At Last - A Way to Capture and Preserve the Stories that Matter to You!

Are there stories from your childhood that need to be recorded? Are they yours, your partners or a parents maybe? Are they important to you because of the memories they bring back? Of a time when life was so much simpler – when bacon and eggs was a staple for breakfast; when the smell of roast flowed through the house every Sunday morning; when tennis was played on grass - period!

Or are they important to you because of the people that are in them? Your grandmother, your grandfather – a special Aunt or Uncle? What is it about those people that you want to capture? Can you see some of yourself in them? In the way they laughed, or “called a spade a spade” or told a tale? Or is it because you see your son or daughter in them; maybe in the way they look at you sometimes. Or is it their temperament?

Perhaps in the back of your mind you’ve always told yourself that you’ll get around to interviewing your Mum – or Dad – or someone else - because you know that their story needs to be recorded. But for one reason or another – it hasn’t happened yet and you’re a little concerned that time is catching up.

Chances are, if you’ve come to this site, you’re hoping that we’ll wear one of the above hats for you? But have you ever stopped to contemplate how different the two jobs are?

As a former Head of History at Scotch College I was always aware as to how dependent we were on the resources available in making the past “live.”

I have no doubt that the majority of the students enjoyed the modern history that we taught at the school much more than the ancient stuff – mainly because of the fact that the contemporary history was so much richer in terms of the available stories.

I distinctly remember reminding the boys before watching some interviews shot with some of Australia’s last survivors from World War I as to how lucky they were that someone had taken the trouble to interview these veterans. As I explained to them – we could have read all the books we liked about trench warfare; nothing though, could capture the horrors of that war like these 75 and 80 year-old men reliving their experiences in an interview.

I think the same is true for all story telling. Yes, it is possible to try to create the past like a historian does - by examining archives and artifacts and trying to piece the puzzle together. Just ask the many people around the world who have found an interest in genealogy thanks to the availability of information via the internet.

I don’t believe however, that it is possible to really “get inside the head” of the person being researched.  A "win" for geneologists is the discovery of a birth-date, a grave site, or a reason for death. Yet there is so much more that they could know!

Why do these people do it? Because like you, they’re looking to their past for answers about who they are. And if they could – they’d like nothing better than to go back in time and meet these people, ask them questions and understand them a bit more – like a journalist does today!

What do we do?

If you're more interested in the journalistic side of your history than you are the geneological side - you’ve come to the right place. In a nutshell, we form a bridge between the past and the present for everyday Perth families by creating customized audio, video and written histories.

“Sitting amongst a crowd ...and watching a DVD that encompasses...life photos, achievements and intimate words from the people closest to me was an emotional and commemorative experience that will remain with me forever. Your demeanor, lovely disposition and character are amazing and certainly recognised by all.  Neil, thank you for doing such a superb job with the DVD – loved by all of our guests.”

(Trish Rechichi, author of Same Dance, Different Tune talking about how she felt watching a Special Occasion Mini-Documentary about her life to celebrate her 40th birthday).

Based on your input (and in consultation with the subject) we conduct a series of interviews designed to capture the stories that are most important to you. 

We know how to ask the right questions and when to allow the story to flow. We also know when to tactfully “reign” the story in, so that the flow is not lost and that feelings are not hurt.

At the end of the process you’ll be able to relax, comfortable in the knowledge that the story has been captured.  

Depending on your budget we can continue to refine the story telling process. For example, if you opted to have the sessions filmed we load them onto a DVD for you that you can watch at the push of a button. Want even more polish? Like maybe editing the footage into your very own documentary – equipped with relevant photos, music and other video footage?  We can do that as well. The choice is yours.

The same applies for the audio interviews. We can have the interviews transcribed into your very own written record. Or, we can take the process further and add photographs, family trees and other paraphernalia and format them into a book which captures every question and every answer in the interviews.

Over the time that we've been recording these histories, we've heard some amazing stories. This is an example of one that we were lucky enough to hear during an audio interview. We were asked by the Mark's three sons to "get Dad's story" because they weren't really too sure what was in "the vault." This is what we found:

“After the world-wide Depression of 1929 struck Australia, my father became unemployed and had to go on the Dole. Mum took charge of all of the family finances. She was incredibly thrifty; she made most of the clothes for the kids, and she walked for miles to the cheapest shops to save on food.

Mum even had the power cut off in our rented house so that she could save on electricity and make use of the old gaslight fittings. I remember she bought these silk mantles that you had to burn with a match after you tied them to the gas fitting. You had to be very careful not to knock them, but they were up fairly high on the wall, so “little people” couldn’t reach up and touch them.

It was a beautiful soft light, gaslight - very easy on the eyes and to read by; but there was this soft hiss all the time of the gas burning in each room. I can remember that quite well.

No one realized what was happening, but while Mum was scrimping, she had secretly been organizing a surprise that still amazes me to this day. She found a block of land in a neighboring suburb and put a deposit on it. Then later she had a new house built there!

My father was as dumbfounded as we were, when one Sunday in 1935 she took us there and showed us our new home. She had built a Spanish bungalow - she already had the name for it in her own mind - La Paloma (“the Dove”) – a melody she very much liked.  It was a magnificent place - it just stood out from all the other houses in the street, which were much more traditional brick cottages. We were all so proud of her. She had done this all herself, quite an amazing achievement for a woman who wasn’t working!”

(Reproduced with permission)

Before you read on, you should know that THIS LADY HAD NINE KIDS!  And to think  - THIS STORY MIGHT NEVER HAVE BEEN TOLD!

You’re probably thinking that “there’s no way you’ll find stories like that" in your family.  You’d be surprised. I think Mark Twain put it best when he said: “There was never yet an uninteresting life...Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy and a tragedy.” It’s just that most people don’t know the stories are there - until they go looking!

Can you imagine what you and your children can learn from these stories?

• about the past?
• about overcoming adversity?
• about the importance of being true to yourself?

And can you see your grandchildren and your great grandchildren refering back to these stories in the future? So that they can get an understanding of where and from whom they came from!

The investment in your life story depends on a number of factors. Firstly, are you trying to get the whole story or the important parts of it? This decision can influence the length of the interviews.

Secondly, how would you like the interviews recorded?  On the whole, a video interview will be more expensive than the audio interview, particularly if there is editing required.

This is because we use the best available television operators in Perth to bring your life story to life.

John has over 20 year experience as a professional cameraman shooting for shows like A Current Affair and Today Tonight. Michelle has over seven years experience editing news video footage for one of the major TV Stations in Perth.

Though we quote depending on the requirements of each job, you should expect to pay between $800 and $2200 for an eight hour interview depending on the format.

From there it is up to you. We can create compelling written personal histories as well amazing life stories on DVD (see the guide to the cost of a fully edited life Story on DVD in the table below). In fact, our stuff would not look out of place in an ABC shop! Obviously, these products cost a lot more which is why a lot of our clients tend to pool their resources with their brothers or sisters.

                                Remembering When Life Story DVD Packages (fully edited)

I shall never forget the experience of seeing the impact on Dad along with other members of the family and friends. He has watched it a number of times since the event and keeps saying the photos are much better than he remembered. Thank you Neil . The finished product was fantastic!

(Melanie Fear discusses how her Dad felt as he watched his life unfold on the big screen)