TimeSteps has taken the mystery out of how to produce historical retrospectives since 1987.  

Just over 25 years ago, the company started with its first project for the 100th Anniversary of J&J.  And just recently Marilyn finished a writing project for the healthcare company's 125th Anniversary of the First Aid Kit.

Now they are grappling with a 50 year retrospective for a non-profit client. "Producing a history video is a ton of work," says Marilyn. "It's going through hundreds of photos and videos in all kinds of obsolete formats and bringing them into the digital realm of the 21st century."

The TimeSteps team is wading through vhs, 3/4," Betacam and Mini DV tapes and digitizing 125 photos from annual reports at 600 dpi fine screen for video purposes.

Many will remember that Marilyn started as a stock footage researcher and licensor of the TimeSteps Historical Archive - motion picture scenes from 1895-1959.  "It's funny, but now footage from 1960-2000 is archival. As a consultant I never encouraged people to discard all their videos.  I recommend selective weeding. When it comes to an anniversary video, you want footage of the former heads of the organization, technology shots, lifestyle scenes and so on. I'm sure some people are kicking themselves for throwing many of their old videos out."

Soon to come will be an video link to the next 50th Anniversary piece TimeSteps is producing.  Stay tuned for a romp through time.

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