When we asked our group of Sony DigiDads to do a project using the latest Sony Hanydcam camcorder, I don't think any of us knew what we were in for. The project required each Dad to create a video time capsule using the Sony HDR-XR500V to capture family moments and record their heritage. There wasn't much more direction than that and the Dads were given a week to do their thing. You'd think they'd give us some simple home videos, right? Well, what we got were five amazing and unique glimpses into families, philosophies about storytelling and helpful insight into how to use the gear.
Sony Dad, Jeff Sass calls his post A Family Defined. It is a hilarious back and forth dialog between his parents with a secret recipe for spaghetti pie revealed in the video. (Jeff- Can your Mom write that recipe down for us too, please?)
Each DigiDad has a distinct style both in the videos they created and what they wrote in their Heritage Time Machine blogs. Grandfathers and Grandsons by C.C . Chapman is an excellent example of weaving different voices into one story using video. C.C. has three generations of family in his video. It definitely brought a tear to the eye of a few of us here in the office.
Grandfathers & Grandsons from C.C. Chapman on Vimeo.
Michael Sheehan's Storytelling in the Digital Age is a philosophical look at how technology has changed the art of storytelling from generation to generation. Michael included this video review of the HandyCam on his post too.
Singing for Sony by Brad Powell at Dad Labs was probably the post that made me the most homesick. He talks about how distance kept him from including his parents in his Heritage project so instead he made a video that included his daughter and some of her favorite people singing her favorite song," O Suzannah".. It's without a doubt a great way to have his far away family get to know his daughter.
And finally, Max Kalehoff's On Grandparenting offers words of wisdom from Max's dad "GrandEddy". My favorite moment in the video is watching GrandEddy try to appease crying granddaughter Celeste by saying "What's the matter… aww sweet boogie". Now that is just cute and only possible to experience via video.
All in all, these stories are touching and the moments are real. As our Sony DigiDads have shown us, it's not too hard to capture simple, yet special memories with video. Why don't you do a Heritage Project too?