This video shows you:

1. How to stablize shaky film footage
2. Zoom in on an entire clip of video
3. Trace the family tree with a moving line to help your audience follow your stories.

Don't miss it!  Click here to watch.

There are many reasons to follow your family tree.  If you check out the first chapter of the New Testament (you know, that part with all the “begats” that we all tend to skip), you’ll find it establishes the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth - fourteen generations from Abraham to David and fourteen generations from David to Jesus.  Obviously, it was important to trace Christ’s lineage to Abraham and David. 

To the royals of the old world, and for that matter the current world, the family heritage means birthrights. To the rest of us, it may be more curiosity driven to follow our family history.  Many of us can’t get past a few generations before we are unable to trace the heritage path. Of course, that’s one of the great things about genealogy as a hobby! There’s always a challenge to overcome and since it’s family, those challenges are always personal.  When you finally pierce a wall that you’ve been sparring with for a time, you feel a real sense of accomplishment that is made even more sweet when you think you’ve got something real to pass on to the next generation.

For our video subject family, you’ll find part of their story is physical.  Red hair was inherited and passed on to several generations.  Where did it come from?  We are going to follow the tree to find the surprising stories that uncover, not only love and loss, but where the red hair that still runs through their family came from.

We've talked about using your tree as your anchor image but next week we're going to show you how to follow the lines of your tree in animation.  Either way, you'll want a tree and you'll want one that is easy to read, clear, and asthetically pleasing.  This one was made using a scrapbooking software.  There are lots of them out there and they needn't be expensive. (We found this one in a bargain bin for $9.95 with  a $10 mail-in rebate!)

Only 4 photographs were used and one of them was our anchor image (which you're probably familiar with by now.) 

So your "to do" this week is to make a tree and get it scanned so you can use it in your family history video.

Using our anchor photo, today we show you how to pan and zoom.  To watch click here. This brings animation to a still photograph.  It also adds a visual to your family photo to keep your viewers (your future family members) aware of the relationships and people you are covering in your Family History Video.

The image you choose to represent your overall theme to your Family History Video is your anchor photo, or keystone image. You will probably return to the image several times throughout your video.  If you are concentrating on a person, then make it as good a photo as possible of that person. If it is a family unit, expect to go to it each time you talk about one of the people in the family photo.  If it is your research as a whole, your anchor image may be your family tree.

If you are a fan of the television show Who Do You Think You Are, then you’ll recognize that they go to the tree often so the viewer can follow along with the research.  That show is definitely about the research and discovery of genealogy. 

The tree may help you lay out your video into chronological order or show a relationship when a story is being told. 

The tree also substitutes for important ancestors that have no images available.  Just because you have no images of them, doesn’t mean they are not worthy of talking about if they are in your tree.  When no images are available, you’ll want to explain where they fit in your family and maybe show an old census or the passenger list of the ship they traveled on when leaving their home country, or a painting of them, or the city where they were born in on a map, or a likeness of a castle or hut from the era in which they lived.

We will be using a mixture of both photos and lineage charts in our example video. Our anchor will be the photograph of the family unit we shared last week.  The charts will be used from time to time also though so make one for your own use.  We made the above example using PowerPoint but you can use, Keynote, Excel, Numbers, a screenshot of your online research, one made from several tree-maker softwares available, or even a scanned pencil and paper creation. 

If you are having trouble deciding what anchor photo to use or visualizing your Family History Video, take a little time to watch a documentary.  Maybe catch a little of The Roosevelts on PBS or at www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/.  Yes, the story is interesting, but try to look beyond the story and see the pieces of the production. 

• Ken Burns does a great job at making an inert still photo come alive.  
  

• There are plenty of still photos of the Roosevelt family, but in other documentaries, you find the same photos used many times because there simply wasn’t more photos taken of the subject.
  

• Watch for the names and credentials of the people that are interviewed.  
  

• Watch for the mix of narration, interviews and still photos.
  

• Watch for general “era” footage.  The subject of the film may not even be in the footage but it depicts a timeframe of the subject.
  

We’ll be looking at all those elements as we make our own Family History Video and recognizing each element will help you visualize yours.

Today we resume our video tutorial.  Click here to see Part 5 of using Corel VideoStudio X7 Ultimate to make your own Family History Video.

Last month we talked about the vision of your family history video.  You were to think about whether you were going to concentrate on an event, a family member, a couple, or a family unit.  For instructional purposes, we are going to use a family unit.  That way we can encompass many different aspects of editing – research, photos, interviews, stories, family moves, etc.  We’ll be using this photo as our anchor. 

Right after our discussion on the vision, we went into how to use the software.  Using this photo as our family history anchor, we have added it to our video editing library.  Please choose a photo that represents your vision for your family history video and follow along over the next few weeks as we expand from a photo to fully realizing the vision.

You'll have extra time to complete this week's 'To Do' list.  We're off next week to reconnect with family.

1. Get your Corel VideoStudio Ultimate X7 if you have not already.  (Buy it here)
2. Watch any of the first 4 videos that you haven't yet:  1    2    3    4   
3. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
4. Break your videos into smaller, more manageable clips and rename them for easier editing later.
5. If you haven't yet, check out www.familysearch.org

Part 4!  This video shows you how to break your video assets into smaller, more manageable clips.  Click Here to watch.