How to Create a Personalized DVD Masterpiece for Mother's Day

Here is a great idea for those who are either strapped for cash or want to give a gift from the heart. With this gift, you are completely in control of your own thoughts and ideas. I hope my examples will broaden your spectrum of creativity.

The items needed you probably already have! If you do not, maybe a friend can help you out. Get the entire family involved or do it yourself.

Items Needed:

Computer with a DVD Burner

A scanner (If you do not already have family photos saved in your computer)

Pictures from your family photo album

muvee autoProducer, Intervideo WinDVD creator or similar software that probably came with your DVD Burner

1 Blank DVD (or two just in case you burn your "movie" and decide to change something)

MP3 music (suitable for your video)

In my example, I will use muvee autoProducer which came with my DVD burner. The software is very simple to use. The first step to making your video is to go through your photo albums and choose the special photos you want to include in your video. Scan all of the photos into your computer and save them in one folder. Do not forget where you saved them to.

Open your video program and get familiar with it. Muvee autoProducer is so simplified that I only have six buttons to choose from. The first button I will select is videos/pictures button. This gives me the option to add video or pictures to my video. In my final product I chose to have a live video of my kids waving. Another live video was of my son holding up signs we wrote with messages that only my mother and son would understand, their "special code." She really got a big kick out of it.

After I added my videos and photos, I clicked on "Music" to add music to the video. Because it was a video of my children growing up, I chose the song "Baby Face" and added it to play in the background of the video.

The slide show/video style is completely up to you. I chose to keep all of my snapshots and videos in sequence. My software also allows different styles to choose from including: Cinema, Simple Music Video, SlideShow Pro Fast, Personal, etc. You would really need to go through each style and view an example. If you are using other software without "Auto Movie" options, simply insert transitions in between each photo frame and video.

I also chose to add an opening title for my video. This is the text that will pop up before your video begins. In the closing credits box I simply typed in "Produced by Ashley and Shawn for Grandma," as my children were doing this video for their grandmother.

I then clicked on "Make Muvee" and watched the software create our masterpiece. After previewing it, I saved it into a folder in "My Documents." I then opened my DVD burning software, told it where my video was saved and created a DVD masterpiece that my mom can watch over and over.

I hope if you try this that you will have a lot of fun while creating lasting memories for your mom!