One of the greatest gifts you can give your loved ones is preserving and sharing a life story. It could be your life story. Or the story of friends and loved ones.
Over the past few decades, I have been honoured to help people capture and share their life stories with video montages, books, websites and more.
I also teach people how to capture and save photos, clippings, videos, audio recordings, articles, and more using little more than a cell phone, Google Drive, and Google Photos.
That is for a series of articles coming soon.
Most of the Story Productions I have done have been unique according to personal of family requests.
What follows is a description of the possibilities.
Video Montages
The most common request is to create video montages with music for birthdays, celebrations of life, weddings, anniversaries, reunions, and other events.
Last year, I created a Tribute for Vancouver Musician, Rocket Norton for the third cancer benefit concert, called Rock Beats Cancer, featuring many top bands from Western Canada.
Rocket Norton played in the first two concerts, but passed before the third. The following clip is based on video, music, and photos I collected over thirty years of working with Rocket.
This is a good place to start for most story projects, and my Starter Story Package includes a video montage.
Life Story Wallboards
Many life celebrations and family events will have a table of photos and clippings.
You can assemble these into a storyboard that can be printed for the event and as keepsakes.
My friend Ross A Cowan writes speeches and poems for special occasions and will create a gorgeous wall hanging with the writing and images.
I am adding these kinds of things to my story offers.
Life Story Books
Rocket Norton got me started with formatting and publishing by asking me to help him publish several books.
Sponsorship mentor, Linda Hollander, got me to add a book to what I had offered to create for her father.
I was in the process of creating a presentation page with audio and photos when she called on a Monday
‘It is my dad’s birthday on Friday, and I would like to give him a book.’
We scrambled to put together a book for his birthday, then refined it later.
She recently told me that he had passed, and she gave everyone a copy of the book at the service.
I am now much better equipped to create books on short notice, including:
- Multibedia flipbooks that can be shared with a link.
- Print books that can be printed on demand from Amazon.
- Coffee table books printed from Amazon, Blurb, or other printers.
Digital Life Vaults
I use Kartra Memberships to create beautiful multimedia collections of books, recordings, photos, videos, downloadable treasures, and articles.
Access can be private with many levels of security.
The Rocket Norton Vault contains much of Rocket Norton‘s creative output and video clips from various concerts.
Life Story Websites
A website is a perfect place to share multimedia stories with family and friends.
Felicity Morgan wrote a memoir about growing up in Victoria, British Columbia.
The website includes many photos, some video, the text, and her daughter reading the memoir into a smartphone.
Audiobooks and Podcasts
Audio readings can be shared in many ways, including audiobooks and podcasts.
Poems and Songs
Over the years, I have met and interviewed people who wrote custom poems and songs for people.
I have some talent and skills in that area too.
AI tools can also turn out amazing poems and songs.
I am in a Logic Pro Masterclass, and Sono can create amazing songs.
We can discuss this when planning your Life Story Package.
My Life Story Offers
Here are some packages I offer:
Starter Story Package
This is a good place to start:
- Collecting and Creating Story Assets
- Video Montage
- Life Story Wallboard Design (printable)
$399 as a one-time payment.
I can also include a Life Story Website for a low monthly fee.
Premium Story Package
- Everything in the Starter Story Production
- Some or all of the other formats mentioned here.
$399 a month for 3 months
Family Anthology Package
All of the above, featuring a full book featuring many family members in multiple formats.
$399 a month for 6 months