The Wolfs Dance Christmas 2011 *NEW VIDEO* [from The Wolfs Dance Disney folks]

[BLLB]

Amazing video, as always. Thank you so much for sharing.

[klacey1]

I absolutely loved the last video-- this one is just wonderful as well! What great keepsakes for your family!

[Pixie Princess]

Love, love love it! I remembered seeing shots from your previous video in the MM&Y show, but there was more than I noticed during the show. Very cool!

Like others I loved the oldest contsantly texting. That shot at the end with the "My family is pretty cool" totally sent me over the edge. I was already pretty misty, but darn...

You've inspired to get back to editing a video I've been working on document our year as AP holders. Thanks!

[exwdwcm]

Love love love this video and love seeing Olivia in it too (TR buddy!)

almost inspires me to try something fun, IF only i was so talented and DH wasn't so camera shy!

[brightvalleyjrts]

Wonderful!!! Just wonderful!!! My boys and I watch your videos ALL. THE. TIME!! I can't wait to show them your new one in the morning. They will be excited.

(Oh and the cruise video is still my favorite, I could watch it over and over)

[ProudMommyof2]

Just WOW!!!!

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Watching your video was a great way to start our day!

[BBG-BLT]

That was wonderful - wish I had talent like that...

made me cry -

[Lisa Sox Fan]

Love it!! So much fun!
Great way to watch your memories.

[moparop]

We are huge fans of your videos too! My 1 year old asks to watch them all the time. I am hoping the next time we go we can pull off our own music video!

I have a question about the singing. Do you record each line of the song one time or do you do it a bunch and choose the best at the end?

[KEMdisney]

WOW! I feel like I'm writing to a famous person! Your videos are inspirational and I can easily spend a large portion of my day watching ALL of them. Your family is the pure definition of family and these videos will be a wonderful positive memory for everyone for years to come!! I hope that your family has more videos to come!! It must feel great to know that YOU and YOUR FAMILY put smiles on people all around the world!

[DisGirl819]

That was awesome! Although you did freak out my 3 yo DD when your head went up in flames, LOL. I just told her it was a cool trick

[Millie12591]

Originally Posted by PIRATEGIRL007

I love that you incorporated your teens cell phone use in the video. Why fight it, just embrace it, they are alot of teens out there that can relate to that!

I've loved watching your kids grow, when the commercial comes on at work I always say Hey I know those people!

They have a commercial??!!?? Now I know I'm behind.

Outstanding as always!! Love watching your family. I've stared getting curious about doing videos and editing, but everything I see is all done by Apple products, something I dont have and not sure I will.
I appreciate your advice on what products to get if a PC user, anyone else out there willing to chime in on products to use for editing and camera's, I would love to get an under water camera, so I'll use Mr. Wolfs adivce on that, but any other suggestions?
I typically go Sony when it comes to a camera, should I not? And DSLR is probably not in the cards for me. More work than I want to mess with at this time.
Thank you again for your amazing family videos, the family is just beautiful....where can I see your commercial??

[PirateMommy]

You have to be the coolest parents ever!!

And I think its fun to just make one of those slide show videos with the photos to a song. Y'all rock! Literally, of course.

My favorite has to be your eldest playing the video games, though. Priceless, and so typical of teens. What a great memory, and I know each and every one of you will cherish it always.

[CVW]

Thanks again for the kind words. If you're interested in editing, I think I should point out one very important step between filming and editing--it's screening ("scrubbing") your clips. I had about two hours of video for this trip, but I spent an entire week studying it and logging it before I even made my first actual edit. I probably watched the entire batch through about four times, and each time I picked up things I didn't see before…or I'd see something differently because it reminded me of another clip. The best example was the sunglasses at the beginning. That wasn't planned. I just realized it was possible about the third time after I watched it.

Originally Posted by kimgof

…I am more the photographer than the videographer. I am familiar with Photoshop with my photos but none of the video software. Did you find it easy to use? Since I am familiar with editing photos would I be able to just jump into editing video as well?… Also, I only have a flip camera for video. Do you think I could do something with that?

If you're familiar with PhotoShop, then Adobe Premiere or Premiere Elements should be right up your alley. Get it, and just try editing some photos into a video first. Then bring in some video once you're comfortable with it. As for the Flip, you can definitely make some great video with it. There are great low-priced cameras out there. Use them first, and decide if video is really for you before you buy a nicer camera.

Originally Posted by SyracuseWolvrine

I had been looking into the GoPro ... just curious as to your thoughts.

Gotta love the attitude of a camera with no viewfinder. It's meant to record a first-person point-of-view of you in action. (Skiing, biking, walking, etc.) I bought one for my brother. The lack of a viewfinder was a dealbreaker for me. I want to see what I'm shooting. The Olympus Tough is a grown up version of the GoPro.

Originally Posted by fauna74

Just chiming in again with some questions-
do you do any scripting/storyboarding before the trip? As you listen to your song pre-trip (btw, was your oldest happier with the "edgier" choice?) do you map out some shots, either on your paper or just in your head? Or is all just spontaneous?

Any tips on getting my 14 year old son to participate? He runs the other way as soon as he sees the video camera. Practically the only footage I got of him last trip was him serpentining in front of me trying to get out of the shot.

It's definitely not all spontaneous, although the goal is to make it look that way. I've mapped out much of the video in my head as I listen to the song. The hardest part is making each scene quick enough to fit. I like to find a song to which we can tell a story…especially songs that have a slow part in the middle. The change of tempo makes for some creative opportunities.

As for getting the 14 year-old on board, I'd say to come up with ideas that allow him to be himself, but still having fun. (My oldest liked the iPhone idea a lot. I didn't think of it until after we got there. I kept telling him to put down the phone, and I finally thought, forget it. Let's make it work.) If your son tries to get out of every shot, ask him to come up with creative ways of jumping out of every shot. Could be fun.

Originally Posted by BetsyRNBSN

It is an AWESOME video, and we are glad to have had the chance to dance with you guys... I talked about doing something like this (only on a MUCH simpler scale, ) for our trip, but then I broke my ankle, didn't buy the video camera and therefore it didn't get started... BUT we got the chance to dance, so that was cool! Though I didn't realize my youngest just stood there and watched... sorry!

Any suggestions for a newbie, I have looked and looked at the video cameras and the more I looked, the more confused I became, so I didn't get anything. I like the idea of getting underwater footage, and would be open to having 2 different video cameras if a good one out of the water didn't work in the water... any suggestions would be helpful. Definately not a mac user, so I would get the photoshop premiere to work with.

Again, great video, great family, great dancing!!!

Betsy, it was SO GREAT meeting up with you. Please tell everyone thanks for playing along, and I'm glad you're back on your feet. And don't worry about your youngest. I thought her smile was adorable…just looking around, wondering why we're all so strange.

If you want an underwater camera, look at Olympus. They make the most styles at the most price points. Start there, and if you're wanting higher quality out of the water, start with Sony or Canon camcorders.

Originally Posted by moparop

I have a question about the singing. Do you record each line of the song one time or do you do it a bunch and choose the best at the end?

Great question, as my answer keeps changing. Our first video we just winged it because we thought we knew the tempo. It worked great, but I realized later we were lucky. Now, I try to keep the song playing on my iPhone. If the crowds are too loud, I put in my earbud and sing out loud while they sing along to my tempo. You can get away without doing that, but never for more than a phrase or two in the song.

Originally Posted by DisGirl819

That was awesome! Although you did freak out my 3 yo DD when your head went up in flames, LOL. I just told her it was a cool trick

Gotta keep my boys happy…okay, and me too. We'll probably keep exploding heads as our edgier tradition. The girls prefer the Wolf Family Wind Party. (Which we do on our Christmas videos.)

Originally Posted by Millie12591

They have a commercial??!!?? Now I know I'm behind.

...where can I see your commercial??

Millie, I think I covered most of your questions already, but let me know if I haven't. As for the commercials, we're in this one, which was only shown in Florida. (It's got Zoe's "I wanna do it again" line.) And also in this one. If you watch closely, you see the kids in their primary commercial here.

The Magic, Memories, and You show can be viewed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGWnN...IMl9hw&index=6