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Also this issue: Icepack |
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July 5-11, 2002
naked city
 Focus on the family: Rachel Levin prepares to play a StoryDisc documentary while her mother Judy looks on. Photo By: Michael T. Regan |
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The rituals of July 4 often involve family gatherings, be it for barbecues, vacations or just lots of quality time. Holidays like the Fourth often also involve another, sometimes more painful ritual -- the dusting off and viewing of old home movies, complete with shaky pictures and poor or no sound. The thrill of looking into the past lasts but a moment, quickly replaced by a yearning to run screaming back into the present.
These mementos are essential to the story of any family, though, especially when they can be elaborated on by the people who were actually there. To that end, Art Museum-area resident Rachel Levin, a former teacher and graphic designer, has decided to give family memories a 21st-century update. In March, Levin launched a company, StoryDisc, on the belief that every family, not just the celebrities somberly memorialized on A&E's Biography or tawdrily trashed on E!'s True Hollywood Story, have tales that need to be told, and preserved.
StoryDisc produces DVD documentaries about a family. The DVDs are professional in quality -- they actually do look like episodes of Biography -- with family photos and videos edited to fit with interviews conducted with relatives. The result is a disc, broken down into chapters by subject, that's meant to last for generations.
Rachel Levin does all of the camerawork and editing, but the interviews are conducted by her mother, Judy Levin, a clinical social worker. A 20-page questionnaire for prospective clients covers the basics, like the names and ages of family members, but also branches off into more thought-provoking areas. Questions about how music figured into daily life or how a typical Saturday morning would be spent get to the heart of StoryDisc's mission, which is not, both Levins are quick to point out, about genealogy. "My belief," Rachel says, "is that people are the sum of their experiences. To talk about your own history, what your childhood was like ... people learn things about life [from stories]." The goal of a StoryDisc production, she adds, is "to pass down memories and values and beliefs, kind of like a legacy." From the questionnaire, Rachel and Judy "figure out what's the story in there," Rachel says. From that, 50 interview questions are determined.
It's easy to imagine telling these women your life story. Seated in Rachel's cozy living room, Judy exudes maternal warmth as she offers a plate of rugelach while her daughter cues up one of the two documentaries she's put together so far. Though this is the first time the Levins have collaborated (aside from "things like cooking," Rachel jokes), the mother and daughter are enjoying working together. "It's really special," Rachel says, noting the synergy in starting a family business focused on family memories. "She has a lot of interview experience," Rachel says about her mother, and adds that her mom excels at "making the person feel safe and comfortable."
StoryDisc's first two DVDs feature the women's own family -- Rachel's father and aunt talking about their mother -- and an interview with a Scottish couple who moved to America in 1953 about their experiences during World War II. Despite occasional accent barriers on the latter (Rachel sheepishly recalls her confusion when the husband kept referring to the "torpedo factory" in their town and she kept confusedly hearing "pita factory"), the two show exactly what the Levins are trying to do -- capture the little moments, stories and memories that make up a life.
The whole StoryDisc process takes about three weeks, including interviews and editing, and costs $2,500, with extras available like an interactive family tree (viewers can use their DVD remotes to select a name on the tree, leading to a picture and short biography of the person) or multiple interviews. Though it seems pricey, Judy points out that a few years ago a friend of hers wanted a family documentary but her only option was to go to a studio to produce it. The final cost came to $30,000. StoryDisc's scaled-down operation (the interviews are filmed in Judy's Wynnewood home and studio, and Rachel edits on her computer at home) drops the cost with still impressive results.
The Levins hope to eventually have a storefront space to run StoryDisc from, but for now are keeping things small while word of their existence gets out. Judy showed off one of the discs at her book club and Rachel was featured in her neighborhood newspaper, and the Levins say they are getting inquiries now.
"The idea of [StoryDisc] means that you have to be thinking ahead that this person isn't going to be around forever, and that's sad," Rachel says of some people's hesitance to take the plunge. "People don't realize that the information and stories a person has won't be around forever, and sometimes that doesn't sink in until someone is sick or losing their memory."
Judy points out that "storytelling can be therapeutic," and the Levins also feel their work can bring families closer together, even if some of the stories people tell can be somewhat surprising. Rachel admits being shocked when her aunt gave details about her grandmother's business practices when she was younger. "I knew she had a bookstore," Rachel says, laughing, "but not a semi-pornographic store that catered to hookers." Turns out her grandmother noticed a lot of traffic from ladies of the night, and in turn stocked her shelves with the racy novels that seemed to sell the fastest to her clientele. Now there's a home movie that'll keep the family interested come holiday time.
StoryDisc, 215-236-2151, www.story-disc.com.
