I can be very flexible in the services I offer to you. Lets examine an example of my fullest service. I use this example because I found this service is what I want, do for myself and my customers find they love. You give me all the video you shot in one year. If it was analog I would convert it to digital video. I recommend making digital video tape copies to keep, for archive and future use. Nothing happens to your original tapes except I play it recording it to the digital tape and onto my hard drive. The digital video on the hard drives of my NLE (Non-Linear Editing) system is what I edit.
I then go through the digital video on my hard drives and chop it into the component "movies" I can identify. School programs, vacations, parties, etc. I then further edit those "movies" removing poor camera work and dead areas where nothing is happening. This editing service is something that you would be hard pressed to find offered anywhere else at any price. Deciding what to keep and what to edit out in someone else's video is a service I have never even heard of. It is an extremely brave service to offer. I offer it for two reasons. One, I will never have competition. Two, I am confident you will not miss what I cut out. I have not had a single customer express anything but delight in the edited versions of their movies.
I capture a few individual frames or "pictures" from the video. I use these for the DVD menus and for the covers on DVD cases and labels.
To make the DVD I convert the digital video to DVD compliant MPEG2 video. MPEG2 video is what your home DVD player is able to play. I use the highest data rate DVD allows to insure the best quality possible. I typically limit it to an hour per DVD disk to accomplish this so one year of videos could span several DVDs. I have one year of mine that took three. I create a main menu for each DVD with buttons you use to pick and play the movies that I identified earlier in the process. If there are many disconnected miscellaneous short scene that defy easy classification or are so short they do not justify to be their own "movie" I usually combine them into one movie and name it "Slices of Life" or some similar title.
I make at least two copies of each final DVD, one for you to play and one to keep as a backup in case the one you play gets damaged. The DVD's I make you can easily be copied if you have a DVD recorder. You may also order additional copies.
I have found that the edited version of customers home movies typically run about half the original length. This may sound amazing but you would be surprised at how much time there is in your raw movies where you are waiting for something to happen. Imagine your home movies when you watch them and there is always something interesting happening. They clip along and are fun to watch. You may actually show them to other people. The other people may actually enjoy themselves watching them. That is what I strive for.
The cost of this service typically runs $100 per hour of raw video plus $50 per final DVD. Typically one hour provided by you would be $150 final cost and two hours $250. Additional DVD copies cost $25 per disk. The cost can be lowered by providing me with information about your movies that will make it easier for me to complete the editing.
There it is. You give me your video. I give you your original tape back unaltered and, if analog can include a digital video tape copy of your original. The finished DVDs have shorter, more refined, more enjoyable versions of your home videos. I include two copies of each DVD in the service. Cases and custom case labels are also included. Try and find this service anywhere at any price. I offer it because I am confident that I can make good decisions about what to keep, what to remove and that you will be thrilled with the end result.
I can also offer variations on this service. I can convert your movies straight to DVD with no editing and no custom menus at a lower cost. If you live in my area you could sit with me and we could edit together. I can make slide shows. I can add special effects, titles, cast of characters, rolling credits. The limit is your imagination.