Old Family Media Finds New Purpose in Modern Storytelling
As part of a recent family storytelling project, Michael Keppel-Jones presented me with some irresistible legacy media items that just had to find their way into the documentary project we were working on.
Using the best available tech of the 1950s, Michael’s brother and father had collaboratively documented their family’s migration from South Africa to Kingston, Ontario.
Documenting the start of a new chapter: Michael Keppel-Jones recently rediscovered film footage that included his sibling packing up her belongings in South Africa ahead of the family's migration to Kingston, Canada.
Even with the outdoor lighting requirements and limited duration of these film segments, the rough colour sequences preserve precious “small moments” of packing up suitcases and traversing the gang plank onto the steamship that would carry the Keppel-Joneses into the future.
One of Michael’s sons took charge of transferring the brittle old media into digital form. Many services exist or there are some solutions for do-it-yourself projects of this type. Free of audio issues - the films were silent - the transfer was relatively successful and allowed for some colour amplification as we edited the segments into the narrative timeline.
Almost like having a personal filmmaker along for the voyage, family members used a 1950s film camera to document their experiences.
How did it all turn out? See this brief excerpt from “We Came Here Lucky: The Stories of Michael and Gizella”:
Interested in undertaking a family storytelling project? See this page for ideas and drop me a note! I’m currently taking bookings for mid-2025.
