Real Mitzvah Stories - Best Mitzvahs

What Is A Photo Montage? A bar mitzvah montage is a collection of photos and videos that showcase the bar or bat mitzvah’s life milestones. It serves as a nostalgic piece to the event. Why Do I Need A Bar Mitzvah Photo Montage? It’s a great way to honor family and friends that have been a part of your child’s life, but it certainly is not required. Who Creates The Montage? Your child – Sometimes your child may be creative or tech savvy, so this is a great way for them to help with the planning and preparation for the event. Parent or family friend – If your child is unable, or if you’d like to make the montage a surprise, reaching out to family may be a good way to save money and still get help creating the montage Your videographer – Your videographer is the most equipment to create your montage. They are intimately knowledgeable about editing software, output methods, and they can usually provide the equipment to project it at your event. A specialty editing firm – There are specialty firms that exist to create montages. Try a local internet search to find a provider near you or a national supplier. How To Prepare And Create A Montage: Step 1: Gather photos & video – This can be the hardest part. A good rule of thumb is 10 photos for every year of your child’s life. You may need to scan photos and reach out to family and friends to collect the photos. Be sure to ask your child for photos of them and their friends; they usually have a large supply on their phone! It’s also important to think about your guest list, and the people who are planning attend. If you can, try to include at least one photo of each person who is attending. Shoot for 130 photos, which would create a montage that is 8-12 minutes (the perfect length!). Pulling video clips will keep things interesting and engaging. Step 2: Organize photos into groups – Think about how you want the montage to flow. You can either do it chronologically or by groups of people (e.g., Family, Siblings, Friends, Baseball team, Vacations, etc.) Step 3: Scan photos – Ultimately, everything will need to be digital for production, so start scanning! Step 4: Edit the montage – This requires special software to stream all the photos together. You can do this with iPhone, Final Cut, for example. Step 5: Select music – It’s important to have multiple songs play throughout the montage to keep your guests engaged. Step 6: Export – Export multiple copies onto DVDs or flash drives, depending on how you are projecting at your event. Step 6: Show at your event – Check with your venue to see if they have the ability to play the montage at no additional cost. If not, you will need to hire a company to play the montage. Be sure to test it IN FULL before your event begins! Alternatives To A Montage: Montages do not work for every family or every party. There are several other ways you can honor and engage your guests, such as a candle lighting or putting all of the photos of friends and family in a photo book. Make Your Montage Unique: The montage is a great way to personalize your event and create a memorable moment. Unique ideas including adding video clips, creating a voice over script to narrate the images, tying in your theme through imagery, music, and transitions, serve movie popcorn and snacks during the viewing. Common Mistakes To Avoid: Too long – Anything beyond 12 minutes may make your guests restless and start talking or looking at their phones during the montage Not showing photos long enough on screen – You want to be sure people have time to view the image before it transitions to the next. A good rule of thumb is 3 seconds per photo with 4 or fewer people and 5 seconds for group shots Not testing the outputted montage – So many things can go wrong when you output the montage onto a DVD or flash drive. Be sure you test and retest! Forgetting people – A faux pas is forgetting important family members or people in the montage, so be sure to double check your guest list Not having the right equipment – Be sure to check with your DJ to make sure you have the right equipment to hook up to their speakers Music Suggestions: For a boy Beautiful Boy – John Lennon Sharp Dressed Man - Z Z Top Let’s Hear it for the Boy - Deniece Williams Simple Man - Lynard Skynard Tough Little Boys - Gary Allen Macho Man by: Village People For a girl Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison John Mayer - Daughters Girls Just wanna Have fun - Miley Cyrus My little Girl - Tim McGraw I Loved Her First - Heartland Just A Girl - No Doubt Miss Independent - Kelly Clarkson Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison Isn’t She Lovely - Stevie Wonder My Girl - The Temptations Mama I’m A Big Girl Now - Hairspray Family Songs We Are Family – Sister Sledge Friends theme song You’ve Got A Friend in me – Randy Newman Other great options 1,2,3,4 – Plain white T’s Viva La Vida – Cold Play Beautiful Day – U2 Never Grow Up – Taylor Swift Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield Unconditionally – Katy Perry Forever Young – Rod Stewart Here Comes the Sun – Beatles On Top of the World – Imagine Dragons Hey Soul Sister – Train Home – Phillip Phillips Who Says – Selena Gomez & The Scene Treasure – Bruno Mars Slipping through My Fingers - Abba Time of Your Life - Green Day Smile - Uncle Kracker Raise Your Glass - Pink I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas Till the world Ends - Britney Spears Good Time - Carly Rae Jepsen & Owl City Just the way you are - Bruno Mars It’s My Life - Bon Jovi Without you - David Guetta Time of our lives - Miley Cyrus Good Life - One Republic In My Life - Beatles My Wish - Rascall Flats Seasons of Love - Rent Celebrate - Pitbull Let them be little - Lonestar Photograph - Nickelback Best Day of my life - American Authors Story of my Life - One Direction Remember When - Alan Jackson Love you like a love song - Selena Gomez Don’t Stop Believing - Journey Teenage Dream - Katy Perry Sweet Child O’ Mine - Guns N’ Roses Your Smiling Face - James Taylor I Don’t want to Miss a thing - Aerosmith Classic - MKTO