Photo Fusion Productions: Get started

Photo / Video Montages require a great deal of preparation and thought to ensure a coherent story. Photo Fusion Productions can assist you in the pre-production stages of the project. The following guidelines will help insure that your Video or Photo Montage turns out to be a huge success and become a keepsake to hold onto throughout the years.

Preparing your Montage

Spend time thinking about what you would like to see, the duration of the Montage and how many different segments or sections you want prior to gathering and assembling the elements. This will assure continuity and a wonderful outcome you will enjoy time and time again.

For a personal Montage, do your best to place yourself in the shoes of the subject of the Montage. Think about what activities, types of music, television shows, movies, plays, hobbies or sports, the person likes. This will help you in choosing from our large library of themes such as Wedding, Drive-in, Montage, Kids Theater, Road Trip, Pop Art, Fish, Kids Blocks, Theater Marquee, Surfing, Floral, Theater, Book, Old-Fashioned Projector, Gen Y, Picture-in-Picture, Brush Strokes, Western, Sports, Passport, Postcard, Fun, Confetti, Hearts, High-Tech Brushed Metal, Light Box and much more. For corporate events we will cater to the theme of your event, lecture, meeting, or conference.

Your Montage: Organizing and selecting pictures for your Montage

On the back of each photograph, preferably using a pencil (if using ink, be sure to place paper between pictures to prevent smearing), write the name of the book or frame that you got it from. Do not press hard or you may damage your picture. While selecting pictures, do your best to sort them in themes or section. Do your best to select photos that represent the person or event while choosing pictures that have a different look (don’t select all portrait images, or all close-ups etc.). A variety of styles adds visual interest and impact.

Pictures can be accepted in the following formats: digital camera images are preferred; or prints, negatives, 35 mm slides or digital images on CD or via email. For a small additional charge we can, retouch or fix your damaged photographs. If your images are in a different format, or if you have questions regarding photo/image repair, please Contact us.

Your Montage: Creating Scenes or Chapters

Once you have selected all the pictures you want to incorporate in your Montage, you need to group them into sections. Generally the Montages are presented in sections or themes, e.g.: childhood, friends, family, siblings, camp, parties, sport, etc. For corporate Montages, the sections or groups are more easily defined. Since each chapter or section incorporates different music, you will want to have a minimum of 6-8 pictures, though 12 or more are recommended. There is no maximum amount of chapters; you are only limited by the capacity of a DVD 5.8 Gigabytes.

Photo Fusion Productions will be happy to offer assistance or make suggestions. Honestly though, this is your family or friends, or event, so you will know best what photos belong in what group. However, we can assist you in deciding the best order for each group of photos.

Each group of pictures should be placed in a separate envelope or folder, clearly marked for submittal.

Your Montage: Choosing the Music

Your pictures and video are the main part of the Montage, but the music you select creates the mood, adds emotion and lends interest. The music you choose is very important so choose carefully. Don’t worry about the length of the song or music, our expert production artists can actually trim down or splice your selection to fit the images you select. The music or songs you select can accentuate the thoughts and feelings of the images. Select different styles of music, one chapter may be serene (childhood) while young adulthood or teen years may have rock music. Keep your audience in mind, if it is mostly kids or teens or seniors or a corporate event, choose the music that best fits. Great music on the Montage separates the everyday ho-hum Montage from the spectacular, “I want a copy, that was a great” Photo / Video Montage

For the best results your music via CD, MP3 or for a nominal fee we can provide any or 700,000 songs or music tracks for you.

Your Montage: Adding Video Footage

If a picture tells a thousand words, video can be priceless. Not to say all Montages need video footage...on the contrary! Photo Fusion Productions can actually make a still video seem as if it is moving. Our staff has decades of training and, through the magic of computers, can actually pan across your still image, adding movement and “life” to a still picture. If you do have video footage available it can too be placed within your Montage, providing additional imagery, and life to it. Being very selective in the footage that you select for inclusion is paramount in making for a great Montage. Photo Fusion Productions can accept footage from just about any source, Contact us if you have any questions.

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