Local woman launches a home movie business
By Elizabeth Ridgeway, Special to the Town Crier
Pat Miler retired from the corporate world this year only to find a new business calling: creating DVD movies from digital pictures. Miler’s knack for video-making started as a fun project to help preserve pictures of her son’s year in kindergarten and blossomed into a full-blown business venture, Digital Memories by Pat.
Clients typically provide Miler with a CD of digital photos and work with her to select a soundtrack and text. The movies play in any DVD player and can be posted online and linked through e-mail. A sample film of a birth announcement combines classical music, shots of the new baby and parents and animated text narrating birth information. Miler uses Apple’s iLife software to design a film that sets digital pictures in motion.
The documentary filmmaker Ken Burns pioneered filmmaking techniques to bring historical photos of the Civil War to life. Miler does the same when she zooms in on and pans across images and transitions from shot to shot to make a flowing narrative out a series of simple photos.
“One of my goals as a mom has been to capture my children’s lives in a way that is fun and meaningful for all of us,” Miler said. “I wanted to capture my son’s kindergarten experience, and I knew I could do it on my computer.” The software she uses is available to any Macintosh owner, and clients with extra enterprise can sign up for moviemaking lessons with Miler.
Amateur photographers in the United States took 28 billion digital pictures last year, but many of these pictures never made it off a computer hard drive, according to the camera industry Web site PicturesMatter.com. Only about 13 percent of digital pictures are ever printed out. Miler sees her business as a way to rescue these trapped memories, and organize them in a meaningful way.
“Digital cameras make so much more possible, but there is a learning curve to harnessing this new opportunity,” Miler said. “With cropping and simple editing, digital technology can take pictures to another level.”
In addition to birth announcements and kindergarten montages, Miler has made films for the Los Altos-Los Altos Hills Little League, bat mitzvahs and of historic family photos. She can scan conventional photos and records voices and interviews to add a baby’s laugh or a family conversation to a film.
Miler’s work starts at $190 for an entry-level movie and increases in price depending on size and complexity. Depending on the season, the job can be part- or fulltime, but Miler loves the creativity and flexibility of running her own business.
“It has lowered my stress level - I just feel better, sleep better. There’s that scary part, too, the uncertainty: Oh my gosh, where’s this going to go? What am I going to achieve?” Miler said.
After 25 years in business management, Miler welcomed the chance to be a fuller-time mom when she left her position with Siemens this March. Miler said that her children love her new business: “I don’t think they ever tire of seeing pictures of themselves.”
Her husband, Jerry Brodkey, took the opportunity to return to his career as a teacher and retire from the position of stay-at-home dad. They have lived in Los Altos for 11 years and have two children, David, 7, and Anna Maria, 4.
“Many men I talk to are horrified at the thought of not being part of the corporate world because it is so central to who they are. While I absolutely loved my job, I’ve had a lot of accomplishments, and a sense of completion after creating many things in the corporate world that I am proud of,” Miler said.
Miler’s strong background in business and marketing has helped her move confidently into test marketing and customer service. But after decades of working at an office 12 hours a day, Miler’s favorite part of this new position is probably the fringe benefits.
“I love the emotional side, being here when my kids get up in the morning,” she said. “To be more a part of their everyday lives is fantastic.”
For more information, e-mail DigitalMemoriesByPat@mac.com or call 575-3130.
