Some of the first questions we're asked is, "How does it all work? What does it cost? And how soon can we do it?" Here is a detailed description of our process, the cost, and timing of Life Capsule™ video biography services.

How Does It All Work?
The first step is to schedule the interview. We film the interview onsite at a location of your choosing. Once we arrive, our videographer will choose the exact spot at your location to set up our video production equipment. Our interviewer will then sit down and conduct a pre-interview with the person in order to map out the chronology of the person's life, important stories, memories, and events that we hope to capture during the interview.

At the end of the pre-interview we will have several pages of notes as the basis for the interview. The main goal of the video biography is to get a broad sample of stories and memories from across the person's entire life. During the actual interview, the person is guided along skillfully from one topic to the next, while we keep a trained eye on additional factors that will make the final film more interesting and enjoyable to watch.

After the interview, we listen to the recording in our editing suite and create a detailed list of 50-75 specific photographs, articles, documents, and other images that we want to add to the film. We will send that list to you and ask you to find as many of the photographs as possible.

Once we receive the photographs, we scan and animate them (pans and zooms) and integrate them throughout the film. The interviewer is edited out of the film completely, titles are created for each segment, and the entire recording is edited for clarity and continuity. The film is digitally mastered on a DVD with special features including chapter selection, slide show, and deleted scenes.

The DVD is packaged in a full color case and full color DVD with the person's name, photograph and contents incorporated into the packaging. Additional copies are available as part of the standard package.

What Does It Cost?
Our cost structure is simple and straight forward. Our standard package includes the pre-interview, an 80 minute professionally-recorded interview, integration of 50-75 photographs, editing of film, DVD production and packaging, and up to 3 copies of the film on DVD. The final film is usually 60-70 minutes long. The cost here in Cincinnati is $3,000. The cost outside of Cincinnati is $5,000 plus travel. Of course, we can do a longer interview if you like. Some of our recordings have been as long as 6 to 8 hours. The cost for each additional 80 minutes of interview time is $3,000.

How Soon Can We Do It?
We travel anywhere in the United States and can schedule our trip immediately - certainly sometime in the next 2 weeks. For a standard 80 minute interview, we can get in and out in about 3 hours. After that, it takes us a few days to send you the photo list. Once you receive the photo list, the timing is in your hands. Most people take 1-2 weeks to find the photos. Once we get the photos back, it takes us about 4-6 weeks to finish the film. We ask for half of our fee at the time of the interview and the other half when the film is complete.