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Celebration of life
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A real example
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How it works
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How it differs from a funeral slideshow
The construction is the same. The tone is not, and that is the whole difference.
A celebration of life is usually held weeks or months after the death rather than days. The room has had time. It is often not in a chapel, the dress code is looser, and people expect to laugh at some point during the afternoon.
That changes three things: the photographs can be less formal, the music can move, and the film can run longer because it frequently plays on a loop rather than as a set piece.
Tone, in practice
Pick the photographs where the person is doing something rather than posing. Celebrations of life reward the candid shots that a funeral service might have felt too casual for.
Fast music is allowed and often right. If they were funny, or loud, or never sat still, a song that moves is more honest than a slow one chosen because it seemed appropriate.
Include the photographs that make people laugh. A room that laughs at a celebration of life is a room doing exactly what it came to do.
How long, and how many photographs
If it plays as a set piece with everyone watching, three to five minutes, exactly as at a funeral. One song, and the room stays with it.
If it loops during the afternoon while people eat and talk, eight to fifteen minutes works, and you can use far more photographs. This is the more common arrangement at a celebration of life.
The arithmetic does not change. Three to four seconds a photograph. Three minutes holds 45 to 60, five minutes holds 75 to 100, ten minutes holds around 150 to 200.
For a looping version, an instrumental track sits under conversation better than one with lyrics people feel they should listen to.
Who to ask for photographs
A celebration of life is often organised by friends as much as by family, which widens the pool considerably.
Ask the people who knew different parts of the life: work, a sport, a club, the neighbours. Photographs from those corners are the ones the family has never seen, and they are the reason a celebration of life film often surprises the people closest to the person.
Short video clips matter more here than at a funeral. The tone tolerates them, and a few seconds of someone talking does something no still image does.
Playing it on the day
Celebrations of life are frequently held in venues that are not set up for this: a function room, a garden marquee, a pub upstairs. Check earlier rather than later.
The two questions remain the same: how do they want the file, and do they play it or do you. Add a third for informal venues: is there sound, and how loud does it go.
Bring an MP4 on a USB stick, plus a second copy. If the room is bright, a screen beats a projector.
If you would rather not make it
You send the photographs and the song, and we send back the finished video, usually within minutes.
Tell us it is for a celebration of life rather than a funeral. The tone of the edit follows from that, and it is the one thing worth saying when you send the files.
Tailor Chapters is part of Tailor Tune, which holds a 4.97 out of 5 rating across 61 customer reviews.
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What you’ll need
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Your own photos — JPG, PNG or HEIC
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A song you love — MP3, WAV or M4A
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That’s it — we handle the editing
Questions
€19.90
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€4.98
one video · unlimited photos
Free unlimited tweaks & re-generations until you love it. Not happy? Full refund.
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