I did two memorials, and I charge $600.00 for each, 1 1/2 hours on the church memorial service, 1 hour at the graveside and 1 hour at the reception taping guest giving comfort words to the relatives of the deceased.

No fancy editing, just cuts and dissolves adding a little highlight...No close up shot on the body, just a wide shot...It's a little bit creepy in the beginning while editing at night...But I did get use to it.

It's not fun specially if you see the sorrows of those left behind. But it's an honest way of living.

more and more recently, clients (well, family of deceased clients... ) have been requesting slideshows... these are extremely powerful after the sermons and before the final reading (depends on the religion of course)
Its predomaintely Anglican or Catholic that are into the slideshows.

For the filming, I usually run 2 cameras, one from centre aisle getting a wide shot, and the other is off to the side getting the readings and family.
I know its morbid to film people bawling their eyes out, but i guess this is what theyre paying for.

Edit is VERY basic. crossfades only, background music and titles. But thats about it.

keeping it tasteful is paramount to ensuring the family are comfortable and that you show empathy in what you do and how u do it.

This one is a graveside service. I'm thinking about giving him a couple options: One Camera with the Pastor mic'd, or Two Cameras with blended transitions. These are based on an hourly rate, which I usually don't do.

Since it's graveside I won't suggest it, but I would rather have done a nice slideshow with our projector and followed it up with video of the speakers. That way everyone could see the photos, but the family could have everything on a DVD. To me the photos set to music would bring back happy memories and the funeral would remind me of the pain of the loss.

BTW, for orchestrated slide shows, should I do them in what I know (Vegas 7) or pick up Pro Show Gold?

Vegas is probably your best tool as you already know it, there are some script plugins you can buy which can also automate the entire procedure

I've shot a few funerals. Most were for close friends in the video business or for my family.

However, the most personally gratifying one was about a year ago. A very well known local figure passed away, and it was expected that the church would be overflowing. (They were correct!) I was asked to put one camera at the back of the church and send a feed to the fellowship hall in the next building. That's ALL they wanted! I added a wireless mic at the podium, and just for the heck of it I hit record on the camera. The service, with 10 speakers, went on for about 90 minutes. They were pleased I decided to record it, and all the positive comments I got make me think that when I'm asked again, I'll likely accept the challenge.

And, as was correctly pointed out above, more people are passing away than are getting married. (Plus, funerals happen every day of the week!)

Mark

I did a memorial service about two years ago. It was held about 6 months after the funeral. There were over 200 people there from all over the world to remember the deceased. He was the owner of a camp in Maine and affected many, many lives in a positive way. It was very rewarding to do this type of service.

I agree you would need a thick skin for the funeral service. A celebration of life is different.

Script plugins
 

I have tried some scripts for this, but they just screw up the crop all over the place. What seems to throw them is the portrait vs landscape photos and the photos scanned in that are not standard size / ratio.

Of course this script was just a simple "apply crop to everything" so they would all be 16:9 instead of doing that by hand.

I don't know how well scripts woudl work for apply the ken burns. I mean they could mix up the pan / zoom a bit but they wouldn't be smart enough (correct me if I am wrong) to know what the subject of the pictures is in order to focus on it, zoom to it, or pan to it.

Am I off base on that? Are they that smart now?

Well if I don't ....the next guy might. How can it be wrong to provide a service that people want. Not everyone wants it....but those that do at least can get it. If it ain't for you then so be it....
Mark

Well, we shot the graveside memorial today w/ two fx1s and one wireless lav. We were told that the Pastor would be the only one to speak, but he invited others to share. They did, standing up where they were without a mic. Nearly every one of them spoke so softly that I could barely hear them, so I'm not optimistic for what our ambience mic picked up, though I'm sure it picked up the MANUFACTURING PLANT adjacent to the cemetary.

As far as emotion, we were so locked in to production and sensitivity to the guests, I wasn't phased. Maybe I'll be more-so when I edit.