Our website has a new look

htto://tearsofjoyvideo.com

Today our website http://tearsofjoyvideo.com got a new look.  It has been the same look for a number of years, and it was in need of updating.  For one thing, many of the videos posted could not be played on Iphone and Ipads and since many people these days are using these means to search the web, we thought it was important to have at least the main pages compatible for these means.

Since we were already making these changes, we decided to completely revamp it.  Here is a list of the things that has changed.

1) The pictures and video.  As already stated, the videos have changed to be able to play on all devices.  We also have added a few new videos to our site.  We have changed out the pictures.  Now all pictures on our site are personally created by us.

2) Packages.  We have new packages and with that new pricing.  We have also streamlined the site to make organizing and ordering your product  a lot easier.  Prices are basically the same, but now you are not pigeon holed into a number of pictures.  You can choose the one that suits your needs and then add as many or as few pictures, songs, titles and video clips you want to create your video.

3) Photo book creation pricing has also changed and has been streamlined for easy ordering.

4) We added a new product called Digital greeting card montage.  This allows you to have us create small video message to a digital video download that you can either send by email or load on to personal devices to send a greeting for a special occasion, or just to say hi or I love you.

5) Some items that were hidden on the site before are now easily accessible, like our scanning, and transfer services and our slide art. We have also added a products section, which in the coming months will list products we are creating from our own video and pictures for sale to the public.

6) Photography-We still offer photography in our area, but we are only doing portraits, no event photography.

7) Biography videos.  We have created a simple, low cost way to turn your video montage into a biography video, either by you filming it yourself with our instruction or in the San Diego and surrounding areas, we can come out and film your interviews.

8) We have highlighted our celebration of life/memorial packages into their own private section.

Take a look at the site and for those who have been on our site before, give us your input as to what you think.  If you have any suggestions on other ways we can improve, or anything that is unclear in what you read, please give us feed back here.

If you live in the USA and know someone who would like to have a video created, we would appreciate you letting them know about our site.  Our videos make excellent gifts for family and friends.

This is for all the ‘picture people’

Picture People
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I had a client a few weeks ago tell me as she brought her pictures by, that some people are picture people, and some people are not, but she was a picture person.  She was excited because a family member had gifted her a video montage for her wedding.  As we went through her pictures she was telling me that she was more excited about this video than preparing for her own wedding. She said she always wanted something like this done.  But now she was preparing it, it was so hard to pick which pictures to use- so I helped her edit her pictures down.  She was a fun client to work with as she expressed her excitement over each stage of the video coming together.  She called me her picture fairy, because I made her pictures come alive.  When she came to pick up her video she said she is already planning her 50^th Birthday party when I will do her video.  I had to laugh because she was only 30.  But this is one of so many examples of how when we create a story with pictures, movie clips and music; we touch peoples hearts, especially if you are a “Picture Person”.

I have said over and over again that it is the greatest gift you can give.  But I started thinking those words can sound pretentious without knowing the evidence I have seen to back up that statement.  So I thought I would share some of the personal experiences I have seen from my clients, without mentioning them by name.

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Another client came to me a few years ago.  She was referred to me from someone we had previously had a video done.  Her parents were celebrating their 50^th anniversary and she wanted to have a video to show at the event.  While going through our website she saw that we did photo books as well and decided to have a book done along with the video.  The video was a big hit and she called me to order books and videos for each member of the family.  She said she wanted to do one for her son and daughter too.  But it was a while before we did that.

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I did a couple of small jobs for her, and then about two years later she called me to do her Father-in-laws celebration of life video, as we were preparing for that her mother-in-law also suddenly died.  So the family decided to do their celebration of life together.  I created the video and the posters for the entry as well.  When she watched the finished product for the first time she said it brought her to her knees, she was so overcome by emotion.  It was the first time she had faced the grief of the loss.  But she said  this was a credit to me and the meaningful way I portrayed their story, bringing out the best part of each of them.  She later told me the video deeply touched everyone in attendance

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Finally the next year we were able to get to her daughters and sons video.  She said she had always wanted to scrapbook their life, but was a working mom and didn’t have time.  She had numerous pictures, but most of them were in boxes.  I scanned them all and then we edited them down for the video.  With her input I was able to create the story of each of her kids using their pictures and video clips.  As a final touch I came to her house and had her and her ex-husband tell stories and memories of their kids and a special message at the end to each of them.  The video had their home movies, their personal messages, and highlighted pictures.  The book had even more pictures, but also included their artwork, cards they had written to their parents, awards they had received, and a page with a special written message to each of them.  I finished the video and books in time for Christmas, and she said this gift made their Christmas as they all came together remembering the happy times of her children’s life.

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This year I have started doing the same thing for another client.  She has 4 children, and I am working on doing a video and book for each of them.  Her kids are all spread throughout the country, and as a parent she wanted to do something to bring them together as a family and help her children always have something to remember their roots.  She gave her first book and video to her youngest daughter a few months ago when they attended her graduation from college.  All the family had come to it, so they all were able to watch it together.  As it was the youngest child, all were apart of this video and book and the other kids enjoyed it just as much.  She is planning to visit each child and give the book and video to then as we get them done, so they can each have that special moment watching their video and looking over their book for the first time.  She said it was the best gift she ever gave them.

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When I make these videos, and photo books, I know nothing about the person.  Their pictures and the people who love them are telling their story.  By the time I am done, I feel like I know them.  I had a customer a couple of month’s back that created a 60^th biography video for her husband.  We included home movies of his childhood and then I went to her house when he was not home and interviewed family and friends, also family members out of state sent me video clips to add in.  After I was done we had a very touching video with the full story of his life. The first time he watched it was at a family party back east and she said he was deeply touched, as he laughed and cried at the stories told about him.  The second birthday party held at his house she hired me to come in and take a few family shots before their party.  When I first met him I shook his hand and said I know all about you, but now I get to meet you face to face.  When he found out I was the one who made the video, he understood this statement.

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I love creating the best gifts in people’s lives.  I love hearing how they touched the person who received them.  Once in a while I get to see the response myself, I get to see them cry tears of joy.  I can relate to this, because we started this business by creating our own video that made us cry tears of joy.  You can see from these personal experiences why I say this is the best gift you can give.  Don’t let the preparation for a video shy you away from creating it.  We will help you every step of the way.  We have different ways you can create a story with photo books, montages, biography videos, or digital cards.  Each one will tell a story, and touch someone’s heart.

Do you have a “Picture Person” in your life? Give them the best gift you could give.  As they are crying tears of joy, they will thank you over and over again.

5 Random Things

How a few sentences can reveal your personality

The last few weeks on Instagram my friends have been tagged and shared 5 random things about themselves.  Mine is in the picture above.  It is amazing what you can learn writing the first 5 random things that come into you head.

Some of my friends got very serious about the most important things in their life or kept it in a professional tone.  Others took it as a joke and wrote crazy things (some that made no sense, yes I am talking about you Simone) and others had a combination of these.  I think I was a combination of all three. My first one was about my sister.  The second was a personal thing I very rarely share with people.  The next two were personal, but also about my business too.  The last one was written from frustration of the fact that my writing has gotten so sloppy that no one can read it anymore and I had to change how I wanted to  shared this on instagram.

However I thought is was a great way to share a piece of your story.  Since our business is all about creating stories, I found this extremely insightful.  So I am putting it out to all who read this to share their story.  If you were tagged in this, what five things did you share.  If I tagged you right now what 5 things would you share about yourself?  Please share below.

 

Creating Children’s Stories on Video

We don’t have kids ourselves, but my sister and I have made a number of videos with my brother’s kids as they are growing up.  We were the cool aunts who showed them how they could make their stories become real.  Our first attempt at creating a story with them was at a princess party we held in their honor.  We set up the green screen and filmed them in front of it.  A month later we presented them with this story:

Next my middle niece Zoe decided she wanted to take a story she had written and create a movie.  She did not want to be in it, but she convinced her sisters and her sisters friend to star in the show.  She directed it, and narrated it, I served as the camera person and my sister edited this one:

A few years later our youngest niece Sophia wanted to do her own video.  She loved to watch the cooking channel and she wanted to make her own cooking show.  Mind you she made her cupcakes from a box…but you have to start somewhere. This is what we made with her:

What this did for our nieces is help them to see there is no limit to what their imagination can do.  Zoe and Sophia are a little older and we have taught them how to edit their own films.  But they enjoy looking back at these films and remember the good times we had making them.

Maybe you are not great in your editing skills, but if you have a video camera, a digital camera or even a smart phone you can film your kids telling their stories and then send them to Tears of Joy Video to create their stories. Inspire their imagination. http://tearsofjoyvideo.com

What ways have you used to inspire your children’s imagination?

The Perfect Love Story

Last week I had a client call me. He said he would like to create a video for his girlfriend to tell her how much he loved her. What a great idea!

He sent me over his favorite pictures of them and her. He also sent a recorded message to her he recorded on his IPhone to put behind the pictures and then picked out 3 songs that had meaning to them as a couple. The final product was a video that would melt any woman’s heart. I told him for sure, she would cry “tears of joy.”

Today I got this message from him: Thanks again for all of your help with my video–Sylvia really really loved it and it was a great surprise and keepsake for both us! You did such a great and timely job on this and I really appreciate how you went above and beyond to make this just right for us! ~Scott (BTW-he gave me permission to share this)

I ask you women out there, how would you like it if your husband or boyfriend created a video like this for you?  What unique ways have you had your boyfriend or husband tell you he loved you?

My Favorite Storyteller

(Mom when she was young)

The best storyteller in my life was my mom. My mom was handicapped, but as her body broke down around her, her mind was as sharp as a tack. She had a way with words that made everyday occurrences seem like major events, and she had a memory (which she passed on to me) that she could remember things far back in her life with deep detail. My sister and I used to go sit on her bed and ask her to tell us stories of her life. We had heard these before, but we never tired of hearing them over and over again. I can repeat these stories in detail like my mom, and have past them on, but no one could tell them like her. For certain stories she even changed her voice for the characters, and she did the facial expressions of the person of the event she was relating. When I relate the stories-some of the story is lost. We lost that with my mom’s death.

Storytelling is an art. Some are writers. Some cannot write, like my mom (there were no home computers when she was alive-and her disease caused her not to be able to write-even her signature was hard), but they have a great way of telling a story. If our video business was around when my mom was alive, I know I would of forced her to tell those stories on camera. But now the way she told those stories is lost forever.

I believe my mom’s story telling was passed on to my sister and me through our talent of creating video montages. Now with our video business we cannot only create our own stories, but we can help our customers create their stories. When we capture their story with their pictures and video, many times they come back to us and say it was much better than they ever expected. Yes, they cry “Tears of Joy”! It is rewarding to know we have captured their family stories, their memories-and now they can have them forever. We know from personal experience what that means.

These stories don’t have to be of some spectacular event. Like my mom, your best stories are lying in your own personal experiences that happen to you everyday. Sharing your feelings and then your solutions or the lessons you learned from the situation.

Check out our site. http://tearsofjoyvideo.com/Biography-Interview-Packages.html. If you live in the San Diego area we can interview you on camera and add your stories in with your pictures and video. Outside of San Diego, we have do-it-yourself instructions on how to capture your stories with something as simple as an Iphone or digital camera and then add that to your video.

We would love to hear your story. As our tag line says: Everyone has a story…What’s yours? Who was your favorite storyteller?