I’m considering doing a short video of some sort for my niece for her 16th birthday in 2007.
I have a bit of a creative streak, but more or less in the actual production side. I’m no writer.
I am looking for ideas. It can’t be a sappy slow song with a bunch of photos doing that Ken Burns thing, either. Something that won’t embarrass a 16 year old in front of her friends. Something light hearted and fun.
I was thinking of a fake documentary thing, but I don’t know what to do for the “story”. A major catch with this is that she effectively lost her father via divorce a few years ago and I’d really rather not touch on that. A “story of your life” would look odd if I glossed over her missing father I think. Wouldn’t it?
So what should I do? What would be funny, not sappy and come off alright? What “story” could I tell with this thing?
How close are you to her friends? That’s where all the good stories lie, especially if the friends also relate with her family, so they aren’t left out. Seems like you could build a fun story around some quirk of hers or inside jokes/stories they have(without embarrassing her, of course).
She keeps her friends and family quite separate (as I suspect many 15 year olds might). Have to walk on the other side of the mall… that sort of thing.
I don’t know any of her friends, but if she has a “best friend” maybe I could try and get her to help out (with all parental permissions etc)
As for the audience, mostly family, perhaps some friends. My sister keeps saying she wants to do “something big” for the occasion, like rent a hall and have a banquet type event, so I assume there will be some non-relatives there.