Video is a great way to get your family history recorded and for your family to enjoy it now and for years to come, so let’s look at some video options.

Video Option 1: Family Interview

Video Option 1 is to interview a family member or relative about family history from their perspective. This way you get history directly from the person who lived it and saw it first hand.

It’s helpful to have a tripod that will hold a video camera or smart phone. I used an inexpensive universal cell phone tripod mount to attach my cell phone to the tripod. You can find one in a photo store or you can order one online.

I did a video of my mother, and I just love that I got family stories on film directly from her that tell about her life with my father and us kids, and what a treasure that is!

Video Option 2: Screencast

Video Option 2 is great to use if you’ve already scanned some photos.

When my mother-in-law was starting to show signs of dementia I invited her to sit down in front of my computer and I turned on a video screencast program that captured my computer screen and the sound of her voice telling me about photos I had already scanned.

I’ve purchased a screencast program called Camtasia for recording my class videos so I’m able to use it for this as well. It’s available for Windows or Mac, but both Windows 10 and Mac computers have a free built in screencast recording tool.

For how to access and use it search online using the terms “free screencast Windows 10” or “free screencast Mac.”

Open your photo editing software or a computer window showing your scanned photos, start the screencast and let your family member talk about the photos. If you’re the one who knows the most about the photos, then you can do the talking. You can save the resulting video in the same folder with the scanned images.

Video Option 3: Video of Paper Photos

Video Option 3 is to take a video of actual photos as you, or someone else in your family, tells the history behind the photos.

For a more informal video your family member can hold the photos and go through them talking about the people and events while you take a video.

Or you can be more deliberate about the setup. Since my husband Charlie is a musician we have a black music stand that works great to hold a photo as I talk about it, but you can also create your own background on a table. Use natural indirect light from a window and angle your photo slightly to avoid glare. Press the record button on your phone and start talking about the photo.

In all of these video options your goal is to gather family history from people who lived it or to create family history stories in video form that can be viewed and enjoyed by family members now and for years to come. So don’t get lost in the details or worried that it won’t be “perfect.” Just click the record button on your phone. Someday a dearly loved family member won’t be around to tell you those wonderful stories and you’ll be so grateful you have a visual record.