At Home with Tech

It’s time to get some of those great family video clips out there! Hiding your son’s reaction to a Yankee home run in an editing folder on your computer is the right strategy, but unfortunately it will not guarantee results. You’ve got to set your favorite video files free!

Remember everything I said two years ago about organizing and editing all those home video clips you’ve taken with your digital camera?
Remember how I calmly talked about how to regularly create your own series of ongoing family videos to share?

I called the post….
The Beginner’s Guide to Editing Your Camera’s Video Clips
It’s filled with lots of great video editing strategies.

Well if you’re a parent of young children, you can forget about it.
I’m back from four years of parenthood, and I’ve got a new report to share from the front.
There just simply isn’t the time to do all this.

My methodologies work in the lab, but they fall entirely short after real-life testing.

I’ve now got hundreds of family-time clips, sitting in a folder…

• Unedited
• Unshared
• And unloved

And they’ve expired, because nobody cares what my four year old was doing when he was three.

I now understand it’s every daddy in the world for himself.
(mommies too)

And if you, like me, need a little help,
I’ve discovered some new words of advice:

Don’t wait to execute your perfectly cohesive plan before distributing your great video moment.
Just get the fricken clip out!

The One-Clip Wonder
It doesn’t have to be pretty.

If you can trim the front and back of your video file first, more power to you.
It’s best not to be in the middle of a spoken word on the way in and out.
(This is simply accomplished using QuickTime.)

That basic level of file prep is probably all you’re ever going to get to.
(at least in this decade)

You can create the full-blown director’s cut of your four year old’s adventures when you retire or after his college graduation.

I used to scoff at friends who would regularly share their raw smartphone video clips effortlessly from earlier in the day.

How unevolved is that?
No editing?
That’s just lazy!
Simply amateurish!!

Guess what… it’s brilliant.

Practice What You Preach
So in the spirit of my new home video mantra,
I took a look at some video clips I shot during my son’s first trip to Yankee Stadium last month.
New York Vs. Boston.
Oh, yes… it was an awesome game.
(The Bronx Bombers won 7-4.)

These short video snippets from my family’s outing to this classic match up will make quite the fun video.
…If I ever get around to editing it.

But there’s this one especially wonderful eight-second moment I shot after a Yankee home run.
The crowd went wild.
And so did my son.

It’s a shame that this little clip has less than a 50/50 chance of ever being seen.
If only I could release it, unattached to the larger project I envision.

Guess what?
I can!!
To prove my new resolve, I think I’m gonna do it right now…
(You can teach an old dog new tricks…)

So here it is!

I know… It’s not so amazing.
But it’s meaningful to me…
My son watching his first home run at his first baseball game.

I feel so much better having done this.
(One clip down. Nine hundred ninety-nine to go…)

Uncle Sam Wants You… To Edit Your Home Videos
So if I devolve into sharing sporadic and disjointed family video moments
…is that really so bad?

Probably not. I’m just joining the crowd.

And don’t get me wrong… I haven’t entirely given up on my plan to edit together my videos clips the ‘correct way.’
(just mostly)

But seriously, one solution to help accomplish ‘the dream’ is to set aside one day a month and designate it solely as your media management day.
Every other parental responsibility gets put on hold.
(Good luck with that!)

Maybe a new monthly national holiday designated for parental catch up would be a good idea.
That certainly wouldn’t hurt the cause.

Until I find the time I need, I’ve signed up to the a la carte video-sharing plan.
Which means I’ve finally learned to “wing it.”

Better late than never!