Slide show for a funeral

[taffy]

I thought maybe some of you would be more tech savvy than I am.  Actually my 3 month old puppy is more tech savvy than I am.  I've been given the task of creating a slide presentation for my mom's service (mainly because I have most of the photo albums).  I'd like to put together something nice with music if possible.  My 16 year old son will do most of it I just need an idea of where to even start.  

[W.T.Faulkner]

I've been really impressed with Canva. Even I can use it, and the stuff I make looks good. lol

[Susie]

I did the one for my mom's funeral in iMovie. Picking the songs was one of the hardest parts. Two that I used were Wildflowers (Tom Petty) and Keep Me In Your Heart (Warren Zevon). Holy crap did I shed a lot of tears in the process of making it, but it was almost therapeutic. I'm sorry you're now faced with this task.

[rubytue]

Not quite the same as a slideshow, but for my dads funeral (less funeral, more wake), I set up a computer with a large monitor. Then I had a folder of pictures and just made windows screensaver use that folder to shuffle through the photos. It wasn’t a set slideshow portion of the program, but it was just playing the whole time. It was next to where the speakers were, and in my opinion, it was nice for those that wanted to look forward but not right at the speaker. Because, let’s face it, it’s hard sometimes and you want to look away to hold yourself together. That part wasn’t planned, but it worked out nice.

I forgot to start the background music. 

[taffy]

Jun 8, 2021 11:02:57 GMT -5 Susie said:

I did the one for my mom's funeral in iMovie. Picking the songs was one of the hardest parts. Two that I used were Wildflowers (Tom Petty) and Keep Me In Your Heart (Warren Zevon). Holy crap did I shed a lot of tears in the process of making it, but it was almost therapeutic. I'm sorry you're now faced with this task.

keep me in your heart kills me every time I hear it.  If I need a good cry thats my go to..

[Pilsy]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I like iMovie a lot. I find it user-friendly, and I'm sure a teen would pick it up without any trouble at all.

[minzy]

I have used before/am using Animoto for slideshows. If you do the free version, the music choices are more limited. It does have kind of a subtle “Animoto” in the bottom right corner, but the paid version omits that and the music choices expand significantly.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

[cleo29]

My FIL created one for my MIL and it basically showed her life, from childhood, until she died. IN his case he narrated parts because we could not have a funeral right away. It was neat to hear how they met and all that, but overall it was just nice to see her life through the years.

[morticia]

As a funeral director, I create the slideshows for families as part of our services. I would inquire with the funeral home if they create the slideshow, and if not then please ask what format their equipment will play. If services will be at church or at an offsite location please inquire with them as well. I can’t tell you how many times families take on this task but then it cannot be played properly at time of visitation or service. If possible test it beforehand at the location to ensure it works properly.

[RoxMonster]

I'm sorry for your loss. I did this for FIL's funeral 7 years ago. I used Power POint for the photos to go through in a slide show. We just played music separately through the sound system.

[simpsongal]

Our funeral home had a program they used, so I can't help on the tech. But I did this for my dad last year.

We did 50-60 pics (which felt about right)
I had a list to make sure I hit certain key timelines (early mom & dad, early kids, teen years, etc.) and a balance re: # of people (e.g., 3-4 for each sibling, 1-2 of each grandchild).

I'm so sorry for your loss

[TheSeaward]

I just did my dad's for his funeral this weekend. The funeral home have me a site to upload photos and they did the rest. It turned out real nice

[preppy]

I would ask the funeral home to take this on. My inlaws own a funeral home and DH used to make them for his dad when we were local and now he makes them himself mostly. It can be a huge task and something that many people may find easier to outsource.

[taffy]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I’m not sure how to go about the funeral home way. Mom passed April of 2020. We haven’t had the service because I wanted her to have more than a zoom funeral. The funeral home who I used for cremation is here in Houston. Her funeral will be in a very small town in west Texas. I don’t know if the funeral gone here would still do that being as it’s been a year and a half.

[taffy]

Jun 8, 2021 13:11:42 GMT -5 morticia said:

As a funeral director, I create the slideshows for families as part of our services. I would inquire with the funeral home if they create the slideshow, and if not then please ask what format their equipment will play. If services will be at church or at an offsite location please inquire with them as well. I can’t tell you how many times families take on this task but then it cannot be played properly at time of visitation or service. If possible test it beforehand at the location to ensure it works properly.

Thank you. I’d not thought of that possibility. I’ll definitely look into it.

[pinkalicious]

Jun 8, 2021 16:19:03 GMT -5 taffy said:

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I’m not sure how to go about the funeral home way. Mom passed April of 2020. We haven’t had the service because I wanted her to have more than a zoom funeral. The funeral home who I used for cremation is here in Houston. Her funeral will be in a very small town in west Texas. I don’t know if the funeral gone here would still do that being as it’s been a year and a half.

Same here with my Dad. He passed in April 2020, we had his service almost a year to the day later. My husband was in charge of the slideshow. He put together a shared album on my laptop and invited my mom and sisters to it. Then the day of, at the luncheon I just had to open the album and push play. My sister had a separate music playlist and just brought a Bluetooth speaker.