Welcome

Video Biographies are a collection of video interviews mixed with multimedia to tell the story of an individuals life. The art of digital story telling uses strategically placed photographs, film, video, graphics, documents, sound and music to bring the viewer into the subjects world.

I fell in love with the idea of using these mediums years ago after watching A&E's Biography television show. I did not think you had to be a famous person to have an interesting life story. I thought the average person had just as much to share. I thought of the stories I saw by Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" and CBS newsman Steve Hartman's "Everybody has a story". They interviewed normal everyday folk and found a wonderful story hidden inside all of them. Borrowing a similar technique from Kuralt, Steve Hartman would throw a dart over his shoulder at a map of the United States. He would travel to the town where the dart landed and find a telephone booth, open the phone book and randomly pick a name. Steve would interview that random person from the phone book and find their special story. That story from an average everyday person in the middle of nowhere, would be broadcast during primetime on CBS.

The reason I make biographies is simple. I missed the chance to shoot a biography of my father. He passed away from lung cancer in 2003. My dad was a very interesting guy, he had worked his way up the ladder at Shell's City from bag boy to company president. He had owned businesses and he was born and raised in Miami, Florida long before it had become a major metropoliton area. I had talked to him about doing a biography, I even shot some footage of where he grew up and went to school. But I never got the interview. I do not have his voice, his face, his opinions, his philosophy or his stories. I will never be able to ask him how he felt when his first child was born, what my mother looked like on their wedding day, or what lessons he would leave for his grandchildren. My son never even got the chance to meet his grandfather, yet I had adequate technology and the skill neccessary to capture his essence. I procrastinated. I kept thinking I would have more time. I thought I needed a higher end camera and a more sophisticated editing system. I made sure to not make the same mistake with my mother. I filmed a beautiful life story of her that captured who she is and what she believes in. Check out my demo page to see a sample of my Mom's biography http://www.documenting-life.com/main/page_demos.html

I fell in love with the process of creating and editing such meaningful material. I want to ensure others do not make the same mistake I made. I have made it my mission to educate others about the importance of filming their loved ones. That is what this blog is for, I will share my techniques and experience to help you preserve your families legacy.