Family history's future
Woman finds inspiration in her family's business history
by Michael Koryta
Hoosier Times
April 17, 2005
Perhaps it isn't surprising that when Maryellen May decided to launch a new business in Bloomington, family legacies were prominent in her mind. She was, after all, continuing one of her own.
By starting May Videography last September, May became a fourth-generation Bloomington entrepreneur. The legacy runs through the local ice cream business–her grandfather started the Penguin in 1949 and her uncle owns the Chocolate Moose today.
But May had a different plan in mind. She wanted to tell family histories through video.
"While I was in graduate school (at the Indiana University School of Journalism) I had a project that was a written portrait of someone, and I asked if I could do it by video," she said. "The professor agreed, and I decided to capture my grandparents, not because they have such an exceptional story, but because I love them."
What May discovered was that her grandparents did have a fascinating story, particularly for those who cared about them.
The experience diverted May's professional plan entirely.
"I'd wanted to do documentary films, but after doing the project with my grandparents I began to think something like that could be the ultimate gift, and a way to preserve family histories," she said.
So, with some support from her parents and a loan from the bank, May Videography was born.
While May does media transfer and other video-related tasks to pay the bills, her focus is on creating video portraits and family histories. A five-minute clip of her business video asks questions like: Who is the guardian of your family story? And then follows with the closing line: Provide a future for your history.
A sampling of May's work is impressive. Skilled camera work captures moments of intimacy between generations as family members share old stories and recall friends lost and love found. Tight zooms on old black-and-white photographs are countered by the music of the times and voiceover from the storyteller. May's background in documentary work seems obvious, and the product is a powerful, professional presentation.
"I love doing it," she said. "I love the interviewing, getting to know the stories these people have to tell. The one thing that I've really discovered is that everyone has a story to tell. Stories and memories are fragments. What I do is take the narratives and the memories and put them together."
Her packages begin at $250 for a fifteen-minute DVD and go up to $2,900 for a six-hour project. The length and format of the project are decided with the clients, and each work is unique. May also creates videos from event coverage, specializing in family events like weddings, reunions and memorial services.
May operates her business out of a room in the St. John Associates building at 300 W. First St. in Bloomington. While she says she doesn't require much to live on, technology costs are high–May has sophisticated video and media transfer equipment–and at this point she isn't sure that the business will be a success.
She is entirely sure, however, that she's doing what she wants to do.
"It doesn't feel like work to me," May said. "I'm just doing what I love."
And May's clients are loving her product.
Virginia and Howard Mease weren't interested in putting their history on video initially, but the Bloomington couple agreed to work with May after their son, Jeff Mease, talked them into it.
"It was a very happy experience," Virginia Mease said. "Maryellen spent a lot of time with us. My husband was a photographer in the Navy in World War II, and he has taken a lot of slides and movies. We gathered those together, and doing that brought back a lot of old memories. Maryellen put everything together with such creativity, and we are so delighted with what she did for us."
May said that once she began work on the Mease project, the couple realized they had more to tell than they'd initially thought.
Virginia Mease agreed.
"We realized we are 83 years old and had a long life," she said. "Maryellen patiently went along with us and got everything on it. It was a wonderful experience for us, and certainly when our family gets to see it, it will be for them. I would highly recommend her."
While Virginia Mease enjoyed everything about her experience with May Videography and is thrilled with the product, there was also a bit of sadness involved.
"I do wish in my own case I had something like this from my mother and father's families," she said. "I have wished so many times that I had asked them questions about some things that I never did."
From a business standpoint, May's challenges exceed those of the common entrepreneur. She's creating not only a new business, but essentially a new product.
"Most people have never heard of what I do, and have never thought about putting their family story on video," she said. "It's not like people are out there looking for someone to do this. I've just got to make them aware of it."
May was a journalism student who had no business background. She's learning about things like marketing and bookkeeping on the fly.
Good business sense may be in her blood.
"My great-grandfather started May's Café in Bloomington in 1933, where the Chocolate Moose is today," she said.
A brief clip from the video she made of her own family shows her grandfather, founder of the Penguin, which was well known in Bloomington for years, talking about his venture into the ice cream business. He explains that someone told him "ice cream was just a fad that'll never last."
He hung on, and that ice cream fad of his turned out to have some longevity, after all. Now May is hoping for similar success with her own business venture.
More about May Videography
Anyone interested in pursuing a project with May Videography can call (812) 330-3301 or go online to www.mayvideo.com.
Sister sending family love to brother via video