Armando Leduc is the founder of Leduc Entertainment and is a specialist when it comes to various types of videography. A brief look at his portfolio of past work and you’ll find wedding videos, promotional videos, comedic sketches + more.
Recently, Leduc Entertainment has begun to offer a new service called ‘Chronicle Your Legacy’ which allows families to easily create videos biographies of their loved ones by working collaboratively with Armando and his team.
Armando was kind enough to answer some questions for us about his background and the new ‘Chronicle Your Legacy’ service he is providing.
Hi Armando, what inspired you to get into filmmaking/editing before founding Leduc Entertainment?
I’ve always been super interested in creating stories. I remember throughout the years picking up the camcorder and creating short stories with my family. I would cast the stories and then direct them not really knowing what I was doing. It wasn’t until my senior year in high school that I really dove into the arts when I did my first play GREASE. I ended up booking the lead role, and that got me my start.
What gave you the idea to create family video biographies in the form of “Chronicle Your Legacy”?
When my grandfather passed away, he was the last grandparent alive at the time. I went to the funeral and met family and friends I had never met before. They started telling me lots of stories that I had never heard, and it made me think how amazing it would have been to hear it from him directly and document the stories on video. My daughter was 13 months old at the time, and I wanted to make sure that she didn’t have the same experience I did. So I scheduled some time with my parents and my wife’s parents, and I did an in-depth interview. They gave me old pictures and videos, and I was able to edit an amazing documentary of their lives so that I can pass it on to my children, their children, and on down the line.
What do you think makes your “Chronicle Your Legacy” videos unique compared to other kinds of video biographies?
I am always fascinated by documentaries and stories of peoples lives. The difference with my chronicle your legacy videos is that they are of your family and heritage. I will tell you the stories you hear from your Parents and Grandparents will affect you deeply. Tears will be shed, you will have some of your best laughs, Being able to experience your parents and grandparents as regular people is an amazing perspective, and the feeling it gives your parents and grandparents that you took the time to find out about their lives and document it is priceless.
At a glance, what is your process for creating family video biographies? Is there any kind of template that you work from?
So after having done so many chronicle your legacy videos, we have it down to a science. We schedule the shoot around 9 am. Mornings are usually the best time because everyone has had their coffee and they are ready to start the day. I pick their favourite place to sit unless it’s a rocking chair, that can be very distracting for the video. I make sure they have their favourite beverage and anything that gives them comfort for the interview. We spend 3 hours together reminiscing about their lives from where they were born, their teenage years, how they fell in love, and everything in between. I have a list of 100 questions that jog the memory. What’s incredible is that questions may trigger other stories, and you go with that. Getting those stories that bring smiles, tears, and oh my gosh moments. In the end, I always hear that it was so much fun remembering their lives. We then get old pictures and old videos from them to weave through the video creatively editing a smooth cinematic documentary worthy of film festivals!
Why do you think it’s important for the legacy of loved ones to be communicated to future generations in a family?
Connecting to your family and your history strengthens family ties. A strong family unit and pride of where you are from will help everyone in the family feel a sense of belonging, according to the University of Delaware. Our society thrives on strong families. It teaches us how to function in the world and provides us with love and warmth. Strong families have great communication, and one of the best ways to strengthen your family is to increase your listening skills and those of other family members. Until we can hear each other, we cannot build strong relationships. Encouraging family members to share their thoughts and feelings makes them feel heard and respected. They feel better about themselves, are more open to solving problems, and are more likely to allow others to express themselves. It’s also a great way to continue family traditions. Chronicle your legacy connects us to our family and ancestors in a way that nothing else can.
How do you ensure that legacy video biographies are done tastefully and are well-received by all family members?
All of our chronicle your legacy videos go through several edits before you finalize any video. The first draft is sent to the family to view to make any changes. They send the corrections back to us for us to edit. For example at 2 min at 46 seconds I don’t like what I said there, please take it out. Or at 24 min and 24 seconds I don’t like that picture you used, can you replace it, please. Once we iron out all of the edits, we have a finished piece. We hand-deliver their chronicle your legacy custom booklet with their name on the cover, a USB drive with the entire film and pictures inside the booklet, and personal photos on the back. I’ve seen a lot of tears delivering them their booklet.
Here’s one of my favorite testimonials:
“They made me feel very comfortable during the interview process. Things flowed very smoothly based off of the questions. I was also very impressed with the editing process. Seeing my life on film with old pictures and video really brought me back to those times. I highly recommend scheduling a Chronicle your Legacy video for you and your family.”
