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Sunday, April 10, 2005

By DIANA ROSSETTI, Repository staff writer

OMNIUM-GATHERUMS. Modern Day Video of Yesterdays Memories is the name of the new Perry Township business that Michael and Marsha Houvig recently opened. It was after the birth of their two daughters that a friend filmed them, using a camcorder. The memories caught on film, Michael said, made him want to build a business around families and significant moments in their lives. The couple specialize in making family-tree videos and special-event videos. But most innovative is their drive to encourage families to work with them to produce a video with footage and voices of family members for servicemen and servicewomen overseas ...

Video producers set memories in motion

Thursday, September 22, 2005

By GARY BROWN Repository Living section editor

Click here to see more Repository / Ray Stewart GOOD FEELINGS. Marsha and Michael Houvig share a laugh while working at the editing station for their Modern Day Video production lab.    PERRY TWP. —— In the keepsake video, one relative is dressed in a Cleveland Browns shirt and his kin fosters a rivalry with attire that boasts of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The image of the men doesn’t merely fade when it is time to move on to the next picture. Onscreen, the two men are torn apart. Such are the high-tech editing capabilities of Modern Day Video, a company that puts family histories on video and DVD for anniversaries, graduations, weddings and memorial tributes. “Bring your memories into the 21st century,” a company brochure suggests. “Our technology is state of the art,” said Michael Houvig,who began transferring families’ still photos, 8mm films and memorable documents onto VHS cassettes or digital disks. “Virtually every bit of family memorabilia can be used.” The Houvigs had been putting together videos for friends and family for about 10 years as a hobby, but their efforts then were merely “slide shows,” he said. Their equipment enables them to add the illusion of motion to still pictures. When images change, the pictures fade in and out, open from a variety of shapes, swivel, roll up or down, stack up, open like blinds, or appear and disappear in a variety of other manners. When a picture shows several small children sitting on a couch, for example, the image drops down in the shape of a toy ball, then vibrates as if it was bouncing. The song “Time in a Bottle” plays as the children “bounce” on the couch. Other songs that are played in the background include “Unforgettable” and “What a Wonderful Life.” “We also do voice-overs,” said Houvig. “We have the people come into the studio, put a microphone on them, and they narrate the video.” In all, six songs and 175 photographs were used in the DVD the Houvigs used to demonstrate their process. The 25-minute product celebrated the 50th anniversary of Robert and Betty Smith of Navarre. Sections showed images from the Smiths’ early lives, their courting years, their wedding ceremony, their family lives, holiday celebrations, and, finally, time spent with what a caption called “Our Newest Toys” — their grandchildren. When an image showed the grandparents dancing with those grandchildren, the technical capabilities of the production process again were evident. The picture “danced” as it appeared and disappeared from the screen. “I couldn’t resist,” said Marsha Houvig. “I had to make it wiggle a little bit.” The family history was commissioned by the Smiths’ daughters, Marlene Carpino of Magnolia, Sandy Graham of Bolivar, and Judy Covey and Evelyn Smith of Canton. The parents and each of their children received a copy of the DVD, and the Houvigs kept the master in case the family needed additional copies in the future. At a screening, two of the Smiths’ daughters seemed touched by the final product. “You can see he was a dad who always had a kid in his arms,” said Carpino, when pictures at holiday gatherings showed her father continually holding a child. “I get all choked up, because it brings back memories,” said Graham. Both sisters seemed to dab at moist eyes as the video drew to a close. “The happiness it brings people is great for us,” said Michael Houvig. “When you can show it to them, and see the looks on their faces, it gives us a feeling of satisfaction.” You can reach Repository Living Editor Gary Brown at (330) 580-8303 or e-mail: gary.brown@cantonrep.com How to reach them Modern Day Video can be reached by calling (330) 830-0504. And you can e-mail moderndayvideo@sbcglobal.net Or you can visit www.moderndayvideo.com

Perry Township couple's business is preserving memories
By DOUG STALEY

Doug.Staley@IndeOnline.com
Through the magic of technology, a Perry Township couple is putting memories into motion.

One photo and film clip at a time.

Michael and Marsha Houvig, owners of Modern Day Video of Yesterday’s Memories, are offering area residents a new spin on preserving special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries and graduations.

“Basically, why we did this is that people have a tendency to put their photos away in boxes and over time they get ruined,” Michael said. “This is a way for people to preserve their memories and pass them on to future generations.”

The Houvigs combine special effects, voice overs and music to create a unique video production.

But what gives the Houvigs an edge over the competition?

 “We can create an element of motion in still photographs,” Houvig said. “It creates more of a movie than a slide show. We are able to reproduce pictures without the use of scanning.”

Michael, a production supervisor at Goodrich in Cleveland, said he and his wife started the business in March as an outgrowth of their interest in videography.

“We’ve been doing videography as a hobby for 10 years,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve done things for family and friends.”

But the final decision only came after Michael conducted hours of research and traveled as far as San Diego, Calif. to study the latest technology.

“I visited California and fell upon this process and decided to invest in it. I didn’t want it to be a slide show. I wanted it to be interesting and fun to watch,” Houvig said. “There’s nobody in the Stark County area doing this. The only place close to us is in Dayton.”

Typically, Houvig said it takes about three to four hours to complete a production. The process, according to Houvig, would be much more time consuming if the photos had to be scanned.

Houvig said customers can choose to have their videos produced on DVD or VHS. Custom made cases also are available.

“We also keep a master of all product in case people want to come back and make changes,” Houvig said.

Houvig noted he is offering a 20 percent discount to families who wish to make a production for loved ones serving in the military.

“We believe it will offer inspiration and motivation to our troops overseas,” he said.

Houvig recently added Web site building to the company’s list of services, providing consultation, web design services, E-commerce solutions and web search registration.

“I started researching on getting a Web site built and I was astonished at the cost,” Houvig said. “I said there’s got to be a better way. I came up with a process. It’s pretty simple to do. You can make changes to the Web site in real time.”

The template based system enables customers to have complete control over their Web site, Houvig said.

Small businesses to get help from MDV WebCreations

Monday, July 18, 2005

PERRY TWP. — Michael Houvig has opened MDV WebCreations to help small businesses build and manage Web sites. A sister company to Houvig’s Modern Day Video, MDV offers Web sites that can be built and maintained by small business owners, so there is no need for consultants or fees for upkeep. The Web sites feature e-commerce, search engine registration, and a complete manager’s console for real time changes. Technical assistance is available around the clock. MDV also will build Web sites. For more information, call (330) 830-0504, or visit