Most people shoot some random video of their child's birthday party, then toss the video in a drawer and forget about it.

Hey, we're talking about some precious video of an important event in your child's life. So if you're going to shoot some video of your child's birthday party, why not turn that footage it into a video everyone will want to see?

With just a little planning you can turn your child's birthday party video footage into a fun music video that's sure to become a treasured family keepsake and heirloom.

Choose A Favorite Song

Before you shoot your video, choose the song you want to use for your completed music video. It can be one of your child's favorites, or one that fits your party theme. Now you can shoot your video to go along with the music. Most songs are about 2 and a half minutes long which tells you how long your completed music video will be.

10 Things You Need To Shoot

Putting up the decorations

Party guests arriving

Activities and crafts

Party Games

Bringing out the birthday cake

Opening cards and gifts

Finished decorations and balloons

Parents, brothers, sisters, family members and pets

Staged shots of your birthday child and guests being silly

Guests saying good-by and leaving

The birthday child's parents collapsing on a chair after the party.

You may find other shots you want to include as well.

Fun Camera Angles

A series of short, fun shots will help make your music video more fun to watch. Try to make your shots at least 5 to 10 seconds in length, this will be very helpful when your footage is edited.

Stay away from using the zoom lens. Unless a zoom is done very well it tends to look amateurish.

Get lots of candid wide shots of your group.

Then move in and shoot medium shots with 2 or 3 people together.

Shoot close-ups of individual faces

Have fun by shooting some shots that are tilted to one side or stand on a chair and shoot down on the party. Put the camera on the floor and shoot up.

Editing Your Birthday Video - Music Video

If you have video editing software in your computer, you first need to digitize (transfer) the footage you've shot into the editing program. Then lay down your music track (the song you've selected).

Now start your music video with a simple but creative title like "Mary's 6th Birthday Party" with a sub title related to your birthday theme like "A Royal Celebration."

From the title you might want to use a fun wipe into your first shot. Try to keep your shots about 5 seconds long. That will keep the music video moving nicely without being too fast and visually annoying.

Also try to edit your footage together to tell the story of your party rather than just randomly mixing everything together.

Titles within your music video can also be fun. A title leading into some party game footage might read "Extreme Musical Chairs" or "Time To Pop The Balloons."

As you edit your footage together, take a minute and preview the entire video from the beginning. This will help you to get a better feel for the overall pace. You might need to slow things down or speed then up. Check your video from the top when you have 30 seconds edited, 60 seconds edited and 90 seconds edited just to make sure the video is coming together the way you want it to.

Give yourself a little song time at the end to add your closing titles. Give yourself a screen credit, your party producer, and of course this video stars your birthday child.

At the very end of your credits you can have a little fun by cutting to one last silly shot.

Birthday Video - Music Video "World Premiere"

After your award winning music video has been edited, it's time for your world premiere. Why not invite all your party guests and parents over for a private screening? Make some popcorn and have some fun.

Years From Now

Imagine years from now when you and your child sit down to watch this video together. You'll both be very happy you did something with all that precious video footage.

And as the years pass, your grandchildren might just get to see your treasured keepsake DVD from so many years ago... I wonder if they'll still call them "music videos?"

About the Author
Mike Dougherty is a video editor and regional Emmy award winning videographer. To learn more about turning your birthday video into a music video, visit Fun-Kid-Birthday-Parties.com

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