Funeral Video

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Pyriphlegethon

Active member
This is my first experience with doing a video of this nature. I thought I'd share with you a part of what I got done last night. The video is chopped up to show the beginning and ending; I didn't figure the pictures in between would be of interest.

Has anyone else ever worked on a video for someone who has passed away?

Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.fennworld.com/movies/Granny.wmv
 
I have made one video in this type of nature. I liked the music and some of the animation work on the pictures. Maybe some footage of like the person being alive at like family holidays or parties would be great. Then footage of the funeral.

Sorta like a memory of life to death. If you get what im saying...maybe some orchestral music would do well too. Check out some soundtracks for some movies..maybe you could use something from those. It gives it more of a dynamic feel audio wise.

For the part of the text that came up in the beginning. Maybe you should try putting animation...like...it fades up slowly and the animation is of the text getting smaller and smaller, then fading slowly to black or somthing like that.
 
The full version of the movie contains content similar to your suggestions. The music was changed in the final version also. I really liked the first music, but wanted something a little less depressing. You have a good point about the first title. I threw an inconspicuous increase in scale on there, but it didn't grow smoothly, so I removed it. I'll work with it to see what I can do.

Thank you for watching.
 
Please take my comments with a grain of salt, but WOW that's depressing. What venue would this be shown at? If it's for the actual funeral, I know most people would rather celebrate their life than mourn it at that time. The music that's selected is certainly more on the depressive side. Also, I would highly suggest not opening (or even showing) that sketched image of the woman on the bed. It REALLY set the tone for everything else, and was a slightly distrurbing image.

From my experience, people want to laugh and cry when watching those types of videos but more out of joy than absolute sorrow. Also, when working with those still photos, try to work with higher resolution images that you can pan & move around in ... it'll bring more life to the image & make it more interesting.
 
Man, I've also done a video for a funeral. It's tough. and usually very short notice.

I do a similar setup, and is usually played just after the sermon just before the people leave the church. And sometimes right at tehe beginning.

It always has a major impact as strange as that may sound.


But it is an effective way of creating a feeling of remembrance among the people there, and is a nice way to remember that person.

I find it very difficult to speak to the sons, daughters, spouse, or family members when they aproach me for a video of this kind when asking them for photographs or video material.

But they always a day or two later phone and thank me for helping me remember there loved one in a nice way. I make a DVD and print on the disc and create a cover for them to keep.

I always decline to film at the funeral as I personally feel that a funeral is not a good thing to keep and watch later. and secondly it to me feels very intrusive at such a emotional event.

Anyway just my thinking.

Thanks,
Derrick
 
Envision,
Your comments are certainly appropriate. I also found the music a little extreme and it has been changed as I mentioned in the previous post. Even the sketched picture feels a little more appropriate with somewhat lighter music. Thank you for your suggestion on the photos. Their static feel resulted mainly from a lack of time. The viewing is today, and I only had last night to edit this. The full, uncut version has some much more dynamic photos (multi-directional pans, more unique fades, and a rather appealing effect with some keyframed color correction to bring a small tint to the images.)

Thank you very much for you sincere and constructive advice.
 
My short term aspirations when I entered video production a few years ago were to do memorial documentaries. (Long term goals were to make low budget features.) As it turns out, I do far, FAR more dance and music recitals than memorials, but, yes, I've done a couple of similar projects.

I liked the music, though I understand why you might feel it too somber. (Minor key, languid choirs and strings holding long notes, etc.). It probably matches the mood of the family quite well right now, but if/when they watch this video in 5 years, they might prefer something more bouyant, if poignant. So you probably were right to change it.

I usually use a bit more of the pan and scan technique on stills than you did, but that's obviously a preference thing. I liked your juxtaposition of the two shots on the same screen. I will probably have to do something similar for my next project -- a 50th anniversary video -- because there are so few early pictures of the couple together.

My only suggestion is that you might want to time your titles and last photo so that the image of the woman is onscreen at full size a bit longer. I felt she wasn't there in full frame long enough. Otherwise, very nice job.

Elizabeth
 
Derrick,
I know how you feel, and agree with your comments. Media of this style can affect people profoundly. I do find doing a video like this somewhat fulfilling, though. It may be because this is a unique circumstance. This video is for my grandmother's viewing. She had Alzheimer's the last 10 years of her life, and making this really kind of helped me remember the version of her I had forgotten. With a little more uplifting music, it really comes across well.





Thank you for your comments.
 
I made something like this a few months ago. It went for half an hour and was very sad to watch, not an easy thing to do, and not an easy thing to chage money for,.
 
Hmmm. That drawing seems unsettling to people. It seemed appropriate to me for some reason. I did it the morning she died. Alzheimer's had ravaged the last few years of her life and left her emaciated and rather decrepit looking. I saw at it as a proper way to begin the video. It begins with her death (the purpose of the funeral) and then grows less somber as the movie progresses. The final shot is meant to be somewhat inspiring and hopefull. In the full length of the movie, the transition to a much more optimistic feel is more noticeable.

Maybe I should post the final version with the different music. Posting the whole video rather than just the beginning and end may help, too.

As always, thank you for your insights.
 
I'm in agreement with everyone else...

Ditch the initial sketch. Its jarring and it does set a depressive tone. My first reaction when I saw the sketch was the wince.

I also did a memorial video of this nature - and the request from the family (it was done for my grandmother) was to use photos that honored her and respected her and shown her in the nature of who she was. And thats what I did.

Families are looking to celebrate and laugh and cry at the memories of their departed one - I'm betting most families don't want to be permanently reminded of the last few days/months of a person's life when they are totall incapacitated.

Anyways - good editing and effects and montage work - except for that sketch at the beginning.

Dillon
 
Pyriphlegethon said:
Hmmm. That drawing seems unsettling to people...
Click to expand...
See, the deal is this, if you had a loved one die in a car accident would you want a video of them dead in the car? If they were murdered would you want a video of the chalk outline? The sketch would be cool if you were making a dramatization and trying to shock and awe(yes, I said it) the audience. I have a feeling that the family doesn't want to be shocked and awed though. See, the sketch shows that worse moment like a Greek tragedy. Her mouth is open and she looks tortured. It gives me these feelings and that ain't even my grandma. Imagine how the family may take it.
 
Yeah, that sketch creeped me out. I seriously thought this was going to be one of those movies that everyone posts where some creepy zombie was going to jump out and scare me. No offense, this seriously was the first thing I thought about. The rest was slightly depressing, but in much better taste.
 
tough video

tough video

It is always difficult to do these kinds of projects.

I worked on a DVD which was a memorial service for 4 families whose fathers were fire fighters and died in the line of duty. It was heart-wrenching. One thing that was uplifting though was that after the service, they released a flock of doves out on the grounds of the memorial, and I snapped a quick series of pictures with my digital camera of that event. One picture showed the parents all looking downcast, the doves a blur, and two of the kids with joy beginning to come in to their faces as they watched the birds fly away free.

It is quite a challenge to be a videographer at these kinds of events. You have to be invasive yet aloof, and you want to capture the essense of the experience as much as possible, so you have to have this kind of detachment that is hard to describe, and a sensitivity to really see and tape the emotions of people without them being aware of it.
 
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