. Pictures that are, dark, grainy
or out of focus may not display the best.
4. Choose a Variety of Photographs
Try not to use too many pictures of one item or
person in your slide show. Instead of showing 10 pictures of your
first car, you may wish to limit it to 2 or 3. Remember, people
have a limited attention span and you need to maintain audience
interest.
5. Landscape pictures show better than
Portrait pictures
Given the standard 4:3 dimensions of television
monitors, photographs that are in landscape mode as opposed to portrait
mode show better on a TV. While portrait photographs certainly should
be used in the DVD Slide Show, you should be aware that there will
typically be a black border that appears around the photograph.
It's best to use these sparingly.
6. Music
Choose music that has meaning to you and whose
lyrics are appropriate for the pictures being displayed. Also pay
attention to how long the music is that you're choosing. If you're
only showing 30 pictures, you might not want to choose a 8 minute
song. We recommend that each photo be displayed for no more than
5.0 seconds with a 1.0 second fade in and 1.0 second fade out. For
a song that is 4 minutes long that would be approximately 34 pictures
(240/7).
7. Add short video clips.
Think about adding perhaps a 10-15 second video
clip in the middle of the slide show. The video clip can help break
up the video montage and is a great way to keep your audiences interest.
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