Pergamon Design

Below are some of the questions we've gotten about our service. If you don't find the answer to your query here, please email us. We'd be happy to hear from you!

Q. We haven't traveled yet. What kinds of pictures do you suggest?

When preparing for any adoption trip, it is a good idea to make a list of "Must-Have" pictures and footage. We wrote an article for Adoptive Families Magazine that you may find useful. It was called, "A Trip to Remember." We suggest the following as a start:

Leaving home. Your life will be totally different after coming home with your child even if this is not your first child. Take pictures of the nursery, you at the airport, the planes you took to get to your destination.
The moment you receive your child. Both of you with the baby if there are two parents.
Official paperwork sessions. Sometimes these happen in a notary's office, or judge's chamber, sometimes in a lawyer's office. Even if the setting isn't photogenic, it is important for your child's sake to document. It will help fill in the blanks when explaining the adoption process later.
Lots of spontaneous moments with your child. As much footage/pictures as you can take! Inside as well as outside.
Pictures with others you traveled with. At the time, it might seems that you don't have much in common with others in your travel group, but that may change as your child grows older and wants to know other children who were born in the same place she/he was.
Your child's caretakers. If your child was in foster care, get pictures, or better yet, footage of the foster family. Have them speak in their native language with use of a your guide, if you have one. You can always get their comments translated after you return home. If your child was in an orphanage, get pictures of the caretakers there if at all possible.
Unless your child is sick, or you on a very tight schedule, get out as much as possible to see the sights in your child's birth city. Take pictures and footage of parks, street vendors, shopping malls, restaurants, everything you can think of to explain what life is like for most people there.
Homecoming. Your child might be overwhelmed, or overtired upon returning, so don't have big expectations for pictures of your homecoming. Have friends and family visit over time, and take pictures then.

Q. What songs or type of music do you suggest?

We have now worked with a broad range of music in making these family adoption videos. There are no bad choices for these inherently emotional stories. For more, check out our Song Suggestions.

Q. My film and tape are pretty limited -- but I'd still like to create something.

It does not matter how much or how little material you have. We will happily go through all of it to make the most emotional, personal video of your trip that we possibly can.

Q. I was wondering if you ever just do videos from still pictures?

Yes! We have done many videos from just still pictures. Families often give us their entire photo album of pictures from China, and we select the best ones that not only fit the song they select, but that also tell the full story of their adoption trip. See the "Stills Only" page for an example.

Q. Can you make us a video of the time since we've been home with our child?

Absolutely. So many families asked if we could make this kind of edited version of their assortment of videos and pictures of the time since coming home, that we decided we could offer this to the larger adoptive community as well. We plan on keeping the same general format as the adoption trips themselves: we will edit to a number of songs, and the price will reflect what the final length of the video/DVD will be. We think families would need at least two songs to tell enough of the story of being home with their child, and the price for this would be $450 to master to a VHS, and $550 to master to a DVD. If you need three songs, the price would be $600 and $700 respectively. Editing your story to four pieces of music would be $750 for VHS tape and $850 for DVD. We ask that the families select the songs that are meaningful to them, and include CDs of them when sending their materials.

Q. What all is involved in making a video?

First we must view all the material given to us. Then we listen to the song over and over and select the photos and/or video that goes with each lyric of the song,and find the most representative photos or the best footage to tell your story. For stills or slides we must scan them into our computer, and for video we must edit it onto a mini-DV tape. We then must clean up the prints if they have dust or fingerprints, and make sure the video is of good quality. We then decide how much movement we want in each photo, and how long a video clip will be. We edit it all together using Final Cut Pro, taking sound levels up or down where needed and adding titles.

Q. What should we do about music?

For copyright purposes, we ask each family to send a copy of the CD(s) that they request their video to be edited to. It will be returned with your finished tape or DVD. This circumvents any royalty issues as the video is just for personal use.

Q. Do you have any advice on photos vs. video?

We would ask each family to send us whatever they have from their adoption trip. You will get it all back! It is better for us to decide what works best for the video/DVD.

Q. How long will the final video be?

The final video/DVD will be as long as the song(s) you select. The video of our daughter Louise runs just under 5 minutes, but others run longer if the two song or longer option is selected. The price list can be found on our Order Page. For entire travel groups, the video can run the length of 3 songs or more--for such an option, please contact us for a customized rate.

Q. How long approximately will it take to make a video?

It takes us approximately 3-4 weeks to make a video/DVD.

Q. Will you make a video of an adoption from another country besides China?

Absolutely! We would be happy to make videos of any adoption trip foreign or domestic.

Q. What is the best way to ship my originals?

You should pick a carrier that gives us both a tracking number--we have had great luck with FedEx or UPS. If you are uncertain about how to pack your material, take them to a Mail Boxes, Etc. or similar service.

Q. Why does a DVD cost more?

There is more set-up time and expense to make a DVD disk than a VHS tape. For instance, when we finish your master and want to make a VHS tape, we pop a tape in the deck and "print to video." But for a DVD, we need to a separate program to write and play the DVD it is like making a separate movie or web page. We must render a file readable by the DVD player, create a "splash page" for the beginning of the movie, and write tracks and actions for the remote control to access.

Q. Can I send you later tapes as well to add some footage of our daughter at other ages?

We would be happy to make a video/DVD of life once you've returned from your adoption trip. But at this point, because the adoption trip took place in a limited time frame, we are able to offer the current prices because the volume of material to go through is similarly limited. If we do a video/DVD for you of another subject, we would be happy to give you a customized estimate.

Q. Is this offer extended to families outside of the US ?

Of course! We just ask that payment be made in US dollars. If you have further questions, we'd be happy to hear from you. Just send us an email.

Pergamon Film & Video
12245 SW Faircrest Street
Portland, OR, USA 97225
[503]320-9887