Making a portrait of life in the form of a documentary film responds to one or more motivations:
- Passing on your personal and family memory to your children, grandchildren, loved ones and generations to come
- Share a memorable moment of your personal story
- Passing on the history of your genealogy
- Share your professional, associative or political achievements and the values that have allowed you to move forward in life through different eras
- Leave a tangible trace of a full and whole life
- Revealing a family secret
- etc..
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Preparation is a key step in the full success of your life portrait. The YOUFOREVER team accompanies you to create your common red thread that will serve as a structure for your interview and the editing of your film.
During the preparation phase that precedes the shooting of your interview, we advise you to consider your documentary film as being intended for people who know nothing or very little about your personal and family history. You will have to take the time to retrace, choose and illustrate your memories.
In terms of the autobiographical narrative that is your portrait of life, anything is possible!
Carefully select the memories and information you wish to transmit as well as the periods concerned. What are the stories you absolutely want to share? For example, details and anecdotes about your ancestors, your schooling, your first romantic encounter, a historical or social fact in which you took part, your professional and associative achievements etc...Write them down so that together we can build the steps of your interview in the form of a "story board" or scenario.
Here are 7 tips to recover your memories and thus prepare the red thread of your personal and family story:
1 – Flip through your family albums.
2 - Watch your own super 8, VHS or digital format movies
3 – Exchange your memories with your family circle and friends.
4 – Immerse yourself in your favorite music, books and movies
5 – Return to the places of your life
6 – Review letters, letters, postcards, report cards and diaries that you may have kept.
7 – Watch archive videos on the INA website to find the atmosphere of the different periods of your life
Some clients choose to classify their story chronologically, from their childhood to the present day, while others decide to organize their film according to major themes or events.
Below is an example of a structure
Chapter 1: Family Genealogy
It is a question of providing a more or less complete overview of your origins and your family roots in order to start your red thread at its most distant source and thus inscribe your own story in a broader dimension.
Paternal family (Ancestors, Grandparents, Great Uncles & Aunts, Father and siblings): origins / first name and surnames / places of life / professions and achievements / anecdotes and milestones
Maternal family (Ancestors, Grandparents, Great Uncles & Aunts, Mother and siblings): origins / first name and surnames / places of life / professions and achievements / anecdotes and milestones
Chapter 2: Your Parents
Father: his childhood, his schooling, his circle of friends, his sports and cultural activities, his adult and professional life, his personality, the anecdotes he passed on to you
Mother: her childhood, her schooling / apprenticeship, her circle of friends, her sports and cultural activities, her adult and professional life, her personality, the anecdotes she passed on to you
Their meeting: on what occasion or under what circumstance?
Their life as a couple/marital: where did they settle? what are their common achievements? their family rituals (meals, holidays, outings ...)
Their contributions to your education, personal construction and personality
Anecdotes about them
Chapter 3: You
It is now a question of recounting your life by highlighting the moments and the small and big events that seem important and relevant to you so that everyone understands and learns who you are. Punctuating your story with anecdotes is very important because they bring emotion and humanize your story.
Your situation: brothers and sisters
Your childhood, your schooling (primary, college, high school, higher education), your circles of friends, your sports and cultural activities, your first trips, your holidays, the beginning of your adult life, your first love emotions, your personality as you feel it, your passions and your chosen anecdotes
Chapter 4: your achievements and your constructions
Your private, professional, family, associative, religious, military, political, cultural life. Indicate the elements of your different paths that seem significant to you and that serve as landmarks in your life.
Chapter 5: Proust's questionnaire and personal messages to the next generations
Your favorite virtue / The quality I prefer in a man / The quality I prefer in a woman / The main trait of my character / What I appreciate most in my friends / My main defect / My favorite occupation / My dream of happiness / What I would like to be / Would have liked to be / The country where I would like to live / The color I prefer / The flower I love / The animal I love / My favorite authors / My favorite bands & music composers / My heroes in fiction / My favorite painters / My favorite movies / My favorite motto / The historical characters I admire the most / The most important historical event for me