Questions people ask.
Grouped, so you can find your own objection quickly. If yours is not here, ask it.
Before you start
My family isn’t interesting.
Almost nobody’s is, to themselves. That is the whole reason this exists. The lives that turn out to matter most to a grandchild are the ones that felt unremarkable at the time. We are not looking for an achievement.
I don’t have much. A few photographs, no documents.
That is a normal starting point. Some of the best commissions begin with one box and one person still able to explain it. Quantity is not the material. Memory is.
Is this for old people?
No. Most of our work is with people in the middle of their lives, for children who are still small. The best time to record somebody is well before anyone thinks it is urgent.
Do I need to sort everything first?
No. Please do not. The order things are kept in tells us something, and sorting before we arrive usually loses it.
About taking part
My mother would hate this.
Many people say that, and they are sometimes right. We speak with her first, explain what is involved, and only go ahead if she wants to. If she does not, the commission stops there. You will not have put her on the spot.
What if I am bad at talking about myself?
We do not ask you to. We ask about rooms, jobs, journeys, meals, arguments, objects. People who say they have nothing to tell are usually the ones nobody wants to interrupt.
Can I refuse to answer something?
Yes, at any point, without explaining why. A subject you close stays closed, and nobody in the family is told what you skipped.
What if we remember things differently?
Both versions can stay. A family that agrees on everything is not being recorded accurately.
Can I change my mind after it’s recorded?
Yes. Anyone recorded has a say over their own material at the review stage, and can ask for something to be cut.
About the work
How long does it take?
Between three weeks and six months. It depends on how much material there is and how many people we record. We agree a schedule before we start.
What does it cost?
There is no price list. What a commission costs depends on what it turns out to be, how many people we record, how much already exists and what you want made from it. We agree scope and cost after the first conversation, and we never quote before we know what is involved.
Do we have to choose the format now?
No, and we would rather you did not. We propose a form after we have listened, and revisit it once we know what the material actually is.
Can you work in our language?
We work in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and German. In another language we bring an interpreter you agree to, and the recording keeps both voices, theirs and the one you think in.
Can you work abroad, or across several countries?
Yes. Families are rarely in one place. We keep flights to a minimum, for the carbon as much as for the cost. We work with filmmakers and recordists in other countries, and a good deal of the preparation happens at a distance. One person always comes in person, the conservator who collects your originals, carries them and brings them back. Nothing irreplaceable is ever posted.
Do you use AI?
Not on your material without asking you first, about that specific thing, for that specific purpose. We never generate a face, a voice, a document, or a detail that was not there. Where an image has been restored, the original stays alongside it and the caption says which is which.
Will you retouch the photographs?
We repair damage where it obstructs, and we say so. We do not colourise a face, invent a missing corner, or make old pictures look new.
About afterwards
What happens if someone dies during the work?
It happens. We stop, for as long as the family needs, and we resume only when you ask. What was recorded belongs to the family and nothing is done with it in the meantime.
Will this last?
It can. Cotton paper, sewn and properly bound, is still legible after four hundred years, and open file formats held in more than one place do not decay on their own. What nobody can certify is which copy survives which accident, and we would rather say that plainly than quote you a number. So the terms go in writing. Paper, binding, formats, how many copies exist, where they are, who can open them, and when they are next checked.
What if you stop trading?
Nothing you hold depends on us. The films, the books, the recordings and the archive are already in your hands, in open formats, on media you own, with the catalogue and the plan printed and in the box. You own the rights to all of it and we hold none. If we closed tomorrow you would lose a correspondent, not a file.
Will this be public?
No, unless you decide otherwise later, about a specific thing, in writing.