Preserve Your Memories: Creating a Family Tree Digital Video

A Family Tree Video?

The latest way to preserve your family memories is to prepare a family tree digital video. Instead of using paper to record your family tree information, creative individuals are now using technology to assist in the process. The process of creating a family tree digital video greatly improves the way you preserve these memories for future generations. 

The first step towards creating a family tree digital video is to gather all the information that you need. This should include as much information as possible about the people in your family tree. Because the method uses video and audio, you can include alot more information than you can in an ordinary family tree. The best part of creating a family tree digital video is that you can capture the essence of who the people were – what they were like. This can be done using some imagination, research and pictures. 

How to Get Started

You'll need to gather as much information as you possibly can about each person on the family tree. This includes more than just the birth date, death date and marriage date. You want to create a picture of who the person was and what it was like to be living at that time. Some of the additional information that you'll want to have is what they did for a living, where they grew up, their attendance in school or military, hobbies and any other tidbits of information that help to create a complete impression of who the person was. 

To find out this information you may need to interview people in your family. When possible, record the interview so that you can always have access to it. Once you find out what you can through relatives and family stories, you'll need to do additional research. If you don't have pictures, you can recreate them. For example if your great-great grandfather lived in a town in Germany, you can do research to try to locate a picture of the town during the time your relative lived there. If you don't have a picture, you can use a map to show where the town was located. Anything you can do to create a full visual of the life and times of your ancestors will enrich the family tree digital video. 

Another great addition to the family tree digital video is a newspaper clipping that pertains to any of the events that your relatives were involved with. Newspaper archives can be accessed online and you can get the photos, headlines or clippings that you need to accompany your other information. For example, if your relative served in World War I, you can locate an article about troops going to the war and include them in your video. 

Putting it All Together

Once you've gathered as much information as possible, it's time to put the family tree digital video together. Start by scanning all of the images that you have and categorizing them appropriately. Label each image with the correct generation. This will save you lots of time later when you start having to sift through all the images. After all the images are scanned, it's time to put the whole family tree digital video together. You can add music of the period if you want to enhance the video. You can also narrate the video. This greatly enhances the information that is provided. Keep sections for each of the generations separate. Write a lively commentary that describes the person and their life. Practice reading it while timing it so that it matches perfectly to the images that you are portraying. When choosing photos, try to pick some that have meaning. Look for action shots and pictures that show the person's personality. Once complete you can share the family tree digital video online or distribute it in the mail.