Legacy Multimedia: Visual Storyteller Stefani Twyford Reaches Far Beyond Celebrity Life Stories
Pam Vetter
December 02, 2009
Stefani Twyford, Founder and President of Legacy Multimedia based in Houston, is proud of her work as a visual storyteller.
"A video biography is like an autobiography but done as a film. Similar to something you would see on A&E's Biography Channel or the Ken Burns specials that have become so popular in the past few years, it's telling a story using a variety of multimedia to support the story line. We combine vintage and current photos, old film footage, old audio tracks, memorabilia such as awards, souvenirs, newspaper and magazine articles with video interviews, voice-over narrations, animations and music to create a tapestry of images and stories that share memories, impart wisdom and mark history," Stefani explained. "Legacy Multimedia was launched at the end of 2003 and started by myself and my partner, Isabelle MacCrimmon. The business was initially started as a way to address the hodge-podge of faded photos in shoeboxes under beds and film sitting in the closet with no projector to view it. We went off in a lot of different directions before exclusively honing in on what we do best, visual storytelling."
Growing up in Beverly Hills, California, Stefani was surrounded by the entertainment industry and famous names, but she didn't have a vested interest in the products being created. "Actually I had no interest in film, the entertainment industry or any aspect of anything that I'm doing now. I felt strongly aware of injustice and wanted to do what I could to help heal people. I was also very interested in the environment. I was first pursuing a career in social work and psychology and much later went to design school. I actually think it's ironic that I've ended up doing what I do," Stefani noted. "I believe that we are a cumulative sum of our lifetime experiences and my calling in life as a visual storyteller has utilized pretty much everything I've ever learned."
Legacy Multimedia has created two arms of services. The first one focuses on personal and family histories. The second addresses corporate executive biographies and gala tributes.
"Each has a slightly different approach and I would definitely say that the personal and family histories are very intimate. I usually have no more than myself and a camera person with me for these, as I want people to be very comfortable. As I tell them, 'we're just having a really nice chat,' and it so happens that a camera is in the room. The corporate tributes are often more formal with more people to shoot in a day and I'll take a small crew. Usually that will be me, my lead camera person and often a secondary cameraman as well as a production assistant who takes care of tasks such as powdering foreheads, getting water, finding lunch and helping to load and move gear if we have a multiple location shoot."
In her specialized work of creating video biographies, Stefani says that all of the stories she's heard are memorable. "What we so often see is a look into a life style that is disappearing or is on the edge of being lost. A family history and often a local culture that just doesn't occur anymore. Earlier this year we did a story on a family in northern Mississippi. The family hired us to celebrate the mother who gave up her own ambitions to raise three sons and support her politician husband. It was a southern lifestyle of white gloves, servants and mint julep parties in an area of Mississippi that is now in economic and cultural decline. These people lead such amazing lives and contributed so much to their community over the generations. It was sad to see the area and witness so many businesses closing and some of the other issues the community was facing during our visit. But we were able to help them celebrate their past and communicate that history to future generations of this large family.
"We were hired a couple years ago by a family whose mother had died of cancer a few years earlier. Her husband told us that he didn't want the movie to be a memorial to her but a celebration of the way the family was when they were all together. This was the kind of family that sang musicals at the dinner table together and were very close and involved. We created a beautiful film that reminisced about all the wonderful experiences and interests this family shared together. A good year or so after we completed the project the husband called to tell us that initially his children were not able to watch the film but as time went by, not only did they watch the film frequently, but they began inviting others over to the home to watch the film so they could share and experience others learning about their family. I recently ran into one of the children who told me they had been doing some genealogical research and were finding new family members they didn't know about and sharing the movie with them. This is definitely an example of how these stories do not stand alone in time and place but serve as tools to connect generations and heal families."
While personal historians share life stories in a variety of ways including print and audio, video is special to Stefani. "I think what draws me to video is how it communicates the emotional nuance of a person. It really is the next best thing to being there. You can see how they look, hear their voice, their laugh, hear the stories directly from their mouth and witness little personality quirks that you recognize as family traits. I watch video of my own grandmother and see a facial expression when she laughs that my entire family has. It's really uncanny. You can't really experience that in any other medium," Stefani said. "I think the greatest joy is seeing how emotionally moved our clients get from this process. When you do a biography, it's not at all like going to the store and buying a video, it's a process from day one. Kind of like going to memoir camp, it's more of an experience than just a finished product you get in the end. We guide clients through exercises, help them organize materials, and they connect with other relatives through this common project that elicits all kinds of new conversations. It can be a really fun experience and I don't think people quite realize that before they get started. Seeing them get present to the magnitude of their accomplishments and watching them share that with others allows them to feel understood. We all matter and having someone willing to say, yes, you do matter and I want to preserve who you are so that your heirs will know you better can transform a family. It's a real honor to be able to help people through that and be a witness to that transformation."
With each project, Stefani learns a great deal about the way people live their lives. "We go into people's homes and offices, meet those closest to them, hear their stories, and each one is pretty incredible. It's easy to think that everyone is the same as us, but while we're all very similar, each of us has such a unique combination of abilities, values and experiences that we bring to the table. Being able to share this process with them has been transformative for us. We learn so much."
If any of her interviewees are nervous, Stefani finds a way to make them feel relaxed about being on camera.
"I have a lot of skills working with individuals and have developed several techniques that allows a more intimate exchange to develop. A lot of it is in the way the room is staged but much of it is in how I've learned to be with the people I interview. We interviewed a family a couple of weeks ago that was quite nervous about it. The wife tried to reschedule the shoot claiming she had a bad haircut. I spoke with the husband who said mostly the problem was with the daughter, that she was afraid of being on camera. I told them we had no other choices but to spend that day shooting and it would be fine. When I showed up, I could tell that all three were nervous. I set about giving them tasks to work on to keep their minds off the shoot and spent the setup time talking to each of them about what was going to take place, who was going to do what, etc. By the time we sat down for the interview they were much more relaxed and able to joke around with me. During the interview I used several techniques to center them. I have conversations with them instead of asking a bunch of questions and filming the response. Other family members showed up throughout the day to be interviewed and by the time we were ready for them, the couple was having fun and able to coach the other family members about what it was going to be like. It was a remarkable session and the next day I got an email from the husband telling how much fun they all had!"
Life and death are intertwined, even in the world of video biographies. "We've done some posthumous pieces. In those cases, we've taken what media is available and often interviewed loved ones talking about that person, sharing certain memories, explaining photographs, etc. We worked with one woman who was suffering from Leukemia. We staged a room in her hospital and hired a professional makeup artist to assist. We created a beautiful and moving piece that was more of an ethical will than a history. She passed about a year later and her family regularly thanks us for the beautiful memoir we created. I, in turn, thank them for having the foresight to create such a beautiful tribute to her. We've also worked with several families who had the vision of creating a tribute for a loved one well in advance of their passing. They wanted a video that was more detailed than something that could be done at the last minute. Usually when a relative has passed, there is very little time to turn something around and the family is in such stress. We prefer to work with families and people that are in a more relaxed and reflective state and really give them something that will communicate for many generations. That's very difficult to do at the last minute. It would be great if the funeral industry could address this by introducing clients to the concept of creating personal histories when they are at the stage of buying their plots or creating their last wishes."
Legacy Multimedia offers other services that support the focus of creating video biographies. "We restore old photographs as well as convert old 8 and 16 mm film to digital format. We started offering these services because we often need to incorporate these items into the work we do. We wanted to make sure that we could offer our clients the highest quality in these services so that what we provided them at the end was the best quality available. We also help families archive entire photo collections, as well as restore old photo albums and family scrapbooks. We're currently restoring a large scrapbook that was damaged during one of our hurricanes and the end result will be reprinted copies, one for each family member.
As a result of their specialized work, Legacy Multimedia continues to be recognized as a leader. "We've won a local award in the special events industry two year in a row now for best video production as well as three other international awards in the past year, two Videographer Awards and one Hermes Creative Award. Two of the awards were for a tribute video on a local couple that was shown at a charity gala and the other Videographer Award was for the family history of the Mississippi family I referred to earlier."
Nationally, the future of video biographies looks strong, because it is more accessible than ever before.
"We all live our lives and hope to make a mark on the world in one way or another. Having the story of your life; what you've done and who you've touched, is a huge gift to leave to the family that comes after and helps them put a context around where they come from and what sacrifices have been made and lessons learned to give them the life that they enjoy. We are really the first generation where you don't have to be an ex-president and have an Endowment of the Arts grant in order to do your family history. The technology is available to most people and I am committed to teaching people how important this is and supporting them as they explore the various options for working with their own family stories. Companies who chronicle the history and vision behind their company typically have higher employee satisfaction and retention. People are proud to work for a company they see as understanding and honoring its roots. They feel as if they are a small part in something significant and can better relate to the story and the individuals that created that vision."
For more information on Legacy Multimedia visit http://www.legacymultimedia.com/
Pictured: Stefani Twyford, Founder and President of Legacy Multimedia
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