Showing a video at a funeral: your own clips in the slideshow

There are two places for a video. One is between the photos of a part, for example halfway through the funeral photo slideshow set to music. The other is a part of its own, called a video compilation: one or more videos played in a row, with no photos in between. That suits a clip everyone should be able to watch and listen to without distraction, as you might in a celebration of life slideshow.

A video takes up fixed time: exactly as long as the clip lasts. The photos in the same part share what is left of the song. An example: the song runs 3 minutes 30 seconds (210 seconds) and the video 40 seconds. That leaves 170 seconds. With 24 photos, each photo is on screen for about 7 seconds. Aim for at least 6 seconds per photo; each part shows how many seconds the videos take and what remains for the photos.

If too little time is left, you have three options. Shorten the video to the stretch that matters: you pick a start and an end point, and the original stays in your collection. Choose a longer song. Or take a few photos out of that part. If the video is longer than the music, you get a notice, so it does not come as a surprise during the service.

You add a video from your phone, tablet or laptop, in the browser, with nothing to install. MP4 and MOV files work, up to 500 MB per video. A recording the browser cannot play straight away, as with some iPhone videos, is converted first; that can take a few minutes, after which the video appears in the collection.

The best clips are often on someone else's phone. You invite family and friends by email as helpers. A helper gets access with their email address and a code and adds videos, photos and music to the collection themselves. Nobody has to forward clips through a messaging app, which is better for quality: those apps tend to shrink videos.

Everything lands in one collection, alongside the photos: HEIC from an iPhone, JPEG and PNG all work as they are. You then choose which video goes into which part.

The music for a part is an MP3 file of your own. The photos spread themselves across the length of the song, around the video. A video is shown once; only the photos move up to make room.

Does a song exist only as a video, such as a recording of someone singing or playing the piano? You can take the sound from that video and use it as a piece of music. The photos then run to that recording.

Whether a video at a funeral feels right only becomes clear once you see it in place. The preview plays the memorial slideshow as it will run at the service, with music, videos and waiting points. You hear at once whether a voice carries over the music and whether the step from photo to video is calm.

Making, previewing and changing is free, as often as you like; the free preview carries a light watermark. You pay once, when you download, with no subscription. You can download again later, for instance when one more clip turns up the evening before.

If you prefer, the assistant in the simple view will put a video into a part when you ask in plain words. Everything can also be done without the assistant.