Content Ideas

What goes into a Personal History DVD?
Just about anything you want – new interviews, old home videos and movies, family pictures (no matter how large or small). Even documents such as letters, handwritten notes and postcards can be incorporated.

Interviews
We have hundreds of questions and topics to help start the conversation with your parents. Even the most reluctant interviewees find that once they start talking about themselves, they have more to say than they thought. Many find the experience therapeutic.

Here are the things children often want to know about their parents:

How did they meet?
How did they decide to have you?
How they grew up – what it was like?
How did they pick their career?
What are the obstacles they overcame?
What do they remember about your grandparents?
What are their hopes, their dreams and the lessons they’ve learned?
What you were really like as a child?

In interviews, the parents of our clients have talked about the loss of loved ones during war, their relationships with their parents and memories of childhood games. No matter how seemingly small the story, it always reveals something about the storyteller. It’s those details that our clients cherish forever.

A values statement
One of the most cherished things a parent can pass on to their children and grandchildren is their unique outlook on the world, their life lessons and values. We can work with your parent to write a values statement, also known as an ethical will. This is not a legal document, but a statement of what your parent thinks is important – the values they want to live on and inspire you and your children. Your parent can then read that document on camera.

For more information about ethical wills
http://www.ethicalwill.com/

Letters and other documents
Do you have letters from relatives that are no longer with us? We can record you, an actor, or someone appropriate reading the letter and incorporate it into the story.

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