My Story: Why Legacy Video Matters
I took a few minutes today to comb back through my cell phone photos, beginning with my own archive of Sherwood Media, and I was amazed by what I found.
The photos took me back to many early mornings, loading up our car with a camera bag, a simple light kit, and some extension cords from Wal-Mart. I loaded into locations, set up camera gear, and ran the shoot all on my own. My humble DSLR stood on a tripod looking quite dinky and unimpressive, but my clients believed in me and appreciated what we created together.
Even now, I want to hide my skills and gifts because they don’t look as impressive as I would someday want them to be - a studio, a team full of creative professionals, higher production value, prestigious awards, and stories that air on TV and Netflix!
But then I came across a photo of my dull, unimpressive camera setup that pierced my heart - a setup I used to tell the story that means more to me than probably any story that I’ll ever tell.
It was the day I interviewed my grandmother.
That day, I didn’t let the fact that I wasn’t getting chosen to produce million-dollar SuperBowl commercials stop me from telling a story I cared about.
I was focused on capturing the story of my hero, as well as I could, before it was too late.
Not only did we create a 45-minute documentary of her life story, told by herself, her children, and her grandchildren, we created a short trailer to invite friends and family to her 90th birthday.
At her 90th birthday, we honored my beautiful grandmother with the film, and with our love and prayers in person. It was incredible to hear over a hundred people in a room laughing and crying as they watched a film about a woman we all loved so dearly.
We all felt so proud to honor her and her story that day.
My grandmother passed away just months after we watched the completed film at her 90th birthday. My grandmother’s story is something my family watches every year, and what continues to motivate me to help others capture their stories with a legacy video.
If I had waited until I had more impressive cameras or credentials, her story would have been lost forever.
You have to do something with what you have today. You have to do the thing, and grow and learn all the time, no matter how unimpressive you feel, before you can ever hope to be where you want to go.
I’m learning that you never start out where you want to be. It’s a journey. And if you're willing to embrace the unimpressive day-to-day, you could end up with a story that might just be incredible.
Tell Your Story
Our Story Framework is the first step to creating a legacy video.
