“Heart of a Healer” original video © Carole Lemley, 2024, all rights reserved.
Synopsis:
The main character is a doctor, married to a nurse, and happy in his career as a healer when the stock market crashes in 1929, beginning the devastation of the Great Depression. People still need the doctor, so he never refuses a patient and takes whatever they have to offer – in this case a simple picture of a house – as payment for his services. Meanwhile, his wife’s sister’s family falls apart, so the doctor and his wife take in the sister’s two little girls, providing a home and stable family life for them and for the next generation. The picture remains in the family as a reminder of the solid foundation provided by his generous healing heart.
Production software:
I used several production tools and software to create this video. I needed to use HP printer software (for HP OfficeJet 3830) to scan and save digital images of family photos to my computer. Then I used Microsoft Photos (installed on my computer) for initial cropping and cleaning up the edges from the photos that were pasted into family albums, and adjusting the brightness, contrast, and color (B&W/sepia) tones. Next, I used Photopea to crop, resize, and add backgrounds to the Depression-era archival and family photos as needed so that I would have a standard 16:9 aspect ratio and 1280 x 720 px size to make an HD video with the images. I also used Photopea to create the title slide and credits slides. For the audio, I used Audacity to record my voice-over narration and to mix the various audio tracks for the video, incorporating two pieces of background music with the narration. I exported the final audio track as a standard quality (170 – 210 kbps) stereo mp3 file with a sample rate of 44100 Hz. Finally, I used OpenShot video production software to produce, edit, and save drafts for uploading to YouTube. All drafts from OpenShot, including the final video, were exported as high-quality mp4 (h.264) files with a video profile of HD 720p 30fps (1280 x 720).
Credits:
Audio:
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, by Rudy Vallee (1932), hosted on History on the Net is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 DEED.
- Cattails by Kevin MacLeod, hosted on Free Music Archive is licensed under CC BY 3.0 DEED.
- “Heart of a Healer” voice-over narration by Carole Lemley
Depression Era Archival Images:
- American Great Depression, 1935 curated by the Library of Congress Digital Collections and hosted on picryl is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- Automobile of family camped by the roadside, photographed by Russell Lee, curated by Library of Congress Digital Collections, and shared on Flickr by Lindell Dillon is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- bread and milk line in Grand Rapids, MI shared by buckle1535 on Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED.
- Interior of wood shack built upon Ford truck chassis housing father, mother and seven children, photographed by Carl Mydans, curated by Library of Congress Digital Collections and shared on Flickr by Mike Goad is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- LOOKING FOR A JOB from the Carl Mydans Collection, and curated by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- Mother and child, photographed by Russell Lee, curated by the Library of Congress Digital Collections, is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- OKC shantytown, photographed by Dorothea Lange, curated by Library of Congress Digital Collections, and shared on Flickr by Lindell Dillon is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- Old-Fashioned Floral Wallpaper, curated by Ron Lach and hosted on Pexels is licensed under Pexels’ own license agreement.
- Santa Ana Register front page, Oct 28, 1929, curated by the Orange County Archives and hosted on Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0 DEED.
- Scott County MO doctor visits sick child at home photographed by John Vachon, curated by the Library of Congress Digital Collections, and uploaded to getarchive by jenikirbyhistory, is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
- Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, 02-1931, curated by The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and hosted on picryl is licensed under CC0 1.0 DEED.
- [Untitled photo, possibly related to: Sorghum mill located on a well-travelled highway near Nashville, Indiana], photographed by Theodor Jung and curated by Library of Congress Digital Collections is licensed under PDM 1.0 DEED.
Lemley Snead Ramsey Browne Family Collection Images:
- 12 images from the Lemley Snead Ramsey Browne Family Collection digitized March 15-16, 2024, © Carole Lemley, all rights reserved
- Pal’s Picture original art is the personal property of Deborah Lemley, used with permission; digitized March 16, 2024, © Carole Lemley, all rights reserved.
