Generations

Growing up, I loved hearing the stories my grandpa would tell me about flying over China in World War II, and how he had his broken arm set on the coffee table, that now sits in my mother's living room, when he was a little boy, back when the table was his mother's dining room table. I relished the stories my grandmother told me about her father being sent over from Europe by himself when he was just a little boy, and what life was like growing up during the Great Depression. I remember a story she told me about her mother giving her just enough money to buy a chocolate candy shaped like a bird, and how all the way home she wanted to bite the head off but didn't because she knew once it was gone, that was it.

For years, my family and I begged my grandparents to write their stories so they would be around for us to read in years to come and pass on to their great-grandchildren. But they still haven't gotten around to it. At least, not as far as writing an actual autobiography that will be with us forever. But now, thanks to today's technology and my cousin's brilliant mind, their story is going to be with us forever.

My cousin, Michael Nanus, and his wife, Debbie, have created their own company, Generations Video Inc., in Orlando, Florida. They create DVDs with people's stories that include interviews, pictures, news clips from the events taking place during their lives and anything else they can imagine to include in this new form of biographies.

Mike and Debbie's inspiration for creating Generation's Video Inc. was the desire to have their grandparents' stories captured forever in a way that would allow future generations to know them.

"Personally, for me, I couldn't imagine another year going by without some of my family's stories being recorded," said Debbie.

Debbie was raised by her grandparents and heard first-hand stories from them all of her life.

"I wanted to make sure my grandmother got to tell her story in her words, in her voice," she added. She said pictures in a scrapbook are not the same. "I wanted there to be life in it."

"One of the things that inspired us further is for the next generation to know them and not just (their faces from) pictures in a scrapbook," added Mike.

Debbie said that the DVDs provide not just their stories, but their experiences and wisdom.

"You start realizing just how important family is," she said.

Each life story DVD takes about six to eight weeks to put together. The time will vary depending on the number of people Mike and Debbie talk to, the number of locations they go to, how frequently they can get in touch with people and how long the filming and editing will take before a DVD is ready to be delivered to a client.

Mike and Debbie are both involved in the creation of the DVDs.

"Debbie is the writer/producer and is planning, based on her interviews, how someone's life story will be told," Mike said. "I concern myself with the staging, lighting, videography and editing. Those components are as important as the interview since this is a very visual medium."

Mike shoots the life stories on a digital videotape that is formatted for capturing all images. He is also the editor.

"However," he said, "with Debbie sitting in on the session, it is truly a team effort. We both offer ideas in the edit suite."

Both Mike and Debbie are responsible for researching the historical documents, videos and any other material that is added to the DVDs.

"We tend to use this material sparingly, since the focus is on the person we are interviewing," said Mike. "We only opt to use additional material if it enhances the story."

When Mike and Debbie start on a new DVD, there are three words that Mike said "are the most important words in our business: pre-production, pre-production, pre-production.

"Before we even begin the interview," he added, "we have a meeting or several meetings with our clients to discuss how the process will work and what they are hoping to gain by doing this. Also, we have them take part in the process. Since it is their story, who better knows the material? They have a huge homework assignment in gathering all the photos and keepsakes they want included in the video. Once all of this is done, the video starts with the interview."

Mike said in order to begin a video, they need three main ingredients: "their memories, their photos and their keepsakes."

Debbie said that the couples they have interviewed mentioned how tired they became doing this exercise, not just physically, but emotionally. They told her and Mike that the act of looking at the old pictures and keepsakes brought back all the memories too.

"We do the video and didn't realize what they're going through finding the pictures and information," she said.

"We provide a binder in which they can keep all their pictures and any notes they take during this process," Mike added.

Mike said when deciding what to include in the DVDs, they look at "how can we best replicate something that happens out of nowhere?"

For example, when Mike and Debbie were interviewing my grandparents for their DVD, Mike said our grandfather started talking about his and our grandmother's life together, and how as life was going on day-to-day, it was completely interrupted by World War II.

"We were trying to figure out how to include this and started googling like crazy," Mike said.

"We come from television background, so we figured there's got to be stuff online," added Debbie. "That attention to detail I think we handled gracefully. Anyone can pick up a camera and shoot a video. We have television experience and can find a way to use media to tell the story."

In the case of my grandfather's story about World War II suddenly interrupting their life, Mike and Debbie gently cut to the broadcast of President Roosevelt declaring that the United States is at war with Japan.

"We really wanted to find a way to do the videos that's different from what anyone else is doing," said Debbie.

Debbie said that this can be tricky and that she and Mike must be cautious and mindful of copyright material and what fits into the story.

With Mike and Debbie working on the DVDs together, clients receive a beautiful keepsake they can lovingly pass on to the next generation, who can then pass it on to their next generation, and so on and so on.

"It was a very pleasant experience," said Saul Schier, my grandfather. "(It was) no trouble at all. We enjoyed it.

"As you grow older, you like to reminisce. It was a chance to walk down memory lane. It's fun."

I love the idea that I will always be able to hear the stories I grew up listening to my grandparents tell me in their own words and their own voices.

Information on Generations Video Inc. can be found on the website at www.mygenerationsvideo.com. The website provides samples, testimonials, package information, frequently asked questions, information about Mike and Debbie, and contact information.

For anyone outside the Orlando area who is interested in having Mike and Debbie help tell their life story, there is no need to worry.

"We're always willing to travel wherever the story will take us," assured Mike.