They ask:  How did we get started in this line of work?  How did we find it?

You could say it found us.

In the mid-2000s we were living and working in Los Angeles.  Marina was editing independently produced documentary films and Stephen was writing and directing his own short films.

The father of a friend approached us to create a film.  Because his father had recently passed away, the only record that remained of his father’s stories was a video interview with his parents.  He wanted our help editing the interview to make it more watchable.  He also had a collection of family photographs to add to the video.

The video interview was shot by family members at a Thanksgiving gathering.  It was not technically perfect – the camera wasn’t level and there was lots of extraneous background noise.  But the stories were wonderful: how this couple had met and married during World War II, of how the husband had witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor, and later survived the sinking of a battleship.  There were travels, adventures, the births of children,  told by a couple of charming, funny, affectionate people who had actually lived the stories.

Our favorite parts of the interview were the unexpected details.  Like the father’s calm description of swimming away from his sinking ship and treading water in the southern Pacific Ocean:

“I was happy.  We figured that probably the only way we were going to live through this situation was to get sunk and survive the sinking.  That had happened, and I wasn’t badly injured so I just got up on my back and swam along, happy as a clam.”

We enlivened the interview with photographs from our client’s family archives: the father in military uniform, the couple’s wedding pictures, the battleship before it sank. To color the mood of the stories, we incorporated music from our client’s own collection; songs from the era which were his parents’ favorites.

As we worked on streamlining and illustrating the story, an idea took root in our heads.  This one-time project could become a long-term business.  We can do this for other people.

More than 5 years later, we’re still helping people tell their stories.

What is a personalized documentary?

This is the most basic question about what we do.  Yet it is often the hardest question to answer.  Maybe that is because a personalized documentary can be so many different things.

It’s a lively, interesting movie about a true story.

It’s a real documentary about YOU (or your family, or friends, or an event, or anything you want it to be about.)

It has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  It tells a story.

Your own historical archives are the raw materials for the movie: photographs, home movies, videos, recordings, documents, mementos, genealogical records, or whatever may be in your closet.

It’s not a wedding video, although a wedding video could be part of it.
It’s not a vacation video, or a baby video, or the recitation of a family tree.  But it could include any of those things.

It could be about a family.  It could be about one person’s life.  Or about another group of people: co-workers in a company, classmates, roommates, a sports team, a musical group.

It is a documentary.  But not about the subjects we normally see: public issues, famous people, the things you find in school textbooks.  It could touch upon historical events but it is always focused on the ordinary lives of people.

Just as people are infinitely different, so are the documentaries that we make. You can see some samples on our website.

“The native Texan had a quiet strength about her, one that carried her through 107 years of life, two World Wars, 19 U.S. presidents, two husbands, one daughter, five grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren. She outlived both husbands, her daughter, three grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and 14 of those presidents.”

Life story: Edna Banks Adams-Bates

This is a perfect example of someone who wasn’t rich and famous, who didn’t make news or invent something, but still has a story that would make a great documentary.  Think of all the changes and history she saw in her lifetime!

We love how real people’s stories make history come alive.

Welcome to the first entry of the newly created Found Time blog.

In our 5 plus years of making documentaries for clients and helping them preserve and present their families’ histories and stories, we’ve accumulated a multitude of ideas and learned many lessons, which we’ve always wanted to share with a larger audience.

While our website, found-time.com, provides basic information about who we are and what we do, we felt the need for a more fluid online venue. Hence our first blog. Not because it’s trendy, but because it’s the ideal way for us to express our ideas in a diverse and timely manner while supplying you with links to other blogs, sites, and articles that we believe will be useful in helping you explore your memories and stories.

As our blog grows, we welcome and encourage comments about your own experiences and ideas concerning the process of documenting personal, family, and group history.

Marina & Stephen, Found Time Productions

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