Top 10 Moments Captured on Video in 2021 | Part 2
During the slow cold weather season in northern Indiana, I always address the boring business stuff. The newsletter. The website. Organization. You know… getting all the ducks in a row.
For one of these big organization projects, I wound up watching almost all of my Client Family Films from the year. It was such a joy. Typically, I am studying these films intently during the culling, editing and delivery process, and then they take a back seat to the next project. Occasionally, I don’t see them again after that. Being able to sit down and watch those videos again had me grinning like an idiot, crying at times, but most of all feeling so darn grateful for the photography and especially videography clients that have chosen to let me enter their lives and give them these amazing gifts!
I truly have the best photography clients in Michiana!
Watching all of these films play back left me wanting to share them all over again. This is part 2 of my favorite 10 moments captured on video from last year. Part 1 can be seen here.
For all of you that love the modern family home video and don’t know where to start, you’ll see from these clips that there is really nothing to it. I know what I am looking for… and I always seem to find it when I’m with you. Leave the connection hunting to me. You all just need to spend time together! Seriously!
You’ll also see here that like many of you, I place a high value on sentimentality, but also on realism. A little tantrum here, a “blooper” there… adding just a drop or two of reality into your film grounds it and takes away all those thoughts like “my family isn’t perfect so I can participate in a session like this”. Hogwash!
Without further ado, let’s get to it!
#5
It’s hard to pick a certain moment from this short film, because the whole thing connects with my heart. It’s a slow paced film with a tender, easy relationship at it’s center. This portion is so sweet to me. She just wants to be all over daddy. I love it. Their film and photo blog post.
#4
I love this whole film, but in particular, this clip has my favorite visual moment and my one of my favorite heart-tug moments. We see mama twirling her little girl first as the camera goes the opposite way to conceal them. Such a pretty clip.
This was a fast paced film for me.. the three kids are at very busy ages. But, I chose to edit this small portion differently with a very slow, very long cut. As she rocks her baby, closes her eyes, and we hear that chorus come on again. I seriously get tears in my eyes still! See the film and photos here.
#3
Getting down to it! These last 3.. I just want you to actually watch them in their entirety by clicking over to each blog post. Ahhhh! They do me in. This clip of mom talking about her oldest boy was special to me. It had humor, her love of course, and it showed so many sides of his personality in such a short time frame. How sweet is he to his youngest sister at the end? Please go watch the whole thing.
#2
I sound like a broken record but I love the whole darn film. I feel like I really found a different voice with this piece. This opening sequence has so much playfulness and heart. I love the laughter, the connection. Their ease of being together. I’ll never forget her describing her family as a “pile of limbs.” This whole thing is worth the watch.
#1
My favorite clip isn’t even my footage. I’ve spoken on Instagram stories before and even on the blog about how I feel that this is truly a God moment. I have never, ever been more moved when creating any photo or video than I was when I put this together.
From the blog post:
These sessions are exciting, but daunting… I was just hoping the creativity would flow when I got home to do the edit. I had a lot of great stuff, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I’d piece it all together with my footage from their newborn and 6 month sessions. I was going to trust my gut. My gut was telling me to get a little bit of footage from their NICU stay. Mom airdropped 6 videos to me right before I left. Two of them were of each baby in their own bed at the hospital giving a sleepy smile.
I came home, and the edit started coming together really, really quickly once I found the music. (It gave me major This is Us vibes when I listened to it. Anyone else?)
I got to the section in the song where I knew I wanted to incorporate the NICU footage. I thought about playing around with a grid edit like I did [in this personal film.] I lined up the two clips I was going to use, scaled them, fussed over the positioning, and then hit play to see if I would even like the idea. You guys. I was brought to instant tears. I truly feel like the hand of God is in this film. I give him credit. I was fully expecting to have to make major adjustments, maybe even scrap it, because I always have to play around to get things just right. I have not messed with it since then because it was just so so perfect. I can’t wait for you to see. Just watch it already!
Oh my goodness. I cannot wait to film more families this year. A few of these Top 10’ers are on the schedule already. Yay!