R-TV Revisited -- Making an iMovie

Most of my friends don't know that I have a Bachelors of Science in Radio-Television from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale.  I started my professional life as a radio newscaster before jumping to public/media relations.  I do admit I miss those news-gathering days.

I joined the American Sewing Guild many years ago -- it is a national organization that promotes sewing as an art and life skill.  But really, it is a group of (mostly) women who meet on a local level to share the common bond of sewing.  We welcome beginners and experienced sewers, and have a lot of fun at monthly meetings and chapter events.  One of my favorite activities is Sewing Camp, five days of uninterrupted sewing, held each year in May by the Philadelphia Chapter.  It's like a sleep-over party for adults!

All packed up for Sewing Camp!

This year, the national organization is sponsoring a contest, asking individuals or groups to submit videos on the theme of "What ASG Means to Me."  Given my background, I couldn't resist.

Me, with my fourth cousins!

For the last few years, I have been collecting and sorting through family genealogical papers and photos.  My grandmother didn't throw anything away, so I have a pretty good stack of letters, some dating back to 1870, newspaper articles and photographs.  I also have some first-person accounts about various relatives. Then, a woman approached my sister after church one Sunday, introduced herself and said "I think we may be related."  Sure enough, she was!  I met her and two of her cousins for dinner, and they were kind enough to bring along what family genealogy and photos they had to share with me.

When I starting thinking about producing a video, I decided to take a unique approach and write a story about how sewing has been passed down from generation to generation of women in my family. I drafted a script and began pulling together photos to tell the story, but didn't know how I would make it into a video.  (I should tell you that I'm not much of a techie.)

My young friend, Niyi, was happy to help.  He downloaded iMovie onto my iphone, and gave me a quick lesson on how to drop in photos, add music and record my voice.  Under his direction, I learned the basics of putting photos to text, and then played around with iMovie until I had something I was pleased with.    

 Here is the finished product:

I can't believe how easy it was to use iMovie.  Yes, there were some limitations.  For instance, I wanted to start with a black screen and fade up to my first video clip, but couldn't figure out how to do that or if it was possible with iMovie.  And I wanted the music to begin with the first photo, but could get that to work either, so it's under the entire video.  Minor things that I don't think affected the overall video.  Maybe if I play around some more, I'll figure those things out.

Now that I know what I'm doing, I hope to use it again!  I see tutorials in my future!

And here's a request...if you are so inclined, would you please share this video with someone you think would enjoy it?  This is a competition, after all, and the video with the most views by June 15, 2015, will win a prize for the video and for their ASG Chapter.  Thanks in advance for your help!