While at the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) conference earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting Rhonda Vigeant in person. I’ve kind of been stalking her for about the last two years. Not only is she an expert in the field of home movies and small format film (8MM and 16MM), she’s about as nice as anyone can possibly be. She is passionate about getting all of us to get “reel” about our home movies and save them for the next generation.
She has graciously given me a copy of her book, Get “Reel” About your Home Movie Legacy, to give away. I read it on the plane ride home from the APPO conference, and I know that many of you are going to love this book. It’s not exactly a how-to, because companys like Rhonda’s firm Pro8MM takes care of that for you. It’s more like a kick in the butt to go and find those films and take the next step.
My family didn’t actually do home movies, but I’ve come to love home movies through the digitizing projects that clients have entrusted to me. These films are 40, 50, 60 years old. They show a relatively innocent time in our country (and in our families). They are also, for the most part, blessedly silent. Although, as Rhonda points out in her book, some of those old 8MM films do have sound strips, so don’t chance the digitizing process to a firm that isn’t able to transfer that for you.
Rhonda shares expert information in her book, like:
- how to figure out what kind of film your family might have stored away
- how to go about deciding what to transfer into digital formats
- how to get the whole family involved in this project
- how to commercialize your family archive, if you choose to do that.
She helps you understand what is possible with digital editing of your transferred content. And she is actively seeking archiving solutions so that our current digital films, what we all call video, isn’t lost due to carelessness or technology shift.
This book was really an eye opener for me. Whether you are someone with a family treasure trove of film that has been or will soon be passed down to you, or you are a photo preservation enthusiast, Get “Reel” will give you great information to wrap your head around.
I’d like to send you a copy of Get “Reel” About your Home Move Legacy. Just leave a comment below, tell me anything about your home movies or photos, and I’ll pick a random winner on April 30.
It might be a while since you’ve seen or even thought about those old films. Who was usually behind the camera? Do you think they are still in good shape? Who has most of them in your family. Do share. Any comment below enters you with a chance to win the book.
And check out our other helpful reviews with giveaways just by clicking.
This is wonderful! My daughter is trying to convert our VHS tapes to DVD and is finding it difficult and at times costly. I would love to convert the old reel to reels from my childhood but I don’t know how. This book will be so helpful to me and my daughter to not only perseve our families memories but to share stories about our loved ones that are no longer here and to see family members they may not have gotten a chance to meet! Thank you for sharing the information about this amazing book!
Please let me know if you have questions on converting your films. Yes, it can be pricey, but it’s better to pay to get them done correctly, or you’ll end up with bad quality, missing parts, or a file that you can only watch but not edit. I’m happy to answer any questions personally. This book is an EXCELLENT resource.
Great you shared this. I still have my wedding video that needs transferring and in cleaning out my grandmothers garage she had a bunch of reel to reels.
Oh, oh, oh, do you hear me getting all excited about photos and videos that might be stored in a GARAGE??? So glad you are getting them out of there. Photos and films need to be stored in the same environment you live in. Please give me a call if I can help you with next steps on getting these precious videos transferred over. Don’t try to DIY it.
My grandfather made a large number of reel films during his life. Some date back to my dad’s childhood and others are of the “grandkids”. Additionally, my dad has videos he made on beta from the 80s. It would be really nice to convert some of these movies to digital format.
Finally, I want to convert my old photographs and negatives to digital format to make them more searchable and free up some storage space.
I need to do something soon, my computer is soooooooo sloooowwwwww