Help! Limited photos....limited ideas

[reeselite]

Ok....

I have a customer who wants a show done for a cousin that will be 80 years old at the end of the month.

Out of 36 photos, 19 of them are strictly head shots. She was a teacher, so they are obviously her school photo for each year. Head and shoulders.

That's it.

She requested music from the 40's----jitterbug etc. So I am thinking Ella Fitzgerald.

I'm just wondering what to do with all of the school pics. Maybe match each up and do sort of a morph-sequence?

Find some stock footage from that era and add them as filler?

Has anyone else ever had this kind of situation?

Reese

[heckydog Profile Private message]

I think the morph idea is a good one for the head shots.

If you want old photos try shorpy.com or Prelinger Archivesfor free videos. There are some classics there that teachers would love. Duck and Cover, Mr . Bungle.

For the music, The Andrews Sisters would have good jitterbug songs, Ella Fitzgerald is a good choice too.

[LEE7 Profile Private messageYIM]

Hi

Cant help picture wise, still learning, but I would go with The Andrews Sisters for the Music, had 3 of their CD`S for Years.




Peter

[reeselite]

Much appreciated!

I am heading over to check out the vids as well as to itunes to check out some more music.

reese

[DickK Profile Private messageWebsite]

The most characteristic and best known music type of the 40's era is "big band". There are many, many groups and styles to choose from and certainly Ella would be one choice but most of her work (that I know anyway) would be vocal jazz as much as it would be big band. This is the era of 'swing' for dance music and the 'crooner' for vocals and either or both would be an excellent choice as well. Here are just a few that I think anyone alive in that era will know and there's a very good chance that they'd like:

-- Glenn Miller (In the Mood, American Patrol, Penn 6-5000, String of Pearls... and literally dozens of others)
-- Les Brown (Got my Love to Keep Me Warm, Stardust, Tea for Two, Sentimental Journey... etc)
-- Benny Goodman (did versions of most of the above, Dearly Beloved, I'm Old Fashioned, When the Roses Bloom Again...)

Ted Williams, George Williams or Harry James are others especially for swing era dance music.

And don't neglect folks like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, or Dean Martin if you want pop vocals.

Since you are short on photos, I would definitely work in some period material--newspaper clips, photos, etc at various points during the show. Maybe do it on the basis of decades--what else what happening in the 30's, 40's, 50's...? You don't need much material in any one period but scattering some of that through the show will give variety and stretch the pictures. Also keep in mind that for many folks in this age group World War 2 is the defining period of their lives... unless you know of some reason to avoid it, I would absolutely include some material from there. You can find tons of audio and video clips, news photos, etc. just from that period alone.

If the photos you have are decent, then I don't see the number as a disadvantage at all. This way you won't disappoint someone by not including all 387 of them they gave you!

Dick

[reeselite]

Wow. Thanks so much for all of the info!

After spending the morning on iTunes armed with your reply, I am going with Sentimental Journey.

I would not have found it otherwise.....so thank you.

I spoke to the customer and she has contacted two family members who are sending some more photos via email later today.

I think I'll be alright after all.

Once again, saved by the board.

Thanks you guys.

reese

[bdog]

Reese,

maybe you/they could locate some old school annuals and get some scans of her class/kids or teacher in action shots...

bdog

[Jennicca]

I recently had a similar issue doing a show for a freind of mine's mom, who was turning 60. There was no video of her and some limited photographs.

I showed my freind an alternative option, since the mom in question was a photo NUT and had tons of photos of her kids, grandkids and freinds. I chose a song called " I have been blessed" and use that and filled the show with pictures of folks that loved her and cared for her., along with using the limited pics of her that I had. My friend and her mom loved it.

[hardsoftware Profile Private message]

I'm just wondering what to do with all of the school pics. Maybe match each up and do sort of a morph-sequence?

I've done a couple shows like this before using Proshow only. By lining up the eyes of simular photos and using longer than normal fade transitions and no movement I was able to simulate a morph. They are not perfect but served my purpose. I call it the poor mans morph as I use no third party software to accomplish the Faux morphs. Takes patience but much easier than using morphing software which uses hundreds of dots placed on a photo to line them up.

You are welcome to view these shows if you like. This one "Find Your Wings" was made in PSG back in May of 2006.
http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 2802&alb=0

This second one was made in PSP but does use the poor mans morph a couple of times within the show. It was made for a young girl that had graduated from high school. Her father has MS and the show is mostly to honor him and his relationship with his daughter. http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewsho ... 9992&alb=0

Ben

[reeselite]

Jenn and Ben--just got back from out of town....thanks so much for the advice. Poor Man's Morph. Hilarious. I will try it. I also found some vintage postcard photos from the early 1900's of the town she grew up in. As luck would have it, the call to her relatives resulted in about 28 more photos of her and her family. So now I can take at least some of the headshots out!

It's being picked up on Saturday....I will post it when I finish.

Thanks again!