(Long Island, N.Y.) Many years ago, I came up with the perfect gift for my parents—A VHS of their lives. (Yes, It was a video tape, I said it was many years ago!) In the attic, I found a dusty bag of old eight millimeters my parents took when I was a kid and scoured the streets of NYC to find a place to have them restored and transferred. And that was the easy part.
With a box of photos from their wedding and beyond, I rented space in an editing studio, learned how to use the equipment, and churned out a Christmas surprise: an hour long video that brought my parents to tears. But making it nearly brought me to tears. I was too scared to trust just anyone to do it, so hundreds of dollars and hours later—I managed to do it myself.
Fast forward: A few weeks ago, I inserted a DVD given to me by my son’s preschool—and in minutes, I’m in tears. It’s my son’s first months at his school, so beautifully done, on a DVD set to music. It was an amazing gift, so naturally, I wanted more and thought how wonderful a gift this would make for my husband, the grandparents—even myself!
Sure, there’s tons of photo story software out there, but quite frankly, I just don’t have the time to learn it and I know it would just become another “project” languishing forever on my to-do list. (My two-year-old daughter will be posing for prom pictures by the time I got to it.)
So, I tracked down the creator of the DVD, Long Island resident, Jessica Anziano, of Jessica’s Creations (www.jessicascreations.net) to learn more about her touching work.
Long Island Exchange: I must admit, I’m very impressed! How did you get started making your creations? What inspired you?
Anziano: Thank you! I started making “mini movies” of my daughter, Sarah, for my sister who lives in Florida, so she could see her niece growing up! Family is what really inspires me. My biggest and most important movie was for my Mom’s birthday. I wanted to make a movie of her life so far. It starts out with pictures from when she was just a baby all the way to her first granddaughter! I told my friend about my “creation” and she wanted one for her dad’s birthday!
Then we went on vacation to Niagara Falls with our family and another family. I took all the pictures from when we went, and put them into a movie! I showed my friends and they wanted one! The next thing you know, I was making movies for everyone for every occasion and they all said, “You should go into business!” So here I am!
I was in tears after I watched the DVD of my son. You must get an overwhelming reaction from your clients when they first watch your work/their life. That must make you feel so good.
Yes! I absolutely love the reaction I get from my client. It makes me feel wonderful! I’m one of those people that can watch other people’s home movies and enjoy them. When I am working on creations– I treat them as if they were for my own family.
I’m SOOO not a control freak—but I know many people who are. So if you’re creating a DVD for someone, how much control can they have on the finished product.
When I’m creating a DVD for a client they can have as much or as little control as they’d like! Most everything that goes into a creation is optional and if you do like to make decisions, I’ve got plenty for you. If you don’t- then leave it up to me! I’ve done enough creations to figure out what works best.
Do you choose the music? Take suggestions? Would you mind if I handed you a box of pictures and said “Oh, just surprise me!”
I can choose the music, give you different song ideas to choose from, or you can write a list of what songs you would like! You can provide the music if you have it, and if not, most likely I can get it. As far as suggestions go, I’m always open. Lastly, if you handed me a box of pictures and said, “Oh, just surprise me!”, of course I would not mind, however most of my clients prefer some personal input for their creation.
I read on your site that a Father’s Day movie for dad, including 50 pictures, two special songs, a jewel case– is just $31.50 and I nearly fainted. (Please tell me that’s not a typo!) How long in advance do you need? Can I make it for Valentine’s Day?
No–it is NOT a typo! As far as needing advance notice, the sooner is always the better, but on average I would say at about 3 weeks. It really all depends on how long you are planning on your creation being. The shorter the creation, the quicker I’ll have it ready for you. But don’t worry- even if it’s last minute like up to the day before) I can always RUSH it for you! As far as Valentine’s Day goes, it’s over 6 weeks away. That’s plenty of time.
OK, how on earth do I organize all my pictures before I give them to you? Any last tips you can give me to make it all go smooth?
Organization is really all up to you. In most cases chronological order is best. For example: if you’re making a creation for a birthday, usually from birth on is good. In between you can do different chapters such as teen years, marriage, and each child after that. What’s great about chapters is, when you put the DVD on, there will be a menu page and you can start from the beginning or jump straight to what chapter you want to see.
Sometimes, though, the years seem to get jumbled in between. That’s Ok– you can come up with a title like: “Good Times”, put all the fun pictures in, and have “Celebration”, by Cool and the Gang playing in the background.
To make it all go smooth, my best suggestion is to make an appointment with me. It’s so much easier to go over all the details in person. At that time we can go over a questionnaire to give you more of an idea of what you will need to know and how to make everything as easy for you as possible.
