Radio with Pictures

Written for Funeralcare magazine, September 2017

The slideshow is no longer a “sometimes” part of the attended funeral service. These days it’s an “often”, creeping up to an “always”. When done well, it becomes a keepsake. When done badly, it disengages the congregation.

For the record, I believe the buck stops here. You are responsible for doing everything you can to ensure the funeral service is as good as it can be. If you believe the buck stops elsewhere, feel free to stop reading.

A poorly assembled slideshow can make you look lazy, disinterested, and ineffectual. If you are any of those, a great slideshow might not help – feel free to stop reading.

A slideshow should engage the viewer and encourage reflection. The difference between a good slideshow and a bad one is content. Pure and simple. The enduring principle is KISS. Keep It Simple (Stupid).

Here are seven simple rules to slideshow perfection. Follow them yourself, and share them with your families or developers. They might not listen, but you tried, bless you.

Quality and Quantity

35-40 photos. One piece of music.

The tribute show (played as part of the funeral service) is designed to hold your attention and provide a life summary, in the same way that a tribute or eulogy does.

It may seem obvious, but some people don’t get that the show does not need to contain every photo ever taken of the person. If the family has 80 or 410 photos that the congregation simply must see, they need to be in a rolling slideshow, played as people gather. A rolling show is not designed to hold your attention from start to finish. You can dip in and out as your attention span dictates. It should be played either before the service or at the after-match (or both).Not during the service, not on carry-out.

One piece of music for the same reason. You wouldn’t dream of singing two hymns back-to-back. It’s hard enough getting people to move their mouths to the words of one. Why would you expect people to sit obediently through two or more songs?

Transitions

Fade transitions in a six second sequence work best for funeral tribute shows. The six second sequence displays the picture for three seconds with a three second transition. This is not a training presentation. There is no boss to impress with your knowledge of cinematic Powerpoint reveals.

Synchronise the photos and the music. Purpose-built software will do this for you, but if you don’t have it, there is a simple rule of thumb. Divide the length of the soundtrack by the number of photos. An average song is 3:30 long, or 210 seconds. 210 seconds divided by 35 photos is 6. 6 second sequence.

To look really professional, slow down the slides at the beginning and especially at the end. The last slide should fade out very slowly to black.

The Right Stuff 1: Photos

The last slide is usually the photo that appears on the service sheet. It has been chosen as the image that best represents the star of the show.

And the other photos? The star should be in every one. This too may seem obvious. If the house, the dog, the view from the window were that special, the person would be in the photo. (PS Those photos are great in the rolling show – they just don’t work so well in the tribute one).

Don’t automatically discount physically small photos – they often scan and project well. Do try to avoid out of focus photos. Unless it’s those 70s arty soft-focus things. On second thoughts, they’re best avoided too. Shudder. The subject often loves them though, and there’s a lesson in here for our own use. Not many of us like being rounded up for a photo shoot. Fewer still are happy with the published result. My wise grandmother had a saying: “The reason you don’t like photos of yourself is because you think you’re better looking than you are.” Yep, as a family, we’ve always told it like it is.

Thing is, you’ll probably never again look as youthful or beautiful as you do today. Let them take the photo!

The Right Stuff 2: Music

Choosing the right song is not easy, and I’ve lost count of the number of times the family has asked me to choose for them. I have a few go to’s – Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody, Wishbone Ash’s Time Was, Boston’s More Than a Feeling, Michael Buble’s Home. No doubt some of those made you shudder.

The biggest thing to make sure of is that the song is appropriate. Is the language appropriate for a funeral service? I love “Who the f**k is Alice” but I would baulk at playing it at a funeral. Is it age-appropriate? I struggle to believe that 92-year-old Nanny’s favourite artist is Tupac.

But even the most popular songs have lyrics that catch people out. All funeral directors know that the second line of Engelbert Humperdinck’s iconic “Release Me” is “For I don’t love you any more”. Make sure the family knows it too.

The Right Order

The tribute show has most impact in chronological (age) order. This means getting the family – in their time, not yours – to put the photos in order. They safest way is to number them - write the number on the back in pencil. Number digital photos sequentially. If the family can’t, or won’t, you should choose the obvious starters. Baby photos, school photos. You can try to sort them, but it takes a lot of time, and while chronological order may be obvious to the family, it won’t be obvious to you.

Get it Right!

Don’t blame the technology if Mario Lanza starts singing “Drink, Drink, Drink” instead of “I’ll Walk With God”. Use the internet or a home-labelled CD to source the song at your own risk. It might be mislabelled, or an abbreviated version. The artist might not be correct.

When scanning the photos, make sure you put them in their own folder. You do not want to get anyone else’s photos in there.

Check names and dates for accuracy.

Any mistakes are yours. Not the computer’s. Review the show – that means watching and listening to it from start to finish - before the funeral.

The Right Tools

Nirvana is receiving numbered photos on a USB stick with music on CD or USB. At least the day before the funeral. If not, you’ve got to find the music and scan the photos.

Consider outsourcing the scanning of photos. Digital processing shops are everywhere and most services are modestly priced.

Allow enough time to put it all together and make sure the family knows how much time is needed – whether you’re doing it, or they’re doing it themselves. Young members of the family or friends of the deceased often underestimate the time and the toll it will take.

The right software can make a world of difference. I’ve nothing against Powerpoint in a corporate environment or Pecha Kucha evening, but it is not the best tool for a funeral slideshow. Try Movie Maker, which you can often find lurking free and undiscovered on your computer. Better still ProShow, moderately priced and able to pull a show together in next to no time.

And if you want to outsource the lot, give me a call!

Fade slowly to black.