DIY - Record Family Stories This Holiday Season

If your family will be gathering for celebration and breaking bread together during the holidays, think about capturing family members telling stories about their lives on video. Prioritize capturing family elders telling stories including recollections of their elders. Develop a list of open-ended questions that will prompt thoughtful responses and document the wisdom of our elders.

You might even want to record some of the stories that have been told many, many times but never captured on video. The goal is not a complete life story, but to have a few special recordings so you and others can hear family members telling their life stories in their own voice.

Be sure to give your family members advance notice about your video project. Most people are not comfortable speaking spontaneously on camera. Depending upon your evaluation of the storyteller, prepare the individual in advance with appropriate questions. There are many lists of life story prompts online.

Today’s cell phones with the addition of an inexpensive lapel microphone and an inexpensive tripod can produce good quality video that can be edited in free software (iMovie) for Mac or (Microsoft Clipchamp) for Windows.

If you have good, diffused lighting from a window on a subject, the exposure should be good. Most cell phones will automatically focus on the subject and adjust exposure. If shooting inside at night, try adding multiple shaded lights near the subject. Low light will decrease the quality of your video. That is why when you see the setup for TV interviews there are always large lights on the participants.

Clear audio is critical for a good video interview. While viewers will tolerate lower-quality video, it is hard to listen to poor audio. Using a lapel microphone is very important. Getting a microphone close to the storyteller will be much better than using the built-in microphone on your cellphone which will also capture distracting background noise within the room. You can find an inexpensive lapel microphone ($20 to $30 on Amazon) that works with your phone.

Lastly, you need an inexpensive lightweight tripod ($10 to $25 on Amazon) to hold your cellphone steady.

Consider recruiting a younger, tech-savvy family member for the video recording and video editing. The most important step is getting the video. The editing can come later. I encourage you to try the DIY approach described above. See my DIY page at for more information.

While there may be some resistance, when family members see the results, they will appreciate your efforts. You might be able to develop it into a tradition around family gatherings. Or even better, you can also arrange for dedicated interview sessions with individual family members. Remember, we all have a story to tell. It just takes someone to ask and someone to listen.

If you are interested in having a life story legacy video of a relative or yourself, but are reluctant to take on the project, I am available for life story legacy projects in the Washington area. For more information about the process, see my website.

Feel free to contact me via the contact form on my website. I will be happy to schedule a time to talk with you. And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog at the bottom of the blog page for more information about life story legacy videos and photo organizing.

I wish you and your family a joyful holiday season.