1. As a rough guide, 50 photos result in a 5 to 7 minute production. 100 photos result in a 10 to 12 minute production. 150 photos result in a 15 to 20 minute production. Etc.

2. In advance, call around to anyone who has a photo you'd like to borrow for the project and get it sent to you (if it was in a frame, make sure it's removed before having it sent to you or it might break and damage the photo)

3. Set aside an hour or two (longer if you're like us and can't put a photo down without reminiscing – or less if you already know what you want to include and feel you can be pretty speedy in your selection process)

4. Clear the floor of a lightly-trafficked room, or reserve the dining room table so you can lay everything out

5. Get out your old albums, your slides and print memorabilia.

6. Determine if the photos will be easily removed from the albums, or if you may need to send us the entire album (or pages from the album) to avoid damaging the pics. If you intend scanning the photos yourself and burning them to CD, review our scanning guidelines here.

7. On the first run through, create a pile of possibles (or if photos stuck in album, place a sticky pad note right next to the pictures that really stand out)

8. On the second run through of the photos, weed out those photos from your 'possibles' selection that are out of focus, are too similar etc. See our photo selection tips for more help in this area.

9. While you're looking at the photos, categories/themes will probably begin to become apparent, so write them down to help you in the process of choosing what to place where. You might choose to place your photos in the order of when they were taken (chronologically), or perhaps around themes like holidays, his cars, her hairdo's etc.

10. Here's some examples of themes and categories:
· Baby, Toddler, Child, Youth, Teen, Young Adult, Early Marriage, Kids all born…
OR
· 1940, 1950, 1960. 1970…
OR
· Father's side of the family, Mother's side of the family…
OR
· Great Grandparents, Grandparents, Parents…
OR
· Houses, Holidays, Eating, Friends, Fun, Family…

11. Now it's time to decide on the final order for your photos.

12. When you are happy with the order, give each photo/slide it's own number. It must be a unique number. The first photo in your project should be labelled 1. The very last photo will end with the highest number eg: 280. ie: each photo must be numbered in the running order in which it is to appear, regardless of the category it is in. It must have it's own unique number.

13. Here's some tips on how to number your pictures:
a. Use a blunt/dull pencil to write the number on the back of the print. Please do not press hard or you will damage the photo. Ensure the number is clearly visible. Or,
b. Write the number (using a smudge-proof pen) on a small round sticky label and attach it to the back of the photo
c. For slides, use a pencil to write the number on the outside white frame
d. Please do not use a texta or felt pen, as these could accidentally smudge onto your other photos and damage your
prints.
e. If you are sending us your album/pages from your album, securely place sticky pad notes next to the photos you want used, and use the same numbering process.
f. Remember, if you are sending us 125 photos, they should be numbered 1-125, regardless of the category.

14. Oops! You've just finished numbering all the photos, then discovered you had three more to add? No problems. Just place the photos where you would like them to go in the order and give them an additional letter. Example, to place a picture between 79 and 80, label the new photo 79a. If you want the other two to go after 112, label them 112a and 112b.

15. Oh no…and now you've decided to delete a photo? Again, not a problem! Just remove the photo and let us know you have deliberately done so by writing its details on the booking sheet

16. As you're selecting photos, certain songs and music might also spring to mind as being a suitable accompaniment. Jot them down to refer to later as the music is a vital component of any project.

17. The songs should either be relevant to the pictures (eg: old army band music for the war years, Beach Boys songs for summer holidays shots) or the songs should be relevant to the person being profiled eg: one of their favourite songs. Sometimes, understatement can be best too, and this can be achieved by an instrumental piece.

18. When it comes time to make a final decision on the music, you can either choose music from our library, or send us your own CDs that we will return with your project.

19. Now, place the photos and music selections into manageable bundles. Then place them into different envelopes or plastic ziplock bags. Label each bundle appropriately eg: “Peter's 50th” – Baby + Toddler Photos – Pictures 1-20 – Music Enclosed: John Denver CD, Track 2.

20. Complete the order form fully (including what you'd like written on the title pages), check our delivery tips and other suggestions at our Questions Answered section and then leave your project in our good hands. It, and your original photos, will be back with you before you know it.

Here's some title examples that might be useful in getting you thinking. Feel free to use these or create your own. Examples of when to use titles include:

Opening Titles - examples

• Patrick Smith – What a Life
• Here's to the memories
• Happy 50th Birthday Stuart!
• A Year in the Life of Baby Emily
• Mary and John Smith and Shirley and Brian Nissen invite you to the wedding of their children Susie and Luke …
• The Warriners Family History
• Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary Mum and Dad
• To my beautiful wife Mary, Happy Anniversary
• Michael Sheraton – My Life

Titles to Start a New Section - examples

• Family Holidays
• Christmas
• And then they met!
• The 1970's
• Learning to walk
• School years
• Thank goodness he ditched those hairstyles!

Information Titles - examples

• Nelsons Bay, 1979
• Wedding Day – August 9, 1974
• Our first house, Narrabeen, NSW. 1956-1976
• Genealogy video: you might like to have names and dates of birth underneath each photo of a family member or sections headed appropriately eg: The Prince side of the family; The Jones side of the family; Helen Jackson, mother of Margaret, born etc
• Dates eg: Graduation, Wedding Day, Baby born

End Titles - examples

• This presentation made with love for Mum and Dad by Nicole and Tracey
• Directed by your loving husband
• Not the end…
• It's just the beginning
• Memories are made of this
• That's me
• What a great life – thanks for being a part of it
• Favourite quotes or psalms or sayings

When you have booked with us, we'll send you a lovely long list of questions that will help you focus on the key things you'd like to get across. It's great fun to reminisce but it definitely requires structure, and that's what we can provide.

With the editing process, you can either:

1. Completely direct us as to what you want included and when – we call that the “Customer in Charge” editing option.

or

2. You can give us an idea of what you would like the outcome to be and we will go to work on your vision. We call that the “Life Catchers Complete” editing option.

There is a very big difference in the two services, not least in the price difference. This is because in the first you do all the creative editing yourself and just get us to complete the technical part of the project.

While in the second, you delegate all that to us (which means we need to spend many, many hours reviewing your material and making those decisions for you).

We love both types of projects as they're both really interesting and enjoyable to work on!

Here are a few tips:

• As with the photo collages, you need to start selecting the video/film material you would like to include
• Think about the story you are trying to tell
• Think about the music that would enhance that story
• Think about the titles you might need to use
• You need to be fairly brutal in deciding what footage to leave out
• If you'll be in charge of telling us where to cut, you'll need to set up time codes so we can follow your instructions. You'll need a watch with a second hand or stopwatch to do this.
• One of the most important rules of editing is to always cut on the action, so keep that in mind when choosing when to end scenes