Special occasions

My baptism – 1984

Posted by meraki

It’s always a little odd editing video for something you know you attended but can’t remember. It’s me in this video, gettin’ baptized an’ all, but I was way too little to remember it. Very weird cognitive dissonance thinking it’s some other little scamp all grumpy and crying in the font, though I recognize her as me.

I got a lot of nice words from family about the last video I uploaded. I think we all loved seeing so much happiness in such a beautiful moment in life in that last one. It was great seeing Yiayia knitting and her and Pappou smiling with the grandbabies, back in the Juniper Street house no less. I have at least one more film reel converted to VHS already on my computer that I can upload soon, I hope to get to that upon my return from a business trip this week. And I think I may be running up against the end of film reels on VHS that my parents have at hand. (It may be time to start asking around other family members for theirs, if they’d like to contribute…)

On less happy news, it seems the key piece of hardware that I’ve been using to convert VHS tapes to digital has gone all primadonna and refuses to work. I have no idea why. I’ve had it about a year now and have used it maybe half a dozen times in total. I’m a little afraid to think that it might already have bit the dust after such little use, but all other measures I’ve taken to troubleshoot it are pointing to that conclusion. As it’s not a cheap device to replace, I really hope I can get it running again, though I’m mainly just annoyed that something I’ve barely used has already started getting very temperamental. πŸ™ I’ve done nothing to change my set up or anything, so this is completely out of the blue and very, very aggravating.

Bergeron wedding: May 25, 1973

Posted by meraki

And now for a ‘guest video’ if you like: I’ve digitized the wedding tape of Eric’s parents, Mary Ann and Grant Bergeron. Since I’ve been digitizing videos of my family’s important events, I thought it only natural to do the same for Eric’s family too!

Bergeron wedding from Meraki Mou on Vimeo.

I always enjoy looking at footage from the 70s, especially the early 70s, because good lord — the lapels! What’s not to love? They were all in style at the time, of course. (And yes I’m well aware that 30+ years from now when people look at pictures from my wedding, they will probably say the same things…)

I did some light optimization and editing on this, mainly on the footage inside the church. I was able to amp up the overall exposure and brighten the midtones so we can see a little more of what’s going on, but as with all film-to-VHS-to-digital, unfortunately a lot of the original “data” is lost. There’s not a lot you can do, but I did what I could. I think the first few minutes are significantly improved from the original! (I’ll post a comparison later.)

Eric’s parents were married on May 25, 1973 at St. Jerome Roman Catholic church in New Britain, CT. The reception was in Bristol at Georgette’s house (Grant’s sister).


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Bergeron wedding

Theia Anna & Theio Harry’s wedding 1968

Posted by meraki

Here it is – the video from Theia Anna and Theio Harry’s wedding! It’s mostly a lot of dancing at the reception, but the procession before the wedding is on there too. As noted below, the first 2 minutes are not very good (under exposed!) but after that it gets a lot better. I loved seeing the dancing at the end (very 60s looking, some of it :))

Theohari & Anna wedding from Meraki Mou on Vimeo.

Theia Anna and Theio Harry's lovely wedding in Greece. The first 2 minutes are very grainy and underexposed (I did what little I could to fix it, but not much I can do). Don't worry, the quality gets much better 2 minutes in.
The film starts at the procession through the village, for some reason excludes the ceremony, and then has lots and LOTS of footage of the dancing afterwards.

Pascha 1968

Posted by meraki

This video was spliced right in the middle of a film of the family in Greece (oh, Pappou and his splicing!)
I am going to guess this was in 1968, though it’d be great to find out for sure — anyone remember when this was?

Pascha (Greek Easter) 1968 from Meraki Mou on Vimeo.

This clip was right smack-dab in the middle of the film of the family in Greece. Before this clip is everyone wandering around Athens and the village, and immediately after is Theia Anna's wedding. I'm pretty sure this video was a bit back in time, not sure if it's 1968 but it is likely around then.

It's definitely Greek Easter though. Those red candles and red eggs are a giveaway!

It’s possible that after the Easter meal the video takes place somewhere else (or is spliced in from another event), but I am not sure. I could use a second opinion πŸ™‚

There was actually audio on these and the next few files — not the original audio from the events of course, but added-in music by the film-to-VHS company in York that did the first transfer. It’s pretty hokey stuff, like random jazz meant to give these videos an “old-timey” feel. I didn’t think anyone would be all that attached to the music so I removed it from this video and all the rest.

Also I just bought a Vimeo Plus account, which means I can upload more videos more quickly and you can view them in high definition. As always, all these videos are downloadable — you can save them to your computer! Drop me a line if you need help doing this.

SOOC: Wedding reception video, August 24, 1975, Blue Point, Long Island

Posted by meraki

Another one straight out of camera…

Mom and dad’s wedding reception – no edits, basic color balance from Meraki Mou on Vimeo.

My parents’ wedding reception. August 24, 1975, in Blue Point (Long Island), NY.

There is no audio on the original.

This is a digital transfer of a VHS copy of a film reel, but the original quality wasn’t fantastic either.

Not exactly SOOC, I used the super basic color correction in FCX.

Will be doing exposure and color corrections on this, section by section, as there was a lot of splicing in the film. Not sure what I can do for stability or strobe/film flicker but I will work on it.

SOOC: Wedding video, August 24, 1975 – Blue Point, Long Island

Posted by meraki

Straight Out Of Camera (so to speak).

Mom and dad’s wedding – no edits, basic color balance from Meraki Mou on Vimeo.

My parents’ wedding. August 1975 in Blue Point (Long Island), NY at St. John Greek Orthodox Church.

On the map:

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Not exactly SOOC, I used the super basic color correction in FCX (side note: I miss the old FCP!), but nothing else.

There is no audio on the original.

This is a digital transfer of a VHS copy of a film reel, but the original quality wasn’t fanastic either.

Will be doing exposure and color corrections on this, section by section, as there was a lot of splicing in the film. Not sure what I can do for stability or strobe/film flicker but I will work on it.