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You’ve completed every piece of paperwork. Your adoption binder has more pages than a dictionary. Every finger has been “printed” multiple times. Your social worker knows you better than you know yourself and you’ve spent so much time waiting for an email titled “travel dates” that you could have knitted enough scarves to warm every single squirrel (that’s right, I said “squirrel”) in your town if you knew how to knit during that time.
But now, after years of hurrying up and waiting, that very email is staring you in the face! If you find yourself in that familiar place of elation, excitement, and joy paired with feelings of being overwhelmed, nausea, and anxiety, this post is for you!
Please know that we don’t want to add to the mental list of everything that you have going on in your head. We’ve been there and I know it can be overwhelming. To help, we have a complete packing list for you (along with wardrobe suggestions), adoption travel tips, and a little bit of advice to keep a level head through it all and hopefully make this process easier. We also want to prepare you for something we know a little bit about… creating an adoption video. Because as exciting as all of this is, these are life-changing moments that you are going to want to look back on someday in the future with your kiddos and relive all of these memories that you are going to be creating together.
There are a few ways to create an adoption video and while none are either right or wrong, we’d like to share the way that we feel gives you the most well-rounded story for your child’s sake. Spoiler – it also takes a bit of prep and planning…. which is why we feel like talking about it before you travel is so important.
Raw Clips Adoption Video
The first way to tell an adoption story with video is through raw video clips. This is our least favorite, BUT it does have it’s benefits. A raw adoption video is most likely made up of the clips that you feel are actually worth capturing. The only planning it requires is knowing which camera(s) you’ll be traveling with. Your story is told chronologically and clips can be trimmed to get rid or any unnecessary bits and stitched together for a seamless viewing experience. They also retain all of the original sounds that you hear on camera, transporting you through ambient noises, caregiver voices, singing, laughter, and even your child’s cry.
Highlight Trailer Adoption Video
A highlight trailer is the second way to tell an adoption story through video. We love telling stories this way, although it is usually in addition to a full length film. Highlight trailers take all of the clips that you have and mash them up into one song that sums up your experience. The story becomes an emotional experience to relive again with your child and give them a glimpse of what your first moments together were like. Highlight trailers use the best bits of each video clip, trimmed to best suit the music, and are not featured chronologically, making this means of story telling an easy way to take whatever clips you have and turn them into something beautiful without a whole lot of preparation or planning on your trip.
If you’d like to view more trailers, you can find them in our video gallery.
Full-length Adoption Video
The full-length adoption video is our very favorite way to tell a complete story for your child. The goal with this kind of video is giving a well-rounded picture of your experience together. For each day of the trip (or a couple of days if they fit thematically), a chronological story is told. This method of storytelling easily takes the most planning, capturing, and effort, but it also results in 30 – 60 minutes of beautiful video. Music emotionally aides the process while still allowing some of those ambient sounds through. Both of our children ADORE their adoption videos and we really feel like it is a way to bring closure and healing to what was once a very painful time in their lives.
While we are happy to share our trailers with you, we feel like our full-length adoption videos belong to our kiddos, so we keep those specifically for them.
Since both the raw clip and highlight trailer can be put together post-trip fairly easily, we’d like to spend our time talking about how to create a full-length adoption video that your children will love and you will want to watch over and over again with them.
Please recognize that these are meant to be tips and ideas to help you along. This IS NOT a checklist meant to paralyze or overwhelm you. This is YOUR story. We want for you to tell it exactly as you would like. We are just here to offer a few ideas.
Set the Scene
Regardless of whether you are packing for your trip or meeting your child for the first time, give the viewer some context by setting the scene. We are using video to tell a story, so give us an idea of where you are. Interiors, exteriors, details, and things that give an indication of the time of year are all good ways to accomplish this.
Who are the characters?
Who are the characters in your story? Be sure to include each one… this includes YOU! Whether it means passing off the camera to your spouse or setting up a tripod, be sure to include everyone and make sure each person makes an appearance often. Your main characters also need supporting characters. Did you make friends along the way? Who were your social workers? Was there someone that you saw every day that was memorable? We need those main characters to have a strong presence, but be sure to include those supporting characters as well.
Capture Moments
There are going to be moments where you can’t wait to grab your camera because something spectacular is going on. There are also going to be moments where you are struggling through this process with your child and aren’t going to feel so comfortable to have a camera rolling. Go for it anyways. Both the highs and lows are part of this journey and it will be such a blessing someday to revisit and see just how far you have come as a family.
Include Movement & Transitions
When you are telling a story, it would be really weird for you to tell two different parts and not give some explanation on how you got from point A to point B. Transitions help round out your film, can add visual interest, and complete the story. Shooting out a car window or traveling on public transportation are two examples of this. Give us a glimpse into your transitions with some movement.
Overshoot
If you have decided that a full length adoption video is for you, err on the side of capturing too much rather than too little. You can always narrow things down later and you will be surprised at how much video it actually takes to put together a film. It isn’t rare for us to come home with 130+ GB of raw video. Overshoot.
Be Proactive
Creating an adoption video through raw clips or a highlight trailer allow you to be reactive. You can pretty easily create either of those options from clips captured years ago (and we’d be happy to help if you need it). If you are working towards creating a comprehensive full-length adoption film, you are going to need to be proactive. This may include packing multiple cameras, planning creative shots, and using the “shot list” for ideas to capture more than just a couple of picturesque moments each day.
Remember…
This is YOUR story which means you get to tell it exactly how you want. You might be insane like us and travel with 6 or 7 cameras, constantly thinking about how to capture each moment beautifully. Or… you may only have your camera phone and creating a video from this trip is the last thing on your mind. Wherever you find yourself, our goal is to help you do what you want to do better… not to overwhelm.
Ultimately, we want you to be able to relive this experience with your children. It will take work in the moment, but will pay off in the long-run as your family bonds over these captured memories together.
Ok. So you’re convinced that telling your adoption story through a full-length adoption video is a great idea. What are some of the things you can be thinking about?
We have a pretty printable just for you that you can download!
You can also be thinking about these things along each stage of your journey.
Home Life
Before you start to pack, set the scene by capturing life as it currently is in and around your home. Do you want to talk to your child about your excitement or what you are feeling? Do you have other children who want to leave a message for their new sibling? What season is it outside? Find ways to convey that through video… flowers, raindrops, fallen leaves, or a blanket snow give your child a picture of what life was like the day you traveled to meet them. Look at your home as though you are a tourist. Take a walk through the room you have prepared for your child (it may be the last time it looks that clean). 🙂 Are there special toys that you were given, a little outfit you can’t wait for them to wear, a stuffed animal holding their place on the bed until they come home? Capture it with both wide angle and close shots. As you begin to pack, you can chronicle that as well. A time lapse video will allow you to fit as much of the process in as you would like. This may be the last time that you are in your home as a family of 2, or 3, or 4… grab a selfie video with the people you love as you close one chapter and begin a new one.
Travel
It is so easy to think that travel begins once you are on the airplane, but there is most likely a whole lot more that went into getting to where your child is. From walking out the door with your luggage to driving by famous landmarks, arriving at the airport to sitting at your gate… is there anything that you want to remember from these moments? Be sure to put yourself in these moments. If you are traveling half a world away, you definitely are going to have some time to kill. Might as well make it fun with a few creative shots along the way.
Your Destination
You’ve arrived! But it’s not likely that you are meeting your kiddo just yet. As you settle in to prepare for the big day, set the scene for what is to come. Take a moment to soak it all in. What do you see, smell, and hear? What makes this place unique? How can you capture those things in video? Are you on the 39th floor of a high rise or an Airbnb? Are you surrounded by city or down a quiet lane? What does your room look like before unloading the 300 bags you’ve packed to be prepared for this trip? Are there taxis zooming by or boats meandering down a river? Capture the things that make this place special.
Excursions
I realize that this is going to look much different in the world that currently exists than it did when we traveled to meet our children, but whatever your days may look like, look for ways to document what is happening. We’re looking for things that give you a setting, help you to relive the sights, smells, and sounds, capture people, culture, scenery, etc. Don’t forget to put yourself, your spouse, and your family in these moments.
Also be looking for different ways to bring your child’s culture into your film. Whether it’s their home they grew up in, food being served, smells you won’t forget, locals going to work, or perhaps cultural events, grab shots that put you back in your child’s home country.
The Big Day
This is the day you have been waiting years for – the day that you meet your child for the first time. I would strongly recommend capturing these moments with at least two different cameras for two reasons. 1. Should one fail (and oh my goodness, we’ve been there before), you still have a backup. And 2. It gives more than one perspective. No matter where you meet your child for the first time, you’ll want to capture the moment where they first walk in to your lives or you walk in to theirs. We’ll be working on a post soon specifically for this day because of it’s importance. Your number one priority is your child, but there is still lots of time to make some memorable video clips.
Time Together
Once your child is in your care, be sure to soak up all of those moments that you have been waiting for for so long. Whether they are playing, walking, running, eating, sleeping, bath time (within reason), bed time, snuggles, holding hands, grieving, etc…. capture it. Different cameras will help you in different ways. Your phone is most likely always on hand, a mirrorless can give you wide angles or zoom (along with pretty bokeh), a 360 camera can give you a unique perspective and capture multiple “views” at once, a GoPro can take you from a tuk tuk to underwater, and a gimbal can put you in the action, following your child around at their level.
Going Home
And you’ve made it! All of the appointments are done and you have spent more than enough time in a hotel room than you care to ever again. As you prepare to go home, keep those cameras rolling. Think about your final moments together in your hotel or home. Your child might be excited to help you pack. Include them in those moments (even if it doesn’t all fit like you’d like – grab some video and fix it later). Think about the transitions that are going to get you from the hotel to the airport, the area around your gate, and killing time with your kiddo as you prepare to fly home. To bring your video home (literally), keep a camera rolling as your child walks into your home for the first time, seeing their room, and meeting any siblings / family members / pets.
Well friends, I think we’ve talked about all of it, but if there is ANYTHING that you have questions about, please don’t hesitate to ask! This is an area of life that we could talk about for hours… not just because we really love making films to preserve our memories, but because we know how beneficial they have been in our own kiddos lives. We’d love to help you to be able to do the same.
Thank you so much for sharing! These are great ideas. It is so nice to read about a family on a similar journey to my own.