How to edit a video for family memory film

Turn selected family photographs and short clips into a story for family storytellers. Let the selected real moments form an understandable beginning, change and ending.

Give the video a clear purpose

Let the selected real moments form an understandable beginning, change and ending.

Think about what family storytellers need the viewer to understand first. Use the opening to establish that idea, then let the next shots add detail.

Build your shot list

  1. The earliest selected memory
  2. A shared activity
  3. An important object or location
  4. A genuine family reaction
  5. The most recent selected memory

Put the moments in order

Open with the earliest selected memory. Connect it to a shared activity and an important object or location, then use a genuine family reaction to add detail. Finish with the most recent selected memory.

Use only supplied names, dates or personal captions.

Try this editing prompt

Create a 45-second vertical video from my selected family photographs and short clips. Open with the earliest selected memory, follow with a shared activity, an important object or location, a genuine family reaction, and finish with the most recent selected memory. Use only supplied names, dates or personal captions.

Polish the details

Follow supplied chronology and identities; do not infer family relationships from faces.

Give the next version a clear direction

Restore a scene to its correct position in the personal story.

Find another story in the same shoot

Your next brief could focus on a personal setup-and-payoff Reel or a memory edit including every selected photograph. Choose a different opening and source selection to give each video its own purpose.

Questions, answered.

What should I upload?

Selected family photographs and short clips. Use the shot list as a starting point and adapt the sequence to your footage.

What details should I check?

Follow supplied chronology and identities; do not infer family relationships from faces.

Your next video starts here.

Bring the footage. Tell us the idea. Shape the edit.

Start editing