The gift of video for Mothers' Day
Mothers' Day - the day we celebrate all the things our mums did for us (even if we didn’t appreciate it at the time).
So what better gift is there than making a video for her that preserves all those memories she has of raising you - and let’s face it what mother doesn’t love to remind their child of all the crazy stuff they were put through.
What you’ll need to do:
1. INTERVIEW MUM
You want to get her talking about those moments you made her laugh, cry, or those that just stick out over the years. But what are you going to ask her? Well it’s really up to you but here are some suggestions to get you started:
Where were you/what were you doing when you went into labour?
What was your first thought when you looked at me for the first time?
What’s the funniest memory you have of me as a child?
What’s the most frustrating memory you have of me as a teenager?
What is the best part about being a mum?
2. FIND SOME PHOTOS OF YOU AND MUM OVER THE YEARS
After you've interviewed mum you want to find some photos that demonstrate or complement what she talks about in the interview. Or if you can't find any of those, just some great photos from over the years.
If you don't already have digital copies you could jut take a photo of each using your phone in a well lit room.
But to create your video you’ll need some tools:
YOUR PHONE
Your phone is most likely the best quality camera you have. All you need to do is open up the camera app that came on your phone, switch to video mode, set up the shot by making sure mum is in the middle of the shot (see below):
A MICROPHONE
You want to make sure you can hear your mum - but not just hear her, hear her clearly so you make sure you capture all those awesome things she's going to talk about. So plugging in a microphone will get your much better sound than the built in microphone in your phone.
A cheap microphone I use and recommend is the MOVO LV1 ($19 on Amazon). It has a long cable so you don’t have to worry about how close your mum is to the camera.
But if you don’t have a microphone handy, you can use your headset like a lapel, just attach it to your mum's top.
SOMETHING TO STEADY YOUR PHONE
Depending on how long you interview your mum you don’t want to have to hold your phone because trust me your arms will get tired and then you'll have shaky footage.
So I recommend the Ravelli APLT2 50 as a great budget tripod ($20 on Amazon), and a mount like the Joby Grip Tight ($17 on Amazon). But if you already have a tripod lying around the house you can use that, and you’ll just need to buy the mount.
Alternatively you can use a coffee cup and cut a slit out of the bottom to slide your phone in (see below):
AN EDITING APP
Now, you'll want to edit the interview with your mum. Maybe add some music or text, and insert some of those photos you found!
What you'll need to do is pick a few of the best things you mum talked about, or any hilarious one liners she gave you
And there are some great free apps available:
For those not familiar with editing video I would recommend checking out Adobe Premiere Clip (available on iPhone and Android). See image to the left.
It's a really simple app to use. Just choose the clips you want and either choose the 'automatic' option, which decides what bits of your video to use, or 'freeform' where you decide what clip to use and when.
You also have some great options for trimming clips, adding filters, adding a track of music inside this app.
If you're a bit more tech savvy, have editing experience, or looking for more control and advanced features like adding b-roll (photos/videos over top of that awesome interview of your mum).
The I recommend iMovie for iPhone (which is free and should already be installed on your phone but if not, just search for it in the App Store), and KineMaster for Android users which is available in the Play Store, but is also available for iPhone - however you must pay to remove the watermark.
Photos above: KineMaster (left), iMovie (right)
These apps are more professional in their abilities (although KineMaster more so than iMovie), but all allow you to add things like b-roll (video/photos on top of other video), and text which Adobe Premiere Clip do not allow.
Happy Mothers' Day!
