Birthday Video - Turn Your Child's Party Video Into A Fun Music
Video
Most people shoot some random video of their child's birthday
party, then toss the video in a drawer and forget about it.
Hey, we're talking about some precious video of an important
event in your child's life. So if you're going to shoot some
video of your child's birthday party, why not turn that footage
it into a video everyone will want to see?
With just a little planning you can turn your child's birthday
party video footage into a fun music video that's sure to become
a treasured family keepsake and heirloom.
Choose A Favorite Song
Before you shoot your video, choose the song you want to use for
your completed music video. It can be one of your child's
favorites, or one that fits your party theme. Now you can shoot
your video to go along with the music. Most songs are about 2
and a half minutes long which tells you how long your completed
music video will be.
10 Things You Need To Shoot
Putting up the decorations
Party guests arriving
Activities and crafts
Party Games
Bringing out the birthday cake
Opening cards and gifts
Finished decorations and balloons
Parents, brothers, sisters, family members and pets
Staged shots of your birthday child and guests being silly
Guests saying good-by and leaving
The birthday child's parents collapsing on a chair after the
party.
You may find other shots you want to include as well.
Fun Camera Angles
A series of short, fun shots will help make your music video
more fun to watch. Try to make your shots at least 5 to 10
seconds in length, this will be very helpful when your footage
is edited.
Stay away from using the zoom lens. Unless a zoom is done very
well it tends to look amateurish.
Get lots of candid wide shots of your group.
Then move in and shoot medium shots with 2 or 3 people together.
Shoot close-ups of individual faces
Have fun by shooting some shots that are tilted to one side or
stand on a chair and shoot down on the party. Put the camera on
the floor and shoot up.
Editing Your Birthday Video - Music Video
If you have video editing software in your computer, you first
need to digitize (transfer) the footage you've shot into the
editing program. Then lay down your music track (the song you've
selected).
Now start your music video with a simple but creative title like
"Mary's 6th Birthday Party" with a sub title related to your
birthday theme like "A Royal Celebration."
>From the title you might want to use a fun wipe into your first
shot. Try to keep your shots about 5 seconds long. That will
keep the music video moving nicely without being too fast and
visually annoying.
Also try to edit your footage together to tell the story of your
party rather than just randomly mixing everything together.
Titles within your music video can also be fun. A title leading
into some party game footage might read "Extreme Musical Chairs"
or "Time To Pop The Balloons."
As you edit your footage together, take a minute and preview the
entire video from the beginning. This will help you to get a
better feel for the overall pace. You might need to slow things
down or speed then up. Check your video from the top when you
have 30 seconds edited, 60 seconds edited and 90 seconds edited
just to make sure the video is coming together the way you want
it to.
Give yourself a little song time at the end to add your closing
titles. Give yourself a screen credit, your party producer, and
of course this video stars your birthday child.
At the very end of your credits you can have a little fun by
cutting to one last silly shot.
Birthday Video - Music Video "World Premiere"
After your award winning music video has been edited, it's time
for your world premiere. Why not invite all your party guests
and parents over for a private screening? Make some popcorn and
have some fun.
Years From Now
Imagine years from now when you and your child sit down to watch
this video together. You'll both be very happy you did something
with all that precious video footage.
And as the years pass, your grandchildren might just get to see
your treasured keepsake DVD from so many years ago... I wonder
if they'll still call them "music videos?"