Questions Families Actually Ask

Montages in Motion is a family filmmaking practice with over 20 years of experience, creating cinematic montage films from your photos, video clips, and music for life's biggest moments: mitzvahs, graduations, weddings, memorials, birthdays, and private family legacy films. Based in Cincinnati, serving families nationwide.

Montages in Motion creates individual films for milestones, celebrations, memorials, and family stories. Private Family Films is my dedicated practice for families who want an ongoing private editor, substantial archive work, family-office coordination, or a longer-term filmmaking relationship. Visit Private Family Films.

A slideshow displays photos in order. A montage tells a story: photos and clips are selected, sequenced, and timed to music with a narrative arc, pacing, and an emotional build. The difference is the same as between a photo album and a film, and it is exactly what you feel in the room when it plays.

Celebration Montages are $1,500–$3,000. More elaborate Cinematic Milestone films begin at $4,950; Signature Story films at $8,500. Other focused Essential films start at $2,950. Memorial tributes are $795 or $1,295, and pet tributes start at $1,200. Each has a defined scope and a fixed written quote before editing.

Most fully custom projects take 2–4 weeks after materials arrive. Essential and Signature Memorial Tributes target approximately 48–72 hours from complete, usable materials, subject to scheduling confirmation. The review window and delivery deadline are agreed before production. Rush work depends on availability.

Usually through Google Drive or Dropbox, but I am happy to use whatever transfer method already works for you. I can provide a folder, upload request, or link when that is easiest. There is nothing special to install, and I handle the organizing once everything arrives.

No perfect organizing required. You do not need to rename files, build folders, or decide the final order. You send the meaningful pieces, the photos and clips you already know matter, and I shape the story: sequencing, pacing, music, and polish. Montages in Motion is not unlimited photo sorting. It is emotional film curation, so the useful step before sending everything is narrowing a big camera roll down to the moments that count, and I will help you do exactly that.

Yes, constantly. File transfer, review, and delivery all work beautifully at any distance, and I serve families across the country. Cincinnati is home base, not a boundary.

Yes, restoration can be included in a fully custom scope or quoted separately. The streamlined memorial tributes include basic cropping and tonal adjustments to usable digital photographs, not scanning or significant restoration.

Included library music is licensed for the agreed film use. Tell me the mood and whether you plan a service screening, online sharing or livestream. Commercial songs require appropriate rights clearance before use and may add cost or time. A streaming subscription or purchased track alone does not provide those rights.

The $1,500 Celebration Montage includes one consolidated revision round; Celebration Montage Plus includes two. Memorial Tributes and Essential films include one, Cinematic Milestone two, and Signature Story three. Added material, major direction changes and extra rounds are quoted before proceeding.

Celebration Montages and streamlined memorial tributes include a 1080p MP4. Share venue requirements before editing and arrange a playback test before the event. Additional cuts and special formats are included only as agreed in the quote.

Apps and $299 template services drop your photos into a preset. A professional builds your story by hand: selection, structure, timing, music editing, and a creative pass no preset can replicate. For everyday moments, an app is fine. For the moments with one chance to land, in front of everyone you love, the difference is unmistakable.

I will. Brandon Losacker, the founder, with over 20 years behind every edit. No junior editors, no outsourcing, no rotating team. The person you talk to on the first call is the person crafting your film, which is exactly why it comes out the way it does.

Use the Start Your Film form and tell me the occasion, your date, and a little about the story. I respond personally, usually within one business day, and the first conversation is free, friendly, and obligation-free.

Yes. Funeral homes, cemeteries and memorial providers can offer my professionally edited films under their own branding. Private wholesale rates, no subscription or minimum volume, and no direct family contact unless requested. Explore the funeral-home partner program.

Yes. Refer a family directly, bring me into your creative team for a project, or arrange privately quoted white-label production. We agree on who handles the client, feedback and delivery before work begins. Explore event partnerships.